MCPs vs Skills: The Framework That Ends the Confusion
MCPs and Skills both extend Claude Code—but when do you use each?
🔑 The simple framework:
- MCPs = Capabilities (tools that give Claude new powers)
- Skills = Orchestration (workflows that teach Claude processes)
⏱️ Timestamps:
0:00 The Confusion Everyone Has 0:21 Model Context Protocol 2:51 Agent Skills 6:42 CLAUDE.md Confusion 8:03 The Framework
📚 Resources mentioned:
- Understanding Claude Code’s Context Window: https://www.damiangalarza.com/posts/2025-12-08-understanding-claude-code-context-window/
- Claude Code Skills docs: https://agentskills.io/
- MCP documentation: https://modelcontextprotocol.io/
Get my Claude Code workflows + weekly insights: → https://www.damiangalarza.com/newsletter?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=parallel-agents
→ Want to level up your Claude Code setup? www.damiangalarza.com/claude-code
Affiliate links — I may earn a commission or credits at no cost to you: 🚂 Railway (where I deploy): https://railway.com?referralCode=dgalarza
About me: I’m Damian Galarza, former CTO with 15+ years building SaaS products. I make practical AI tutorials for developers who want to work smarter with tools like Claude Code.
Work with me:
- 1:1 Coaching: https://www.damiangalarza.com/coaching
- Newsletter: https://www.damiangalarza.com/newsletter
- Blog: https://www.damiangalarza.com
#ClaudeCode #claudecodetutorial #AI #DeveloperTools #MCP #Programming #AgentSkills
Want hands-on help with Claude Code?
I offer 1:1 coaching sessions where we work through your actual setup, workflow, and codebase.
Learn about coaching
Claude Code Agent View: One Screen for Every Background Session
Anthropic's new way to dispatch and manage many Claude Code sessions from one screen — what each row tells you and the shortcuts I use day-to-day.
I Hit My Claude Code Limit and Tried Codex
After two weeks running Codex CLI as my daily driver, I didn't switch from Claude Code — I split. Here's how to share your setup across both tools.
Karpathy's LLM Knowledge Base, Wired Into a Real Agent
How to build Karpathy's LLM knowledge base into a production AI agent using Claude Code plan mode, an Obsidian vault, and a local LLM.
Automate Everything With Claude Code Channels and Webhooks
Claude Code Channels let you connect your coding sessions to Telegram, Discord, webhooks, or any custom UI — here's how they work.
Get new videos and posts by email
Weekly videos on AI engineering, plus deeper dives in the newsletter.
Occasional emails, no fluff.