A beginner-friendly breakdown of four key AI concepts: agents, AI assistants, MCP servers, and agent skills. AI agents are proactive and autonomous, capable of multi-step reasoning and tool use. AI assistants are reactive, specialized agents that collaborate with users. MCP servers provide a standardized protocol for exposing tools, resources, and prompts to AI models. Agent skills are lightweight markdown files that give agents context and step-by-step workflows without adding new capabilities — analogous to assembly instructions that guide use of existing tools.
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