Listing types explained

Understand building blocks vs playbooks and when to publish Skills, MCP, or both on OpenQuok.

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OpenQuok organizes the catalog in two layers: what you install (building blocks) and how you combine them (playbooks).

Building blocks vs playbooks

Building blocks

A building block is a single listing on the Building Blocks hub. Think of it as one brick in your agent stack:

One product name, description, and install instructions
Tagged by category (for example social publishing, analytics, productivity)
Filterable as Skills, MCP, Both, or Official

Examples: a standalone MCP server, a skill that teaches an agent how to schedule posts, or OpenQuok Core which ships both a skill and MCP tools.

Use a building block when you are publishing one installable thing others can add to their setup.

Playbooks

A playbook is a stack — a curated bundle of building blocks with a shared story (for example “research → draft → schedule → measure”). Playbooks live on the Playbooks hub.

Includes multiple building blocks you select from the catalog (or your own drafts)
Often exported from Skill Builder as a workflow + SKILL.md preview
Great for sharing an end-to-end routine instead of a single tool

Use a playbook when you want readers to install a whole workflow, not hunt for pieces one by one.

Tip

Quick mental model: Building block = one ingredient. Playbook = the recipe that lists which ingredients to use and in what order.

Skills, MCP, and Both

When you create a building block, you choose an extension type. This controls what install information appears on the hub card.

Skills (Markdown)

Skills are agent instructions — usually installed with a shell command that copies a SKILL.md (or similar) into the user’s agent config.

Choose Skills when your listing is:

Documentation and prompts the agent reads at runtime
CLI-oriented workflows (openquok posts:create, etc.)
Installed with a command like npx skills add …

Hub cards show the skills install command and a Skill Setup Doc link when you provide one.

MCP (Model Context Protocol)

MCP listings expose tools an MCP client can call — list integrations, create posts, fetch analytics, and so on.

Choose MCP when your listing is:

An MCP server (HTTP, stdio, or SSE transport)
Defined by a tools table (tool name + short description) on the hub card
Installed by adding server config to the user’s MCP client

Hub cards show the MCP tools table and an MCP Setup Doc link. Full JSON config belongs on the detail page, not the card.

Both

Both means the same listing ships skills and MCP — for example OpenQuok Core, where agents can use either the skill recipes or native MCP tools against the same workspace.

Choose Both when:

Users might connect via MCP or install a skill, and you want one catalog entry
You can fill in separate install commands and setup doc URLs for each tab

Pick one type honestly

If you only ship a skill today, choose Skills. You can update the listing later if you add MCP. Mislabeling makes the hub card confusing for installers.