143-java-functional-exception-handling

Use when you need to apply functional exception handling best practices in Java — including replacing exception overuse with Optional and VAVR Either types, designing error type hierarchies using sealed classes and enums, implementing monadic error composition pipelines, establishing functional control flow patterns, and reserving exceptions only for truly exceptional system-level failures. This should trigger for requests such as Improve the code with Functional Exception Handling; Apply Functional Exception Handling; Refactor the code with Functional Exception Handling. Part of cursor-rules-java project

Quality

—

Does it follow best practices?

Impact

—

No eval scenarios have been run

Securityby

Passed

No known issues

Quality

Content

70%

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

A well-structured body with a clear validation-gated workflow and clean single-reference progressive disclosure. It is held back by abstract refactoring guidance (concrete patterns deferred to the reference) and redundant repetition of description content in the 'What is covered' and 'When to use' sections.

Suggestions

Replace the abstract 'What is covered' bullet list with a concise inline good/bad code snippet (e.g. try/catch vs Either) so the body carries at least one executable example rather than deferring all patterns to the reference.

Remove the 'When to use this skill' section (it duplicates the description's triggers verbatim) to tighten token efficiency.

Tighten the intro sentence, which restates the description's thesis, to avoid redundancy with the frontmatter.

Dimension	Reasoning	Score
Conciseness	The body is lean and does not explain concepts Claude already knows, but the 'What is covered' bullet list and the 'When to use this skill' section duplicate the description's content rather than adding new actionable detail, matching the 'mostly efficient but could be tightened' anchor.	2 / 3
Actionability	Concrete commands are present (mvn validate/verify, dependency coordinates), but the core refactoring guidance is abstract ('implement monadic error composition pipelines', 'establish functional control flow patterns') with all executable patterns deferred to the reference, matching the 'some concrete guidance but incomplete' anchor.	2 / 3
Workflow Clarity	A clear 5-step sequence with explicit front validation ('stop immediately if validation fails'), a dependency checkpoint, and a final verify step with a stop-on-failure feedback loop, matching the 'clear sequence with explicit validation steps; feedback loops' anchor.	3 / 3
Progressive Disclosure	The body is an organized overview pointing to a single, clearly signaled, one-level-deep reference file (references/143-java-functional-exception-handling.md, verified to exist), matching the 'clear overview with well-signaled one-level-deep references' anchor.	3 / 3
	Total	10 / 12 Passed

Description

85%

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 strong, specific description that clearly states capabilities and explicit trigger guidance, with a distinct Java functional-error-handling niche. Its main weakness is trigger term breadth: the three trigger phrases are variations of a single wording rather than diverse natural user expressions.

Dimension	Reasoning	Score
Specificity	Enumerates multiple concrete technical actions (replacing exceptions with Optional/VAVR Either, designing error hierarchies via sealed classes/enums, monadic composition pipelines, reserving exceptions for system failures), matching the 'lists multiple specific concrete actions' anchor.	3 / 3
Completeness	Explicitly answers both 'what' (enumerated functional error-handling actions) and 'when' via an explicit 'Use when...' plus 'This should trigger for requests such as...' clause, matching the 'clearly answers both what AND when' anchor.	3 / 3
Trigger Term Quality	Provides natural triggers ('Improve/Apply/Refactor the code with Functional Exception Handling'), but these are three near-duplicate variations of one phrasing rather than broad coverage of natural user terms, matching the 'some relevant keywords but missing common variations' anchor.	2 / 3
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk	Targets a narrow, well-defined niche (functional exception handling in Java with VAVR/Optional/sealed classes) with distinct triggers, making it unlikely to fire for unrelated skills.	3 / 3
	Total	11 / 12 Passed

Validation

100%

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 — 16 / 16 Passed

Validation for skill structure

No warnings or errors.

Repository: jabrena/cursor-rules-java
Commit: 86eb63d

Reviewed: 4 days ago

Table of Contents

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