On-Demand Skill Files

Pattern for keeping service-specific CLI/API guidance out of the always-loaded project context until the agent actually needs that service.

Key points

• A skill file can teach an agent exact commands, flags, and output formats without requiring a full MCP server ^[src-041].
• In the article’s GitHub CLI experiment, the skill costs about 480 tokens when loaded and steers the agent toward structured --json output ^[src-041].
• The efficiency depends on invocation timing: on-demand skill loading costs once when needed, while putting the same guidance in CLAUDE.md or .cursorrules makes it an always-on context cost ^[src-041].
• On-demand skill files are strongest for low-frequency services that need reliable structured output, such as GitHub, Kubernetes, cloud CLIs, Stripe, or DNS tooling ^[src-041].
• This complements Progressive Context Loading (Skills): a project can carry many skills as long as the full instructions are loaded only when selected.

Related entities

• Claude Code Skills

Related concepts

• Progressive Context Loading (Skills)
• MCP vs CLI Token Trade-off
• G/N Ratio Tool Selection
• API over MCP Principle
• Claude Code Context Management Discipline

Source references

• ^[src-041] Marco Mornati — “The Future of Agentic Tooling: MCP Servers vs. CLI A Data-Driven Comparison” (2026-04-27)