Conciseness

The body is dense, imperative, and explanation-free ("Never edit generated `dist/` payloads by hand", "Never publish from an unvalidated local tree"), assuming Claude's competence with every token carrying an instruction. Not 4: there are no instances of over-explanation or padding to trim; no time-sensitive dates or versions are embedded.

Actionability

Concrete specifics abound: seven official doc URLs, a distinct dogfood name ("<name>-local"), MCP smoke methods ("`initialize` and `tools/list`"), seven named validation gates, and an ordered file-creation sequence. Not 5: no example manifest snippets or executable commands are given (e.g., Codex "marketplace registration and plugin add/materialization" names operations without commands); not 3: the guidance includes far more executable detail than pseudocode-level hints, and deferring exact commands to current official docs is a deliberate, justified design.

Workflow Clarity

The Workflow section gives a clear 6-step sequence (classify scope -> define contract -> split source/outputs -> transforms -> dogfood -> validation gates) with explicit validation checkpoints ("Rebuild from source and fail on stale generated files", "Byte-deterministic rebuild check", install and cache-refresh smoke). Not 5: no explicit error-recovery loop stating what to do when a gate fails; not 4->3: checkpoints are comprehensively present, exceeding the 'most checkpoints' bar of the 4 anchor, so it sits between 4 and 5 and the recovery-loop gap keeps it at 4.

Progressive Disclosure

The single bundle reference `references/related-skills.md` (verified to exist) is one level deep and clearly signaled twice ("prefer the authoring skills listed in `references/related-skills.md`" and "read `references/related-skills.md` when the user asks for skill links"), while the SKILL.md body stays a lean, well-sectioned overview (Evidence First, Workflow, Required Output, Rules) with related-skill and repo-example detail appropriately split out. Not 4: no content that belongs in a reference is inlined and no organization gaps are apparent.

Specificity

"Design AI-IDE plugin marketplaces" names the domain and lists several specific facets ("requirements, host-specific payloads, local dogfood, release sync, and validation"), matching the several-specific-actions anchor with minor gaps. Not 5: the facets are noun-like topics rather than comprehensive concrete action verbs, and the audit/assess work covered in the body is absent from the description; not 3: it goes well beyond 1-2 concrete actions.

Completeness

Explicitly answers both: what ("Design AI-IDE plugin marketplaces - requirements, host-specific payloads, local dogfood, release sync, and validation") and when ("Use when the user wants to create or publish a plugin marketplace"). Not 5: the when-clause covers a single trigger scenario without mention-based trigger phrases or variations; not 3: the when-clause is explicit, not missing or weakly implied.

Trigger Term Quality

"plugin marketplace", "create", "publish", and "AI-IDE plugins" are natural phrases a user would say when needing this skill. Not 5: common synonyms and variations like "plugin store", "registry", "catalog", or "publish plugins" are missing; not 3: the core natural vocabulary is well covered rather than partially missing.

Distinctiveness Conflict Risk

"AI-IDE plugin marketplaces" carves out a clear marketplace-level niche distinct from single-skill or single-plugin authoring. Not 5: the trigger "create or publish a plugin marketplace" has minor overlap risk with plugin-authoring skills; not 3: the scope is firmly marketplace distribution, not merely somewhat specific.