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recipe-reverse-engineer

Generate PRD and Design Docs from existing codebase through discovery, generation, verification, and review workflow

Quality

78%

Does it follow best practices?

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tessl review fix ./dev-workflows-fullstack/skills/recipe-reverse-engineer/SKILL.md
SKILL.md
Quality
Evals
Security

Quality

Content

88%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.

This is a strong orchestration recipe: fully executable subagent prompts, explicit quality gates and feedback loops at every step, and clear sequencing with completion checklists and error handling. Its only real cost is length-driven redundancy — the duplicated re-validation paragraphs and near-identical fullstack/standard prompt blocks could be factored into shared sections or reference files.

DimensionReasoningScore

Conciseness

The body is dense and operational — prompt templates, gates, and variable bindings with no padding explaining concepts Claude already knows. Not 5 because the Re-validation paragraph appears verbatim in both Step 5 and Step 10, and the standard/fullstack prompt blocks (Step 7 vs 7a/7b) nearly duplicate each other; these could be factored out.

4 / 5

Actionability

Every step provides a copy-paste-ready Agent tool invocation with exact subagent_type, description, and fully templated prompt, plus explicit mechanical extraction rules ("copy the named source values into the exact fields, apply only the declared serialization") and named output variables ($STEP_1_OUTPUT, $PRD_UNIT_INVENTORY). Both standard and fullstack modes are concretely covered.

5 / 5

Workflow Clarity

The sequence is explicit (Step 0 config → Phase 1 per-unit loop → Phase 2 → Final Report) with per-step quality gates, a verification→review→revision feedback loop with re-validation instructions, unit-completion checklists, human review checkpoints, and an error-handling table. The batch-operation validation cap does not apply because verification is pervasive and explicit.

5 / 5

Progressive Disclosure

Good section structure with a workflow overview, and the one file reference (references/review-resolution.md) is clearly signaled and attributed to the subagents-orchestration-guide skill, one level deep. Not 5 because the ~400-line monolithic body — including duplicated standard/fullstack prompt variants and the repeated re-validation text — has no references of its own and could be split; not 3 because navigation is easy and nothing is buried.

4 / 5

Total

18

/

20

Passed

Description

58%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.

The description communicates a clear, fairly specific capability but is missing the "when to use" half entirely, which both caps completeness and weakens trigger-term coverage. Adding an explicit "Use when..." clause with natural phrases like "reverse engineer", "document existing code", or "create technical documentation" would address its two lowest scores at once.

Suggestions

Add an explicit trigger clause, e.g. "Use when the user wants to reverse-engineer an existing codebase into documentation, generate PRDs/design docs from existing code, or document legacy systems."

Include natural user phrasings and synonyms — "reverse engineer", "document existing code", "technical documentation", "spec generation" — so the description matches how users actually ask for this skill.

Briefly state the concrete outputs (PRD under docs/prd/, Design Docs under docs/design/, optional backend/frontend split) to round out the "what" and improve distinctiveness against forward PRD-generation skills.

DimensionReasoningScore

Specificity

The description lists several concrete actions — "Generate PRD and Design Docs" via "discovery, generation, verification, and review workflow" — against a named domain ("existing codebase"). It falls short of 5 because it omits coverage of reverse-engineering framing, document revision, or output artifacts that would make it comprehensive.

4 / 5

Completeness

The "what" is clear (generate PRD and Design Docs from an existing codebase through a four-stage workflow), but the "when" is entirely absent — there is no "Use when..." clause or equivalent trigger guidance, which caps completeness at 3 per the judging guidelines. Not 2 because the "what" half is explicit and specific.

3 / 5

Trigger Term Quality

"PRD", "Design Docs", and "codebase" are genuinely relevant keywords users would say, but the most natural trigger phrases for this niche — "reverse engineer", "document existing code", "technical documentation" — are all missing. Not 4 because the missing terms are the primary ways a user would request this skill, not just minor variations.

3 / 5

Distinctiveness Conflict Risk

"Generate PRD and Design Docs from existing codebase" carves a distinct reverse-engineering/documentation niche with minimal conflict risk. Not 5 because "Generate PRD" could still overlap with forward (greenfield) PRD-creation skills before the "from existing codebase" qualifier is read.

4 / 5

Total

14

/

20

Passed

Validation

93%

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

Validation — 15 / 16 Passed

Validation for skill structure

CriteriaDescriptionResult

referenced_paths_exist

Referenced path issues: 1 missing

Warning

Total

15

/

16

Passed

Repository

shinpr/claude-code-workflows

Path

dev-workflows-fullstack/skills/recipe-reverse-engineer/SKILL.md

Reviewed

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