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researching-codebases

Use when answering complex questions about a codebase that require exploring multiple areas or understanding how components connect - coordinates parallel sub-agents to locate, analyze, and synthesize findings

62

Quality

72%

Does it follow best practices?

Impact

No eval scenarios have been run

SecuritybySnyk

Advisory

Suggest reviewing before use

Optimize this skill with Tessl

npx tessl skill review --optimize ./researching-codebases/SKILL.md
SKILL.md
Quality
Evals
Security

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 well-structured coordination skill with clear workflow sequencing and good scoping (when to use / when not to use). Its main weakness is the lack of concrete, executable examples — particularly for agent spawning and script invocation. The progressive disclosure pattern is sound but unverifiable without bundle files.

Suggestions

Add a concrete example of spawning parallel agents with the `task` tool, showing actual parameters and subagent_type values

Include at least one example script invocation with arguments, e.g., `python search-research.py 'authentication flow'` to make the research-tools references actionable

DimensionReasoningScore

Conciseness

The content is lean and efficient. It avoids explaining concepts Claude already knows (like what sub-agents are or how codebases work), uses terse bullet points, and every section earns its place. The 'When NOT to Use' section efficiently scopes the skill.

3 / 3

Actionability

The workflow provides clear steps but lacks concrete, executable examples. References to scripts like `list-research.py`, `gather-metadata.py` are mentioned but not shown with actual commands or arguments. The agent spawning step says to use the `task` tool but doesn't show a concrete example of how to invoke it with parameters.

2 / 3

Workflow Clarity

The workflow is clearly sequenced (steps 0-5) with explicit ordering constraints ('read files BEFORE spawning agents', 'wait for ALL agents to complete before synthesizing'). Validation checkpoints are present as bold warnings about common mistakes. The feedback loop of checking past research before starting new work is well-structured.

3 / 3

Progressive Disclosure

The skill references several external files (`research-tools.md`, `agent-selection.md`, `output-format.md`) which is good progressive disclosure structure, but no bundle files were provided to verify these exist. The references are one-level deep and clearly signaled, but the lack of verifiable bundle files and the inline content that could benefit from examples in separate files limits the score.

2 / 3

Total

10

/

12

Passed

Description

67%

Based on the skill's description, can an agent find and select it at the right time? Clear, specific descriptions lead to better discovery.

The description has a clear 'Use when...' clause that addresses both what the skill does and when to use it, which is its strongest aspect. However, the capabilities described are somewhat abstract ('locate, analyze, and synthesize findings') rather than listing concrete actions, and the trigger terms could better match natural user language. The description could be more distinctive by specifying the types of cross-cutting questions it handles.

Suggestions

Add more concrete action examples like 'trace call chains, map dependencies between modules, find all usages of a function across the codebase' to improve specificity.

Include more natural trigger terms users would say, such as 'code architecture', 'how does X work', 'find where X is defined/used', 'understand code flow', 'code exploration'.

DimensionReasoningScore

Specificity

It names the domain (codebase exploration) and describes some actions ('locate, analyze, and synthesize findings', 'coordinates parallel sub-agents'), but the actions are somewhat abstract rather than listing multiple concrete operations like 'trace call chains, find usages, map dependencies'.

2 / 3

Completeness

The description explicitly addresses both 'what' (coordinates parallel sub-agents to locate, analyze, and synthesize findings across a codebase) and 'when' ('Use when answering complex questions about a codebase that require exploring multiple areas or understanding how components connect').

3 / 3

Trigger Term Quality

Includes some relevant terms like 'codebase', 'complex questions', 'how components connect', but misses many natural user phrases like 'code search', 'find where X is used', 'understand architecture', 'trace code flow', 'code navigation'. The phrase 'sub-agents' is internal jargon unlikely to appear in user queries.

2 / 3

Distinctiveness Conflict Risk

While the mention of 'parallel sub-agents' and 'multiple areas' provides some distinctiveness, phrases like 'complex questions about a codebase' could overlap with general code analysis, code review, or debugging skills. The scope is broad enough to potentially conflict with other code-related skills.

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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