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optimize-pipeline

Optimize Harness CI/CD pipeline performance via MCP. Configure parallel test execution with Test Intelligence, design multi-layer caching strategies, analyze pipeline bottlenecks with stage-level timing breakdowns, optimize cache hit rates, and design monorepo CI pipelines with selective builds. Use when asked to speed up pipelines, improve cache hit rates, set up parallel testing, optimize build times, or configure monorepo builds. Do NOT use for creating new pipelines (use create-pipeline instead) or debugging failures (use debug-pipeline instead). Trigger phrases: pipeline speed, slow pipeline, cache hit rate, parallel tests, test intelligence, build optimization, caching strategy, monorepo pipeline, pipeline bottleneck, build speed.

69

Quality

87%

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SKILL.md
Quality
Evals
Security

Quality

Content

68%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 solid, lean instruction body with concrete MCP call blocks, specific cache configuration details, and useful domain gotchas. Its main weakness is the absence of verification loops — nothing re-measures pipeline timing after an optimization is applied — and the lack of example pipeline configuration snippets for the tasks it designs.

Suggestions

Add a final verification step to the workflow (e.g., 'After applying changes, re-pull execution timing via harness_list and compare against the Step 1 baseline to confirm the improvement') so each optimization path closes the loop, raising workflow_clarity.

Include one short example pipeline YAML snippet per task (Test Intelligence stage config, a cache step with key/path, and path-based trigger globs for the monorepo case) to make the guidance copy-paste ready and lift actionability.

Tighten conciseness by replacing the Step 2 task list with a one-line pointer to Steps 3-6 and trimming generic bullets (e.g., 'Use a dependency graph to determine the minimal build set') into concrete Harness configuration terms.

DimensionReasoningScore

Conciseness

The body is efficient — terse bullets, no explanation of concepts Claude already knows, and Harness-specific knowledge (TI needs 2-3 baseline runs, cache TTL 7-14 days, lockfile-based keys) that earns its tokens. Minor trimming is possible: the Step 2 task list duplicates the Step 3-6 headers, and a few generic bullets like "Use a dependency graph to determine the minimal build set" could be tightened, so it fits anchor 4 ('efficient; minor instances that could be trimmed') rather than the every-token-earns-its-place level 5.

4 / 5

Actionability

Concrete guidance is present: MCP calls with explicit parameter blocks (harness_list/harness_get with resource_type, org_id, project_id, resource_id), specific cache keys and paths (package-lock.json, pom.xml, go.sum; ~/.m2, node_modules), and a concrete TTL recommendation (7-14 days). It stops short of fully executable output, though — no example pipeline YAML for enabling Test Intelligence, setting parallelism, or configuring path triggers, which keeps it at anchor 4 ('mostly executable guidance with minor gaps') rather than 5.

4 / 5

Workflow Clarity

Steps are clearly sequenced (scope → task identification → task-specific procedures) with a decision structure in Step 2, but validation checkpoints are missing or implicit: no step verifies the baseline was captured correctly, and no re-measure/after step confirms an optimization actually improved runtime — a notable gap for a performance-optimization skill. The Troubleshooting section supplies after-the-fact error-recovery loops, but the main flow fits anchor 3 ('sequence present but checkpoints missing or implicit') better than anchor 4 ('most checkpoints present').

3 / 5

Progressive Disclosure

No bundle files exist, and the ~150-line body is well organized into Instructions (numbered steps), Examples, Performance Notes, and Troubleshooting — matching anchor 4 ('good structure; most content appropriately placed; minor organization gaps'). It does not reach anchor 5 because the five per-task procedures are dense enough that they could be split into one-level-deep reference files, and the body sits above the size where sections alone would merit a 5.

4 / 5

Total

15

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20

Passed

Description

100%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.

An excellent description: concrete, comprehensive capability listing; explicit use-when and do-not-use clauses; and a natural trigger-phrase list that covers synonyms users would actually say. The explicit disambiguation from create-pipeline and debug-pipeline minimizes wrong-skill triggering.

DimensionReasoningScore

Specificity

The description lists multiple concrete actions that comprehensively cover the skill's scope: "Configure parallel test execution with Test Intelligence", "design multi-layer caching strategies", "analyze pipeline bottlenecks with stage-level timing breakdowns", "optimize cache hit rates", and "design monorepo CI pipelines with selective builds". This matches the anchor 'Lists multiple specific concrete actions; comprehensive coverage' — it is not the level below (4), which requires minor gaps in coverage, since the five actions map one-to-one to the skill's five optimization tasks.

5 / 5

Completeness

It explicitly answers both what ("Optimize Harness CI/CD pipeline performance via MCP" plus five concrete capabilities) and when ("Use when asked to speed up pipelines, improve cache hit rates, set up parallel testing, optimize build times, or configure monorepo builds"), with concrete trigger phrases appended. It even adds explicit when-not guidance, so it clearly matches the anchor 'Clearly and explicitly answers both what AND when with concrete trigger phrases'.

5 / 5

Trigger Term Quality

Trigger coverage is comprehensive and natural: "pipeline speed", "slow pipeline", "cache hit rate", "parallel tests", "build optimization", "caching strategy", "monorepo pipeline", "pipeline bottleneck", "build speed", plus verb-phrase variants like "speed up pipelines" and "optimize build times". These are phrases a user would naturally say; there are no file extensions in this domain, and synonyms are well covered, so it fits the top anchor rather than anchor 4 ('a few natural terms missing').

5 / 5

Distinctiveness Conflict Risk

It occupies a clear niche (Harness CI/CD pipeline performance optimization via MCP) and explicitly disambiguates sibling skills: "Do NOT use for creating new pipelines (use create-pipeline instead) or debugging failures (use debug-pipeline instead)". This is a clear niche with distinct triggers and minimal conflict risk, matching the top anchor rather than anchor 4's 'minor overlap risk with closely related skills'.

5 / 5

Total

20

/

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.

Validation — 16 / 16 Passed

Validation for skill structure

No warnings or errors.

Repository

harness/harness-ai

Path

plugins/claude/skills/optimize-pipeline/SKILL.md

Reviewed

Table of Contents

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