110-java-maven-best-practices

Use when you need to review, improve, or troubleshoot a Maven pom.xml file — including dependency management with BOMs, plugin configuration, version centralization, multi-module project structure, build profiles, or any situation where you want to align your Maven setup with industry best practices. This should trigger for requests such as Review pom.xml to improve it; Apply Maven best practices to pom.xml; Improve Maven POM configuration; Review Maven dependency management and plugin configuration; Modernize Maven build conventions for a Java project. Part of Plinth Toolkit

Quality

86%

Does it follow best practices?

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Securityby

Passed

No findings from the security scan

Quality

Content

77%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.

Well-structured body with a strong validation-gated workflow and clean one-level-deep progressive disclosure. The main weakness is notable redundancy between the 'What is covered' and 'Constraints' sections, which inflates token usage without adding information.

Suggestions

Merge the operational rules duplicated between 'What is covered' and 'Constraints' (multi-module scope, untrusted POM input, no free text, cross-module checks) into a single section to remove verbatim repetition.

Remove the 'When to use this skill' section or replace it with a pointer — those trigger phrases already appear verbatim in the frontmatter description.

Tighten the final workflow step by listing concrete recommendation categories (e.g., 'move hardcoded versions to dependencyManagement', 'centralize shared properties in parent') instead of the generic 'propose concrete, safe improvements'.

Dimension	Reasoning	Score
Conciseness	Mostly efficient and free of concept-over-explanation, but the multi-module scope, untrusted-POM-input, no-free-text, and cross-module-check rules appear almost verbatim in both 'What is covered' and 'Constraints', and the trigger phrases are re-stated from the description — clear tightening opportunities (anchor 3).	3 / 5
Actionability	Concrete commands appear ('./mvnw validate or mvn validate') and specific tooling is named ('DOM/SAX/StAX, xmllint, Maven model APIs'), but the final recommendation step ('Propose concrete, safe improvements aligned with Maven best practices') stays abstract, leaving a minor gap (anchor 4).	4 / 5
Workflow Clarity	The four-step workflow sequences validate → parse root POM → expand module tree → recommend, with an explicit validation gate ('Run ./mvnw validate... stop if validation fails') and a feedback loop ('If validation fails, do not continue and ask the user to fix'), reinforced by the Constraints checklist (anchor 5).	5 / 5
Progressive Disclosure	The body is a concise overview pointing to a single one-level-deep reference, clearly signaled both inline ('Read references/110-java-maven-best-practices.md') and via a dedicated Reference section with a working link to the real 800-line bundle file (anchor 5).	5 / 5
	Total	17 / 20 Passed

Description

95%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.

A strong, comprehensive description that explicitly covers what and when with natural trigger phrases and a distinct Maven niche. Its only weakness is second-person voice ('you need', 'you want') instead of the expected third-person phrasing.

Dimension	Reasoning	Score
Specificity	Quotes 'review, improve, or troubleshoot a Maven pom.xml file' plus 'dependency management with BOMs, plugin configuration, version centralization, multi-module project structure, build profiles' list multiple concrete, comprehensive actions (anchor 5), but reduced by 1 for second-person voice ('Use when you need to...', 'where you want to align').	4 / 5
Completeness	Explicitly answers both what ('review, improve, or troubleshoot a Maven pom.xml file — including dependency management with BOMs, plugin configuration...') and when ('Use when you need to...', 'This should trigger for requests such as...') with concrete trigger phrases, matching the anchor 5 example.	5 / 5
Trigger Term Quality	Quotes natural user phrases 'Review pom.xml to improve it', 'Apply Maven best practices to pom.xml', 'Improve Maven POM configuration', 'Modernize Maven build conventions for a Java project' — comprehensive coverage of the terms a user would actually say, matching the anchor 5 example.	5 / 5
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk	The Maven/POM niche is sharply defined by 'Maven pom.xml', 'BOMs', 'plugin configuration', and 'multi-module project structure', giving it a clear niche with distinct triggers and minimal overlap with other skills.	5 / 5
	Total	19 / 20 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/plinth
Path: skills/110-java-maven-best-practices/SKILL.md
Commit: 77b8825

Reviewed: about 23 hours ago

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