
If left uncontained, many of the more dangerous anomalies will pose a serious threat to humans or even all life on Earth. They include living beings and creatures, artifacts and objects, locations and places, abstract concepts, and incomprehensible entities which display supernatural abilities or other extremely unusual properties. Despite their extremely secretive nature, the Foundation is entrusted by governments around the world to capture and contain various unexplained paranormal phenomena that defy the known laws of nature (referred to as "anomalies", "SCP objects", "SCPs", or informally as "skips"). The fictional setting centers around the findings and activities of the SCP Foundation: an international secret society consisting of a scientific research institution with a paramilitary intelligence agency to support their goals. The SCP universe has inspired numerous fan-made adaptations in widely varying forms of media including books, comics, video games, animated, and live-action short films. The wiki's literary works have been praised for their ability to convey horror through a quasi-scientific and academic writing style, as well as for their high standards of quality. The website also contains "Foundation Tales", short stories featuring various characters and settings in the SCP universe.

The majority of works on the SCP Wiki consist of thousands of SCP files: mock confidential scientific reports that document various SCPs and associated containment procedures.

The collaborative writing project operates on the wiki-like website SCP Wiki, and includes elements of many genres such as horror, science fiction, and urban fantasy. Within the website's shared universe, the Foundation is responsible for capturing, containing, and studying various paranormal, supernatural, and other mysterious phenomena unexplained by science (known as "anomalies" or "SCPs"), while also keeping their existence hidden from the rest of human society. The SCP Foundation is a fictional secret organization documented by the collaborative-writing wiki project of the same name.
