MCP server instructions shrink from 11k to 3.5k by moving procedures into skills
in_habitants · reddit · 2026-08-04
The author cut MCP server instructions from 11.1k characters to 3.5k by moving procedural detail out of the handshake and into skills.
Their rule is simple: keep only the instructions that prevent damage in the MCP handshake — cost warnings, timeouts, loop breakers, login steps, and a single entry-point tool. Everything else, such as step-by-step flows for music generation, video model selection, posting, and house style writing, goes into on-demand skills.
The result was better tool-call quality because the model reads the relevant procedure right before acting instead of skimming a huge block at connect time. The post also notes that serving skills through the server lets non-plugin clients reuse the same procedures.
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