skill-template
Template for creating new Agent Skills for context engineering. Use this template when adding new skills to the collection.
44
44%
Does it follow best practices?
Impact
—
No eval scenarios have been run
Passed
No known issues
Optimize this skill with Tessl
npx tessl skill review --optimize ./template/SKILL.mdQuality
Discovery
67%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 adequately covers both what the skill does and when to use it, earning full marks on completeness. However, it lacks specificity in the concrete actions it performs (e.g., what the template includes or generates) and could benefit from more natural trigger terms that users would actually say. The domain is moderately distinct but could be sharpened to avoid overlap with related skill-management tasks.
Suggestions
Add specific concrete actions the template performs, e.g., 'Scaffolds YAML frontmatter, description fields, and markdown body structure for new Agent Skills'.
Include more natural trigger terms users might say, such as 'scaffold skill', 'new skill.md file', 'create a skill from scratch', or 'add skill to collection'.
Sharpen distinctiveness by clarifying this is specifically for creating *new* skill markdown files from a blank template, distinguishing it from editing or managing existing skills.
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Specificity | It names the domain ('Agent Skills for context engineering') and one action ('creating new'), but doesn't list concrete steps or multiple specific actions like 'generate frontmatter, scaffold markdown structure, add YAML metadata'. | 2 / 3 |
Completeness | It answers both 'what' ('Template for creating new Agent Skills for context engineering') and 'when' ('Use this template when adding new skills to the collection'), with an explicit trigger clause. | 3 / 3 |
Trigger Term Quality | Includes some relevant terms like 'template', 'new Agent Skills', 'skills', and 'collection', but misses natural variations users might say such as 'scaffold skill', 'add a new skill file', 'skill.md', or 'create skill template'. | 2 / 3 |
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk | The description is somewhat specific to skill template creation, but 'context engineering' and 'skills' are broad enough that it could overlap with skills about editing existing skills, managing skill collections, or general template generation. | 2 / 3 |
Total | 9 / 12 Passed |
Implementation
22%Reviews the quality of instructions and guidance provided to agents. Good implementation is clear, handles edge cases, and produces reliable results.
This is a meta-template for creating skills rather than a skill that teaches a specific task. Its primary weakness is that it violates its own advice: it's verbose, explains concepts Claude already knows (what examples are, what guidelines are, how to write descriptions), and lacks the concrete actionability it recommends. The structural outline is useful but the instructional commentary inflates token cost without proportional value.
Suggestions
Strip all explanatory commentary (e.g., 'Explain the fundamental concepts...', 'Provide actionable guidance...') and replace with terse structural markers or a single concrete example skill that demonstrates the pattern by showing rather than telling.
Add a concrete workflow section: 1. Copy template → 2. Fill sections → 3. Run token count check (must be <500 lines) → 4. Validate all relative paths resolve → 5. Check activation boundary clarity.
Remove sections that restate general writing principles Claude already knows (like 'Does Claude really need this explanation?') and instead provide a compact checklist of skill-specific quality gates.
Provide a complete, minimal example skill (20-30 lines) inline that demonstrates all required sections filled in, rather than describing what each section should contain.
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Conciseness | This is a meta-template that explains how to write skills rather than being a skill itself. It is heavily padded with instructional commentary that Claude already knows (e.g., explaining what conciseness means, what examples are, how to write guidelines). Most content describes rather than instructs, and much of it restates general writing principles. | 1 / 3 |
Actionability | The template provides some concrete structural guidance (section headers, example input/output format, reference directory conventions) but lacks executable code or commands. The guidance is mostly meta-instructional ('Provide actionable guidance...') rather than being actionable itself. The few concrete examples (like the good/avoid activation descriptions) are helpful but sparse. | 2 / 3 |
Workflow Clarity | There is no clear workflow or sequenced process for creating a skill. The template presents sections in order but doesn't provide a step-by-step process with validation checkpoints. For a skill about creating other skills, there should be a concrete workflow: draft → validate structure → check token count → review against criteria → finalize. | 1 / 3 |
Progressive Disclosure | The template mentions the references/ directory pattern and suggests moving detailed content there, which demonstrates awareness of progressive disclosure. However, no bundle files are provided, and the template itself is a monolithic document that could benefit from splitting its own meta-guidance into separate reference files. | 2 / 3 |
Total | 6 / 12 Passed |
Validation
100%Checks the skill against the spec for correct structure and formatting. All validation checks must pass before discovery and implementation can be scored.
Validation — 11 / 11 Passed
Validation for skill structure
No warnings or errors.
- Commit
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- Reviewed
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