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writing-skills

Creates, edits, and tests Claude skill files (SKILL.md) using TDD methodology with baseline pressure testing and rationalization defense. Use when writing a new skill, modifying an existing skill, optimizing a skill description for discovery (CSO), testing whether a skill triggers correctly, or structuring skill documentation. Enforces RED-GREEN-REFACTOR for process documentation.

77

Quality

71%

Does it follow best practices?

Impact

Pending

No eval scenarios have been run

SecuritybySnyk

Advisory

Suggest reviewing before use

Optimize this skill with Tessl

npx tessl skill review --optimize ./skills/writing-skills/SKILL.md
SKILL.md
Quality
Evals
Security

Quality

Discovery

100%

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 strong skill description that clearly defines a specific niche (Claude skill file management with TDD), provides comprehensive trigger terms, and explicitly states both what it does and when to use it. The description is well-structured with concrete actions and an explicit 'Use when...' clause covering multiple scenarios. Minor improvement could come from slightly reducing jargon like 'rationalization defense' which may not be immediately clear to all users.

DimensionReasoningScore

Specificity

Lists multiple specific concrete actions: 'Creates, edits, and tests Claude skill files', 'baseline pressure testing', 'rationalization defense', 'optimizing a skill description for discovery (CSO)', 'testing whether a skill triggers correctly', 'structuring skill documentation', and 'RED-GREEN-REFACTOR for process documentation'.

3 / 3

Completeness

Clearly answers both 'what' (creates, edits, tests skill files using TDD with pressure testing and rationalization defense) and 'when' (explicit 'Use when...' clause listing five distinct trigger scenarios: writing new skills, modifying existing ones, optimizing for discovery, testing triggers, and structuring documentation).

3 / 3

Trigger Term Quality

Includes strong natural trigger terms users would say: 'skill', 'SKILL.md', 'new skill', 'modifying an existing skill', 'skill description', 'discovery', 'CSO', 'triggers correctly', 'skill documentation', 'TDD'. These cover a good range of how users would phrase requests about skill file creation and testing.

3 / 3

Distinctiveness Conflict Risk

Highly distinctive niche focused specifically on Claude skill files (SKILL.md) with TDD methodology. The combination of skill file creation, CSO optimization, and pressure testing is unlikely to conflict with other skills. The domain is very specific and self-referential.

3 / 3

Total

12

/

12

Passed

Implementation

42%

Reviews the quality of instructions and guidance provided to agents. Good implementation is clear, handles edge cases, and produces reliable results.

This skill has good structural organization and progressive disclosure but suffers from significant verbosity and redundancy - the core TDD message is repeated at least 5 times in different forms. Actionability is moderate: it provides templates and checklists but lacks concrete, executable examples of the actual artifacts it teaches you to create. The workflow is present but validation criteria are too vague for a skill that emphasizes rigorous testing.

Suggestions

Cut redundant TDD explanations (the mapping table, Iron Law section, and Bottom Line all say the same thing) - trust that Claude understands TDD after one clear explanation, especially since the skill declares kit:tdd as a prerequisite.

Add a concrete, complete example: show an actual mini SKILL.md with frontmatter, a sample pressure scenario prompt, expected baseline failure output, and the resulting skill edit - this would dramatically improve actionability.

Define specific, measurable success criteria for the GREEN phase instead of vague 'verify agents now comply' - e.g., 'agent follows the rule in 3/3 pressure scenarios without rationalization'.

Remove the 'What is a Skill?' section and the 'Skill Types' section - these explain concepts Claude already knows from context and add ~30 lines of low-value content.

DimensionReasoningScore

Conciseness

The skill is extremely verbose at ~400+ lines, with significant redundancy. The TDD mapping table, the Iron Law section, and the bottom line all repeat the same core message. It explains concepts Claude already knows (what TDD is, what RED-GREEN-REFACTOR means) and includes unnecessary padding like 'If you follow TDD for code, follow it for skills. It's the same discipline applied to documentation.' The skill also explicitly says 'REQUIRED BACKGROUND: You MUST understand kit:tdd' then proceeds to re-explain TDD concepts anyway.

1 / 3

Actionability

The skill provides structural templates (directory layouts, YAML frontmatter format, checklist items) which are somewhat actionable, but lacks concrete executable examples. There's no actual example of a complete SKILL.md with frontmatter, no example pressure scenario, no example rationalization table, and no example of a failing test. The guidance is mostly descriptive ('run pressure scenario with subagent') rather than showing exactly how to do it, deferring to external files for critical details.

2 / 3

Workflow Clarity

The RED-GREEN-REFACTOR workflow is clearly sequenced and the checklist at the end provides good structure. However, validation checkpoints are weak - the skill says 'verify agents now comply' and 're-test until bulletproof' without specifying what passing looks like or how to measure compliance. The STOP section adds a checkpoint but the actual verification criteria are vague. The workflow also defers critical methodology details to external files (testing-skills-with-subagents.md, rationalization-defense.md).

2 / 3

Progressive Disclosure

The skill effectively uses progressive disclosure with clear references to external files: cso-guide.md for description optimization, rationalization-defense.md for bulletproofing, testing-skills-with-subagents.md for testing methodology, and graphviz-conventions.dot for style rules. References are one level deep, clearly signaled, and the main document provides enough context to understand what each reference contains. The section structure flows logically from overview to details to checklist.

3 / 3

Total

8

/

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.

Validation11 / 11 Passed

Validation for skill structure

No warnings or errors.

Repository
shousper/claude-kit
Reviewed

Table of Contents

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