tooluniverse-primer-design

PCR / qPCR primer and oligo design — design forward/reverse primers for a target region (SantaLucia nearest-neighbor thermodynamics), compute melting temperature (Tm) and annealing temperature (Ta), check GC content, and screen an oligo for hairpins and primer-dimers. Use when you need primers for a sequence, want to QC an existing primer pair, or need the Tm of an oligo. Covers the primer-design rules (Tm matching, GC clamp, 3'-end, length) and the tools' constraint quirks.

Quality

95%

Does it follow best practices?

Run evals on this skill

Adds up to 20 points to the overall score

View guide

Securityby

Passed

No findings from the security scan

Quality

Content

100%

Reviews the quality of instructions and guidance provided to agents. Good implementation is clear, handles edge cases, and produces reliable results.

An excellent, dense SKILL.md body: executable commands, a tight rules table, explicit validation (specificity via BLAST), and error-recovery guidance, with the one external reference appropriately offloaded to a real script. No weaknesses to address.

Dimension	Reasoning	Score
Conciseness	The body is lean and dense — executable commands with inline parameter notes, a compact rules table, and targeted callouts — and assumes Claude already knows what PCR, primers, and Tm are, with no padding; the 'Why' column earns its place rather than restating known concepts.	3 / 3
Actionability	It provides copy-paste-ready 'tu run' commands with real parameter objects and points to a real, present QC script (scripts/primer_qc.py), matching the fully-executable anchor.	3 / 3
Workflow Clarity	A clear numbered sequence (design → Tm/Ta → rules → specificity → gotchas) includes an explicit validation checkpoint in Step 4 (BLAST before ordering) and error→fix feedback loops in the constraint-quirk block.	3 / 3
Progressive Disclosure	It is a single-purpose skill with well-organized sections and a single one-level-deep bundle reference (scripts/primer_qc.py, verified to exist at the stated path), with no nested references.	3 / 3
	Total	12 / 12 Passed

Description

90%

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

A strong, specific description with explicit use-when triggers and natural terminology; the only demerit is second-person phrasing ('you need'), which the rubric penalizes on specificity. Rewording to third person would push it to a clean top score.

Suggestions

Rewrite the trigger clause in third person to avoid the specificity penalty, e.g. 'Use when the user needs primers for a sequence, wants to QC an existing primer pair, or needs the Tm of an oligo.'

Dimension	Reasoning	Score
Specificity	The description lists several concrete actions ('design forward/reverse primers for a target region', 'compute melting temperature (Tm) and annealing temperature (Ta)', 'check GC content', 'screen an oligo for hairpins and primer-dimers'), which would normally anchor at 3; however it uses second-person voice ('Use when you need primers for a sequence'), which the rubric penalizes by reducing specificity by one level.	2 / 3
Completeness	It clearly states what the skill does and provides an explicit 'Use when you need primers for a sequence, want to QC an existing primer pair, or need the Tm of an oligo' trigger clause answering when to invoke it.	3 / 3
Trigger Term Quality	Natural user-facing terms appear throughout ('primers for a sequence', 'QC an existing primer pair', 'Tm of an oligo', 'PCR / qPCR primer and oligo design'), giving good coverage of the phrasings a user would actually say.	3 / 3
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk	The primer/oligo-design niche with named thermodynamic methods (SantaLucia, NEB, IDT) is distinct and unlikely to trigger for unrelated sequence-analysis skills.	3 / 3
	Total	11 / 12 Passed

Validation

100%

Warnings & errors only

Checks the skill against the spec for correct structure and formatting. All validation checks must pass before discovery and implementation can be scored.

Validation — 16 / 16 Passed

Validation for skill structure

No warnings or errors.

Repository: mims-harvard/ToolUniverse
Path: plugins/tooluniverse/skills/tooluniverse-primer-design/SKILL.md
Commit: 089eb8e

Reviewed: about 8 hours ago

Table of Contents

Discovery Implementation Validation

Is this your skill?

If you maintain this skill, you can claim it as your own. Once claimed, you can manage eval scenarios, bundle related skills, attach documentation or rules, and ensure cross-agent compatibility.