terraform-style-guide
Generate Terraform HCL code following HashiCorp's official style conventions and best practices. Use when writing, reviewing, or generating Terraform configurations.
80
70%
Does it follow best practices?
Impact
97%
1.19xAverage score across 3 eval scenarios
Passed
No known issues
Optimize this skill with Tessl
npx tessl skill review --optimize ./terraform/code-generation/skills/terraform-style-guide/SKILL.mdQuality
Discovery
75%Based on the skill's description, can an agent find and select it at the right time? Clear, specific descriptions lead to better discovery.
The description is functional with a clear 'Use when' clause and a distinct domain focus on Terraform HCL. However, it lacks specificity in the concrete actions it performs (e.g., module creation, variable definitions, resource blocks) and could include more natural trigger terms users might use when requesting Terraform help.
Suggestions
Add specific concrete actions like 'create resource blocks, define variables and outputs, structure modules, configure providers and backends'.
Include additional trigger terms users might naturally say, such as '.tf files', 'infrastructure as code', 'IaC', 'terraform modules', 'terraform providers'.
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Specificity | Names the domain (Terraform HCL) and mentions style conventions and best practices, but doesn't list specific concrete actions like 'create modules, define variables, configure providers, write resource blocks'. | 2 / 3 |
Completeness | Clearly answers both 'what' (generate Terraform HCL code following HashiCorp's style conventions and best practices) and 'when' (Use when writing, reviewing, or generating Terraform configurations) with explicit trigger guidance. | 3 / 3 |
Trigger Term Quality | Includes good terms like 'Terraform', 'HCL', and 'Terraform configurations', but misses common variations users might say such as '.tf files', 'infrastructure as code', 'IaC', 'terraform modules', 'terraform plan', or 'HashiCorp'. | 2 / 3 |
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk | Terraform HCL is a clear niche with distinct triggers; unlikely to conflict with other skills since it specifically targets Terraform configurations and HashiCorp conventions. | 3 / 3 |
Total | 10 / 12 Passed |
Implementation
64%Reviews the quality of instructions and guidance provided to agents. Good implementation is clear, handles edge cases, and produces reliable results.
This is a solid, actionable Terraform style guide with excellent concrete examples and good/bad comparisons. Its main weaknesses are moderate verbosity (explaining things Claude already knows like version constraint operators and basic gitignore patterns), a broken reference to SECURITY.md with no bundle support, and a workflow that separates validation from the generation process rather than integrating explicit checkpoints.
Suggestions
Remove explanations of concepts Claude already knows, such as version constraint operator definitions and basic .gitignore guidance, to improve conciseness.
Integrate validation steps directly into the code generation workflow (e.g., 'After generating, run terraform fmt -recursive && terraform validate; if errors, fix and re-validate before proceeding').
Either provide the referenced SECURITY.md bundle file or inline the key security guidance to avoid a broken reference.
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Conciseness | The skill is mostly efficient with good use of tables and code examples, but includes some unnecessary content Claude already knows (version constraint operator explanations, basic .gitignore guidance, listing what tflint/checkov/tfsec do). The version pinning section is partially duplicated from the example structure. Could be tightened by ~20-30%. | 2 / 3 |
Actionability | Provides fully executable HCL code examples throughout, with concrete good/bad comparisons, specific file organization, and copy-paste ready configurations. The code review checklist, validation commands, and naming conventions are all immediately actionable. | 3 / 3 |
Workflow Clarity | The 'Code Generation Strategy' provides a clear sequence for generating Terraform code, and the validation tools section mentions fmt/validate. However, there's no explicit feedback loop for error recovery (e.g., what to do when validate fails), and the validation step is separated from the generation workflow rather than integrated as a checkpoint. The code review checklist helps but is a post-hoc check rather than an inline validation step. | 2 / 3 |
Progressive Disclosure | The skill references SECURITY.md for security best practices, which is good progressive disclosure, but no bundle files are provided so this reference is broken. The content is well-structured with clear headers but is quite long (~200 lines) with some sections (version constraint operators, provider configuration) that could be split into reference files. The single-level reference to SECURITY.md is appropriate in principle. | 2 / 3 |
Total | 9 / 12 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 — 11 / 11 Passed
Validation for skill structure
No warnings or errors.
- Repository
- hashicorp/agent-skills
- Commit
43ca9b0
- Reviewed
Table of Contents
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