Master REST and GraphQL API design principles to build intuitive, scalable, and maintainable APIs that delight developers and stand the test of time.
27
18%
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 ./plugins/antigravity-awesome-skills-claude/skills/api-design-principles/SKILL.mdQuality
Discovery
22%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 description reads more like a marketing tagline or course title than a functional skill description. It lacks concrete actions, explicit trigger conditions, and uses aspirational fluff ('delight developers', 'stand the test of time') instead of specifying what the skill actually does. The mention of REST and GraphQL provides some keyword value but is insufficient to make this a useful skill selector.
Suggestions
Replace aspirational language with concrete actions, e.g., 'Designs REST endpoints, defines GraphQL schemas, structures request/response payloads, applies versioning strategies, and generates OpenAPI/Swagger specifications.'
Add an explicit 'Use when...' clause with natural trigger terms, e.g., 'Use when the user asks about API design, REST endpoints, GraphQL schemas, HTTP methods, API versioning, or building web service interfaces.'
Remove marketing fluff like 'delight developers' and 'stand the test of time' — these add no selection value and waste space that could describe capabilities.
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Specificity | The description uses vague, aspirational language like 'intuitive, scalable, and maintainable' and 'delight developers' without listing any concrete actions. There are no specific capabilities such as 'design endpoints', 'define schemas', 'generate OpenAPI specs', etc. | 1 / 3 |
Completeness | The description vaguely addresses 'what' (API design principles) but provides no 'when' clause or explicit trigger guidance. There is no 'Use when...' or equivalent, which per the rubric should cap completeness at 2, and the 'what' itself is too vague to merit even a 2. | 1 / 3 |
Trigger Term Quality | It includes some relevant keywords like 'REST', 'GraphQL', and 'API design' that users might naturally say. However, it misses common variations like 'endpoints', 'routes', 'schema', 'OpenAPI', 'swagger', 'HTTP methods', or 'API documentation'. | 2 / 3 |
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk | Mentioning both REST and GraphQL provides some specificity, but the broad framing around 'API design principles' could overlap with skills related to backend development, web services, or general software architecture. | 2 / 3 |
Total | 6 / 12 Passed |
Implementation
14%Reviews the quality of instructions and guidance provided to agents. Good implementation is clear, handles edge cases, and produces reliable results.
This skill is essentially a placeholder that defers all actionable content to a referenced playbook that doesn't exist in the bundle. The instructions are abstract and vague, offering no concrete patterns, examples, schemas, or executable guidance for API design. It reads more like a table of contents for a missing document than a functional skill.
Suggestions
Add concrete, actionable content directly in SKILL.md — e.g., specific REST resource naming conventions, example endpoint designs, GraphQL schema snippets, or error response format templates.
Include at least one worked example showing input (API requirements) and output (designed API specification) so Claude knows what good output looks like.
Either provide the referenced `resources/implementation-playbook.md` bundle file or inline the essential patterns and checklists into the skill body.
Add validation checkpoints to the workflow — e.g., 'After step 2, verify resource naming follows conventions by checking against this checklist: [specific items]'.
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Conciseness | The 'Use this skill when' and 'Do not use this skill when' sections are somewhat verbose and explain things Claude could infer. The Limitations section is boilerplate. However, the core instructions are brief. | 2 / 3 |
Actionability | The instructions are extremely vague and abstract — 'Define consumers, use cases, and constraints' and 'Choose API style and model resources or types' provide no concrete examples, code snippets, schemas, or specific commands. The skill describes rather than instructs, deferring all real content to a referenced playbook that doesn't exist in the bundle. | 1 / 3 |
Workflow Clarity | While four steps are listed, they are so high-level as to be nearly meaningless — there are no validation checkpoints, no concrete outputs per step, no feedback loops, and no specifics about what 'validate with examples' actually entails. | 1 / 3 |
Progressive Disclosure | The skill references `resources/implementation-playbook.md` for all substantive content, but no bundle files are provided, meaning the reference is broken. The SKILL.md itself contains almost no useful content, making it an empty shell pointing to a nonexistent resource. | 1 / 3 |
Total | 5 / 12 Passed |
Validation
90%Checks the skill against the spec for correct structure and formatting. All validation checks must pass before discovery and implementation can be scored.
Validation — 10 / 11 Passed
Validation for skill structure
| Criteria | Description | Result |
|---|---|---|
frontmatter_unknown_keys | Unknown frontmatter key(s) found; consider removing or moving to metadata | Warning |
Total | 10 / 11 Passed | |
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Table of Contents
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