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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Common questions about the MAAP AI Plugins marketplace and how to get started.

Q: What is this marketplace for?​

It helps MAAP users find and install AI plugins — skills and MCP servers — for the Multi-Mission Algorithm and Analysis Platform. Use it to:

  • Convert science algorithms into OGC Application Packages
  • Query MAAP jobs, batches, costs, and workspace files from your AI agent
  • Automate other MAAP workflows as new plugins are contributed

It is ideal for standardizing how MAAP users work with algorithms and the platform from inside an AI agent.

Q: What do I need to use these plugins?​

You're recommended to have an agentic AI tool installed, such as:

  • Claude Code — command-line AI agent by Anthropic
  • Other AI assistants with skill / MCP support

Important: the AI tool needs to be an agentic tool — not a browser-based chatbot. It should be able to read/write files, execute commands, and automate workflows.

Installing a plugin (Claude Code):

/plugin marketplace add MAAP-Project/maap-ai-marketplace
/plugin install <name>@maap-ai-marketplace

Then use it by following the example usage shown on the plugin's page. MCP servers are connected via your agent's MCP config rather than installed as a skill — see the server's page for details.

Q: What's the difference between a Skill and an MCP Server?​

Skills are specialized instruction sets that guide AI agents through a specific task — "recipes" for workflows like converting an algorithm to OGC.

MCP Servers (Model Context Protocol) are integrations that connect AI agents to external services and APIs — such as the MAAP Console's job and workspace tools. An MCP server can be hosted elsewhere; this marketplace links to it and explains how to connect.

Q: Do the plugins have to live in this repository?​

  • Skills in this initial marketplace live in-repo under static/marketplace/skills/.
  • MCP servers can be externally hosted — the marketplace links to the repo or hosted endpoint rather than copying the code in (the MAAP Platform server is a link to MAAP-Project/maap-console-ui).
  • Whole other marketplaces can be surfaced here via federation (adding their registry URL to marketplaceConfig.registries).

Q: How do I contribute my own plugin?​

  1. Review the guidelines: see Submit an AI Plugin.
  2. Create your artifact: develop your skill or MCP server.
  3. Test it with an agentic AI tool.
  4. Submit a pull request adding it to static/marketplace/ and an entry to static/data/registry.json.

Still have questions?​

Open an issue or start a discussion on the marketplace repository.