Rules, Skills, Hooks & MCP Explained in 10 minutes

Snyk

May 11, 2026

Are you confused by the terminology surrounding AI coding tools? You aren't alone. In this video, we break down the four essential components that transform a basic LLM into a powerful coding agent: Rules, Skills, Hooks, and the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

Most developers make the "expensive mistake" of cramming everything into a rules file, leading to high token costs and inconsistent results. We explore the critical difference between probabilistic (AI-interpreted) and deterministic (guaranteed) actions, and provide a 4-question decision framework to help you set up your environment like a pro.

Use Snyk for free to find and fix security issues in your applications today! https://snyk.co/ugLYn

✍️ Resources ✍️

⏲️ Chapters ⏲️

00:00 The confusion around AI coding terminology

00:53 Quick Reference: Rules, Skills, Hooks, and MCP

01:54 Probabilistic vs. Deterministic

02:50 The #1 mistake

03:13 Rules

04:12 Skills

05:16 MCP

06:31 Hooks

07:26 The Decision Framework

08:29 Putting it all together

09:24 Summary

⚒️ About Snyk ⚒️

Snyk helps you find and fix vulnerabilities in your code, open-source dependencies, containers, infrastructure-as-code, software pipelines, IDEs, and more! Move fast, stay secure.

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