Microsoft has introduced Agent Plugins 1.0, an open specification that standardises packaging for AI skills, enhancing interoperability across multiple AI tools and fostering broader industry support.
Microsoft has moved its VS Code agent plugin format closer to a broader industry standard, with a new open specification designed to let the same packaged skills and Model Context Protocol servers work across multiple AI tools. The change turns what began as an experimental VS Code feature into something more portable, while keeping installation and management features inside each client’s own product experience, according to Visual Studio Magazine and the Agent Plugins specification.
The new standard, called Agent Plugins 1.0, narrows the scope of what is shared between tools. It covers Agent Skills and MCP servers, but leaves hooks, slash commands and custom agents as client-specific features. That means a package can travel between compatible clients, yet some of the richer VS Code customisation types remain tied to the application that understands them, the specification says.
Microsoft updated its VS Code agent-plugin documentation on August 6 to reflect the open format and removed the “Preview” label from the page title. The documentation now describes Agent Plugins 1.0 as an open standard for cross-tool compatibility, while still distinguishing it from older Copilot, Claude and legacy OpenPlugin formats. Visual Studio Magazine reported that Microsoft has not issued a separate general-availability announcement for the overall feature.
Under the standard, a plugin is a directory with a required plugin.json file, a fixed skills/ folder and a root-level mcp.json file for MCP server definitions. The specification also allows client-specific extensions through namespace-based folders, letting tools add their own metadata without breaking portability. The Agent Plugins website describes the goal as standardising packaging while leaving distribution, permissions and user experience to individual clients.
The broader ecosystem is already moving in the same direction. The Agent Plugins project lists support from VS Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, Codex and Kiro, while Google said on August 6 that it was joining as a core maintainer and adding support in its own products. Google said its Agents CLI and Data Agent Kit already support the format, underscoring that the standard is intended as a shared layer across competing AI tools rather than a Microsoft-only convention.
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