circle-skills vs lightning-agent-tools
circle-skills is a plugin bundle for AI coding tools published by circlefin. Marketplaces we read that list it: 2 (Claude Code: claude-plugins-official, Community GitHub marketplaces). lightning-agent-tools is a plugin bundle for AI coding tools published by Lightning Labs. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Community GitHub marketplaces). As of our marketplace pass on 2026-10-29. This pair was picked by a reader, not by our comparison rule, so search engines are asked not to index the page.
Where each is published
| Marketplace |  circle-skills | |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Code: claude-plugins-official | Listed Version: 1.6.0 Forks (GitHub): 63 Stars (GitHub): 161 Not marked · First seen |
Not listed |
| Community marketplace lightninglabs/lightning-agent-tools | Not listed | Listed Version: 0.2.0 Forks (GitHub): 20 Stars (GitHub): 61 Not marked · First seen |
Each figure is the marketplace's own and is never added up across marketplaces. A marketplace that publishes no figure shows none: no number is not zero.
The facts side by side
| Fact | circle-skills | lightning-agent-tools |
|---|---|---|
| Marketplaces that list it (differs) | 2 (better) | 1 (worse) |
| Stars (GitHub) (differs) | 161 (better) | 61 (worse) |
| Forks (GitHub) (differs) | 63 (better) | 20 (worse) |
| Last release (differs) | 2026-10-16 | Not published |
| Where it runs (differs) | Remote server (api.circle.com/v1/codegen/mcp) | Installs as a plugin bundle |
| Transport (differs) | Streamable HTTP | Not stated |
| Tools it declares | Not published | Not published |
| Environment variables it asks for | Not published | Not published |
| Parts of the bundle (differs) | 20 | 12 |
| Licence (differs) | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Repository (differs) | github.com/circlefin/skills | github.com/lightninglabs/lightning-agent-tools |
| Changes in the last 7 days (differs) | 0 | 2 |
| First seen (differs) | 2026-10-11 | 2026-10-26 |
| Endpoint at the last check (differs) | Not responding since 2026-10-25 | no remote endpoint we check |
Lines where the two differ have a tinted background and bold values. Where the data itself says which value is better (more marketplaces, a larger figure of the same marketplace, a fresher release, a verified mark on a marketplace that lists both), the better one is also marked green with ▲ and the worse one red with ▼. Where it runs, the transport, the tools, the settings, hooks, the bundle's parts, the licence and the week's changes are marked only as different: more or fewer is not better in itself.
What each says it does
circle-skills
Ship stablecoin apps faster. Best-practice skills for USDC payments, cross-chain transfers, wallets, and smart contracts — plus Circle's MCP server for real-time SDK and documentation guidance.
lightning-agent-tools
Full Lightning Network agent toolkit with 7 composable skills: lnd node operations, remote signer security, L402 commerce with lnget and Aperture, scoped macaroon credentials, and MCP server integration via Lightning Node Connect.
How to run each
circle-skills As a Claude Code plugin
/plugin install circle-skills@claude-plugins-officiallightning-agent-tools As a Claude Code plugin
/plugin marketplace add lightninglabs/lightning-agent-tools
/plugin install lightning-agent-tools@lightninglabsCommands built only from what the marketplaces declare; the full set for every client is on each card.
Only circle-skills has a remote endpoint we check. How we check endpoints
Tools each declares
Neither the marketplaces of lightning-agent-tools nor its endpoint list any tools, so we do not compare tools.
Settings each asks for
Neither one's marketplaces publish the settings it asks for.
What it can do: circle-skills · What it can do: lightning-agent-tools · Compare two other plugins
Data comes from the public marketplace file https://github.com/anthropics/claude-plugins-official/blob/HEAD/.claude-plugin/marketplace.json. Data comes from public marketplace files in GitHub repositories of their authors. Figures come from our own regular passes over the marketplaces, last read on . We publish no contact details for plugin publishers.