dependency-upgrade
Manage major dependency version upgrades with compatibility analysis, staged rollout, and comprehensive testing. Use when upgrading framework versions, updating major dependencies, or managing breaking changes in libraries.
68
54%
Does it follow best practices?
Impact
91%
1.05xAverage score across 3 eval scenarios
Advisory
Suggest reviewing before use
Optimize this skill with Tessl
npx tessl skill review --optimize ./plugins/framework-migration/skills/dependency-upgrade/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 does and when to use it, with good trigger term coverage. Its main weakness is that the capability descriptions are somewhat high-level ('compatibility analysis', 'staged rollout') rather than listing concrete specific actions, and it could potentially overlap with more general dependency management or migration skills.
Suggestions
Add more concrete specific actions like 'analyze changelogs, update configuration files, fix deprecated API calls, run compatibility checks' to improve specificity.
Differentiate more clearly from general dependency management by specifying what makes this skill unique to *major* upgrades, e.g., mentioning semver major bumps, migration guides, or codemods.
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Specificity | Names the domain (dependency upgrades) and some actions ('compatibility analysis, staged rollout, comprehensive testing'), but these are somewhat high-level rather than listing multiple concrete specific actions like 'update package.json, run migration scripts, fix breaking API changes'. | 2 / 3 |
Completeness | Clearly answers both 'what' (manage major dependency version upgrades with compatibility analysis, staged rollout, and comprehensive testing) and 'when' (explicit 'Use when' clause covering upgrading framework versions, updating major dependencies, or managing breaking changes). | 3 / 3 |
Trigger Term Quality | Includes strong natural trigger terms users would say: 'dependency version upgrades', 'upgrading framework versions', 'updating major dependencies', 'breaking changes', 'libraries'. These cover common variations of how users would describe this task. | 3 / 3 |
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk | Reasonably specific to major version upgrades and breaking changes, but could overlap with general dependency management skills, package update skills, or migration skills. The focus on 'major' upgrades and 'breaking changes' helps but doesn't fully eliminate overlap. | 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 broad, verbose reference document that tries to cover too much ground — from semver basics to CI automation configs — without being sufficiently targeted or concise. It explains many concepts Claude already knows (semver, testing types, dependency trees) and includes React-specific examples that limit generalizability. The workflow structure is reasonable but lacks strong validation checkpoints and error recovery loops.
Suggestions
Cut the semver review, generic testing strategy sections, and basic npm/yarn commands that Claude already knows — focus only on upgrade-specific decision logic and gotchas.
Split content into separate files: a concise SKILL.md overview with references to COMPATIBILITY.md, TESTING_CHECKLIST.md, and AUTOMATION_CONFIG.md.
Add explicit validation checkpoints with failure handling between each upgrade phase (e.g., 'If build fails after TypeScript upgrade, check tsconfig migration guide before proceeding').
Make the rollback plan more robust with explicit git state verification steps and fix the bash/JS mixing in rollback.sh.
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Conciseness | Extremely verbose with significant content Claude already knows. The semver review section explains basic versioning concepts, the compatibility matrix is a static React-specific reference that will go stale, and many sections (testing strategy, visual regression, E2E tests) explain general testing concepts rather than upgrade-specific guidance. The skill is ~250 lines when it could be under 80. | 1 / 3 |
Actionability | Contains concrete commands and executable code snippets (npm commands, jscodeshift usage, config files), but much of it is generic boilerplate rather than targeted guidance. The compatibility-matrix.js has an empty checkCompatibility function, the migration script is simplistic find-replace, and the rollback script mixes bash and JavaScript comments incorrectly. | 2 / 3 |
Workflow Clarity | The staged upgrade strategy (Phase 1-3) provides a reasonable sequence, and the rollback plan includes a test-then-commit-or-revert pattern. However, validation checkpoints between phases are weak — Phase 3 validation tests are incomplete stubs, and there's no explicit feedback loop for handling failures during incremental updates beyond 'test again'. | 2 / 3 |
Progressive Disclosure | Monolithic wall of content with no references to external files and no bundle structure to support it. Everything from semver basics to Renovate config to E2E test examples is inlined. Content like the compatibility matrix, automated update configs, and testing examples should be split into separate reference files. | 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
- wshobson/agents
- Commit
34632bc
- Reviewed
Table of Contents
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