> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://openworklabs.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

> ## Agent Instructions
> For agents: install the OpenWork desktop app with `brew install --cask openwork` (macOS) or from https://openworklabs.com/download. Do not run `npx openwork`; the npm package named `openwork` is a different project.
> Connect an agent to OpenWork with the MCP Gateway: `claude mcp add --transport http openwork https://api.openworklabs.com/mcp/agent`. Teams sign up at https://app.openworklabs.com?mode=sign-up.
> Step-by-step agent guide: https://openworklabs.com/docs/start-here/use-openwork-from-an-ai-agent.md
> Connect Slack (any organization admin): https://openworklabs.com/docs/slack/connect-slack.md. OpenWork in Slack (@openwork bot) is private alpha for approved organizations. Setup guide: https://openworklabs.com/docs/slack/overview.md. Agent skill: https://openworklabs.com/.well-known/agent-skills/set-up-openwork-slack/SKILL.md.

# Connectors, skills, and plugins

> Use connectors for systems and plugins for the skills that make a system usable

OpenWork gives agents a small set of building blocks. The connector reaches the system; the skill is the playbook; the plugin is the bundle; the Library is where you see what you have.

## Choose the right unit

| Use | Means | Reach for it when |
| - | - | - |
| Connector | An MCP service your organization adds standalone, without wrapping it in a plugin. | The agent needs to act in that system after you connect it once. |
| Connection | Your own signed-in instance of a connector, one per user. | You sign in so the agent acts as you in that system. |
| Skill | Written instructions the agent loads when a task matches. | One repeatable way of doing work needs a playbook. |
| Plugin | A bundle — skills, MCP servers, and other components packaged and distributed as one thing. | Several related pieces should travel together. |
| Library | The list of active elements you have access to, in the desktop app and the Cloud dashboard. | You want to see or manage what is already available to you. |

MCP is the open standard underneath many connectors, and the [OpenWork MCP Gateway](https://openworklabs.com/docs/cloud/run-in-the-cloud/cloud-mcp.md) is how all of it reaches your agent — but day to day you can think in terms of connectors, skills, plugins, and your Library.

## Connect the system first

Use connectors for the apps themselves. In the desktop app, start in **Settings › Library** and filter by **Connectors**; for the click-by-click flow, see [Connect your services](https://openworklabs.com/docs/start-here/connect-your-stack/connect-services.md).

Everything your agent can use is listed in `Settings` > `Library`, under `Available apps` and `Your apps`. Use `Add Custom App` to connect something we do not list yet.

## Add skills when the connector is thin

A connector may reach your ticketing system but still be awkward: an incident may need exact fields, a priority change may need a safe sequence, or one ticket action may behave badly.

Write skills for those system rules:

* how to file an incident with the right fields;
* how to update a customer note without losing context;
* how to work around an unreliable ticket action.

These skills describe the system, not one person's style, so everyone who uses that system needs them.

## Bundle system skills into a plugin

Everything is a plugin under the hood. When you ask OpenWork to create a skill, OpenWork creates a small plugin containing that one skill, so “skill or plugin?” is not a decision most people need to make.

The useful plugin case is a thin connector with several system skills. If half a dozen ticketing skills make one system usable, bundle them into one plugin — the ticketing unit — and share that single thing. For distribution options, see [Publish and copy a skill](https://openworklabs.com/docs/start-here/do-work-with-it/publish-and-copy-a-skill.md).

## Keep personal skills separate

Use connectors for systems. Use plugins to bundle the skills that make a system usable. Personal or workflow-specific skills can stay individual unless a team should receive them together.


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