nushell-usage
Essential patterns, idioms, and gotchas for writing Nushell code. Use when writing Nushell scripts, functions, or working with Nushell's type system, pipelines, and data structures. Complements plugin development knowledge with practical usage patterns.
86
84%
Does it follow best practices?
Impact
85%
1.02xAverage score across 3 eval scenarios
Advisory
Suggest reviewing before use
Quality
Discovery
82%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 solid description that clearly identifies its domain (Nushell) and provides explicit trigger guidance via a 'Use when...' clause. Its main weakness is the lack of concrete action verbs—it describes what the skill covers conceptually ('patterns, idioms, gotchas') rather than what specific tasks it enables. The reference to complementing plugin development knowledge is a nice touch for disambiguation.
Suggestions
Replace vague terms like 'patterns, idioms, and gotchas' with specific concrete actions, e.g., 'Define custom commands, handle Nushell's strict type system, build pipelines with structured data, work with tables and records'.
Add more distinctive trigger terms or file extensions (e.g., '.nu files', 'nu scripts', 'Nushell shell scripting') to further reduce conflict risk with general shell scripting skills.
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Specificity | Names the domain (Nushell) and mentions some areas like 'type system, pipelines, and data structures', but uses vague terms like 'patterns, idioms, and gotchas' rather than listing concrete actions (e.g., 'parse tables', 'define custom commands', 'handle errors'). | 2 / 3 |
Completeness | Clearly answers both 'what' (patterns, idioms, gotchas for Nushell code) and 'when' (explicit 'Use when writing Nushell scripts, functions, or working with Nushell's type system, pipelines, and data structures'). The 'Use when...' clause is present and specific. | 3 / 3 |
Trigger Term Quality | Includes strong natural trigger terms: 'Nushell scripts', 'Nushell functions', 'Nushell's type system', 'pipelines', 'data structures'. These are terms a user working with Nushell would naturally use. Also mentions 'plugin development' which helps differentiate. | 3 / 3 |
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk | The mention of 'Complements plugin development knowledge' suggests there's a related skill, and the description does differentiate from it. However, terms like 'pipelines' and 'data structures' are generic enough to potentially overlap with other shell or scripting skills. The Nushell specificity helps but the broad scope ('patterns, idioms, gotchas') could still cause ambiguity. | 2 / 3 |
Total | 10 / 12 Passed |
Implementation
87%Reviews the quality of instructions and guidance provided to agents. Good implementation is clear, handles edge cases, and produces reliable results.
This is a high-quality skill file that serves as an excellent Nushell reference. It excels at conciseness and actionability, providing dense, executable examples that highlight critical distinctions (like pipeline input vs parameters) and common pitfalls that Claude wouldn't know from general training. The progressive disclosure is well-handled with appropriate references to deeper material, and the only minor weakness is the lack of explicit workflow sequencing, which is largely acceptable given the reference-style nature of the content.
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Conciseness | The content is lean and efficient throughout. It avoids explaining what Nushell is or basic programming concepts, jumping straight into patterns and gotchas that Claude wouldn't inherently know. Code examples are minimal but complete, and commentary is terse and purposeful. | 3 / 3 |
Actionability | Nearly every section includes executable Nushell code with correct syntax. Examples are copy-paste ready, show both correct and incorrect patterns (❌/✅), and cover real use cases like record manipulation, error handling, and iteration patterns with concrete output expectations. | 3 / 3 |
Workflow Clarity | The skill is primarily a reference/patterns guide rather than a multi-step workflow, so explicit validation checkpoints are less critical. However, the content is organized as independent patterns without clear sequencing guidance for when to apply which pattern, and the debugging section at the end could be better integrated as validation steps within relevant sections. | 2 / 3 |
Progressive Disclosure | The content is well-structured with clear sections progressing from critical distinctions to common patterns to advanced topics. Advanced content is appropriately deferred to referenced files (references/advanced-patterns.md, references/type-system.md) with clear descriptions, and external resources are listed at the end. | 3 / 3 |
Total | 11 / 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 |
|---|---|---|
frontmatter_unknown_keys | Unknown frontmatter key(s) found; consider removing or moving to metadata | Warning |
Total | 10 / 11 Passed | |
- Repository
- YPares/agent-skills
- Commit
aed1afb
- Reviewed
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