add-skill
Create new joelclaw skills with the idiomatic process — repo-canonical, symlinked, git-tracked, slogged. Triggers on 'add a skill', 'create skill', 'new skill', 'canonical skill', 'make a skill for', or any request to formalize a process or domain into a reusable skill.
91
87%
Does it follow best practices?
Impact
100%
2.70xAverage score across 3 eval scenarios
Passed
No known issues
Quality
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 solid description with excellent trigger term coverage and completeness, clearly stating both what the skill does and when to use it. Its main weakness is that the specificity of capabilities relies on jargon ('repo-canonical, symlinked, git-tracked, slogged') that describes properties rather than concrete actions, which may not help Claude understand the full scope of what the skill does. Overall it would perform well in a multi-skill selection scenario.
Suggestions
Replace or supplement jargon qualifiers ('repo-canonical, symlinked, git-tracked, slogged') with concrete action descriptions like 'creates the skill markdown file, symlinks it into the skills directory, commits to git, and logs the creation'.
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Specificity | It names the domain (creating joelclaw skills) and mentions some attributes ('repo-canonical, symlinked, git-tracked, slogged'), but these are jargon-heavy qualifiers rather than multiple concrete actions. The actual actions are limited to 'create new skills'. | 2 / 3 |
Completeness | Clearly answers both 'what' (create new joelclaw skills with the idiomatic process) and 'when' (explicit 'Triggers on...' clause with multiple trigger phrases and a broader condition about formalizing processes). | 3 / 3 |
Trigger Term Quality | Excellent explicit trigger terms listed: 'add a skill', 'create skill', 'new skill', 'canonical skill', 'make a skill for', plus the broader 'formalize a process or domain into a reusable skill'. These are natural phrases a user would say. | 3 / 3 |
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk | Highly distinctive — it's specifically about creating 'joelclaw skills' with a particular workflow. The trigger terms are narrowly scoped to skill creation requests, making conflicts with other skills unlikely. | 3 / 3 |
Total | 11 / 12 Passed |
Implementation
85%Reviews the quality of instructions and guidance provided to agents. Good implementation is clear, handles edge cases, and produces reliable results.
This is a strong, well-structured skill that provides a complete, actionable workflow for creating new skills. The step-by-step process with executable commands, concrete file structures, and clear rules makes it immediately usable. Minor verbosity in the opening description and template comments prevents a perfect conciseness score, but overall token efficiency is good.
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Conciseness | Generally efficient but includes some unnecessary explanation (e.g., 'Skills are modular instruction sets that extend agent capabilities with specialized knowledge, workflows, or tool integrations' is filler Claude doesn't need). The SKILL.md template section is somewhat verbose with inline comments that could be tighter. However, most content earns its place. | 2 / 3 |
Actionability | Fully executable bash commands for every step (mkdir, ln -sf, slog, git add/commit), concrete file paths, exact directory structures, and a complete SKILL.md template with frontmatter. Everything is copy-paste ready with clear placeholders. | 3 / 3 |
Workflow Clarity | Clear 6-step numbered sequence covering the full lifecycle from directory creation through commit. Includes validation-relevant rules (directory name must match frontmatter name field, mismatch causes warnings), an explicit update workflow, and clear constraints about symlinks vs copies that prevent destructive errors. | 3 / 3 |
Progressive Disclosure | Well-structured with a clear main process, optional sections clearly marked (references, Codex Desktop Metadata), and a logical flow from required steps to optional enhancements. The directory tree diagrams serve as effective visual navigation. For a skill of this complexity, the single-file approach is appropriate. | 3 / 3 |
Total | 11 / 12 Passed |
Validation
90%Checks the skill against the spec for correct structure and formatting. All validation checks must pass before discovery and implementation can be scored.
Validation — 10 / 11 Passed
Validation for skill structure
| Criteria | Description | Result |
|---|---|---|
frontmatter_unknown_keys | Unknown frontmatter key(s) found; consider removing or moving to metadata | Warning |
Total | 10 / 11 Passed | |
- Repository
- joelhooks/joelclaw
- Commit
ce9ca8e
- Reviewed
Table of Contents
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