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Anthropic donates Agent Skills standard to the Agentic AI Foundation

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Anthropic announced on 22 October 2026 that it is donating the Agent Skills standard to the Agentic AI Foundation (AAIF), which sits under the Linux Foundation. Simon Willison relayed the news on his link blog, quoting Anthropic's statement: "We’re committed to keeping Agent Skills open, community-driven, and vendor-neutral."

The statement adds context about the receiving body. Anthropic co-founded the AAIF with Block and OpenAI last year, and it has already donated the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to the foundation. Agent Skills now follows MCP into the same home.

Willison says he called this outcome last December, when Anthropic first declared skills to be an "open standard". His earlier post said: "I wouldn't be surprised to see this end up in the AAIF, recently the new home of the MCP specification."

He also adds a side note. His blog content is available to Claude through the datasette-mcp plugin, so he found that old post by prompting Claude with: "Use simonwillison.net MCP to find if I ever talked about how I want skills to be donated to a standards body".

The post is a short link-blog item. It relays Anthropic's statement and Willison's own comment; it carries no further detail about how the transfer will work.

Key facts

  • Anthropic says that on 22 October 2026 it is donating the Agent Skills standard to the Agentic AI Foundation (AAIF) under the Linux Foundation.
  • Anthropic co-founded the AAIF with Block and OpenAI last year, and has already donated the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to it.
  • Anthropic says it is committed to keeping Agent Skills open, community-driven, and vendor-neutral.
  • Simon Willison says he predicted this last December, when Anthropic first called skills an "open standard".
  • Willison found his old prediction by asking Claude to search his blog through the datasette-mcp plugin.

Why it matters

Moving Agent Skills to a foundation under the Linux Foundation changes who stewards the standard, from a single company to a neutral body. Anthropic frames the aim as keeping it open, community-driven, and vendor-neutral. It also repeats a pattern: MCP was donated to the same foundation earlier, and the AAIF was co-founded by Anthropic, Block and OpenAI, so the two standards now share a home.

Who it affects

Anyone building or using agent skills is the natural audience, since the standard's stewardship is changing hands. The source names Anthropic as the donor and Block and OpenAI as co-founders of the receiving foundation. The AAIF is the recipient.

How to use it

There is nothing to install or switch on. This is a governance announcement, and the source describes no new features or usage steps. Readers who work with Agent Skills can follow the AAIF and Anthropic's own announcement for further updates.

How solid is it

The core claim is first-party: Willison quotes Anthropic's own statement that it is donating the standard to the AAIF. Willison's post is a short relay with his comment, not an independent report. His claim to have predicted the move rests on his own earlier post from last December, which he quotes. The source does not give governance details, technical changes, or a timeline for the transfer, and it does not include reactions from Block, OpenAI or the Linux Foundation.

Risks and caveats

Little is known yet about how the standard will be governed under the AAIF, and the source states no timeline for the transfer. Open, community-driven and vendor-neutral are Anthropic's stated commitments; the source does not show how they will be enforced. The source also does not say which other organisations support or have adopted Agent Skills.

“We’re committed to keeping Agent Skills open, community-driven, and vendor-neutral.”

— Anthropic, as quoted by Simon Willison