arn-code-catch-up
This skill should be used when the user says "catch up", "catch-up", "arness code catch up", "retroactive docs", "document old commits", "backfill artifacts", "what did I miss", "undocumented commits", "catch up on commits", "document past work", "backfill records", or wants to retroactively document commits that were made outside the Arness pipeline.
62
73%
Does it follow best practices?
Impact
—
No eval scenarios have been run
Passed
No known issues
Optimize this skill with Tessl
npx tessl skill review --optimize ./plugins/arn-code/skills/arn-code-catch-up/SKILL.mdQuality
Discovery
62%Based on the skill's description, can an agent find and select it at the right time? Clear, specific descriptions lead to better discovery.
The description excels at defining when to use the skill with a comprehensive list of trigger phrases and occupies a clear niche, but it critically fails to explain what the skill actually does. It reads as a trigger-term list rather than a capability description, leaving Claude unable to understand the concrete actions this skill performs.
Suggestions
Add a clear 'what it does' statement at the beginning, e.g., 'Scans git history for undocumented commits, generates artifact records, and backfills documentation for work done outside the Arness pipeline.'
List specific concrete actions the skill performs, such as 'analyzes commit diffs, creates structured documentation entries, updates changelog files.'
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Specificity | The description lacks concrete actions. It never explains what the skill actually does beyond 'retroactively document commits.' There are no specific capabilities listed like 'generates summaries,' 'creates changelog entries,' or 'analyzes git history.' | 1 / 3 |
Completeness | The 'when' is thoroughly covered with explicit trigger phrases, but the 'what' is extremely weak — it only vaguely mentions 'retroactively document commits that were made outside the Arness pipeline' without explaining what actions are performed or what outputs are produced. | 2 / 3 |
Trigger Term Quality | The description includes an extensive list of natural trigger phrases users would say: 'catch up', 'retroactive docs', 'document old commits', 'backfill artifacts', 'what did I miss', 'undocumented commits', etc. These are varied and cover many natural phrasings. | 3 / 3 |
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk | The skill occupies a very clear niche — retroactive documentation of commits made outside a specific pipeline ('Arness'). The trigger terms are highly specific and unlikely to conflict with other skills. | 3 / 3 |
Total | 9 / 12 Passed |
Implementation
85%Reviews the quality of instructions and guidance provided to agents. Good implementation is clear, handles edge cases, and produces reliable results.
This is a well-structured, highly actionable skill for a complex multi-step workflow. It provides concrete commands, specific thresholds, clear user interaction points with multiple options, and comprehensive error handling. The progressive disclosure is excellent with appropriate delegation to reference files, though the opening paragraph and some display templates could be slightly more concise.
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Conciseness | The skill is fairly long (~300 lines) but most content is procedural steps that Claude needs. Some sections are slightly verbose (e.g., the opening paragraph explaining the '2am gap' concept, and some display templates could be tighter), but overall the content is mostly necessary for a complex multi-step workflow. | 2 / 3 |
Actionability | The skill provides specific git commands (e.g., `git log --format='%H|%aI|%s' --no-merges --after=<scan-start>`), concrete directory structures, exact field names for JSON records, specific thresholds (>80% file overlap), and clear batching tiers (1-5, 6-20, 21+). The guidance is highly concrete and executable. | 3 / 3 |
Workflow Clarity | The workflow is clearly sequenced (Steps 0-7) with explicit validation checkpoints: configuration validation in Step 1, user confirmation in Step 4 with multiple options including adjustment loops, idempotency checks in Step 3, and comprehensive error handling. The feedback loop for 'Adjust groupings' and 'Exclude some commits' options demonstrates strong error recovery patterns. | 3 / 3 |
Progressive Disclosure | The skill appropriately references external files for detailed algorithms (cross-reference-algorithm.md), record formats (catchup-record-format.md), configuration (step-0-fast-path.md), template versioning, and pattern refresh procedures. All references are one level deep and clearly signaled with full paths. The main SKILL.md serves as a clear orchestration overview. | 3 / 3 |
Total | 11 / 12 Passed |
Validation
90%Checks the skill against the spec for correct structure and formatting. All validation checks must pass before discovery and implementation can be scored.
Validation — 10 / 11 Passed
Validation for skill structure
| Criteria | Description | Result |
|---|---|---|
frontmatter_unknown_keys | Unknown frontmatter key(s) found; consider removing or moving to metadata | Warning |
Total | 10 / 11 Passed | |
- Repository
- AppsVortex/arness
- Commit
b9084b6
- Reviewed
Table of Contents
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