cli-design

Design and build agent-first CLIs with HATEOAS JSON responses, context-protecting output, and self-documenting command trees. Use when creating new CLI tools, adding commands to existing CLIs (joelclaw, slog), or reviewing CLI design for agent-friendliness. Triggers on 'build a CLI', 'add a command', 'CLI design', 'agent-friendly output', or any task involving command-line tool creation.

1.64x

Quality

88%

Does it follow best practices?

Impact

94%

1.64x

Average score across 3 eval scenarios

Securityby

Passed

No known issues

Quality

Content

77%

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, highly actionable skill with excellent concrete examples, clear JSON schemas, and a thorough checklist. Its main weakness is length — the streaming protocol section and anti-patterns table make it longer than necessary for a single SKILL.md, and some content could be split into referenced files for better progressive disclosure. The TODO section at the end adds no value for Claude's task execution.

Suggestions

Extract the Streaming Protocol (NDJSON/ADR-0058) section into a separate STREAMING.md file and reference it from the main skill with a one-line summary

Remove the TODO section — it's a project planning artifact that doesn't help Claude execute tasks

Consider moving the anti-patterns table and naming conventions into a CLI-REFERENCE.md file, keeping only the core principles and checklist in SKILL.md

Dimension	Reasoning	Score
Conciseness	The skill is comprehensive and mostly earns its tokens with concrete examples and schemas, but it's quite long (~300+ lines). Some sections like the anti-patterns table partially duplicate earlier content, and the streaming protocol section is extensive enough to warrant its own file. The TODO section adds no actionable value for Claude.	2 / 3
Actionability	Excellent actionability throughout — executable TypeScript code, concrete JSON envelope schemas, real command examples with actual output, specific bash build commands, and a complete checklist for new commands. Every principle is backed by copy-paste-ready examples.	3 / 3
Workflow Clarity	The 'Adding a new command' section provides a clear 7-step sequence. The checklist at the end serves as a validation checkpoint. Error handling workflows include fix suggestions and next_actions for recovery. The streaming section includes explicit cleanup requirements (SIGINT handling, timeouts).	3 / 3
Progressive Disclosure	The content is well-structured with clear headers and logical sections, but it's monolithic — the streaming protocol (ADR-0058) section alone is substantial enough to be a separate file. The response envelope TypeScript types, Redis subscription patterns, and anti-patterns table could all be split out. References to implementation directories exist but no supporting bundle files are provided.	2 / 3
	Total	10 / 12 Passed

Description

100%

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 an excellent skill description that hits all the key criteria. It provides specific capabilities (HATEOAS JSON, context-protecting output, self-documenting command trees), explicit trigger guidance with both a 'Use when' clause and a 'Triggers on' list, and occupies a clearly distinct niche that is unlikely to conflict with other skills. The only minor note is the use of some technical jargon (HATEOAS) that users might not naturally say, but this is offset by the inclusion of more common trigger terms.

Dimension	Reasoning	Score
Specificity	Lists multiple specific concrete actions: 'Design and build agent-first CLIs', 'HATEOAS JSON responses', 'context-protecting output', 'self-documenting command trees'. These are concrete, specific capabilities rather than vague language.	3 / 3
Completeness	Clearly answers both 'what' (design/build agent-first CLIs with HATEOAS JSON, context-protecting output, self-documenting command trees) and 'when' (explicit 'Use when...' clause with multiple trigger scenarios and a 'Triggers on...' list).	3 / 3
Trigger Term Quality	Includes natural trigger terms users would say: 'build a CLI', 'add a command', 'CLI design', 'agent-friendly output', 'command-line tool creation'. Also mentions specific CLI names (joelclaw, slog) for project-specific triggers. Good coverage of natural variations.	3 / 3
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk	Highly distinctive niche: agent-first CLI design with HATEOAS JSON is very specific and unlikely to conflict with general coding skills or other tool-building skills. The domain-specific terms (HATEOAS, context-protecting output, agent-friendly) clearly carve out a unique space.	3 / 3
	Total	12 / 12 Passed

Validation

90%

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 — 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: 2ca3686

Reviewed: 10 days ago

Table of Contents

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