Phil Whittaker - CLI vs MCP vs Agent Skills

Agent tooling has become one of the most argued about areas of AI.

In the space of a few months, we’ve gone from “MCP is the standard” to a growing backlash, CLI-based approaches, and the introduction of Agent Skills — all claiming to be the right way to give agents capabilities.

So which one actually matters?

This talk breaks down what’s really going on beneath the noise.

We’ll look at how three very different approaches ended up being compared as if they solve the same problem — and why that framing is causing so much confusion. From protocol-driven systems like MCP, to direct execution via CLI and APIs, to higher-level abstractions like Agent Skills, each represents a different way of thinking about control, context, and responsibility in agent systems.

The goal isn’t to pick a winner — it’s to understand the trade-offs well enough to make deliberate choices.

Key takeaways:

• Why this debate exists — and why it’s become so polarised
• What MCP, CLI, and Agent Skills actually are (and aren’t)
• How agents interact with each approach in practice
• Where each approach works best — and where they don't

Who Should Attend

Engineers and technical leaders building with AI agents, or trying to make sense of the current tooling landscape.

Why It’s Worth Attending

There’s a lot of noise, strong opinions, and conflicting advice in this space right now. This session cuts through that with a clear, grounded view of what’s actually happening — and how to use these separate tools.

Agenda

18:30 – Doors, pizza & mingling
18:50 – Introductions
19:00 – Talk - Phil Whittaker - CLI vs MCP vs Agent Skills
19:40 – Q&A
19:50 – Open social & refreshments
20:30 – Close

Entry

Upon arrival at Accenture’s Manchester office
(2 Symphony Park, Circle Square, Manchester M1 7FS),
please check in at reception and you’ll be directed to the meetup.

Please note, attendees must show a form of ID on entry.

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