Content
62%Reviews the quality of instructions and guidance provided to agents. Good implementation is clear, handles edge cases, and produces reliable results.
This skill is highly actionable with an excellent multi-phase workflow, concrete YAML examples, and thorough validation checkpoints. However, it is severely bloated—the Common Mistakes section (10 items with full examples), Testing section (4 methods with tables), and Anti-Patterns section contain substantial content that either restates earlier guidance or teaches Claude things it already knows. Much of this inline content should be moved to reference files to respect token budget.
Suggestions
Move the 'Common Mistakes' section (10 detailed items) to a reference file like `references/agent-common-mistakes.md` and replace with a brief 2-3 line summary linking to it.
Move the 'Testing Your Agent' section to `references/agent-testing.md`—it's ~150 lines of content that's only needed after creation, not during the main workflow.
Consolidate 'Anti-Patterns to Avoid' into the relevant workflow phases or the common mistakes reference rather than having a separate inline section that partially duplicates the Description Writing Guide and Common Mistakes.
Remove explanatory text that Claude already knows (e.g., explaining what action verbs are, why vague descriptions are bad, what 'single responsibility' means) and keep only the concrete examples and rules.
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Conciseness | Extremely verbose at ~600+ lines. Contains extensive sections on common mistakes (10 detailed mistakes with examples), testing (multiple methods with tables), and anti-patterns that largely teach Claude things it already knows (e.g., 'don't make descriptions vague', 'don't use wrong model'). The common mistakes section alone is massive and mostly restates guidance already given in earlier sections. Much of this could be condensed to 1/3 the size. | 1 / 3 |
Actionability | Highly actionable with concrete YAML examples for every tool pattern, executable bash commands for discovery, specific validation commands (skilllint, claude plugin validate), complete agent file templates with real frontmatter, and step-by-step workflows with exact file paths and tool invocations. | 3 / 3 |
Workflow Clarity | Excellent 8-phase workflow with clear sequencing from Discovery through Post-Creation Validation. Includes explicit validation checkpoints (Phase 6 checklist, Phase 8 post-creation validation), feedback loops (iterative testing process), and specific verification commands. The plugin agent creation path includes a critical validation step to ensure plugin.json wasn't corrupted. | 3 / 3 |
Progressive Disclosure | References external files well (agent-schema.md, agent-templates.md, agent-examples.md, subagent-contract skill), but the main SKILL.md itself is a monolithic wall containing massive inline sections (Common Mistakes, Testing, Anti-Patterns, Tool Patterns) that should be split into reference files. The testing section alone could be its own reference document. | 2 / 3 |
Total | 9 / 12 Passed |