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using-agent-skills

Discovers and invokes agent skills. Use when starting a session or when you need to discover which skill applies to the current task. This is the meta-skill that governs how all other skills are discovered and invoked.

52

Quality

56%

Does it follow best practices?

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Adds up to 20 points to the overall score

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SecuritybySnyk

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Fix and improve this skill with Tessl

tessl review fix ./skills/using-agent-skills/SKILL.md

The canonical home for this skill is using-agent-skills in addyosmani/agent-skills

SKILL.md
Quality
Evals
Security

Quality

Content

67%Scale 1-5

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

This is a well-structured meta-skill that effectively serves as a routing layer for discovering and applying specific engineering workflow skills. Its main strengths are the clear decision tree for skill discovery and the lifecycle sequence showing how skills compose. Its main weakness is verbosity — the Core Operating Behaviors and Failure Modes sections explain general engineering principles that Claude already knows, and the quick reference table largely duplicates the discovery tree, inflating the token cost of this frequently-loaded skill.

Suggestions

Trim or remove the 'Core Operating Behaviors' section — these are general engineering principles Claude already knows, and they significantly inflate the token cost of a skill that's loaded at session start

Remove the 'Failure Modes to Avoid' section as it largely restates the Core Operating Behaviors in negative form

Eliminate either the discovery tree or the quick reference table, as they convey largely the same information; keep the tree since it's more actionable for routing decisions

Add hyperlinks to referenced skills (e.g., `[spec-driven-development](skills/spec-driven-development/SKILL.md)`) so Claude can navigate directly

DimensionReasoningScore

Conciseness

The skill contains useful content but is notably verbose in places. The 'Core Operating Behaviors' section extensively explains concepts Claude already understands (don't be sycophantic, surface assumptions, push back). The 'Failure Modes to Avoid' section largely repeats the Core Operating Behaviors. The quick reference table duplicates the discovery tree. However, the discovery tree itself and the lifecycle sequence are efficient and valuable.

3 / 5

Actionability

The skill discovery tree is highly actionable — given a task type, Claude knows exactly which skill to invoke. The assumption-surfacing template is concrete and copy-paste ready. However, the skill is primarily a routing/meta-skill, so 'actionability' manifests as clear decision-making rather than executable code, which it does reasonably well. Minor gap: no concrete example of how to actually invoke/load a skill file.

4 / 5

Workflow Clarity

The lifecycle sequence provides a clear ordering of skills for a complete feature, and the note that not every task needs every skill is helpful. The discovery tree provides clear routing logic. However, there's no explicit validation checkpoint in the meta-workflow itself — e.g., 'after selecting a skill, confirm it matches before proceeding' — though the referenced skills presumably contain their own validation steps. The Definition of Done reference adds a verification layer.

4 / 5

Progressive Disclosure

The skill references many sub-skills by name and references `references/definition-of-done.md`, creating a clear one-level-deep structure. The discovery tree and quick reference table serve as navigation aids. However, no bundle files are provided to verify the referenced skills exist, and the references aren't hyperlinked (e.g., `[spec-driven-development](skills/spec-driven-development/SKILL.md)`). The content is also somewhat long for an overview/routing skill — the Core Operating Behaviors section could arguably live in a separate referenced file.

4 / 5

Total

15

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20

Passed

Description

46%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.

This description identifies itself as a meta-skill for skill discovery and invocation, which is a unique role, but its triggers are so broad that it risks conflicting with every other skill. The actions described ('discovers' and 'invokes') are abstract and lack concrete specifics about what the skill actually does mechanically. The language uses appropriate third person but relies on internal jargon rather than natural user-facing terms.

Suggestions

Replace generic trigger terms with more specific conditions, e.g., 'Use when the user asks what skills are available, requests a list of capabilities, or when no other skill clearly matches the request.'

Add concrete actions beyond 'discovers and invokes' — e.g., 'Lists available skills, matches user requests to skill descriptions, loads and executes the selected skill's instructions.'

Clarify boundaries to reduce conflict risk — specify when this skill should NOT fire (e.g., 'Do not use when another skill clearly matches the user's request').

DimensionReasoningScore

Specificity

Names the domain ('agent skills') and mentions two actions ('discovers' and 'invokes'), but these are very generic meta-actions without concrete details about what discovering or invoking actually entails.

2 / 5

Completeness

It has both a 'what' (discovers and invokes agent skills, meta-skill governing other skills) and a 'when' (starting a session or needing to discover which skill applies). The 'when' is present but somewhat circular — it triggers when you need to discover skills, which is essentially always.

4 / 5

Trigger Term Quality

Terms like 'agent skills', 'discover', 'invoke', and 'meta-skill' are internal/technical jargon rather than natural phrases a user would say. Users would not typically say 'discover which skill applies' — they'd describe their actual task.

2 / 5

Distinctiveness Conflict Risk

As a meta-skill about skill discovery, it occupies a unique conceptual niche, but its broad trigger ('when you need to discover which skill applies to the current task') could fire for virtually any user request, creating high overlap risk with every other skill.

3 / 5

Total

11

/

20

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.

Validation11 / 11 Passed

Validation for skill structure

No warnings or errors.

Repository
finlay611/agent-skills
Reviewed

Table of Contents

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