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hermes-ephemeral-delegation

Trigger: a mapping need, parallel units, context backstop, high-risk verify, fresh review, or multi-step debug. Delegate via delegate_task for a named reason.

Quality

72%

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tessl review fix ./internal/assets/skills/hermes-ephemeral-delegation/SKILL.md
SKILL.md
Quality
Evals
Security

Quality

Content

67%Weight 40%Scale 1-5

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

The body is a disciplined, token-efficient orchestration guide with a clear decision table, sequenced steps, and a genuine verification checkpoint plus a real, well-placed tuning-knobs reference. Its main defect is dangling internal references: step 2 instructs fetching content from '## Implementation Routing' and the 'Delegated Verification Gate' that appear nowhere in the skill or bundle, leaving writer/verifier missions under-specified.

Suggestions

Resolve the dangling references: either add the '## Implementation Routing' test-first policy and the 'Delegated Verification Gate' (Verify handoff, baseline commit, probe command forms, severity rules) as sections or bundle files, or inline the needed details so writer/verifier missions are fully specified.

Add an explicit recovery path when worker verification fails (step 5) — e.g., re-delegate with corrected mission, fix inline, or report failure — turning discrepancy detection into a true feedback loop.

Slightly decompress the most telegraphic sentences (e.g., the Activation Contract's 'writer reason' clause) into plain phrasing so brevity stops costing clarity on first read.

DimensionReasoningScore

Conciseness

The body is dense and padding-free — hard rules, a decision table, and terse numbered steps with no explanation of concepts Claude already knows, close to the 'lean and efficient' anchor. Not 5, because the telegraphic compression ('A writer reason: 2+ independent units of behavior... each several minutes of work') occasionally sacrifices clarity for brevity and forces rereading.

4 / 5

Actionability

The core workflow is concrete (draft a self-contained mission with goal/paths/constraints/evidence, call delegate_task, 'Verify the claimed output (check file existence, test result, side effect)'), but step 2 points to a '## Implementation Routing' section and the 'Delegated Verification Gate' (with 'the baseline commit', 'the probe command forms') — neither exists in this SKILL.md or anywhere in the bundle — so key executable details are missing. This matches 'some concrete guidance but incomplete; missing key details', not 4, because dangling references exceed 'minor gaps'.

3 / 5

Workflow Clarity

Execution Steps give a clear 6-step sequence with an explicit validation checkpoint (step 5: verify the claimed output before synthesizing) and the Output Contract requires reporting 'Any discrepancy between worker self-report and verified evidence', matching 'clear sequence with most checkpoints present'. Not 5, because there is no explicit recovery path when verification fails (e.g., re-delegate, escalate, or fix inline) beyond reporting the discrepancy.

4 / 5

Progressive Disclosure

The SKILL.md is a well-sectioned overview (Activation Contract, Hard Rules, Decision Gates, Execution Steps, Output Contract) with exactly one clearly signaled, one-level-deep reference — references/tuning-knobs.md, which exists in the bundle and appropriately holds the delegate_task config table and mission checklist. Not 5, because the body points readers to nonexistent sections ('## Implementation Routing', the Delegated Verification Gate feature document), which breaks navigation in those spots.

4 / 5

Total

15

/

20

Passed

Description

62%Weight 40%Scale 1-5

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 correctly captures both the what (delegation via delegate_task) and the when (an explicit trigger list), and sits in a distinct orchestration niche. However, its trigger phrases are highly compressed internal shorthand ("context backstop", "high-risk verify") that a user would rarely say verbatim, weakening trigger-term quality and specificity.

Suggestions

Spell out the trigger phrases as natural language a user would actually say (e.g., 'Use when work splits into independent parallel units, when exploration would exhaust the context window, or when a high-risk change needs independent verification') instead of compressed noun phrases like 'context backstop' and 'high-risk verify'.

Name the concrete actions the skill performs, not just the tool call — e.g., 'draft a self-contained mission, launch ephemeral workers, verify their self-reported results, and synthesize the outcome' — to lift specificity from domain-plus-one-action to several specific actions.

Add a few synonyms/variations for the triggers (e.g., 'fan out', 'parallelize', 'delegate this', 'second opinion') to improve natural trigger-term coverage and further reduce overlap with direct-review skills.

DimensionReasoningScore

Specificity

The description names the delegation domain and one concrete action ("Delegate via delegate_task"), but the trigger list ("parallel units, context backstop, high-risk verify") is compressed shorthand rather than several specific concrete actions, matching the 'names domain and 1-2 concrete actions, but not comprehensive' anchor.

3 / 5

Completeness

Both parts are present: what ("Delegate via delegate_task for a named reason") and explicit trigger guidance ("Trigger: a mapping need, parallel units, ..."), which counts as an equivalent of a 'Use when...' clause so the cap of 3 does not apply. Not 5, because the 'when' phrases are cryptic noun phrases rather than concrete, user-recognizable trigger phrases.

4 / 5

Trigger Term Quality

Relevant keywords like "delegate", "parallel", "review", and "multi-step debug" are present, but phrases such as "context backstop" and "high-risk verify" are orchestrator jargon rather than natural user phrasing, and no synonyms or variations are covered — the 'some relevant keywords but missing common variations' anchor. Not 2, because genuinely natural keywords do appear rather than only generic language.

3 / 5

Distinctiveness Conflict Risk

The delegate_task/ephemeral-worker orchestration niche is mostly distinct with the specific tool name anchoring it, but trigger terms like "fresh review" and "a mapping need" could overlap with skills that directly perform reviews or exploration — minor overlap risk with closely related skills rather than minimal conflict.

4 / 5

Total

14

/

20

Passed

Validation

100%

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

Validation — 16 / 16 Passed

Validation for skill structure

No warnings or errors.

Repository

Gentleman-Programming/gentle-ai

Path

internal/assets/skills/hermes-ephemeral-delegation/SKILL.md

Reviewed

Table of Contents

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