launching-ec2-instance-with-best-practices

Launches an EC2 instance with secure, cost-efficient defaults including AMI selection, burstable instance sizing, least-privilege IAM roles, hardened security groups, encrypted EBS volumes, and comprehensive tagging. Use when deploying new EC2 instances following AWS best practices for security and cost optimization.

Quality

78%

Does it follow best practices?

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Securityby

Passed

No findings from the security scan

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tessl review fix ./skills/specialized-skills/ec2-skills/launching-ec2-instance-with-best-practices/SKILL.md

Quality

Content

72%

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

Well-organized and concise with good progressive disclosure via a single real reference file. Weaker on actionability and workflow clarity because the core launch procedure lives entirely in the reference, leaving the body without inline executable code or explicit validation checkpoints.

Suggestions

Add a minimal inline launch snippet (e.g. a one-line aws ec2 run-instances example with the key flags) so the body is actionable without opening the reference.

Surface an explicit validation checkpoint in the body (e.g. verify the instance reaches 'running' state and pass post-launch checks) to strengthen workflow clarity.

Dimension	Reasoning	Score
Conciseness	Lean body with no concept explanations Claude already knows and no padding; the bullet list of handled concerns is compact, matching the score-3 anchor.	3 / 3
Actionability	Troubleshooting gives concrete commands ('aws ec2 get-console-output', key permissions '400', 't3a instead of t3'), but the primary launch task delegates to the reference with no inline executable code, leaving key details incomplete.	2 / 3
Workflow Clarity	The launch step is sequenced via 'follow the procedure exactly', but the body shows no explicit validation checkpoints or validate->fix->retry loop for the launch flow itself, matching the score-2 anchor.	2 / 3
Progressive Disclosure	Clear overview with a single one-level-deep, well-signaled reference (references/launch-ec2-instance-with-best-practices.md, a real file) and content appropriately split between body and reference.	3 / 3
	Total	10 / 12 Passed

Description

85%

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 strong description: concrete capabilities, explicit 'Use when' trigger, and a clear niche. Its only weakness is trigger-term breadth, missing common phrasings users might say beyond 'EC2 instance' and 'deploying'.

Suggestions

Broaden trigger terms to include natural phrasings like 'launch', 'provision', or 'spin up an EC2 instance' to improve trigger_term_quality.

Consider mentioning instance-type/AMI-selection language users actually say (e.g. 'pick an instance type') to round out keyword coverage.

Dimension	Reasoning	Score
Specificity	Lists multiple concrete actions ('AMI selection', 'burstable instance sizing', 'least-privilege IAM roles', 'hardened security groups', 'encrypted EBS volumes', 'comprehensive tagging'), matching the score-3 anchor rather than the narrower score-2.	3 / 3
Completeness	Explicitly answers what ('Launches an EC2 instance with secure, cost-efficient defaults including...') and when ('Use when deploying new EC2 instances following AWS best practices for security and cost optimization'), satisfying the score-3 anchor with an explicit trigger.	3 / 3
Trigger Term Quality	Includes relevant natural terms ('EC2 instance', 'deploying new EC2 instances', 'AWS best practices') but misses common variations a user might say like 'launch', 'provision', 'spin up', or 'instance type'.	2 / 3
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk	Targets a distinct EC2-launch niche with specific triggers, making it unlikely to fire for unrelated skills, matching the score-3 anchor.	3 / 3
	Total	11 / 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: aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws
Path: skills/specialized-skills/ec2-skills/launching-ec2-instance-with-best-practices/SKILL.md
Commit: 222ce56

Reviewed: 3 days ago

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