Guide for creating effective skills for AI coding agents working with Azure SDKs and Microsoft Foundry services. Use when creating new skills or updating existing skills.
66
51%
Does it follow best practices?
Impact
94%
1.74xAverage score across 3 eval scenarios
Passed
No known issues
Optimize this skill with Tessl
npx tessl skill review --optimize ./.github/skills/skill-creator/SKILL.mdQuality
Discovery
40%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 is too vague about what concrete actions or guidance it provides, relying on the abstract term 'guide' without specifying the actual content or capabilities. While it includes a 'Use when' clause and mentions Azure/Foundry as a domain, it lacks the specificity needed to distinguish it from other skill-authoring or Azure-related skills.
Suggestions
Replace 'Guide for creating effective skills' with specific actions like 'Provides templates, naming conventions, and best practices for authoring AI agent skills targeting Azure SDK and Microsoft Foundry APIs'.
Expand trigger terms to include natural variations like 'new skill file', 'SKILL.md', 'Azure SDK skill', 'Foundry agent skill', 'skill template'.
Clarify the 'Use when' clause with more specific triggers, e.g., 'Use when the user asks to create, edit, or review a skill file for Azure SDK or Microsoft Foundry integration'.
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Specificity | The description uses vague language like 'creating effective skills' and 'working with Azure SDKs and Microsoft Foundry services' without listing any concrete actions. It doesn't specify what the skill actually does beyond being a 'guide'. | 1 / 3 |
Completeness | It has a weak 'what' (guide for creating skills) and includes a 'Use when' clause ('creating new skills or updating existing skills'), but the 'what' is too vague to be truly useful, and the 'when' is generic. The 'Use when' clause exists but doesn't provide strong explicit triggers. | 2 / 3 |
Trigger Term Quality | It includes some relevant keywords like 'Azure SDKs', 'Microsoft Foundry', and 'skills', but misses common variations users might say such as 'Azure SDK patterns', 'Foundry agent', 'skill template', 'skill file', or 'SKILL.md'. | 2 / 3 |
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk | The mention of 'Azure SDKs and Microsoft Foundry services' provides some specificity, but 'creating effective skills' is broad enough to overlap with any meta-skill or skill-authoring guide. The scope is somewhat ambiguous. | 2 / 3 |
Total | 7 / 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 is a comprehensive and highly actionable meta-skill for creating Azure SDK skills, with excellent workflow clarity and a thorough checklist. However, it severely violates its own conciseness principles—it's a massive document that inlines content (multi-language auth blocks, full test setup instructions, deprecation handling patterns) that should live in reference files. The irony of a skill about progressive disclosure being a monolithic document significantly undermines its effectiveness as a context-window-efficient resource.
Suggestions
Move the 5-language authentication code blocks to a `references/auth-patterns.md` file and keep only one representative example (Python) inline, with a reference link for other languages.
Extract the entire testing section (Steps 6.1-6.3 with acceptance criteria templates and scenario YAML) into `references/testing-guide.md` and summarize in 5-10 lines in the main body.
Move the 'Handling Deprecated or Rebranded SDKs' section to a `references/migration-patterns.md` file—it's a specialized concern that doesn't need to be in every skill creation context load.
Remove explanatory text that Claude already knows (e.g., 'Skills are modular knowledge packages that transform general-purpose agents into specialized experts', the About Skills section, and the Progressive Disclosure Patterns section which just shows directory trees).
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Conciseness | This skill is extremely verbose at ~500+ lines. It explains concepts Claude already knows (what skills are, what progressive disclosure means, basic file structures), repeats authentication patterns across 5 languages when references could handle it, includes lengthy test scaffolding instructions, and has extensive tables that could be condensed. The authentication code blocks alone consume enormous token budget showing nearly identical patterns across languages. | 1 / 3 |
Actionability | The skill provides fully executable code examples (authentication patterns in 5 languages, symlink commands, test commands, YAML configs), concrete file paths, specific naming conventions, and copy-paste ready templates. The example skill structure and test scenario YAML are complete and actionable. | 3 / 3 |
Workflow Clarity | The 8-step skill creation process is clearly sequenced with explicit substeps. Each step has clear inputs and outputs. The testing section includes validation commands (`pnpm harness --mock`), the checklist at the end serves as a comprehensive verification checkpoint, and the process includes feedback loops (Step 8: Iterate based on real usage, Ralph Loop for iterative improvement). | 3 / 3 |
Progressive Disclosure | The skill references external files like `references/azure-sdk-patterns.md`, `references/workflows.md`, and `references/output-patterns.md`, and demonstrates good progressive disclosure patterns. However, no bundle files are provided, so these references are unverifiable. More critically, the SKILL.md itself is a monolithic wall that inlines extensive content (5 language auth examples, full test scaffolding, deprecation handling) that should be split into reference files per its own advice to keep SKILL.md under 500 lines. | 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 |
|---|---|---|
skill_md_line_count | SKILL.md is long (782 lines); consider splitting into references/ and linking | Warning |
Total | 10 / 11 Passed | |
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Table of Contents
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