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gather-context

Use at the start of creating context, to understand the problem the user is solving and take stock of what they already have. The user may arrive with an existing skill or plugin, code, a written prompt or transcript, or nothing but a pointer ("go look at my PRs"). Gathers what exists and fills the gaps - by asking or by hunting - until there is enough to plan a composition.

89

1.31x
Quality

60%

Does it follow best practices?

Impact

95%

1.31x

Average score across 9 eval scenarios

SecuritybySnyk

Low

Low-risk findings worth noting

Fix and improve this skill with Tessl

tessl review fix ./plugin-creator/skills/gather-context/SKILL.md

The canonical home for this skill is tessl/plugin-creator

SKILL.md
Quality
Evals
Security

Quality

Content

67%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 well-structured, concise skill that clearly defines a discovery/gathering workflow with good decision logic for how to fill information gaps. Its main weakness is limited actionability — it tells Claude what kinds of things to do but lacks concrete examples of questions to ask, specific hunting commands, or a checklist of what 'enough context' looks like. The referenced bundle file for hunting artifacts would likely address some of this gap.

Suggestions

Add 1-2 concrete example probe questions for common scenarios (e.g., 'What triggers this skill?' or 'Walk me through the last time you did this manually') to improve actionability.

Define explicit criteria for 'enough' in section 4 — e.g., a short checklist: problem statement ✓, trigger condition ✓, key steps ✓, constraints ✓ — to strengthen the validation checkpoint.

DimensionReasoningScore

Conciseness

The content is efficient and respects Claude's intelligence. It avoids explaining basic concepts and uses terse, structured guidance. Minor verbosity in section 2's bullet explanations (e.g., 'This is often the starting point') could be trimmed, but overall it's lean.

4 / 5

Actionability

The skill provides concrete guidance on what to look for and how to fill gaps (ask vs hunt vs infer), with specific file paths like `.tessl/memory/preferences/`. However, it lacks executable examples — no sample questions to ask, no concrete commands for hunting artifacts, and the probe example is generic. It's instructional rather than executable.

3 / 5

Workflow Clarity

The four-step sequence (understand → stock → fill gaps → confirm) is clear and logical with a well-defined stopping condition. The decision tree for filling gaps (ask/hunt/infer) adds useful structure. Minor gap: no explicit validation checkpoint — 'confirm you have enough' is stated but lacks concrete criteria for what 'enough' looks like.

4 / 5

Progressive Disclosure

The skill appropriately references `references/hunting-artifacts.md` for detailed hunting guidance rather than inlining it, and points to preference files for grounding. However, the bundle has no files provided, so we can't verify the referenced path exists. The structure is clean with well-signaled sections, though the single reference is the only disclosure point.

4 / 5

Total

15

/

20

Passed

Description

53%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 has a clear sense of when it should be triggered (start of context creation) but lacks specificity about what concrete actions it performs. The language is conversational and vague ('fills the gaps', 'asking or hunting') rather than describing precise capabilities. It would benefit from concrete action verbs and more explicit trigger terms.

Suggestions

Replace vague phrases like 'gathers what exists and fills the gaps' with concrete actions such as 'reads existing code files, analyzes PR history, parses prompts and transcripts, and identifies missing context'.

Add explicit trigger terms users would naturally use, e.g., 'Use when the user says get started, look at my code, review my project, or provides a pointer to existing work'.

Rewrite in third person with action verbs (e.g., 'Inventories existing artifacts — skills, plugins, code, prompts, transcripts — and identifies gaps by querying the user or inspecting repositories').

DimensionReasoningScore

Specificity

The description names a domain (understanding user context/problem) but the actions are vague and generic — 'gathers what exists', 'fills the gaps', 'asking or hunting'. No concrete actions like 'reads files', 'analyzes PRs', or 'parses prompts' are specified.

2 / 5

Completeness

The 'when' is explicitly stated ('at the start of creating context, to understand the problem the user is solving') and the 'what' is present but vague ('gathers what exists and fills the gaps'). The 'when' clause is clear, but the 'what' could be more concrete and specific.

4 / 5

Trigger Term Quality

Some relevant terms are present ('skill', 'plugin', 'code', 'prompt', 'transcript', 'PRs') that could match user language, but they're embedded in examples rather than serving as clear trigger keywords. Missing natural phrases users would say like 'get started', 'new project', 'analyze my code'.

3 / 5

Distinctiveness Conflict Risk

The description positions itself as a discovery/intake phase skill, which is somewhat distinct, but phrases like 'understand the problem' and 'take stock of what they already have' are broad enough to overlap with planning, analysis, or general onboarding skills.

3 / 5

Total

12

/

20

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
tesslio/product-plugins
Reviewed

Table of Contents

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