MCP — Model Context Protocol
By Anthropic — Connects AI models to external tools and data. The “USB-C for AI.”
Adopted by: Claude Code, Cursor, Gemini CLI, AdaL CLI, Cline
Ecosystem Landscape
The AI coding agent ecosystem in early 2026 consists of 10+ major agents, 5+ config formats, 2 dominant protocols, and 3+ registries. This page maps the full landscape.
Coding Agents
Section titled “Coding Agents”| Agent | Company | Type | Protocol | Config Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Code | Anthropic | Terminal | MCP | CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, SKILL.md |
| Cursor | Anysphere | IDE | MCP | .cursorrules, AGENTS.md |
| GitHub Copilot | Microsoft | IDE Plugin | Custom | copilot-instructions.md, AGENTS.md |
| OpenAI Codex | OpenAI | Cloud | Custom | AGENTS.md |
| Agent | Company | Type | Protocol | Config Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gemini CLI | Terminal | MCP | AGENTS.md | |
| Windsurf | Cognition | IDE | Custom | AGENTS.md |
| Amp | Sourcegraph | Terminal + Web | ACP | AGENTS.md |
| Devin | Cognition | Autonomous | Custom | AGENTS.md |
Config Formats
Section titled “Config Formats”| Format | Owner | Universal? | Nested? | Scripts? | Registry? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AGENTS.md | Linux Foundation | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| CLAUDE.md | Anthropic | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| .cursorrules | Cursor | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | Community |
| copilot-instructions.md | GitHub | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| SKILL.md | Vercel + Anthropic | ⚠️ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ skills.sh |
Protocols
Section titled “Protocols”ACP — Agent Client Protocol
By Zed + JetBrains — Connects AI agents to any editor environment.
Adopted by: Amp, JetBrains AI, Zed
Registries & Directories
Section titled “Registries & Directories”| Registry | Owner | What It Lists | Scale |
|---|---|---|---|
| skills.sh | Vercel | Reusable agent skills | 35K+ installs |
| ACP Registry | Zed / JetBrains | ACP-compatible agents | Growing |
| codingagent.md | Sylph.AI | Everything | You’re here! |
Last updated: Feb 2026 · Edit this page