validating-pci-dss-compliance
This skill uses the pci-dss-validator plugin to assess codebases and infrastructure configurations for compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). It identifies potential vulnerabilities and deviations from PCI DSS requirements. Use this skill when the user requests to "validate PCI compliance", "check PCI DSS", "assess PCI security", or "review PCI standards" for a given project or configuration. It helps ensure that systems handling cardholder data meet the necessary security controls.
86
48%
Does it follow best practices?
Impact
89%
1.08xAverage score across 12 eval scenarios
Passed
No known issues
Optimize this skill with Tessl
npx tessl skill review --optimize ./backups/skills-migration-20251108-070147/plugins/security/pci-dss-validator/skills/pci-dss-validator/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.
This is a well-crafted skill description that clearly defines its purpose, includes explicit trigger guidance with natural user phrases, and occupies a distinct niche. Its main weakness is that the specific capabilities could be more granular—listing concrete actions like generating compliance reports, checking specific PCI DSS requirement categories, or suggesting remediations would strengthen it further.
Suggestions
Add more specific concrete actions beyond 'assess' and 'identify', such as 'generates compliance reports', 'checks encryption configurations', or 'validates access control policies' to improve specificity.
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Specificity | The description names the domain (PCI DSS compliance) and some actions ('assess codebases and infrastructure configurations', 'identifies potential vulnerabilities and deviations'), but doesn't list multiple specific concrete actions like listing specific checks, generating reports, or remediation suggestions. | 2 / 3 |
Completeness | Clearly answers both 'what' (uses pci-dss-validator plugin to assess codebases/infrastructure for PCI DSS compliance, identifies vulnerabilities and deviations) and 'when' (explicit 'Use this skill when...' clause with specific trigger phrases). | 3 / 3 |
Trigger Term Quality | Includes strong natural trigger terms: 'validate PCI compliance', 'check PCI DSS', 'assess PCI security', 'review PCI standards', plus contextual terms like 'cardholder data', 'security controls', and 'PCI DSS'. These cover natural variations a user would say. | 3 / 3 |
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk | Very clear niche focused specifically on PCI DSS compliance validation. The specific standard (PCI DSS), the named plugin (pci-dss-validator), and the domain-specific trigger terms make it highly unlikely to conflict with other skills. | 3 / 3 |
Total | 11 / 12 Passed |
Implementation
7%Reviews the quality of instructions and guidance provided to agents. Good implementation is clear, handles edge cases, and produces reliable results.
This skill content reads like a marketing overview or product description rather than actionable instructions for Claude. It completely lacks concrete details about how to invoke the pci-dss-validator plugin, what parameters it accepts, what output it produces, or how to interpret results. The content is padded with generic advice (regular assessments, scope definition) that adds no value for an AI assistant.
Suggestions
Add the actual command or API call to invoke the pci-dss-validator plugin, including required parameters, flags, and expected input/output formats.
Replace the abstract examples with concrete, executable examples showing actual plugin invocation syntax and sample output interpretation.
Remove the 'When to Use This Skill', 'Best Practices', and 'Integration' sections entirely — these explain obvious concepts and waste tokens.
Add a validation/error-handling workflow: what does a failed scan look like, how to interpret specific error codes, and what remediation steps to take for common violations.
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Conciseness | The content is verbose and padded with information Claude already knows. Sections like 'When to Use This Skill', 'Best Practices', and 'Integration' explain obvious concepts (scope definition, regular assessments, remediation tracking) without adding actionable value. The 'How It Works' section describes generic steps at a high level that don't teach Claude anything new. | 1 / 3 |
Actionability | There are no concrete commands, executable code, API calls, or specific plugin invocation syntax. The examples describe what the skill 'will do' in abstract terms rather than showing how to actually invoke the pci-dss-validator plugin, what arguments it takes, or what the output format looks like. Everything is descriptive rather than instructive. | 1 / 3 |
Workflow Clarity | The workflow steps are vague ('identify the source code repository', 'run the pci-dss-validator plugin') with no actual commands, no validation checkpoints, and no error handling or feedback loops. There's no guidance on what to do if the plugin fails, how to interpret results, or how to verify remediation was successful. | 1 / 3 |
Progressive Disclosure | The content has some structural organization with clear section headers, but it's a monolithic document with no references to external files. Given there are no bundle files, this is somewhat acceptable, but the content that is present is mostly filler rather than well-organized actionable material. | 2 / 3 |
Total | 5 / 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.
- Commit
13d35b8
- Reviewed
Table of Contents
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