AgentSkin: Semantic Shorthand Standard (SSS)

AgentSkin is an open-source protocol and reference Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that establishes the Semantic Shorthand Standard (SSS) for Agentic Perception.

The protocol defines a standardized method for recursively pruning high-entropy, human-readable data (HTML, bloated JSON, complex APIs) into low-entropy, deterministic Markdown "Skins." This significantly reduces LLM token consumption (the "Token Tax") and eliminates perceptual drag in autonomous reasoning loops.

The Protocol

The core of AgentSkin is the recursive pruning engine. It operates on a simple, declarative standard:

1. Audit: Intercept raw data payloads.
2. Signal Mapping: Define an array of required, high-density keys.
3. Semantic Pivot: Apply an alias map to standardize inconsistent API schemas into a unified namespace.
4. Flatten: Output a deterministic, hierarchical Markdown string.

Reference Implementation

This repository provides the official Node.js reference implementation of the SSS protocol, exposed as a standard MCP server.

Quickstart (MCP Server)

You can run the AgentSkin reference server directly via npx to provide your local AI assistants (Claude Desktop, Cursor, etc.) with the fetch_optimized_data tool.

npx -y agentskin@latest

Claude Desktop Configuration

Add the following to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "agentskin": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "agentskin@latest"]
    }
  }
}

Tools

The reference implementation exposes the following tools to AI agents:

1. fetch_optimized_data

Fetches any API or Web URL and returns a token-optimized "Skin." Token savings vary by data structure (benchmarked: 66-86% for typical API responses).

• Arguments:
  • url (string, required): The target data source.
  • signals (string[], optional): An array of semantic keys to preserve.
  • aliases (object, optional): A map to rename original keys to standardized signals.

2. skin_reasoning

Optimizes natural language text by removing linguistic noise (hedging, filler).

• Arguments:
  • text (string, required): The natural language string to distill.

Creating a Skin

AgentSkin is a factory for intelligent perception. You provide the mapping; the protocol provides the engine.

When using the fetch_optimized_data tool, provide the signals and aliases parameters to build your own skin.

Example: Weather API Skin

{
  "url": "https://api.weather.gov/gridpoints/TOP/31,80/forecast",
  "signals": ["temperature", "windspeed", "shortforecast"],
  "aliases": {
    "temperature": "temp",
    "shortforecast": "forecast"
  }
}

Architecture

This package is designed as a Local-First, Open Studio.

• All data fetching and pruning happens locally on the host machine.
• User session state, cookies, and network access remain strictly local and private.
• The core engine (skin-engine.js) operates without external dependencies for transformation.

Security

The reference implementation includes robust security measures:

• SSRF Protection: Blocks private network ranges (IPv4: 127.x, 10.x, 172.16-31.x, 192.168.x; IPv6: ::1, ::ffff:, fe80:)
• Cloud Metadata Blocking: Prevents access to GCP, Azure, and Kubernetes metadata services
• Rate Limiting: 30 requests/minute sliding window per client
• Input Validation: All tool inputs validated with Zod schemas
• URL Sanitization: Dangerous URL schemes (javascript:, data:) stripped from HTML links
• Processing Timeout: 30s limit prevents resource exhaustion

Testing

npm test        # Run all 77 tests
npm run lint   # Lint code quality
npm run benchmark  # Run token compression benchmarks

Specification & Benchmarks

• Formal Specification
• FAQ with Benchmarks
• Local Benchmarks npm run benchmark

Online docs: agentskin.dev

Maintained by Nichols Transco LLC. Built for the machine economy.