Claude Skills vs MCP vs HexaHQ workflows.
Every explainer stops at "Skills are know-how, MCP is access." Both are true, and both are on the same side of the line: they help the model reason and reach. Neither governs what the AI is allowed to do in your real systems, or proves what it did. That is a HexaHQ workflow.
The one-paragraph version
A Skill is a reusable bundle of instructions and context the model loads to do a task better. It lives in the client, holds no credentials, gates nothing, leaves no audit trail. An MCP server gives the model access to a tool's API. A HexaHQ workflow is a resolved, auditable action sequence: it picks the right capabilities and knowledge, runs each step under your org's allow / ask / deny policy, holds credentials in custody, and records every resolution, approval, and execution. Skills make the model smarter; workflows are what let it act, under your rules.
| Claude Skill | MCP server | HexaHQ workflow | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | Reusable instructions / context | Access to a tool's API | Governed action sequence |
| What it affects | How the AI reasons | What the AI can reach | What the AI may do, and proves it |
| Credentials | None | You host and hold them | Server-side custody, per person |
| Approval gate | None | None | Org-wide allow / ask / deny |
| Audit trail | None | None | Full timeline |
| Works for tools with no MCP server | n/a | Build one first | AI authors it, no server |
| Shared across a team, keyed per person | Scattered config | Per-machine config | Shared once, run as yourself |
Why the distinction matters
You can have every Skill in the world and still not be able to safely push a record to your CRM or send an email on your behalf, twice, as a second teammate. That gap is exactly what a HexaHQ workflow fills. They are complementary layers: keep your Skills, keep your MCP servers, and let HexaHQ be the part that turns "the AI could act" into "the AI does exactly what your policy permits, and you can prove it."
Give your AI governed action.
Connect a tool and run a workflow under your own policy. Free to start.