# Choose an interface: Skill, CLI, SDK, or MCP

How the Agent Skill, CLI, TypeScript SDK, MCP server, and hosted tool adapter differ, and which fits your setup.

Slopcamera offers four local interfaces plus a hosted adapter for platforms. They reach the same closed operation registry; they differ in who drives them, how much surface they expose, and where credentials live. Pick the interface by who reads it and how much of the contract they need.

| Interface | Driven by | Surface | Needs |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Agent Skill | A coding agent reading instructions | Version-matched guidance that routes to the right commands | The CLI installed from the same release or checkout |
| CLI | Humans and agents in a terminal | The complete local surface, with `--json` receipts on reads and mutations | Bun 1.3.14+; engines and FFmpeg as each job requires |
| TypeScript SDK | Bun code you own | Typed imports from `@hraness/slopcamera`, `/code`, `/workflow`, and `local/*` | The package or a source checkout |
| MCP server | An MCP-capable client | A fixed 17-tool subset inside one workspace root | The installed CLI |
| Hosted tool adapter | Agent platforms without a local shell | Bounded REST and MCP endpoints over the same registry | Separate deployment; see the repository |

## Agent Skill

The skill is instructions, not a runtime. `slopcamera skill install --target agents` (or `slopcamera skill install --target claude` for Claude Code) installs guidance matched to your CLI version that tells the agent which commands fit each creative job and how to check local tools. Installing it does not install the CLI or native engines, and `--scope project` keeps it inside one repository. Choose it first: it is how most agents should meet Slopcamera.

## CLI

`slopcamera` is the canonical command surface: diagrams, vectorization, HTML renders, scenes, studio jobs, projects, workflows, and diagnostics such as `slopcamera doctor --json` and `slopcamera operations list --json`. Every read and mutation supports a stable `--json` receipt, which makes the CLI equally usable by a person and an agent. Everything the other interfaces can do reduces to operations this surface owns.

## TypeScript SDK

The SDK puts the same operations behind typed Bun imports. `@hraness/slopcamera` covers the portable surface; `@hraness/slopcamera/code` authors declarative graphs against the closed capability projection; `@hraness/slopcamera/workflow` keeps the imperative v0.8 API for trusted modules; and `@hraness/slopcamera/local/*` exposes the complete local host. Choose the SDK when the caller is your own program rather than a conversation. [SDK surfaces](/docs/reference/sdk) records each entrypoint's scope.

## MCP server

`slopcamera mcp --root <workspace>` exposes [the fixed 17-tool set](/docs/reference/mcp-tools): diagram check and render, registry search, six operation codes including vectorization and paid image generation, and thirteen read-mostly scene tools. Paths stay root-relative and bounded. The server exposes no recording, project, studio, or workflow command, so it suits clients that need media tools without shelling out to the full CLI.

## Hosted tool adapter

The `apps/api` adapter in the repository serves the checked tool registry to agent platforms that cannot run a local shell, over per-request ephemeral workspaces with billed operations held and settled through Hraness Credits. It is a separate deployment with its own operator runbook, not part of the local install; the repository's `docs/hosted-api.md` describes it.

## A short decision path

Let a coding agent work through the Agent Skill and CLI by default. Reach for the SDK when the caller is a program, MCP when the caller is an MCP client that should not see the whole CLI, and the hosted adapter only when the caller cannot have a machine at all. Whichever you pick, generation credentials live in the invoking local environment and never cross into the browser or a project file.