changewaves

Manage MSBuild Change Waves: create new waves, condition features behind opt-out flags, write tests for wave-gated features, document change waves in ChangeWaves.md, and retire expired waves. Use when adding changes that need an opt-out or rotating out old change waves. Changes that introduce a user-visible behavior change should consider whether to use a changewave.

Quality

92%

Does it follow best practices?

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Securityby

Passed

No findings from the security scan

Quality

Content

85%

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

A well-organized, concise lifecycle guide with a clear sequence, checklist, and properly signaled one-level references. Its single weak spot is actionability: the most hands-on step (conditioning code on a wave) points to an external doc instead of showing an executable inline example.

Suggestions

Add a short inline C# snippet in Step 2 showing a real AreFeaturesEnabled check (e.g. `if (ChangeWaves.AreFeaturesEnabled(ChangeWaves.Wave17_10)) { ... }`) so the core action is copy-paste ready without opening ChangeWaves-Dev.md.

In Step 1, give the concrete command or file read used to look up the current MSBuild version (e.g. where in eng/Versions.props) rather than just 'look up the current MSBuild version'.

Tie the final Checklist items to their originating steps (e.g. cross-reference Step 3's opt-out test) so a reviewer can verify each gate was passed.

Dimension	Reasoning	Score
Conciseness	The body is lean and assumes competence — the brief Change Wave definition and the decision litmus test are domain-specific, not concepts Claude already knows — and avoids the padded explanations that define the level-1 anchor.	3 / 3
Actionability	Step 4's markdown template and the concrete file paths (ChangeWaves.cs, eng/Versions.props) are actionable, but the core action — conditioning a feature on the wave — defers entirely to ChangeWaves-Dev.md with no inline executable AreFeaturesEnabled example, fitting the level-2 'some concrete guidance but incomplete' anchor rather than the copy-paste-ready level-3.	2 / 3
Workflow Clarity	A clear Step 1–4 sequence plus a closing Checklist and a verification requirement in Step 3 ('verifies the old behavior is preserved when the wave is opted out') provide explicit validation checkpoints, matching the level-3 anchor and staying above the level-2 'checkpoints missing' case.	3 / 3
Progressive Disclosure	The body is an overview with well-signaled one-level-deep markdown links to ChangeWaves-Dev.md, ChangeWaves.md, and the assessing-breaking-changes skill; no bundle files exist to evaluate, and the split is appropriate and easy to navigate per the level-3 anchor.	3 / 3
	Total	11 / 12 Passed

Description

100%

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, well-structured description: it enumerates concrete actions, includes an explicit 'Use when' trigger with secondary guidance, stays in imperative/third-person voice, and carves out a clear, non-conflicting niche. No meaningful gaps relative to the rubric.

Dimension	Reasoning	Score
Specificity	Lists multiple specific concrete actions — 'create new waves, condition features behind opt-out flags, write tests for wave-gated features, document change waves in ChangeWaves.md, and retire expired waves' — matching the level-3 anchor rather than the partial level-2.	3 / 3
Completeness	Explicitly answers both what (the five lifecycle actions) and when via the 'Use when adding changes that need an opt-out or rotating out old change waves' clause plus the user-visible-behavior trigger, meeting the level-3 both-answered anchor.	3 / 3
Trigger Term Quality	Natural domain terms a contributor would say are well covered — 'opt-out', 'change waves', 'opt-out flags', 'rotating out old change waves', 'user-visible behavior change' — not just generic jargon, so above the level-2 'some keywords' anchor.	3 / 3
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk	The MSBuild Change Waves niche is highly specific with distinct triggers unlikely to collide with other skills, fitting the level-3 'clear niche with distinct triggers' anchor.	3 / 3
	Total	12 / 12 Passed

Validation

87%

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 — 14 / 16 Passed

Validation for skill structure

Criteria	Description	Result
frontmatter_unknown_keys	Unknown frontmatter key(s) found; consider removing or moving to metadata	Warning
relative_links	Relative link issues: 6 suspicious	Warning

	Total	14 / 16 Passed

Repository: dotnet/msbuild
Path: .github/skills/changewaves/SKILL.md
Commit: c88db8e

Reviewed: 5 days ago

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