Prompt vs skill vs MCP: what to share

Use a prompt for one chat, a skill for a procedure you will run again, and MCP when your AI has to reach a live tool. When that procedure has to run on Claude, ChatGPT, or Codex, send a kit link so their AI runs the latest version.

Keep the prompt for this chat

As of 19 October 2026, Anthropic's comparison treats a prompt as the instruction for one conversation. It does not carry into the next chat. A practitioner note from 4 October 2026 says the same thing in practice: if you paste the same instruction every week, move it out of the prompt.

Leave it as a prompt when the request is specific to this conversation. You do not need a file, a server, or a kit.

Keep the skill when the procedure stays in Claude

As of 19 October 2026, Claude's docs describe a skill as a directory of instructions, scripts, and resources, with a SKILL.md that says when it should run. Skills are on Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise. They run in Claude's code sandbox, so Code execution and file creation have to be on.

Stay with that skill when the people who need it already work in Claude and the job needs that sandbox. A kit does not give you Claude's sandbox. On Team and Enterprise, an Owner can deploy a skill for the organization, and Claude's skills list includes skills shared with you. Claude's docs also say a skill follows the Agent Skills spec, an open standard, so another tool that adopts the spec can run the same file.

A copied file does not pick up the expert's next edit by itself. Anthropic's comparison does not give you one link that Claude, ChatGPT, and Codex all run.

Use MCP for a live system

MCP is the protocol an AI app uses to talk to a server. As of 19 October 2026, Anthropic says to use it when Claude needs a system you did not paste into the chat, such as Google Drive, Slack, GitHub, or a database. The skill tells Claude what to do with that data. The server is how Claude reaches it.

Microsoft's Copilot Studio guide, as of the same day, is the better page when you are building agents there. It says to use an MCP server when many agents should discover the same tools, and to call an API directly when you are only trying something once. Use the product's own server for that product. CloneKit does not replace GitHub's server, Slack's server, or any other vendor server.

Send a kit when the job has to run in more than one AI

A kit on CloneKit is an expert's process for one job. A read kit is files your AI reads. A run kit is steps your AI follows, then checks. CloneKit sends the steps. It does not run the kit's code. The work happens in the accounts of the person who uses it.

You connect CloneKit once, at https://clonekit.ai/mcp. Every kit comes through that connection. Claude, ChatGPT, Grok, Cursor, VS Code, Claude Code, and Codex can use it. The steps are in how to use a kit in Claude, ChatGPT, or Codex. A separate read-only server at https://clonekit.ai/mcp/read can search kits and read free kits with no sign-in.

A custom connector in ChatGPT needs a paid ChatGPT plan. On some plans it can only read. If ChatGPT cannot save a kit, use Claude.

You fix the kit once. The next run gets the update. A free read kit also downloads as a SKILL.md folder. The exported file ends with a link to the live kit, so the copy points back at the current version. Sharing a kit is free. Using a kit is free. The other person pays for the AI they already use.

Selling a paid kit needs Pro at US$12 a month or Max at US$39 a month. Selling works in the United States only. The plan details are on pricing.

If you are moving a custom GPT, read custom GPT vs a Claude skill. That page has OpenAI's dates, and the case for staying with the ChatGPT plugin when everyone already works in one ChatGPT workspace.

What to do

1. The request is for this chat only. Write the prompt and stop.
2. The procedure stays in Claude and needs the code sandbox. Keep the Claude skill.
3. Your AI has to use a product's live tools. Connect that product's MCP server.
4. The same procedure has to run for someone on Claude, ChatGPT, or Codex. Open @francisco/make-a-kit and tell your AI: "Interview me and write my CloneKit kit."
5. Connect CloneKit with the guide above and send the kit link. Browse kits to see a kit page. @francisco/whatsapp-agents is a multi-agent WhatsApp assistant. Setup for every app is in the docs.

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