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scanning-api-security

Detect API security vulnerabilities including injection, broken auth, and data exposure. Use when scanning APIs for security vulnerabilities. Trigger with phrases like "scan API security", "check for vulnerabilities", or "audit API security".

Quality

82%

Does it follow best practices?

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SecuritybySnyk

Passed

No findings from the security scan

SKILL.md
Quality
Evals
Security

Quality

Content

75%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.

The body is a lean, well-sequenced nine-step audit workflow with concrete detection patterns and a useful error-recovery table. All dimensions land at 4: no executable code appears in the body itself, there is no explicit finding-verification checkpoint before reporting, and two of the three referenced files contain mismatched API-development content that does not deliver what the links promise.

Suggestions

progressive_disclosure: Replace or rewrite references/implementation.md — it currently describes designing and building an API (scaffolding, ORM models, rate limiting features) rather than the security-scanning implementation guide the Instructions section promises; likewise repoint references/errors.md toward scanner false-positive/false-negative patterns instead of API runtime error handling.

workflow_clarity: Add an explicit validation checkpoint between the audit steps and report generation, e.g. 'Re-verify each flagged finding by reading the surrounding handler code and middleware chain before writing it to the report' — the Error Handling table hints at this but no step enforces it.

actionability: Include one or two ready-to-run Grep patterns or commands inline (e.g. the route-inventory regex for Express-style route definitions) instead of deferring all executable code to references/examples.md, whose example code contains regexes that would not match real route syntax.

DimensionReasoningScore

Conciseness

The nine instruction steps are dense and free of concept re-teaching, but "OWASP API Security Top 10 (2023) checklist familiarity" (repeated in both Prerequisites and Resources) and the Resources link list add tokens with little actionable value — matching anchor 4's 'efficient; minor instances of over-explanation that could be trimmed'. It never sinks to anchor 3's level of unnecessary explanation.

4 / 5

Actionability

Concrete detection patterns like "verify CORS `Access-Control-Allow-Origin` is not set to wildcard `*` on authenticated endpoints" and "request bodies are passed directly to ORM `create`/`update` calls without field-level allowlisting", plus named output file paths, give mostly executable guidance — but the body itself contains no runnable commands or grep patterns, deferring all code to references/examples.md, which fits anchor 4's 'minor gaps'.

4 / 5

Workflow Clarity

Steps 1–9 form a logical inventory-to-auth-audit-to-report sequence, and the Error Handling table supplies recovery guidance ("False positive on auth bypass → Add custom auth patterns to scanner configuration"), matching anchor 4's 'clear sequence with most checkpoints present'. It is not anchor 5 because no explicit step verifies or cross-checks findings before the report is generated.

4 / 5

Progressive Disclosure

Three real, one-level-deep reference files (references/implementation.md, references/errors.md, references/examples.md) are clearly signaled at the appropriate sections and the body is well-organized — but implementation.md contains an API design-and-building guide rather than the promised "full implementation guide" for scanning, and errors.md covers API runtime errors rather than "comprehensive error patterns" for the scan, matching anchor 4's 'good structure; minor organization gaps' rather than anchor 5's trustworthy navigation.

4 / 5

Total

16

/

20

Passed

Description

83%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, well-scoped description: it explicitly states what (detect injection, broken auth, data exposure), when (scanning APIs for security vulnerabilities), and supplies three natural trigger phrases with no fluff or over-claims. The only weaknesses are a slightly thin capability list and a couple of missing trigger synonyms such as 'pentest' or 'security review'.

DimensionReasoningScore

Specificity

"Detect API security vulnerabilities including injection, broken auth, and data exposure" names several concrete capabilities (injection, broken auth, data exposure), matching anchor 4's 'several specific actions; minor gaps' — rate limiting, BOLA, and mass assignment go unmentioned, though 'including' signals non-exhaustive. It conveys more concrete detail than anchor 3's 'Processes PDF files and extracts content', but the single detect verb keeps it below anchor 5's comprehensive coverage.

4 / 5

Completeness

It explicitly answers what ("Detect API security vulnerabilities including injection, broken auth, and data exposure") and when ("Use when scanning APIs for security vulnerabilities"), then adds concrete trigger phrases ("scan API security", "check for vulnerabilities", "audit API security") — exactly anchor 5's 'both what AND when with concrete trigger phrases' pattern.

5 / 5

Trigger Term Quality

"scan API security", "check for vulnerabilities", and "audit API security" are natural user phrasings covering three synonym verbs, matching anchor 4's 'good keyword coverage; a few natural terms missing' — common variations like "pentest", "security review", and "vulnerability audit" are absent, so it falls short of anchor 5's comprehensive synonym coverage.

4 / 5

Distinctiveness Conflict Risk

The API security scanning niche is clear and "audit API security" / "scan API security" are domain-anchored, but "check for vulnerabilities" is generic and could fire for a general vulnerability or dependency-audit skill — matching anchor 4's 'mostly distinct; minor overlap risk with closely related skills' rather than anchor 5's minimal conflict risk.

4 / 5

Total

17

/

20

Passed

Validation

87%

Checks the skill against the spec for correct structure and formatting. All validation checks must pass before discovery and implementation can be scored.

Validation — 14 / 16 Passed

Validation for skill structure

CriteriaDescriptionResult

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

14

/

16

Passed

Repository

jeremylongshore/tons-of-skills-marketplace

Path

plugins/api-development/api-security-scanner/skills/scanning-api-security/SKILL.md

Reviewed

Table of Contents

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