cost-trend-analysis

Use when analyzing whether costs are growing, declining, or stable over time — for forecasting, budget planning, or understanding spending velocity

Quality

51%

Does it follow best practices?

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Securityby

Passed

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tessl review fix ./plugins/cost-analyst/skills/cost-trend-analysis/SKILL.md

Quality

Content

35%Weight 40%Scale 1-3

Reviews the quality of instructions and guidance provided to agents. Good implementation is clear, handles edge cases, and produces reliable results.

The skill has a clear 8-step workflow and useful API/code examples plus well-signaled external references, but it is far too verbose and pads the overview with material that belongs in referenced files. Validation feedback loops for the code-mandated math are also missing.

Suggestions

Move the Output Format template, the 'Common Trend Patterns and Causes' catalog, and 'Advanced Techniques' into separate reference files, leaving SKILL.md as a lean overview that links to them.

Add an explicit validation/sanity-check step (e.g. 'confirm computed growth rate matches the raw API totals before reporting') to create a validate→fix→retry loop around the code-mandated math.

Replace placeholder query signatures with concrete, copy-paste-ready executable calls (real argument values and a runnable Python script that calls the API), or explicitly justify why pseudocode is used.

Dimension	Reasoning	Score
Conciseness	The body is roughly 420 lines and explains concepts Claude already knows (e.g. what growth/decline/stable patterns mean, generic best-practice tips, and a long Output Format template) that could be trimmed substantially; it does not respect a tight token budget.	1 / 3
Actionability	It provides concrete API call examples and an executable Python growth-rate snippet, but most query blocks are pseudocode/template signatures (get_cost_data(...)) with placeholder outputs and no real executable bindings, leaving key steps incomplete.	2 / 3
Workflow Clarity	The 8-step sequence is clearly ordered, but it lacks validation checkpoints — the Critical Rule mandates code-computed math yet provides no 'verify the result / sanity-check / re-run on error' feedback loop for the destructive-looking batch projections, capping clarity at 2.	2 / 3
Progressive Disclosure	There is good section organization and several one-level-deep references (${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/references/*.md) are clearly signaled in 'See Also', but the SKILL.md itself is a monolithic wall of inline reference material (Output Format, pattern catalog, advanced techniques) that should live in separate files.	2 / 3
	Total	7 / 12 Passed

Description

67%Weight 40%Scale 1-3

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 is concise, third person, and includes an explicit 'Use when' trigger, which is a strong point. It is somewhat light on concrete actions and natural keyword variations, capping specificity and trigger-term quality at the middle level.

Suggestions

Add concrete actions to the description, e.g. 'Calculate growth rates, decompose trends by service/account, and forecast future spend' to lift specificity.

Include more natural user keywords such as 'trend', 'month over month', 'rate of change', and 'cost over time' alongside the current phrasing.

Add a distinguishing clause (e.g. 'for trend direction and momentum specifically — not anomaly detection') to reduce overlap with adjacent cost-analysis skills.

Dimension	Reasoning	Score
Specificity	The description names the domain (cost trend analysis) and references growth/decline/stability plus forecasting and budget planning, but it does not list multiple distinct concrete actions — it describes one capability and a few use cases rather than a list of operations.	2 / 3
Completeness	It opens with an explicit 'Use when...' trigger clause and answers what the skill does (analyze cost direction over time) and when to use it (forecasting, budget planning, spending velocity).	3 / 3
Trigger Term Quality	It includes natural phrases users would say ('costs are growing, declining, or stable', 'forecasting', 'budget planning', 'spending velocity'), but it omits very common keyword variations like 'trend', 'month over month', 'rate of change', or 'cost over time' that the body itself lists.	2 / 3
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk	The niche (cost trend analysis) is fairly specific, but the phrasing overlaps with sibling cost-analysis skills (e.g. anomaly detection, general cost analysis) and lacks triggers that would clearly distinguish trend analysis from adjacent cost skills.	2 / 3
	Total	9 / 12 Passed

Validation

93%

Warnings & errors only

Checks the skill against the spec for correct structure and formatting. All validation checks must pass before discovery and implementation can be scored.

Validation — 15 / 16 Passed

Validation for skill structure

Criteria	Description	Result
frontmatter_unknown_keys	Unknown frontmatter key(s) found; consider removing or moving to metadata	Warning

	Total	15 / 16 Passed

Repository: Cloudzero/cloudzero-claude-marketplace
Path: plugins/cost-analyst/skills/cost-trend-analysis/SKILL.md
Commit: b9c7c16

Reviewed: 13 days ago

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