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uspto-database

Access USPTO APIs for patent/trademark searches, examination history (PEDS), assignments, citations, office actions, TSDR, for IP analysis and prior art searches.

60

Quality

71%

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tessl review fix ./backend/cli/skills/databases/uspto-database/SKILL.md
SKILL.md
Quality
Evals
Security

Quality

Content

67%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.

A well-structured, highly actionable skill body with clear task sequencing and genuine one-level-deep references, weakened mainly by length: overview/trigger sections and inline reference-style tables duplicate content that belongs in the reference files, and the Task 5 APIs are described but not shown.

Suggestions

Trim the Overview and 'When to Use This Skill' sections (they restate the description) and move the inline operator, transaction-code, trademark-status, and endpoint tables into the corresponding reference files, keeping only one illustrative example of each inline.

Add at least one minimal executable snippet or endpoint for the Office Action Text and Enriched Citation APIs in Task 5, since those common cases currently have no code.

Demonstrate the recommended error-handling (429 backoff / retry) as an explicit step in the rate-limiting guidance so the workflow checkpoints are shown, not just advised.

DimensionReasoningScore

Conciseness

The body is mostly code-driven and assumes competence, but at ~600 lines it includes tightening opportunities: the Overview and 'When to Use' sections restate the description nearly verbatim, inline field/operator/code tables (query operators, transaction codes, trademark statuses, endpoint lists) largely duplicate the reference files, and the 'Complete Analysis Example' is a long script better placed in a reference. This fits 'mostly efficient but could be tightened' rather than level 4's 'minor instances'.

3 / 5

Actionability

Mostly executable, copy-paste-ready code for patent search, PEDS, TSDR, and assignments covering the common cases, matching the level-4 anchor. It falls short of 5 because Task 5 (Office Action Text, Enriched Citations, Litigation, PTAB) gives only prose descriptions with no endpoints, parameters, or code — those common cases are delegated entirely to a reference file.

4 / 5

Workflow Clarity

Tasks 1–5 give a clear, sequenced progression from discovery (PatentSearch) to prosecution (PEDS) to ownership (Assignments), with most checkpoints present: HTTP status checks in code, 'handle missing data gracefully', rate-limit backoff guidance, and a combined-API example. It is not 5 because explicit validate-and-retry loops (e.g., handling 429s or retrying failed PEDS lookups) are mentioned as advice but not demonstrated as steps, leaving minor validation gaps.

4 / 5

Progressive Disclosure

Good structure with a quick start, per-task sections, and four well-signaled one-level-deep reference files (all verified to exist) plus three helper scripts, each introduced with a bullet list of what it contains — matching 'good structure; most content appropriately placed; references mostly clear'. It is not 5 because a substantial amount of field-reference material (operator tables, code/status enumerations, endpoint lists) sits inline in SKILL.md rather than in the reference files.

4 / 5

Total

15

/

20

Passed

Description

75%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.

A specific, distinctive description with strong concrete action coverage, but it lacks an explicit 'Use when...' clause, leaving the trigger context only weakly implied and capping completeness at 3.

Suggestions

Add an explicit trigger clause, e.g. 'Use when the user asks about patents, trademarks, USPTO data, prior art, or IP portfolios.'

Include a few more natural synonyms such as 'prosecution history', 'patent lookup', and 'intellectual property' to broaden natural trigger coverage.

DimensionReasoningScore

Specificity

The description lists multiple concrete actions — 'patent/trademark searches, examination history (PEDS), assignments, citations, office actions, TSDR' — naming both the domain and specific data domains with comprehensive coverage, matching the level-5 anchor. It is not level 4 because coverage is broad rather than having minor gaps.

5 / 5

Completeness

The 'what' is clear and concrete, but the 'when' is only weakly implied by the purpose clause 'for IP analysis and prior art searches' — there is no explicit 'Use when...' trigger guidance, which per the judging guidelines caps completeness at 3. It is above level 2 because the 'what' is fully articulated, not vague.

3 / 5

Trigger Term Quality

Good natural keywords users would say — 'patent', 'trademark', 'USPTO', 'prior art searches', 'IP analysis' — but common variations like 'prosecution history', 'patent lookup', or 'intellectual property' are missing, matching 'good keyword coverage; a few natural terms missing' rather than the comprehensive synonym coverage of level 5.

4 / 5

Distinctiveness Conflict Risk

'USPTO APIs', 'PEDS', 'TSDR', 'prior art' define a clear niche with distinct triggers and minimal overlap with any other skill category, matching the level-5 anchor exactly.

5 / 5

Total

17

/

20

Passed

Validation

81%

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

Validation — 13 / 16 Passed

Validation for skill structure

CriteriaDescriptionResult

skill_md_line_count

SKILL.md is long (613 lines); consider splitting into references/ and linking

Warning

metadata_version

'metadata.version' is missing

Warning

frontmatter_unknown_keys

Unknown frontmatter key(s) found; consider removing or moving to metadata

Warning

Total

13

/

16

Passed

Repository
synthetic-sciences/openscience
Reviewed

Table of Contents

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