05 / Guides
You do not have to wait for your apps to add AI. These explain the standards that made that true, what they mean if you never write code, and how to decide what is worth handing over.
The standards
An MCP server is a program that publishes one application's capabilities as a list an AI assistant can read and call, so the assistant can do work inside that application instead of only describing it.
A Claude skill is a folder holding a short instruction file named SKILL.md that tells Claude how to do one specific task, along with any reference files, templates, or scripts that task needs.
MCP, short for Model Context Protocol, is an open standard that lets an AI assistant read from and act inside software it did not come with, without that software's vendor building an AI feature first.
The best MCP server for a given job is the one published by the vendor of an app you already pay for, and this page names the twenty of those it has checked one at a time.
MCP is the open standard Claude uses to reach your other software, and inside Claude's own interface it is labeled "connectors" rather than MCP, which is why searching your settings for the letters M, C, P finds nothing.
An API is the interface software uses to talk to other software, and calling one directly has always required a person who writes code, while MCP is an open standard that sits in front of that same API and lets an assistant you already talk to call it for you, so what changed is the requirement rath
No. The assistant you already talk to can read and act inside much of the software you already pay for, without that software shipping a single AI feature of its own, and the catalog on this site is the filter for which software that is.