Conciseness

The body is dense policy prose with zero filler or explanation of concepts Claude already knows — every rule is repo-specific. It sits at 4 rather than 5 because the 120-line cap is restated across 'Hard constraints', 'Workflow' step 7, and the 'Validation' block, a minor redundancy that could be consolidated. It is well above the 'mostly efficient but includes some unnecessary explanation' of 3.

Actionability

Concrete, executable guidance dominates: exact commands ('wc -l AGENTS.md', 'wc -l .claude/skills/steward/SKILL.md', 'npx markdownlint-cli AGENTS.md <other-changed-markdown>'), named file paths, numeric caps, and a numbered workflow. It falls short of the copy-paste-ready 5 anchor because '<other-changed-markdown>' is an unfilled placeholder and several constraints ('Confirm every protected template remains directly usable') are checkable only by judgment, not command.

Workflow Clarity

The 8-step workflow is clearly sequenced with baseline capture (step 1 'Record the baseline with wc -l AGENTS.md'), embedded checkpoints (steps 6-7), a dedicated 'Validation' section of executable checks, and an explicit error-recovery path ('When the cap is exceeded, move a whole concern to its focused owner'). This matches the anchor for clear sequence with explicit validation steps and feedback loops for error recovery.

Progressive Disclosure

A single-file skill (~70-line body) with well-organized sections and clearly signaled, one-level-deep document routes ('docs/repository-workflow.md', 'the steward skill', etc.) in the 'Ownership test'. It scores 4 rather than 5 because the body exceeds the under-50-line simple-skill threshold and the seven-entry routing list is a fairly dense inline index — good structure with minor organization polish remaining, not the ideal split of the 5 anchor.

Specificity

The description names the domain ('editing AGENTS.md') and lists several specific constraint areas — 'enforces the 120-line launch and Steward boundaries, protected operator templates, and focused-document ownership' — which matches the anchor for several specific actions with minor coverage gaps. It falls short of 5 because the actions are constraints being guarded rather than concrete operations (e.g., 'check line counts', 'extract content'), and it is clearly above 3's '1-2 concrete actions'.

Completeness

Both halves are present: an explicit when-clause ('Use before editing AGENTS.md') and a what-list of enforced constraints (120-line boundaries, protected templates, focused-document ownership). It is not 5 because the 'what' describes policies guarded rather than concrete actions with trigger phrases, and not 3 because the 'when' is explicit rather than weakly implied.

Trigger Term Quality

'Use before editing AGENTS.md' supplies the natural phrase a user would say when needing this skill, matching the 'good keyword coverage; a few natural terms missing' anchor. It misses common variations a user would naturally say ('update AGENTS.md', 'trim AGENTS.md', 'add to AGENTS.md'), which keeps it below the comprehensive-synonym coverage of 5 but above the sparse keyword coverage of 3.

Distinctiveness Conflict Risk

The description carves out a clear niche — pre-edit governance of a specific file (AGENTS.md) with named boundaries — so it would rarely fire for the wrong skill. It matches the 'clear niche with distinct triggers; minimal conflict risk' anchor exactly.