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improving-prompts

Use when optimizing CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, custom commands, or skill files for Claude 4.5 models - applies documented Anthropic best practices systematically instead of inventing improvements

64

Quality

76%

Does it follow best practices?

Impact

No eval scenarios have been run

SecuritybySnyk

Passed

No known issues

Optimize this skill with Tessl

npx tessl skill review --optimize ./improving-prompts/SKILL.md
SKILL.md
Quality
Evals
Security

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 strong description with excellent trigger terms and completeness, clearly specifying both when to use the skill and what it does. Its main weakness is that the specific actions it performs could be more concrete — listing particular optimization techniques rather than the general phrase 'applies documented Anthropic best practices systematically.' The distinctive niche and natural trigger terms make it highly effective for skill selection.

Suggestions

Add 2-3 specific concrete actions, e.g., 'restructures sections for clarity, adds proper trigger terms to skill descriptions, validates YAML frontmatter, applies prompt engineering patterns' to improve specificity.

DimensionReasoningScore

Specificity

Names the domain (optimizing CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, custom commands, skill files) and mentions 'applies documented Anthropic best practices systematically,' but doesn't list specific concrete actions like 'restructures sections, adds trigger terms, validates YAML frontmatter.' The actions remain somewhat abstract.

2 / 3

Completeness

The description starts with 'Use when' which explicitly answers the 'when' question (optimizing CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, custom commands, or skill files for Claude 4.5 models), and the 'what' is addressed by 'applies documented Anthropic best practices systematically instead of inventing improvements.' Both dimensions are clearly covered.

3 / 3

Trigger Term Quality

Includes highly specific and natural trigger terms users would say: 'CLAUDE.md', 'AGENTS.md', 'custom commands', 'skill files', 'Claude 4.5', 'Anthropic best practices'. These are terms a user would naturally use when seeking this kind of optimization help.

3 / 3

Distinctiveness Conflict Risk

This skill occupies a very clear niche — optimizing specific Claude configuration files using Anthropic best practices for Claude 4.5. The mention of specific file types (CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, skill files) and the distinction of applying 'documented' best practices rather than inventing improvements makes it highly distinctive and unlikely to conflict with other skills.

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 has a well-defined workflow with strong guardrails against common failure modes, and the quick-reference table mapping issues to fixes is genuinely useful. However, it suffers from verbosity - the rationalizations table, red flags section, and inline best practices summary create redundancy and inflate token cost. The skill would benefit from tighter editing and more concrete before/after prompt examples rather than descriptions of what examples should look like.

Suggestions

Consolidate the 'Common Rationalizations' table and 'Red Flags' section into a single, shorter checklist since they cover overlapping failure modes

Add 2-3 complete before/after prompt transformation examples showing the actual text changes, not just descriptions of what to change

Move the detailed best practices summary (Step 2 key principles) entirely into the referenced `references/claude-4.5-best-practices.md` file and keep only the principle names with one-line summaries in the main skill

DimensionReasoningScore

Conciseness

The skill contains some valuable content but is notably verbose. The 'Common Rationalizations' table, while clever, is lengthy and explains things Claude should already understand about reasoning pitfalls. The 'Red Flags' section partially duplicates the rationalizations table. The overall content could be tightened significantly while preserving all actionable guidance.

2 / 3

Actionability

The skill provides a clear process (Steps 1-4) and useful quick-reference tables mapping issues to fixes, which is concrete. However, it lacks executable examples - the before/after transformations are described but not fully demonstrated with real prompt snippets. The guidance is more procedural than copy-paste ready, and Step 2 defers to a reference file for the 'complete reference' while inlining a partial summary.

2 / 3

Workflow Clarity

The four-step process is clearly sequenced with explicit gates (Step 1 requires concrete issues before proceeding, Step 4 requires rationale for each change). The 'Red Flags' section serves as validation checkpoints. The workflow includes a clear feedback loop: understand → reference practices → preserve working parts → propose with rationale. The 'What counts / What does NOT count' distinction adds useful guardrails.

3 / 3

Progressive Disclosure

The skill references `references/claude-4.5-best-practices.md` for detailed guidance, which is good progressive disclosure. However, no bundle files were provided, so this reference is unverifiable. Additionally, the skill inlines a substantial summary of the best practices (Step 2) that could arguably live entirely in the reference file, making the main skill longer than necessary. The overall structure is reasonable but the inline content bloats what should be an overview.

2 / 3

Total

9

/

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.

Validation11 / 11 Passed

Validation for skill structure

No warnings or errors.

Repository
joshuadavidthomas/agent-skills
Reviewed

Table of Contents

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