feat: Add native support for Agent Plugins specification (agent-plugins.org) #14092

Describe the feature or problem you’d like to solve

Currently, AI agent capabilities and skill extensions across developer tools are fragmented, with each platform requiring its own manifest format, folder structure, and setup process. While GitHub CLI (gh) recently introduced dedicated skill management via gh skill, there is no top-level command or standard within gh to manage the vendor-neutral Agent Plugins format that combines both reusable skills and Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers.

Having a separate, first-class top-level command—gh plugin—alongside gh skill and gh extension will give developers a dedicated, standardized workflow to manage cross-platform agent plugins directly in the CLI.

Proposed solution

Introduce a new top-level gh plugin command suite in GitHub CLI (functioning in the same first-class manner as gh skill) to natively support the Agent Plugins open standard (agent-plugins.org).

Proposed Command Interface:

• gh plugin install <repo-or-url>: Installs an Agent Plugin from a repository or directory.
• gh plugin list: Lists installed agent plugins and their contained skills/MCP servers.
• gh plugin remove <plugin>: Uninstalls a plugin.
• gh plugin update: Updates installed plugins to their latest versions.
• gh plugin exec / gh plugin run: Executes tools or workflows exposed by an installed plugin.

Core Capabilities:

1. Manifest Parsing: Recognize and parse the standard plugin.json manifest at the root of a plugin package.
2. Dual Capability Support: Natively discover and register both components defined in the standard:

• Agent Skills: Reusable instructions and workflows.
• MCP Servers: Model Context Protocol servers providing external tool bindings and contextual data to CLI agent sessions.

Benefits:

• First-Class CLI Experience: Provides a clean, dedicated gh plugin namespace parallel to gh skill rather than burying plugin management under subcommands.
• Write Once, Run Anywhere: Plugin authors construct a single plugin.json package that works seamlessly in gh as well as other major agent platforms.
• Interoperability: Gives GitHub CLI users immediate access to the broader open-source MCP and agent skill ecosystem.

Additional context

Industry Standard & Backing

The Agent Plugins specification (agent-plugins.org | github.com/agentplugins) is an open, vendor-neutral standard created and backed by key industry leadership, including:

• Microsoft
• GitHub
• OpenAI
• AWS
• Cursor
• Vercel

Technical References

• Standard Reference: agent-plugins.org
• GitHub Organization: github.com/agentplugins
• Existing GH CLI Pattern: gh skill manual
• Announcement Video: Introducing Agent Plugins (YouTube)