Conciseness

The body is a dense 18-row table plus four terse rules and two short orientation notes — zero padding, no explanation of concepts Claude already knows, every line load-bearing. Not 4: there are no over-explanations that could be trimmed.

Actionability

Fully concrete guidance for an instruction/reference skill: exact paths (e.g., `.squad/agents/{name}/charter.md`), per-file write/read permissions by role, and decision-ready rules ("If `squad.agent.md` and any other file conflict, `squad.agent.md` wins"). An agent can adjudicate any ownership or conflict question directly from this content; per the code-vs-instruction note, the absence of code is not penalized because the guidance is actionable.

Workflow Clarity

A single-purpose lookup/adjudication skill with no multi-step process and no destructive or batch operations, so the simple-skill exception applies: the single action (consult the hierarchy, apply the precedence rules) is unambiguous, and edge behavior is spelled out (corrections go in "a new entry that references the prior one"). Not 4: nothing about the resolution procedure is left implicit.

Progressive Disclosure

The skill is well under 50 lines, self-contained, and needs no external references (no bundle files exist and none are referenced); its sections (load-when note, state-backend note, file hierarchy, rules) are clearly organized and easy to navigate, which scores 5 under the small-skill note. Not 4: at this size nothing belongs in a separate file.

Specificity

Enumerates five concrete capabilities verbatim — "which files are authoritative, which are derived/append-only, who may write each one, who may read each one, and the precedence rules when they conflict" — with comprehensive coverage and no vague filler. Score 4 would require minor coverage gaps, and none exist: the enumeration covers every axis the skill delivers.

Completeness

Explicitly answers both "what" ("The complete file-by-file source-of-truth hierarchy... and the precedence rules when they conflict") and "when" ("loads this on demand when it needs to resolve a write conflict, decide where a piece of state belongs, or answer a 'who owns this file' question"). The when-clause carries three concrete trigger phrases, matching the top anchor rather than the merely-serviceable score 4.

Trigger Term Quality

Natural trigger phrasing is present ("resolve a write conflict", "decide where a piece of state belongs", the quoted user-voice question "who owns this file"), giving good keyword coverage. Not 5: it omits concrete file-path triggers (e.g., `.squad/decisions.md`, `squad.agent.md`) and synonym variations a user might actually say.

Distinctiveness Conflict Risk

The description is narrowly scoped to Squad's internal file governance with domain-specific terminology ("source-of-truth hierarchy", "append-only", "who may write"), giving it a clear niche with minimal overlap risk against any other skill.