---
title: Agent Skills FAQs
slug: ai/agent-skills/faqs
excerpt: >-
  Answers to common questions on Pine Labs Agent Skills, MCP Server, privacy,
  updates, footprint, and license.
hidden: false
metadata:
  title: Pine Labs Agent Skills FAQs | Pine Labs Online Payments
  description: >-
    Answers to common questions about Pine Labs Agent Skills, how they differ
    from MCP Server, privacy, how skills stay updated, package footprint, and
    license.
  keywords: >-
    Agent Skills FAQ, Pine Labs AI coding assistant, MCP Server vs Agent Skills,
    privacy, npx update, MIT license
  robots: index
sidebar_order: 5
sidebar_label: FAQs
---
Use these FAQs to understand what Pine Labs Agent Skills install, how they differ from the MCP Server, and how to keep them updated.

<Accordion title="What are Pine Labs Agent Skills in simple terms?">
They are a Pine Labs knowledge pack for AI coding assistants. After installation, the assistant has better context about Pine Labs payment flows, safety rules, and implementation patterns.
</Accordion>

<Accordion title="How are Agent Skills different from MCP Server?">
Agent Skills give the AI assistant **product knowledge and implementation guidance**. MCP Server gives the assistant **live tool access**.

- Agent Skills tell the assistant how to do Pine Labs work correctly.
- [MCP Server](/ai/mcp-server) lets the assistant interact with Pine Labs APIs directly through natural language.

They are complementary, not interchangeable.
</Accordion>

<Accordion title="If both exist, why use Agent Skills at all?">
Because tool access alone does not automatically make the assistant accurate about Pine Labs-specific implementation rules. Agent Skills provide the judgment layer: the right flow, the right sequencing, and the right safeguards.
</Accordion>

<Accordion title="For a new merchant, should we start with Agent Skills or MCP Server?">
If only one starting point can be offered, Agent Skills are usually the better first step for a new merchant.

- New merchants usually need guidance before they need live tool access.
- Agent Skills fit directly into IDE-based code-writing workflows.
- They help teams avoid common mistakes in callbacks, credentials, retries, and go-live handling.

The strongest long-term setup is both together, but Agent Skills are the simpler starter path.
</Accordion>

<Accordion title="Does my code leave my machine?">
The CLI installs Pine Labs skill files locally into the project. It does not need to upload repository code to Pine Labs in order to write those files. Whether code leaves the machine during assistant use depends on the coding assistant you choose and that assistant's own data-handling settings.
</Accordion>

<Accordion title="How do skills stay updated?">
Run:

```bash
npx pinelabs-agent-skills-cli update
```

This refreshes installed Pine Labs skills. Re-running installation can also replace the managed manifest block and skill files in place.
</Accordion>

<Accordion title="What is the footprint of the package?">
The published npm package is lightweight. Version `0.5.2` has an unpacked size of approximately `722 kB` across `15` published files.

Inside a project, it adds a `pinelabs-skills` directory and updates one framework-specific manifest file per selected framework.
</Accordion>

<Accordion title="Is it open source and under what license?">
The npm package is published under the `MIT` license. The source repository is hosted at `github.com/plural-pinelabs/pinelabs-agent-skills-cli`.
</Accordion>

<Accordion title="Does this replace code review and testing?">
No. Pine Labs Agent Skills reduce common integration failure modes, but they do not replace code review, security review, test coverage, or go-live validation.
</Accordion>

<Accordion title="What are P3P skills?">
P3P skills provide guidance for Pine Labs P3P x402 and UPI ReservePay flows. They include:

- `p3p/pay.md` for CLI-driven agent payments: mandate creation, PPT token creation, debit execution, and webhook listening.
- `p3p/sdk-integration.md` for x402 payment middleware integration using P3P server/client SDKs and framework templates.

These are guidance assets. The installer does not install P3P runtime packages — install those separately when needed.
</Accordion>

<Accordion title="Is Kiro supported?">
Yes. Kiro is supported as of version `0.5.0`. Use `--frameworks kiro` or the aliases `kiro-ide` or `kiro-cli` to install skills for Kiro.

The installer writes the Pine Labs skill package into Kiro's native workspace skills directory (`.kiro/skills/pinelabs-skills`) and adds a workspace steering file (`.kiro/steering/pinelabs-agent-skills.md`).
</Accordion>

<Accordion title="Does the installer collect telemetry?">
No. The installer does not collect telemetry. It only writes local skill files and managed manifest blocks in the project path you choose. Any future analytics must be opt-in, privacy documented, and must never collect secrets or identifiers silently.
</Accordion>



## Resources
<CardGroup cols={3}>

<Card
  title="Integration Guide"
  description="Install Pine Labs Agent Skills with a single command and configure any of the eight supported AI coding assistants."
  icon="book-open"
  href="integration-guide"
/>

<Card
  title="Available Skills"
  description="Explore the best-practices skill and API-area reference skills covering checkout, orders, refunds, payouts, and more."
  icon="code"
  href="available-skills"
/>

<Card
  title="Use Cases"
  description="Explore how Pine Labs product context helps with checkout, callbacks, refunds, payouts, and production readiness."
  icon="workflow"
  href="use-cases"
/>


</CardGroup>