This skill should be used when the user says "feature spec", "arness code feature spec", "arn-code-feature-spec", "spec this feature", "help me spec", "design this feature", "feature design", "write a spec", "create a specification", "I have an idea for a feature", "let's flesh out this feature", "decompose feature", "spec XL feature", "resume spec", "continue spec", "finish my spec", "break down feature", or wants to iteratively develop a feature idea into a well-formed specification through guided conversation with architectural analysis. For XL features with decomposition hints, creates multiple sub-feature specs with full traceability. Produces specification documents capturing WHAT to build and WHY, which then feed into plan creation.
69
62%
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-feature-spec/SKILL.mdQuality
Discovery
89%Based on the skill's description, can an agent find and select it at the right time? Clear, specific descriptions lead to better discovery.
This is a strong description with excellent trigger term coverage and clear completeness. Its main weakness is that the specificity of concrete actions could be improved — while it mentions creating sub-feature specs and producing specification documents, the core capability is described somewhat abstractly as 'guided conversation with architectural analysis.' The extensive trigger phrase list is a notable strength that ensures reliable skill selection.
Suggestions
Add more specific concrete actions beyond 'guided conversation' — e.g., 'identifies dependencies, defines acceptance criteria, maps user stories, outlines technical constraints' to better convey what the specification process actually produces.
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Specificity | The description mentions some concrete actions like 'creates multiple sub-feature specs with full traceability' and 'produces specification documents capturing WHAT to build and WHY,' but the core capability description is somewhat vague — 'iteratively develop a feature idea into a well-formed specification through guided conversation with architectural analysis' is more process-oriented than listing specific concrete actions. | 2 / 3 |
Completeness | The description explicitly answers both 'what' (iteratively develops feature ideas into well-formed specifications, creates sub-feature specs for XL features, produces specification documents capturing WHAT and WHY) and 'when' (extensive list of trigger phrases and the general condition of wanting to develop a feature idea into a specification). The 'Use when' equivalent is the opening clause. | 3 / 3 |
Trigger Term Quality | The description includes an extensive list of natural trigger phrases users would actually say, such as 'feature spec', 'spec this feature', 'help me spec', 'design this feature', 'I have an idea for a feature', 'let's flesh out this feature', 'resume spec', 'break down feature', and many more variations. This provides excellent coverage of how users would naturally phrase their requests. | 3 / 3 |
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk | The description carves out a clear niche around feature specification creation specifically, with distinct triggers like 'feature spec', 'arness code feature spec', and 'arn-code-feature-spec' that are highly specific. It also distinguishes itself from plan creation by noting specs 'feed into plan creation,' clarifying the boundary between this skill and planning skills. | 3 / 3 |
Total | 11 / 12 Passed |
Implementation
35%Reviews the quality of instructions and guidance provided to agents. Good implementation is clear, handles edge cases, and produces reliable results.
This is a highly detailed orchestration skill that attempts to handle a complex, multi-path conversational workflow with numerous conditional branches. Its main strength is thoroughness — it covers greenfield vs standard paths, XL decomposition, sketch integration, security pre-checks, and draft management with error handling for each. Its critical weakness is extreme verbosity: the skill is far too long for its purpose, with much of the content being orchestration logic and context-passing templates that could be compressed significantly or moved to reference files. The inline detail overwhelms rather than guides.
Suggestions
Compress the agent dispatch sections (Step 3b) dramatically — move the detailed context-passing templates (user expertise block, behavioral context instructions, style context instructions) into a reference file like 'agent-dispatch-templates.md' and reference it with a one-line pointer.
Move the Draft Update Protocol and its criteria list to a reference file, replacing the inline content with a brief summary like 'Update the DRAFT file on substantive changes (decisions, requirements, scope). See [draft-protocol.md] for update criteria and rules.'
Add an explicit validation checkpoint before Step 5 finalization: verify all required template sections are populated, all open items are addressed or explicitly deferred, and the spec passes a completeness check before writing the final file.
Reduce the conditional branching verbosity by creating a decision matrix reference file that maps (greenfield/standard × XL/normal × UI/no-UI × security/no-security) to specific action sets, rather than inlining every combination's instructions.
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Conciseness | This skill is extremely verbose at ~500+ lines with extensive conditional branching, repeated context-passing instructions, and detailed edge case handling that could be dramatically compressed. Many sections explain orchestration logic that Claude could infer from shorter instructions (e.g., the lengthy agent dispatch context formatting, the detailed draft update protocol, the false-negative follow-up patterns). The skill reads more like an engineering design document than concise operational instructions. | 1 / 3 |
Actionability | The skill provides concrete step-by-step workflows with specific file paths, agent names, and decision trees, which is good. However, it lacks executable code examples — there are no actual commands, scripts, or template snippets shown inline. Key actions reference external files (feature-spec-template.md, greenfield-loading.md, xl-decomposition.md, agent-invocation-guide.md, specialist-pre-check.md, ensure-config.md) that are not provided in the bundle, making it impossible to verify completeness. The regex pattern and keyword lists are concrete and actionable. | 2 / 3 |
Workflow Clarity | The multi-step workflow is clearly sequenced (Steps 0-5) with sub-steps, and includes some validation checkpoints (draft detection, greenfield loading verification, sketch manifest validation). However, the workflow is so complex with numerous conditional branches (greenfield vs standard, XL vs normal, UI vs no-UI, security-relevant vs not, sketch available vs not, draft exists vs not) that it becomes difficult to follow. Missing explicit validation steps for the final spec output — there's no 'validate the spec is complete before writing' checkpoint, and destructive operations like deleting the DRAFT file lack confirmation. | 2 / 3 |
Progressive Disclosure | The skill references 6 external files (greenfield-loading.md, xl-decomposition.md, agent-invocation-guide.md, feature-spec-template.md, specialist-pre-check.md, ensure-config.md) which is good progressive disclosure in principle. However, none of these bundle files were provided for evaluation, and the main SKILL.md still contains enormous amounts of inline detail that could be offloaded — particularly the agent context formatting blocks, the draft update protocol, and the sketch detection logic. The references are one-level deep and clearly signaled, which is positive. | 2 / 3 |
Total | 7 / 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 | |
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Table of Contents
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