robust-error-handling-in-scripts

Use this skill when writing shell scripts, Python automation, or any unattended batch job. Ensure failures are detected, logged, and handled — never silently ignored.

Quality

77%

Does it follow best practices?

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Securityby

Passed

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tessl review fix ./memory_data/skills/robust-error-handling-in-scripts/SKILL.md

Quality

Content

87%Weight 40%Scale 1-3

Reviews the quality of instructions and guidance provided to agents. Good implementation is clear, handles edge cases, and produces reliable results.

A tight, highly actionable reference of error-handling patterns with excellent token efficiency and clean organization. Its only gap is the absence of a sequenced workflow with explicit verification checkpoints for the batch/unattended jobs it targets.

Suggestions

Add a short ordered checklist for unattended jobs (set traps -> log with context -> verify exit code -> retry transients -> alert on terminal failure) to give workflow_clarity an explicit validation feedback loop.

Note how to verify a job actually failed (e.g. check exit code in CI/cron wrapper) so silent failures are caught, not just handled once they surface.

Dimension	Reasoning	Score
Conciseness	The body is lean and assumes Claude's competence: no explanation of what set -euo pipefail or tenacity is, only a minimal inline comment and copy-paste snippets. Every token earns its place, matching the level-3 anchor.	3 / 3
Actionability	All three snippets (set -euo pipefail + trap, logging with try/except and sys.exit, tenacity @retry) are fully executable and copy-paste ready with specific flags and parameters, matching the level-3 anchor.	3 / 3
Workflow Clarity	The content is a set of independent patterns organized by language rather than a sequenced workflow with checkpoints; while clearly presented, there is no explicit validation/verification step for the batch operations the skill targets, which caps it at 2 per the batch-operations guideline.	2 / 3
Progressive Disclosure	The skill is under 50 lines with no need for external references (no bundle files exist), and content is well-organized into clearly labeled sections (Shell scripts, Python scripts, Retry with backoff), satisfying the simple-skills exemption for a level-3 score.	3 / 3
	Total	11 / 12 Passed

Description

67%Weight 40%Scale 1-3

Based on the skill's description, can an agent find and select it at the right time? Clear, specific descriptions lead to better discovery.

A clear, trigger-led description that answers both what and when, but its capability list and trigger vocabulary are broad rather than sharply distinctive. Tightening the action list and adding common synonyms would lift specificity and distinctiveness.

Suggestions

Replace generic verbs ("detected, logged, and handled") with concrete actions like "exit non-zero on failure, write structured logs, retry transient errors with backoff" to reach specificity level 3.

Broaden trigger terms with natural variations users say, e.g. "cron jobs, CI pipelines, daemons, scripts that fail silently".

Narrow the scope so it does not compete with general scripting skills, e.g. "Use only when a job runs unattended and a silent failure would go unnoticed."

Dimension	Reasoning	Score
Specificity	It names concrete domains ("shell scripts, Python automation, or any unattended batch job") and actions ("detected, logged, and handled"), but the actions are generic error-handling categories rather than the multiple distinct concrete operations the level-3 anchor requires.	2 / 3
Completeness	It answers both what ("Ensure failures are detected, logged, and handled — never silently ignored") and when via an explicit "Use this skill when..." clause, matching the level-3 anchor.	3 / 3
Trigger Term Quality	"shell scripts", "Python automation", and "unattended batch job" are reasonably natural terms, but coverage is narrow and misses common variations a user might say (e.g. cron jobs, CI, daemons, scripts failing), so it sits at the some-keywords-but-incomplete anchor.	2 / 3
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk	The error-handling-for-scripts niche is identifiable, but the trigger terms overlap with general scripting/automation skills and could fire for unrelated scripting requests, fitting the somewhat-specific-but-could-overlap anchor.	2 / 3
	Total	9 / 12 Passed

Validation

93%

Warnings & errors only

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

Criteria	Description	Result
frontmatter_unknown_keys	Unknown frontmatter key(s) found; consider removing or moving to metadata	Warning

	Total	15 / 16 Passed

Repository: aiming-lab/MetaClaw
Path: memory_data/skills/robust-error-handling-in-scripts/SKILL.md
Commit: 922caf3

Reviewed: 9 days ago

Table of Contents

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