New Open Standard Aims to End Chaos in AI Agent Extensions

Companies including Amazon, Cursor, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Vercel have jointly developed the open standard Agent Plugins. It defines a unified package format for packaging and reusing extensions for AI agents. Previously, each product used its own formats, folder structures, and setup processes, forcing developers to adapt their work for each platform. The new standard consists of a directory with a manifest file named plugin.json. Version 1.0.0 supports two components: Agent Skills for reusable instructions and workflows, and MCP servers that connect agents with tools and data. The standard only regulates packaging and discoverability, not marketplaces, permissions, or runtime environments. The specification is developed openly on GitHub.