CtrlK
BlogDocsLog inGet started
Tessl Logo
SkillPublic

tdd-workflow

Test-Driven Development workflow principles. RED-GREEN-REFACTOR cycle.

Quality

56%

Does it follow best practices?

Run evals on this skill

Adds up to 20 points to the overall score

View guide
SecuritybySnyk

Passed

No findings from the security scan

Fix and improve this skill with Tessl

tessl review fix ./skills/tdd-workflow/SKILL.md
SKILL.md
Quality
Evals
Security

Quality

Content

45%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 skill is a well-organized but generic restatement of textbook TDD that adds little Claude doesn't already know, with no concrete commands, code, or failure-recovery guidance. The cycle and phase rules give it decent workflow clarity, but token efficiency and actionability are the weak points.

Suggestions

Cut sections that restate known doctrine (Three Laws, AAA pattern, YAGNI, generic anti-patterns) and keep only project-specific deviations or hard rules.

Add concrete, executable guidance: the actual test command(s) and framework for this project, an example failing test, and how to run the suite in each phase.

Add failure-recovery loops to the cycle (e.g. what to do if the RED test passes unexpectedly, or a refactor breaks a green test) and remove the vacuous trailing "When to Use" section that duplicates the description's job.

DimensionReasoningScore

Conciseness

Nearly the entire body restates TDD doctrine Claude already knows — the three laws of TDD, YAGNI ("You Aren't Gonna Need It"), the AAA pattern, and generic anti-pattern tables ("Test implementation | Test behavior") — none of which is skill-specific knowledge. This matches level 2 ('noticeably verbose; several unnecessary explanations or padded sections'); it does not reach level 3 because the unnecessary sections are the majority of the file, not isolated instances, though the tabular formatting keeps it short of 'heavily padded' level 1.

2 / 5

Actionability

The body only describes principles ("Test must fail first", "One assertion per test", "Commit after each refactor") without any concrete, executable guidance: no test commands, no framework, no code example, no project-specific steps. As an instruction-only skill this is not automatically penalized for lacking code, but the guidance is high-level hints rather than specific steps, matching level 2 ('minimal concrete guidance; high-level hints but missing the specific steps to execute') rather than level 3, which requires some concrete guidance beyond restated principles.

2 / 5

Workflow Clarity

The RED → GREEN → REFACTOR → repeat cycle is clearly sequenced in section 1, and each phase has explicit checkpoint rules ("Test must fail first", "All tests must stay green", "Small incremental changes"), matching level 4 ('clear sequence with most checkpoints present; minor validation gaps'). It falls short of level 5 because there are no feedback/recovery loops (e.g. what to do when the RED test unexpectedly passes or a refactor breaks a test) and no concrete validation commands.

4 / 5

Progressive Disclosure

The body is well-organized into ten numbered sections with clear headers, no nested or buried references, and the single-file structure at ~145 lines is navigable, matching level 4 ('good structure; most content appropriately placed; minor organization gaps'). It does not reach level 5 because the trailing duplicated "When to Use" section is vacuous ("This skill is applicable to execute the workflow or actions described in the overview.") and sections like the AI-augmented multi-agent pattern sit at the same level as core workflow content without clear signposting of what is essential.

4 / 5

Total

12

/

20

Passed

Description

48%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 identifies the domain and uses third-person voice, but it is a topic label rather than a capability statement: it names no concrete actions and provides no 'when to use' trigger guidance. Adding explicit actions and a 'Use when...' clause would move it substantially toward the good examples.

Suggestions

Add concrete actions to the 'what', e.g. "Guides test-driven development: write the failing test first, implement minimal code, then refactor while tests stay green."

Append an explicit trigger clause, e.g. "Use when writing new features, fixing bugs, or when the user asks for TDD, test-first, or red-green-refactor workflows."

Include natural keyword variants users actually say — "TDD", "test first", "write tests before code" — to improve trigger coverage.

DimensionReasoningScore

Specificity

"Test-Driven Development workflow principles" names the domain, and "RED-GREEN-REFACTOR cycle" is a domain concept, but the description lists no concrete actions (no verbs like "write failing tests first", "run tests", "implement to pass"). This matches the level-2 anchor 'Names the domain but actions are minimal or generic' rather than level 3, which requires 1-2 concrete stated actions.

2 / 5

Completeness

The 'what' is stated (TDD workflow principles, RED-GREEN-REFACTOR cycle) but there is no 'when' clause at all — no 'Use when...' or equivalent trigger guidance, which per the judging guidelines caps completeness at 3. It cannot score 4 without any 'when' element, and scores above 3 rather than below because the 'what', while terse, is clear and unambiguous.

3 / 5

Trigger Term Quality

"Test-Driven Development" and "RED-GREEN-REFACTOR" are relevant keywords a user might say, but common natural variations are missing: the abbreviation "TDD", "write tests first", "test first", and "unit tests" are absent. This fits level 3 ('some relevant keywords but missing common variations or synonyms') rather than level 4, which requires good coverage with only a few terms missing.

3 / 5

Distinctiveness Conflict Risk

TDD is a distinct niche and "RED-GREEN-REFACTOR cycle" is a domain-specific marker, so overlap risk is mostly limited to other TDD/testing skills — matching level 4 ('mostly distinct; minor overlap risk with closely related skills'). It falls short of level 5 because without 'when' trigger phrases it could still fire broadly on general testing or workflow requests.

4 / 5

Total

12

/

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

administrakt0r/AI-Agents-Safe-Coding-Skills

Path

skills/tdd-workflow/SKILL.md

Reviewed

Table of Contents

Is this your skill?

If you maintain this skill, you can claim it as your own. Once claimed, you can manage eval scenarios, bundle related skills, attach documentation or rules, and ensure cross-agent compatibility.