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release

Orchestrate an MSBuild release: create the tracking issue, branch, configure DARC channels and subscriptions, bump version in main, final-brand the release branch, insert into VS, and publish post-GA. Covers the full monthly release lifecycle aligned with VS shipping cadence.

Quality

80%

Does it follow best practices?

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Securityby

Medium

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tessl review fix ./.github/skills/release/SKILL.md

Quality

Content

81%Weight 40%Scale 1-5

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

A well-built orchestration skill: it layers itself over an external source-of-truth checklist, provides genuinely non-obvious operational knowledge with concrete commands, and has strong phase gating, validation, and error-recovery structure. The main room for improvement is moving inlined policy detail into reference files and tightening long sections.

Dimension	Reasoning	Score
Conciseness	The body is dense with operational knowledge Claude cannot be assumed to know (DARC batching flags, the -q prompt hazard, baseline-version pitfalls) and teaches no general concepts, but at ~190 lines it inlines policy detail (DARC rotation rules, branch-retirement lifecycle tables) that could be trimmed or split out, fitting 'efficient; minor instances that could be trimmed'.	4 / 5
Actionability	Concrete, executable commands appear throughout ('pwsh ./scripts/Get-PackageValidationBaseline.ps1 -ThisReleaseVersion {{THIS_RELEASE_VERSION}}', 'git branch -r --list ''origin/vs*''', '--configuration-branch <name> --no-pr', '-q'), but the per-step commands for each phase are deferred to the external checklist, leaving minor gaps rather than fully copy-paste-ready coverage.	4 / 5
Workflow Clarity	Six timeline-gated phases each carry an explicit trigger, the execution procedure requires verifying the trigger condition before acting, a 7-item Validation section checks the end state, and an Error Recovery section provides feedback loops (e.g. 'DARC configuration PR conflicts: rebase... and force-push'), matching the top anchor including the batch-operation validation requirement.	5 / 5
Progressive Disclosure	The skill is structured as an overview that delegates step-by-step detail one level deep to documentation/release-checklist.md, with a Key Files table and clearly signaled links; however, no in-bundle reference files exist and substantial detail (DARC batching, branch retirement, baseline resolution) is inlined in SKILL.md, fitting 'good structure; minor organization gaps'.	4 / 5
	Total	17 / 20 Passed

Description

75%Weight 40%Scale 1-5

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 highly specific, distinctive description that clearly communicates what the skill does across the full release lifecycle. Its only real weakness is the absence of an explicit when-to-use trigger clause, which caps completeness and leaves invocation timing only weakly implied by the monthly-cadence reference.

Suggestions

Add an explicit trigger clause, e.g. 'Use when asked to run, start, or continue an MSBuild monthly release (e.g. cut the vs* branch, bump main's version, or do the VS insertion).'

Include natural user phrasings as trigger terms — 'ship/cut an MSBuild release', 'monthly release', 'VS insertion', 'publish to nuget.org' — to broaden trigger matching.

Dimension	Reasoning	Score
Specificity	Enumerates seven concrete actions ('create the tracking issue, branch, configure DARC channels and subscriptions, bump version in main, final-brand the release branch, insert into VS, and publish post-GA') covering the whole release lifecycle, matching the comprehensive-coverage anchor rather than the minor-gaps anchor below it.	5 / 5
Completeness	The 'what' is clear and detailed, but there is no 'Use when...' clause or equivalent explicit trigger guidance — 'Covers the full monthly release lifecycle' describes scope, not when to invoke the skill — so per the judging guideline this is capped at 3.	3 / 5
Trigger Term Quality	Contains good natural keywords ('release', 'branch', 'version', 'publish', 'VS shipping cadence') that a maintainer would plausibly say, but common phrasings like 'cut a branch', 'ship', or 'nuget' are absent, so it fits 'good keyword coverage; a few natural terms missing' rather than the comprehensive synonym coverage of 5.	4 / 5
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk	'MSBuild release', 'DARC channels and subscriptions', and 'insert into VS' name a clear, narrow niche with distinct triggers and minimal conflict risk with any other skill.	5 / 5
	Total	17 / 20 Passed

Validation

81%

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 — 13 / 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: 15 suspicious	Warning
referenced_paths_exist	Referenced path issues: 2 missing	Warning

	Total	13 / 16 Passed

Repository: dotnet/msbuild
Path: .github/skills/release/SKILL.md
Revision: 86743d0

Reviewed: 2 days ago

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release

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