Data structure for annotated matrices in single-cell analysis. Use when working with .h5ad files or integrating with the scverse ecosystem. This is the data format skill—for analysis workflows use scanpy; for probabilistic models use scvi-tools; for population-scale queries use cellxgene-census.
76
70%
Does it follow best practices?
Impact
81%
1.09xAverage score across 3 eval scenarios
Advisory
Suggest reviewing before use
Optimize this skill with Tessl
npx tessl skill review --optimize ./scientific-skills/anndata/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 well-crafted description with strong trigger terms, explicit 'use when' guidance, and excellent disambiguation from related skills. Its main weakness is the lack of specific concrete actions—it describes what the skill is about rather than listing actionable capabilities like reading, writing, or manipulating AnnData objects.
Suggestions
Add specific concrete actions such as 'Read, write, and manipulate AnnData objects' or 'Create, subset, and convert annotated matrices' to improve specificity.
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Specificity | It names the domain ('annotated matrices in single-cell analysis') and mentions the data format, but does not list specific concrete actions like 'read', 'write', 'convert', 'subset', or 'manipulate AnnData objects'. The description is more about what the skill represents than what it does. | 2 / 3 |
Completeness | Clearly answers both 'what' (data structure for annotated matrices in single-cell analysis) and 'when' ('Use when working with .h5ad files or integrating with the scverse ecosystem'). It also explicitly disambiguates from related skills, which strengthens the 'when' guidance. | 3 / 3 |
Trigger Term Quality | Includes strong natural trigger terms: '.h5ad files', 'scverse ecosystem', 'annotated matrices', 'single-cell analysis', and differentiating terms like 'scanpy', 'scvi-tools', 'cellxgene-census'. Users working in this domain would naturally use these terms. | 3 / 3 |
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk | Excellent distinctiveness—explicitly differentiates itself from scanpy (analysis workflows), scvi-tools (probabilistic models), and cellxgene-census (population-scale queries). The '.h5ad files' and 'data format skill' framing create a clear, non-overlapping niche. | 3 / 3 |
Total | 11 / 12 Passed |
Implementation
50%Reviews the quality of instructions and guidance provided to agents. Good implementation is clear, handles edge cases, and produces reliable results.
The skill provides excellent actionable code examples covering the full breadth of AnnData usage, but is far too verbose for a skill file. It duplicates content between Quick Start, Core Capabilities, and Common Workflows sections, includes Scanpy-heavy workflows that the description explicitly says belong elsewhere, and explains concepts Claude already understands. The progressive disclosure structure exists but is undermined by excessive inline content.
Suggestions
Remove the 'When to Use This Skill' section entirely—this duplicates the YAML description and wastes tokens on obvious guidance.
Eliminate the 'Common Workflows' and 'Integration with Scverse Ecosystem' sections, which duplicate Quick Start content and overlap with scanpy/scvi-tools skills as noted in the description.
Consolidate Core Capabilities to just the reference file pointers without repeating 'Common commands' code blocks that already appear in Quick Start.
Remove the Overview paragraph explaining what AnnData is—Claude knows this, and the description already covers it.
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Conciseness | The skill is extremely verbose at ~300+ lines. It explains concepts Claude already knows (what AnnData is, what single-cell genomics is), includes a full 'When to Use This Skill' section that restates the description, provides extensive Scanpy workflows that belong in a separate scanpy skill (as noted in the description itself), and repeats common commands in both Quick Start and Core Capabilities sections. | 1 / 3 |
Actionability | The skill provides fully executable, copy-paste ready code examples throughout—creating AnnData objects, reading/writing files, subsetting, concatenation, batch integration, and troubleshooting patterns. All code is concrete with real imports and realistic parameters. | 3 / 3 |
Workflow Clarity | Multi-step workflows like the scRNA-seq analysis and batch integration are clearly sequenced with numbered steps, but they lack validation checkpoints—there's no verification that data loaded correctly, no checks after filtering steps, and no error recovery guidance within the workflows themselves. | 2 / 3 |
Progressive Disclosure | The skill references separate files (references/data_structure.md, references/io_operations.md, etc.) which is good, but then includes substantial inline content that duplicates what those references likely contain. The Quick Start, Core Capabilities common commands, Common Workflows, and Integration sections create significant redundancy rather than a clean overview pointing to details. | 2 / 3 |
Total | 8 / 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 |
|---|---|---|
metadata_version | 'metadata.version' is missing | Warning |
Total | 10 / 11 Passed | |
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Table of Contents
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