Claude Code Extensions – Skills, Hooks, MCP, Subagents, and Agent SDK
Lesson 1: Choose the Right Extension Layer
Lesson Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students should be able to:
- Compare instructions, skills, hooks, MCP, subagents, and plugins.
- Decide when plain prompting is enough.
- Write an extension decision map.
Lesson Content
Not every repeated workflow needs a custom agent. Some tasks only need a better prompt. Stable project rules belong in instructions. Repeatable methods can become skills. Automatic checks can become hooks. External systems may require MCP. Separate research or isolated subtasks may use subagents. Productized workflows may call for plugins or Agent SDK work.
The professional habit is to solve the smallest real problem first.
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