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github-actions-author

Authors fast, cheap, maintainable GitHub Actions workflows applying 2026 best practices: caching with `hashFiles` + `restore-keys`, parallelization via matrix + artifacts, reusability (composite actions for steps, reusable workflows for jobs), security (SHA-pinned actions, least-privilege `GITHUB_TOKEN`, concurrency), trackable errors (named steps, step summaries, annotations, and stdout/stderr that always reaches the run log so agents can act on failures), and feedback for comment-triggered runs (👀 acknowledgement reaction on start, 🚀/👎 outcome reaction plus a run-linked comment at the end). Two modes: `scaffold` (default) generates workflow YAML; `review` audits an existing workflow against the same rules. Use when creating CI/CD pipelines, optimizing slow workflows, deduping copy-pasted YAML across repos, or auditing workflow security. Triggers on "github action", "github workflow", "ci pipeline", "create workflow", "speed up ci", "review my workflow", "/github-actions-author".

67

Quality

84%

Does it follow best practices?

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SecuritybySnyk

Passed

No findings from the security scan

SKILL.md
Quality
Evals
Security

Quality

Content

73%Weight 40%Scale 1-5

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

The body delivers excellent actionability and workflow clarity — executable commands, phase gates, verification greps, and checklists — but token efficiency is hurt by the two headline rules being fully restated in five places each, and progressive disclosure is broken in practice because nearly all referenced rule and template files are absent from the bundle.

Suggestions

Add the missing bundle files: 8 `rules/*.md` and 5 `templates/*.md` files are referenced throughout (phase table, Required Reading, Definition of Done) but do not exist in the bundle — the scaffold workflow cannot follow phases 1–4 without them.

State the log-visibility and feedback rules once each (in their rule files or one summary section) and link to them, instead of restating both across the Non-negotiable section, phase table, Core Principles, Anti-patterns, and Definition of Done.

Trim the long Definition of Done feedback checklist item, which re-inlines the full trigger table and per-trigger reaction protocol that `rules/feedback.md` is meant to hold, down to a one-line check referencing that file.

DimensionReasoningScore

Conciseness

The body is mostly efficient — tables, one-liners, and checklists, with no re-explanation of concepts Claude already knows — but the two headline rules (log visibility and comment feedback) are each restated across five sections (Non-negotiable, phase table, Core Principles, Anti-patterns, Definition of Done), including a ~14-line DoD item that re-inlines the trigger table and reaction protocol that rules/feedback.md is supposed to hold. That duplication goes beyond the minor trimming of the 4 anchor, but the rest of the body is tight, so it does not fall to 2.

3 / 5

Actionability

Guidance is fully executable: a copy-paste `run:` block with `set -euo pipefail` + `tee`, exact `gh run list ... --jq` metric commands for review mode, an exact review report format, and a concrete list of forbidden strings (`> /dev/null`, `--silent`, `|| true` without echoing). This matches the 5 anchor — copy-paste ready commands covering the common cases.

5 / 5

Workflow Clarity

Scaffold mode is a five-phase sequence where each phase has an explicit gate ("do not proceed until it passes"), batched Phase-0 questions with a "repeat the answers back" checkpoint, and a Phase-5 self-check against a Definition of Done checklist; review mode has numbered steps with PASS/WARN/FAIL line-evidence requirements and a verification grep. This matches the 5 anchor: explicit validation steps, feedback loops, and checklists.

5 / 5

Progressive Disclosure

The design intent is a thin index with well-signaled one-level-deep references (per-phase rule files, per-file template descriptions), but scored against the actual bundle, 12 of the 13 referenced files are missing — the rules/ and templates/ directories do not exist, so the phases 1–4 instruction to "Walk each phase using the linked rule file" fails in practice. Only references/decision-tree.md is real, which leaves navigation broken for the bulk of the content — above the 1 anchor (the body still has real standalone structure) but within the 2 anchor's minimal effective structure.

2 / 5

Total

15

/

20

Passed

Description

92%Weight 40%Scale 1-5

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 description: it states concrete capabilities comprehensively, defines both modes explicitly, and gives clear 'Use when...' guidance with natural trigger phrases. Its only weakness is that the trigger list misses a few common synonyms (e.g., 'faster builds', 'slow pipeline', 'GitHub CI'), and its length, while dense with specifics rather than fluff, borders on padded.

DimensionReasoningScore

Specificity

The description enumerates concrete, specific capabilities — "caching with `hashFiles` + `restore-keys`, parallelization via matrix + artifacts, reusability (composite actions for steps, reusable workflows for jobs), security (SHA-pinned actions, least-privilege `GITHUB_TOKEN`, concurrency), trackable errors (named steps, step summaries, annotations...)" — covering the domain comprehensively with no vague filler. This matches the 5 anchor (multiple specific concrete actions, comprehensive coverage), not 4, because there are no meaningful gaps in capability coverage.

5 / 5

Completeness

It explicitly answers both questions: what ("Authors fast, cheap, maintainable GitHub Actions workflows... Two modes: `scaffold` (default) generates workflow YAML; `review` audits an existing workflow against the same rules") and when ("Use when creating CI/CD pipelines, optimizing slow workflows, deduping copy-pasted YAML across repos, or auditing workflow security") with concrete trigger phrases — a direct match to the 5 anchor.

5 / 5

Trigger Term Quality

Triggers include natural phrases users would say — "github action", "github workflow", "ci pipeline", "create workflow", "speed up ci", "review my workflow", "/github-actions-author" — which is good keyword coverage. It falls short of the 5 anchor because a few natural terms and synonyms are missing (e.g., "faster builds", "slow pipeline", "GitHub CI", ".github/workflows"), but it is clearly above the 3 anchor's partial coverage.

4 / 5

Distinctiveness Conflict Risk

It occupies a clear niche (GitHub Actions workflow authoring and auditing) with GitHub-specific triggers, so conflict risk with other skills is minimal. The only generic trigger is "ci pipeline", which alone is not enough overlap to drop it to the 4 anchor.

5 / 5

Total

19

/

20

Passed

Validation

81%

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

Validation — 13 / 16 Passed

Validation for skill structure

CriteriaDescriptionResult

metadata_field

'metadata' should map string keys to string values

Warning

frontmatter_unknown_keys

Unknown frontmatter key(s) found; consider removing or moving to metadata

Warning

relative_links

Relative link issues: 35 missing

Warning

Total

13

/

16

Passed

Repository
mthines/agent-skills
Reviewed

Table of Contents

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