Actian integration. Manage data, records, and automate workflows. Use when the user wants to interact with Actian data.
68
61%
Does it follow best practices?
Impact
Pending
No eval scenarios have been run
Passed
No known issues
Optimize this skill with Tessl
npx tessl skill review --optimize ./skills/actian/SKILL.mdQuality
Discovery
57%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 benefits from naming a specific platform (Actian) and including an explicit 'Use when' clause, which helps with completeness and some distinctiveness. However, the actual capabilities described are extremely vague and generic—'manage data, records, and automate workflows' could describe almost any data platform integration. The description would be significantly improved by listing concrete Actian-specific actions and product names.
Suggestions
Replace vague actions with specific Actian capabilities, e.g., 'Query Actian Vector/Zen databases, insert and update records, build DataConnect integration flows, manage Ingres tables.'
Add Actian-specific trigger terms and product names users might mention, such as 'Actian Vector', 'Actian Zen', 'Ingres', 'DataConnect', 'Actian Avalanche', or specific file/connection types.
Expand the 'Use when' clause with more specific scenarios, e.g., 'Use when the user mentions Actian databases, Actian Vector queries, DataConnect pipelines, or Ingres table management.'
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Specificity | The actions listed ('manage data, records, and automate workflows') are extremely vague and generic. There are no concrete, specific actions like 'query tables', 'insert records', 'create ETL pipelines', etc. These phrases could apply to virtually any database or integration tool. | 1 / 3 |
Completeness | The description does answer both 'what' (manage data, records, automate workflows) and 'when' (Use when the user wants to interact with Actian data). It has an explicit 'Use when' clause with a trigger condition, even though both parts are quite vague in substance. | 3 / 3 |
Trigger Term Quality | The term 'Actian' is a specific and useful trigger keyword that users would naturally mention. However, beyond that, the terms 'data', 'records', and 'workflows' are overly generic and lack natural variations or specific Actian-related terms (e.g., 'Actian Vector', 'Actian Zen', 'Ingres', 'DataConnect'). | 2 / 3 |
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk | The mention of 'Actian' provides some distinctiveness since it's a specific platform name. However, 'manage data, records, and automate workflows' is so generic it could overlap with many other database or integration skills. The Actian brand name saves it from a score of 1. | 2 / 3 |
Total | 8 / 12 Passed |
Implementation
64%Reviews the quality of instructions and guidance provided to agents. Good implementation is clear, handles edge cases, and produces reliable results.
This is a functional integration skill with strong actionability — all CLI commands are concrete and executable. Its main weaknesses are some unnecessary introductory text, a vague overview section that adds no value, and a workflow that could benefit from an explicit end-to-end numbered sequence with validation checkpoints. The content is reasonably well-structured but could be tightened.
Suggestions
Remove the introductory sentence explaining what Actian is and the vague 'Actian Overview' bullet list — these add no actionable value and waste tokens.
Add a concise numbered end-to-end workflow summary at the top (e.g., 1. Install CLI → 2. Authenticate → 3. Connect → 4. Discover actions → 5. Run/Create action) with explicit validation checkpoints after key steps like connection and action creation.
Consider adding brief error handling guidance for `membrane action run` failures, since running actions is the core operation and currently has no recovery steps.
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Conciseness | The content includes some unnecessary explanations (e.g., 'Actian is a database management and analytics platform. It's used by data engineers and analysts to process and analyze large volumes of data.' — Claude knows this). The 'Actian Overview' section with bullet points (Data Source, Data Set, Integration Template, Integration Job) is vague and adds little value. However, the CLI commands themselves are reasonably lean. | 2 / 3 |
Actionability | The skill provides fully executable CLI commands for every step: installation, authentication, connecting, searching actions, creating actions, polling, and running actions with input parameters. Commands are copy-paste ready with clear placeholder conventions. | 3 / 3 |
Workflow Clarity | The workflow is reasonably sequenced (install → authenticate → connect → discover actions → create if needed → run), and the action creation section includes a polling/state-checking loop. However, there's no explicit validation or error recovery for running actions, and the overall flow isn't presented as a numbered sequence with checkpoints — it's spread across sections without a clear end-to-end workflow summary. | 2 / 3 |
Progressive Disclosure | The content is structured with headers and sections, which helps navigation. However, it's somewhat monolithic — all content is inline in a single file with no references to external files for advanced topics. The 'Actian Overview' section with unexplained bullet points feels incomplete and poorly signaled. For a skill of this length, the organization is adequate but not exemplary. | 2 / 3 |
Total | 9 / 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 | |
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