Tools, Skills and MCP: when to use each one
The difference between tools, Skills and MCP in one sentence: tools for your own stuff, Skills for your processes, MCP for everyone else's.
Lucas Canteros
Fullstack Developer • • 2 min read
Contents
This article is part of the Devlights Tech Tips series on AI applied to technical work. If you landed here directly, we recommend watching the series from episode 1.
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We covered tools, Skills and MCP separately. The real question is: when do you use each one?
The core difference
The three concepts look similar because they all "connect" the agent to something. But what they connect to, and who maintains that connection, is completely different.
Tools → your internal systems Tools connect the agent to your own stack: your database, your internal API, your project. You write the integration and you maintain it.
Skills → your processes Skills teach the agent how you want things done: your report format, your review checklist, your code conventions. They're instructions, not integrations.
MCP → third-party services MCP connects the agent to external services like Notion, GitHub or Slack. The key difference: the integration is maintained by the provider, not by you.
The one-liner that sums it up
Tools for your own stuff. Skills for your processes. MCP for everyone else's.
Tools | Skills | MCP | |
|---|---|---|---|
Connects to | Your internal systems | Your processes and conventions | Third-party services |
What it is | Technical integration | Structured instructions | Standard protocol |
Who maintains it | Your team | Your team | The service provider |
Example | Your API, your database | Your PR checklist, your report format | Notion, GitHub, Slack |
With that clear, you know what to pick for each situation.
About the author
Lucas Canteros
Fullstack Developer
