One playbook, portable Agent Plugins and live MCP skills

An AI agent setup is rarely one file. Skills live in directories, tools connect through MCP, editor-specific instructions drift, and secrets must stay out of packages. AgentPlaybooks brings these pieces into a two-level distribution model: a stable project plugin plus a portable export for each playbook.

The Export as Agent Plugin action creates an Agent Plugins 1.0 package with plugin.json, mcp.json, and standards-based skills//SKILL.md files. It includes safe supporting skill files and the playbook's persona and instructions in an AgentPlaybooks-specific extension. It does not include memory contents, canvas data, runs, or credential values. The MCP connection uses host-managed authentication rather than a key baked into a ZIP.

For clients that implement the MCP Skills extension, a playbook MCP endpoint can list skills, return their frontmatter and file manifests, and serve each file with a SHA-256 digest for verification. Other clients can install the exported package or use the existing MCP tools and resources. Some plugin directories snapshot imported skills at review time; live changes to a playbook do not bypass that review.

The CLI still handles the configuration bridge. apb doctor detects drift; apb sync maps supported skills, instructions, custom agents, and MCP references across editors. apb push, apb backups, and apb pull provide a separate, private recovery path. A plugin export is for installation and sharing, not a substitute for central backup.

This is cross-platform AI agent portability, Agent Skills migration, MCP server distribution, and AI agent configuration backup with clear boundaries: the common standard travels broadly, while vendor-only features remain explicit. The release distribution guide tracks npm, MCP registries, plugin marketplaces, skill discovery, Hermes memory, documentation, and review status so a new version is verifiable everywhere it claims to be available.