model-cost-compare

Starter: compare model costs for a described task — maps task shape to the cheapest adequate seat and shows the price spread

Quality

83%

Does it follow best practices?

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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.

The skill body is a well-crafted, concise, actionable workflow with concrete pricing and clear decision rules. Its only minor weakness is a reference to skills/blocks/fable5-prompting.md that is not present in the bundle.

Dimension	Reasoning	Score
Conciseness	The body is lean and assumes Claude's competence — concrete prices, a tight step list, and no padding with concepts Claude already knows.	3 / 3
Actionability	Provides specific named models with $/MTok prices, explicit decision rules, and a defined three-row-table deliverable; as an instruction-only skill, code absence is not penalized.	3 / 3
Workflow Clarity	A clear six-step numbered sequence with explicit escalation/decision logic; this is a recommendation task (non-destructive), so no validate-retry loop is required.	3 / 3
Progressive Disclosure	Under 50 lines with well-organized sections (When to use, Steps, Guardrails) and one-level-deep signaled references; no bundle files exist to organize further.	3 / 3
	Total	12 / 12 Passed

Description

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 conveys concrete capabilities and a clear niche, but lacks an explicit trigger clause and leans on jargon ('seat') that users would not naturally say. Adding a 'Use when...' phrase with natural phrasings would lift the weaker dimensions.

Suggestions

Add an explicit trigger clause, e.g. 'Use when the user asks which model to use for a task or what it will cost.'

Replace jargon like 'cheapest adequate seat' with user-natural terms such as 'cheapest model that's good enough'.

Cover common trigger variations: 'compare model costs', 'which model is cheapest', 'cost of running X'.

Dimension	Reasoning	Score
Specificity	Lists multiple concrete actions — 'compare model costs', 'maps task shape to the cheapest adequate seat', and 'shows the price spread' — rather than vague language.	3 / 3
Completeness	The 'what' is clear, but there is no explicit 'Use when...' trigger clause, which per the judging guidelines caps completeness at 2.	2 / 3
Trigger Term Quality	Relevant terms like 'model costs', 'cheapest', and 'price spread' appear, but 'seat' is internal jargon, 'described task' is awkward, and common user phrasings like 'which model should I use' are missing.	2 / 3
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk	The model-cost-comparison niche is specific with distinct triggers and is unlikely to fire for unrelated skills.	3 / 3
	Total	10 / 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: nyldn/claude-octopus
Path: skills/octopus-starter-pack/model-cost-compare/SKILL.md
Commit: 9f39f0c

Reviewed: 2 days ago

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