microservices-patterns
Design microservices architectures with service boundaries, event-driven communication, and resilience patterns. Use when building distributed systems, decomposing monoliths, or implementing microservices.
80
54%
Does it follow best practices?
Impact
97%
1.42xAverage score across 6 eval scenarios
Passed
No known issues
Optimize this skill with Tessl
npx tessl skill review --optimize ./plugins/backend-development/skills/microservices-patterns/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 terms from the microservices domain. Its main weaknesses are that the capabilities listed are somewhat conceptual rather than concrete discrete actions, and there is moderate overlap risk with adjacent architecture-related skills.
Suggestions
Make capabilities more concrete by listing specific deliverables, e.g., 'Define service boundaries, design API contracts, create event schemas, implement circuit breakers and retry policies'.
Add more distinctive trigger terms to reduce conflict risk, e.g., mention specific patterns like 'saga pattern', 'API gateway', 'service mesh', or tools like 'Kubernetes', 'Docker' if applicable.
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Specificity | Names the domain (microservices) and some actions ('design architectures', 'service boundaries', 'event-driven communication', 'resilience patterns'), but these are more like architectural concepts than concrete discrete actions. Compare to the level 3 example which lists very specific operations like 'extract text', 'fill forms', 'merge documents'. | 2 / 3 |
Completeness | Clearly answers both 'what' (design microservices architectures with service boundaries, event-driven communication, and resilience patterns) and 'when' (use when building distributed systems, decomposing monoliths, or implementing microservices) with an explicit 'Use when...' clause. | 3 / 3 |
Trigger Term Quality | Includes strong natural keywords users would say: 'microservices', 'distributed systems', 'decomposing monoliths', 'service boundaries', 'event-driven', 'resilience patterns'. These cover the main terms a user working in this domain would naturally use. | 3 / 3 |
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk | While 'microservices' is a fairly specific domain, terms like 'distributed systems' and 'resilience patterns' could overlap with skills focused on general system design, cloud architecture, or infrastructure. The description could conflict with a broader software architecture skill. | 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 reads more like a textbook chapter on microservices than an actionable skill file. It is excessively long, with redundant conceptual summaries preceding detailed code, and all content crammed into one file. The code examples are illustrative but not executable due to undefined dependencies, and the skill lacks a clear workflow for when and how to apply these patterns.
Suggestions
Remove the 'Core Concepts' section entirely — it duplicates the detailed patterns below and explains things Claude already knows (REST, message queues, circuit breakers).
Split into multiple files: keep SKILL.md as a concise overview with decision guidance (when to use which pattern), and move each pattern's code into separate reference files (e.g., SAGA.md, CIRCUIT_BREAKER.md, EVENT_BUS.md).
Add a decision workflow: 'When decomposing a monolith, start by identifying bounded contexts → choose communication pattern based on [criteria] → implement resilience patterns for synchronous calls'.
Make code examples more executable by either defining the missing types/classes inline or providing a complete minimal working example for at least one pattern.
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Conciseness | Extremely verbose at ~400+ lines. The 'Core Concepts' section is entirely redundant with the detailed patterns that follow, and much of it explains concepts Claude already knows (what REST/gRPC/GraphQL are, what circuit breakers do conceptually). The bullet-point summaries before code examples add little value. | 1 / 3 |
Actionability | Code examples are fairly detailed and illustrative, but they rely on undefined types (Order, StepResult, SagaResult, PaymentRequest, etc.) and undefined service objects, making them not truly executable. They serve more as structural templates than copy-paste ready code. | 2 / 3 |
Workflow Clarity | The Saga pattern shows a clear multi-step process with compensation (error recovery), which is good. However, there's no guidance on how to actually set up, deploy, or validate a microservices architecture — no validation checkpoints for the overall design process, no verification steps for testing service boundaries or communication patterns. | 2 / 3 |
Progressive Disclosure | This is a monolithic wall of text with no references to external files. All patterns are inlined in a single massive document. Content like the Circuit Breaker implementation, Saga pattern, and Event Bus could easily be split into separate reference files with a concise overview in the main skill. | 1 / 3 |
Total | 6 / 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 |
|---|---|---|
skill_md_line_count | SKILL.md is long (565 lines); consider splitting into references/ and linking | Warning |
Total | 10 / 11 Passed | |
- Repository
- wshobson/agents
- Commit
27a7ed9
- Reviewed
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