skills vs ecc
Two of the top skills, plugins and rules, side by side: score, setup, license, activity and what each review found.
skills
Agent skills for planning, TDD, debugging and code review
ecc
Skills, agents, hooks and rules that add a workflow to coding agents
| What we compare | skills | ecc |
|---|---|---|
| Score parts, out of 100 | ||
| Adoption | 98, widely used | 96, widely used |
| Freshness | 100, active | 100, active |
| Maintenance | 93, healthy | 91, healthy |
| Easy to run | Not scored for this kind | Not scored for this kind |
| Agent-ready | 70, partly | 70, partly |
| Facts from GitHub and the README | ||
| Stars | 285.2k | 276.8k |
| License | MIT (permissive) | MIT (permissive) |
| Last commit | Oct 2026 | Oct 2026 |
| Last release | Oct 2026 | Oct 2026 |
| Language | Shell | JavaScript |
| Docker | No | Yes |
| GPU | Not needed | Not needed |
| arm64 or Apple Silicon | Not stated | Not stated |
skills
A collection of Markdown skill files for coding agents, split into engineering and productivity groups. It covers grilling sessions that build a project glossary and ADRs, spec and ticket generation, red-green-refactor TDD, a bug diagnosis loop, and diff review. Installs as a plugin for Claude Code, Codex and GitHub Copilot, via gemini skills install for Gemini CLI, or as editable files through npx skills.
Who it is for: Engineers using Claude Code, Codex, Copilot or Gemini CLI on real codebases
Strengths
- Small, composable skills that can be edited; README says they work with any model
- Plugin install for Claude Code, Codex and Copilot, with automatic updates
- Setup skill configures issue tracker (GitHub, GitLab, local files), triage labels and doc locations
- Separates user-invoked orchestration skills from model-invoked discipline skills
Weaknesses
- Manual updates for Gemini CLI and npx installs
- Installing both plugin and npx copies gives every skill twice
- Must run /setup-matt-pocock-skills once per repo before the engineering skills
- Architecture skill is a survey only and will not untangle an old codebase
- no GPU
- Needs Issue tracker (GitHub, GitLab or local files)
- Models: Any model (per README)
ecc
ECC installs a set of 68 agents, 293 skills, 94 legacy command shims, hooks, rules, memory and continuous-learning tooling into coding agents, aiming to enforce a plan, test, implement, review, verify loop. It ships as a Claude Code plugin (`ecc@ecc`) and the `ecc-universal` npm package, with guided setup for Claude Code, Codex and Kimi Code. It also bundles AgentShield, which scans prompts, hooks, MCP config, permissions and secrets.
Who it is for: Developers using Claude Code or Codex who want preset workflows
Strengths
- Guided installer with dry-run for Claude Code, Codex and Kimi Code
- Bundles AgentShield scanner for hooks, MCP config, permissions and secrets
- Large catalog: 68 agents, 293 skills, plus selectable rule packs by language
- MIT license; release 2026-10-01 and commit 2026-10-02 are recent
Weaknesses
- Full support is Claude Code only; other harnesses are capability-limited adapters
- Stacking install methods duplicates skills and hooks; reset steps are needed
- Claude plugins cannot ship rules, so those are copied manually
- ECC Pro GitHub App for private repos is paid, from $19/seat/month
- no GPU
- Docker + Compose
- Needs Node.js 18+, Git, Claude Code 2.1+ (for plugin setup)