Conciseness

The body is mostly tight HCL examples and stack-language syntax rules that Claude genuinely does not know (e.g., 'Outputs require a type argument and do not support preconditions', provider 'aliases in the block header (not as an argument)'), with only minor padding — the workload-identity benefit bullets ('Avoids long-lived static credentials', 'Provides temporary, scoped credentials per deployment run') read as rationale rather than instruction, and module-compatibility testing advice is repeated in both Best Practices ('Test public registry modules before using in production Stacks') and Troubleshooting ('Test public registry modules before production use'). It is not a 3 because nearly every section is executable syntax or commands with no conceptual filler, and not a 5 because of the duplicated guidance and the introductory paragraph explaining what stacks are for.

Actionability

Every block type (variable, provider, component, deployment, deployment_group, deployment_auto_approve, publish_output, upstream_input, removed, store, identity_token) ships a complete executable HCL example, and the CLI section gives copy-paste commands with real flags ('terraform stacks deployment-run approve-all-plans -deployment-run-id=...', 'GET /api/v2/stack-deployment-steps/{step-id}/artifacts?name=apply-description'), covering the common cases including multi-region for_each and linked stacks.

Workflow Clarity

The deployment workflow is explicitly numbered with commands ('1. Upload configuration (triggers deployment runs)', '2. Monitor deployments', '3. Approve deployments') and the destroy flow is sequenced with a human approval checkpoint ('Set destroy = true, upload configuration, approve destroy run, then remove the deployment block'), and a validation command exists ('terraform stacks validate # Check syntax without uploading'). It is a 4 rather than 5 because validate is documented as a standalone command and never wired into the workflow as an explicit pre-upload checkpoint, so the feedback loop (validate → fix → re-validate) is implicit; it is above 3 because sequences are complete and approval gates cover the destructive destroy path.

Progressive Disclosure

The body keeps core syntax inline and defers detail through clearly signaled, one-level-deep references — 'See references/component-blocks.md for examples of dependencies, for_each, public registry modules, Git sources, and more', plus a terminal References section annotating all six files (component-blocks, deployment-blocks, linked-stacks, examples, api-monitoring, troubleshooting), all of which exist on disk and none of which nest further.

Specificity

Multiple concrete actions are enumerated — 'creating, modifying, or validating Terraform Stack configurations', 'managing multi-region or multi-environment infrastructure', 'troubleshooting Terraform Stacks syntax and structure' — with specific file extensions, which is comprehensive coverage of the domain's actions rather than the 'several specific actions; minor gaps' of a 4.

Completeness

Both what and when are explicit with concrete triggers: the 'what' is stated through enumerated capabilities ('creating, modifying, or validating... configurations'), and the 'when' is an explicit multi-clause 'Use when creating, modifying, or validating Terraform Stack configurations (.tfcomponent.hcl, .tfdeploy.hcl files), working with stack components and deployments...'. Not a 4, because the 'when' is fully explicit rather than 'could be more specific'.

Trigger Term Quality

Natural user phrasing is comprehensively covered, including the file extensions users would literally quote: 'Terraform Stacks', '.tfcomponent.hcl', '.tfdeploy.hcl', 'stack components', 'deployments', 'multi-region or multi-environment infrastructure', 'troubleshooting'. This matches the anchor-5 pattern of 'natural terms including synonyms and file extensions'.

Distinctiveness Conflict Risk

The stack-specific extensions and 'Terraform Stacks' terminology form a clear niche with minimal conflict risk, but phrases like 'working with stack components and deployments from local modules, public registry, or private registry sources' overlap with general Terraform module-management requests, so a user asking about ordinary registry modules could trigger this skill — 'mostly distinct; minor overlap risk with closely related skills'.