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setup-serena-mcp

Guide for setup Serena MCP server for semantic code retrieval and editing capabilities

Quality

67%

Does it follow best practices?

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Adds up to 20 points to the overall score

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SecuritybySnyk

Low

Low-risk findings worth noting

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tessl review fix ./plugins/mcp/skills/setup-serena-mcp/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 content is a well-structured, mostly lean setup workflow with good validation checkpoints and appropriate delegation to external docs. Its main weakness is that the concrete per-client configuration commands are not provided inline, reducing actionability.

Suggestions

Inline the specific MCP-client configuration commands (or a per-client command table) instead of deferring entirely to the loaded documentation, so Claude can act without an extra fetch round-trip.

De-duplicate the restart guidance: keep only the exact markdown block and remove the overlapping prose restatement in step 4.6.

Fix typos and clarify the overlap between step 4.4-4.5 (project setup/indexing) and step 6 (project initialization) so the sequence is unambiguous.

DimensionReasoningScore

Conciseness

The body is a lean procedural sequence that delegates detail to external Serena docs, with only minor redundancy (the restart message is described in prose in step 4.6 and repeated as an exact block).

4 / 5

Actionability

It provides concrete paths, commands, and exact markdown to write, but the actual client-configuration commands are deferred to loaded external documentation rather than given inline, leaving key setup details missing.

3 / 5

Workflow Clarity

A clear 6-step sequence with validation checkpoints (check-if-setup in step 2, test-connection feedback loop in step 7), with minor gaps from overlap between step 4.4-4.6 and step 6.

4 / 5

Progressive Disclosure

Well-organized numbered sections with clearly signaled one-level-deep external doc references and no nested references; the inlined exact CLAUDE.md block is necessary rather than misplaced.

4 / 5

Total

15

/

20

Passed

Description

53%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 clearly identifies a specific tool and its capabilities but omits any explicit 'when to use' trigger guidance, which caps completeness. Keywords are relevant but lack synonym coverage.

Suggestions

Add a 'Use when...' clause naming the trigger phrases (e.g. 'Use when setting up Serena MCP, or when the user asks to enable semantic code retrieval/editing').

Expand capability coverage beyond 'retrieval and editing' to concrete actions (e.g. find symbols, find references, get symbol overviews).

Include natural synonyms/extensions a user might say (e.g. 'MCP server', 'symbol navigation', 'code indexing').

DimensionReasoningScore

Specificity

Names the domain ('Serena MCP server') and 1-2 concrete capabilities ('semantic code retrieval and editing') but the action ('Guide for setup') is generic and coverage is not comprehensive.

3 / 5

Completeness

It has a clear 'what' but no 'Use when...' clause or equivalent explicit trigger guidance, so completeness is capped at 3 per the judging guidelines.

3 / 5

Trigger Term Quality

Relevant keywords exist ('Serena MCP server', 'setup', 'semantic code retrieval') but common synonyms and natural variations a user might say are missing.

3 / 5

Distinctiveness Conflict Risk

Serena is a specific named tool giving it a clear niche with distinct triggers, though there is minor overlap risk with other MCP-server setup skills.

4 / 5

Total

13

/

20

Passed

Validation

93%

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

CriteriaDescriptionResult

frontmatter_unknown_keys

Unknown frontmatter key(s) found; consider removing or moving to metadata

Warning

Total

15

/

16

Passed

Repository

NeoLabHQ/context-engineering-kit

Path

plugins/mcp/skills/setup-serena-mcp/SKILL.md

Reviewed

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