circle-skills vs payware
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). payware is an MCP server published by payware. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Official MCP Registry). As of our marketplace pass on 2026-10-13. 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 |  payware |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Code: claude-plugins-official | Listed Version: 1.6.0 Forks (GitHub): 62 Stars (GitHub): 156 Not marked · First seen |
Not listed |
| Official MCP Registry | Not listed | Listed Version: 1.4.0 Downloads/month (npm): 828 Downloads/week (npm): 45 Forks (GitHub): 0 Stars (GitHub): 0 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 | payware |
|---|---|---|
| Marketplaces that list it (differs) | 2 (better) | 1 (worse) |
| Stars (GitHub) (differs) | 156 (better) | 0 (worse) |
| Forks (GitHub) (differs) | 62 (better) | 0 (worse) |
| Last release (differs) | Not published | 2026-10-13 |
| Where it runs (differs) | Remote server (api.circle.com/v1/codegen/mcp) | On your machine (@payware/mcp-server) |
| Transport (differs) | Streamable HTTP | stdio |
| Tools it declares | Not published | Not published |
| Environment variables it asks for (differs) | Not published | 7, secrets among them: 1 |
| Parts of the bundle (differs) | 20 | Not a bundle |
| Licence (differs) | Apache-2.0 | Not stated |
| Repository (differs) | github.com/circlefin/skills | github.com/payware/mcp-server |
| Changes in the last 7 days (differs) | 0 | 2 |
| First seen | 2026-10-11 | 2026-10-11 |
| Endpoint at the last check (differs) | Responded 19 h ago | 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.
payware
payware A2A payments API for merchants, ISVs and payment institutions
How to run each
circle-skills As a Claude Code plugin
/plugin install circle-skills@claude-plugins-officialpayware As a local MCP server: npm package
claude mcp add --env "PAYWARE_OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET=<YOUR_PAYWARE_OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET>" --env "PAYWARE_PARTNER_ID=<YOUR_PAYWARE_PARTNER_ID>" --env "PAYWARE_SANDBOX_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH=<YOUR_PAYWARE_SANDBOX_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH>" --transport stdio payware -- npx -y @payware/mcp-serverRequires: PAYWARE_OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET (secret), PAYWARE_PARTNER_ID, PAYWARE_SANDBOX_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH
Commands 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 one's marketplaces publish a list of tools, so there is nothing to compare.
Settings each asks for
The marketplaces of circle-skills publish no settings it asks for, so we do not compare settings.
What it can do: circle-skills · What it can do: payware · 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. Data comes from the Official MCP Registry (registry.modelcontextprotocol.io), CC0 1.0. Figures come from our own regular passes over the marketplaces, last read on . We publish no contact details for plugin publishers.