comparing-database-schemas
Process use when you need to work with schema comparison. This skill provides database schema diff and sync with comprehensive guidance and automation. Trigger with phrases like "compare schemas", "diff databases", or "sync database schemas".
79
76%
Does it follow best practices?
Impact
Pending
No eval scenarios have been run
Passed
No known issues
Optimize this skill with Tessl
npx tessl skill review --optimize ./plugins/database/database-diff-tool/skills/comparing-database-schemas/SKILL.mdQuality
Discovery
89%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 adequately identifies its niche (database schema diff/sync) and provides explicit trigger phrases, making it functional for skill selection. However, the opening sentence is awkwardly phrased ('Process use when you need to work with schema comparison'), and the description of concrete capabilities is thin—it could benefit from listing specific actions beyond 'diff and sync'. The phrase 'comprehensive guidance and automation' is vague filler that doesn't add informational value.
Suggestions
List specific concrete actions such as 'detect column/table differences, generate migration scripts, compare indexes and constraints' to improve specificity.
Fix the awkward opening sentence ('Process use when you need to...') to use proper third-person voice, e.g., 'Compares and synchronizes database schemas across environments.'
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Specificity | Names the domain (database schema comparison) and some actions ('diff and sync'), but doesn't list multiple specific concrete actions like detecting column changes, generating migration scripts, or comparing indexes. | 2 / 3 |
Completeness | Explicitly answers both 'what' (database schema diff and sync) and 'when' (trigger phrases like 'compare schemas', 'diff databases', 'sync database schemas'), meeting the criteria for explicit trigger guidance. | 3 / 3 |
Trigger Term Quality | Includes natural trigger phrases users would say: 'compare schemas', 'diff databases', 'sync database schemas'. These are realistic terms a user would use when needing this functionality. | 3 / 3 |
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk | The focus on database schema comparison and synchronization is a clear niche that is unlikely to conflict with other skills. The trigger terms are specific to this domain. | 3 / 3 |
Total | 11 / 12 Passed |
Implementation
62%Reviews the quality of instructions and guidance provided to agents. Good implementation is clear, handles edge cases, and produces reliable results.
This skill provides a comprehensive and well-structured workflow for database schema comparison with good sequencing and a validation step. However, it falls short on actionability by describing many steps abstractly rather than providing complete executable code, and the content is too long to be inline without progressive disclosure to separate reference material. The examples section describes scenarios narratively rather than showing concrete input/output pairs.
Suggestions
Provide complete, executable SQL scripts for the comparison queries in steps 2-7 rather than describing what to query — include full SELECT statements with JOIN clauses and output formatting.
Extract the detailed per-database-engine queries into a separate reference file (e.g., POSTGRES_QUERIES.md, MYSQL_QUERIES.md) and keep SKILL.md as a concise overview with the workflow steps.
Replace the narrative examples with concrete input/output pairs showing actual diff report format and generated migration SQL.
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Conciseness | The content is reasonably structured but includes some unnecessary verbosity, particularly in the prerequisites section (explaining what 'source of truth' means) and the examples section which describes hypothetical scenarios rather than providing executable demonstrations. The error handling table, while useful, is somewhat lengthy. | 2 / 3 |
Actionability | Provides specific SQL queries and CLI commands (pg_dump, mysqldump, information_schema queries), but many steps describe what to do at a high level rather than providing complete, copy-paste-ready scripts. For example, steps 3-7 describe what to query but don't give full executable SQL. The migration generation step (9) is entirely descriptive rather than showing concrete code. | 2 / 3 |
Workflow Clarity | The 10-step workflow is clearly sequenced from extraction through comparison, report generation, migration creation, and validation. Step 10 explicitly includes a validation/feedback loop: apply migration to a copy, re-run diff, confirm zero differences. This is a well-structured workflow with an explicit verification checkpoint for a destructive operation. | 3 / 3 |
Progressive Disclosure | The content is a monolithic document with all details inline. The error handling table, examples, and resources are well-sectioned, but the lengthy instructions section (steps 1-10 with sub-bullets) could benefit from splitting detailed queries into a separate reference file. No external file references are used despite the content being quite long. | 2 / 3 |
Total | 9 / 12 Passed |
Validation
81%Checks the skill against the spec for correct structure and formatting. All validation checks must pass before discovery and implementation can be scored.
Validation — 9 / 11 Passed
Validation for skill structure
| Criteria | Description | Result |
|---|---|---|
allowed_tools_field | 'allowed-tools' contains unusual tool name(s) | Warning |
frontmatter_unknown_keys | Unknown frontmatter key(s) found; consider removing or moving to metadata | Warning |
Total | 9 / 11 Passed | |
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