Working with PTY sessions for background and interactive processes
72
Does it follow best practices?
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Discovery
32%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 identifies a specific technical domain (PTY sessions) but is too terse and lacks actionable detail. It fails to explain concrete capabilities or provide any guidance on when Claude should select this skill, making it difficult to distinguish from other terminal/process-related skills in a large skill library.
Suggestions
Add a 'Use when...' clause with trigger terms like 'terminal', 'shell', 'run command', 'subprocess', 'long-running process', or 'interactive CLI'.
List specific concrete actions such as 'spawn terminal sessions', 'run long-running commands', 'capture streaming output', 'send input to running processes'.
Include common user-facing keywords beyond technical jargon, e.g., 'command line', 'shell commands', 'terminal output', 'CLI tools'.
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Specificity | Names the domain (PTY sessions) and mentions two types of processes (background and interactive), but lacks concrete actions like 'spawn processes', 'capture output', 'send input', or 'manage terminal sessions'. | 2 / 3 |
Completeness | Only addresses 'what' at a high level (working with PTY sessions) but completely lacks any 'when' guidance or 'Use when...' clause. No explicit triggers for when Claude should select this skill. | 1 / 3 |
Trigger Term Quality | Includes 'PTY sessions', 'background processes', and 'interactive processes' which are relevant but somewhat technical. Missing common user terms like 'terminal', 'shell', 'command line', 'run commands', or 'subprocess'. | 2 / 3 |
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk | 'PTY sessions' is fairly specific terminology that distinguishes it from general file or code skills, but 'background and interactive processes' could overlap with general shell/terminal skills or process management tools. | 2 / 3 |
Total | 7 / 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 strong, concise skill that efficiently documents PTY operations with actionable examples. The key sequences table and pattern filtering examples are particularly well-done. The main weakness is the lack of explicit workflow guidance showing how these operations chain together in common scenarios.
Suggestions
Add a brief workflow example showing a complete flow: spawn a dev server, read output with pattern matching, then cleanup - this would demonstrate how the pieces fit together
Consider adding a note about checking process status before attempting pty_write or pty_kill to prevent errors on already-exited processes
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Conciseness | Extremely lean and efficient. No unnecessary explanations of what PTY is or how it works - assumes Claude knows. Every section delivers actionable information without padding. | 3 / 3 |
Actionability | Provides concrete key sequences with exact escape codes, specific regex patterns for filtering, and clear parameter usage examples. Copy-paste ready guidance throughout. | 3 / 3 |
Workflow Clarity | Individual operations are clear, but lacks explicit workflow sequencing for common use cases (e.g., spawn -> read -> cleanup flow). No validation checkpoints for ensuring process state before operations. | 2 / 3 |
Progressive Disclosure | For a skill under 50 lines with a focused scope, the content is well-organized into logical sections with clear headers. No need for external references given the scope. | 3 / 3 |
Total | 11 / 12 Passed |
Validation
100%Checks the skill against the spec for correct structure and formatting. All validation checks must pass before discovery and implementation can be scored.
Validation — 11 / 11 Passed
Validation for skill structure
No warnings or errors.
Table of Contents
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