testing-principles
Language-agnostic testing principles including TDD, test quality, coverage standards, and test design patterns. Use when writing tests, designing test strategies, or reviewing test quality.
50
54%
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 ./skills/testing-principles/SKILL.mdQuality
Discovery
82%Based on the skill's description, can an agent find and select it at the right time? Clear, specific descriptions lead to better discovery.
This is a solid description that clearly communicates both what the skill covers and when to use it, with good trigger terms that match natural developer language. Its main weaknesses are that the capabilities listed are somewhat abstract categories rather than concrete actions, and the broad 'language-agnostic' scope could create overlap with more specific testing skills.
Suggestions
Replace abstract categories with concrete actions, e.g., 'Guides writing unit/integration/e2e tests, applying TDD workflows, setting coverage thresholds, and structuring test suites with patterns like arrange-act-assert'.
Add more specific trigger terms to the 'Use when' clause, such as 'unit tests, integration tests, mocking, test-driven development, code coverage, test fixtures'.
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Specificity | Names the domain (testing) and lists some areas like TDD, test quality, coverage standards, and test design patterns, but these are still somewhat abstract categories rather than concrete actions like 'write unit tests, generate mocks, measure code coverage'. | 2 / 3 |
Completeness | Clearly answers both what ('Language-agnostic testing principles including TDD, test quality, coverage standards, and test design patterns') and when ('Use when writing tests, designing test strategies, or reviewing test quality') with explicit trigger guidance. | 3 / 3 |
Trigger Term Quality | Includes strong natural keywords users would say: 'TDD', 'tests', 'test quality', 'coverage', 'test design patterns', 'test strategies'. These are terms developers naturally use when seeking testing guidance. | 3 / 3 |
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk | While testing is a reasonably specific domain, 'language-agnostic testing principles' could overlap with language-specific testing skills or broader code quality skills. The broad scope ('language-agnostic') increases potential conflict with more targeted testing skills. | 2 / 3 |
Total | 10 / 12 Passed |
Implementation
27%Reviews the quality of instructions and guidance provided to agents. Good implementation is clear, handles edge cases, and produces reliable results.
This skill is a comprehensive but overly verbose testing textbook that explains many concepts Claude already knows thoroughly. It suffers from significant redundancy (test independence appears 3+ times), lacks executable code examples, and presents everything as a monolithic document. The content would benefit dramatically from aggressive trimming to only project-specific conventions and novel guidance, with better structural organization.
Suggestions
Reduce content by 60-70% by removing concepts Claude already knows (what unit/integration/e2e tests are, what TDD is, what mocking is) and focus only on specific standards and decisions (e.g., '80% coverage minimum', 'mock at boundaries only', specific naming format).
Split into multiple files: keep SKILL.md as a concise overview with key rules, and move detailed sections (Data Layer Testing, Language Paradigm considerations, CI/CD requirements) into separate referenced files.
Consolidate redundant sections—test independence criteria, test characteristics, and test design guardrails all repeat similar content. Merge into a single authoritative checklist.
Replace pseudocode examples with either truly executable examples in a common language or remove them entirely since the patterns (AAA, naming conventions) are well-known to Claude.
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Conciseness | Extremely verbose at ~300+ lines, extensively explaining concepts Claude already knows well (TDD cycle, AAA pattern, test types, mocking principles, CI/CD requirements). Most content is textbook testing knowledge that adds no novel or project-specific value. Significant redundancy—test independence criteria appear in at least three separate sections. | 1 / 3 |
Actionability | Provides some concrete guidance (pseudocode examples for AAA pattern, naming conventions, specific thresholds like 80% coverage and <100ms), but examples are pseudocode rather than executable code in any language. The skill is language-agnostic by design, which limits executable specificity, but the guidance remains more descriptive than prescriptive. | 2 / 3 |
Workflow Clarity | The TDD RED-GREEN-REFACTOR cycle is clearly sequenced with a verification step, and the 'Before Commit' checklist is useful. However, there are no feedback loops for error recovery, and the workflow steps are high-level descriptions rather than concrete actionable sequences with validation checkpoints. | 2 / 3 |
Progressive Disclosure | Monolithic wall of text with no references to external files and no bundle structure. All content is inline regardless of depth or specificity. Sections like 'Data Layer Testing,' 'Performance Considerations,' and 'Testing Best Practices by Language Paradigm' could easily be separate reference files, but instead everything is dumped into one massive document. | 1 / 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.
- Repository
- shinpr/claude-code-workflows
- Commit
adf2e4d
- Reviewed
Table of Contents
Is this your skill?
If you maintain this skill, you can claim it as your own. Once claimed, you can manage eval scenarios, bundle related skills, attach documentation or rules, and ensure cross-agent compatibility.