docs(kyberforge): add agentskillsio, agentsmd research docs and skill-write examples

- Add agentskillsio/ reference docs (8 topic files, agentskills- prefix stripped)
- Add agentsmd/ reference docs (4 topic files)
- Add skill-write examples: skill-creator (Anthropic), writing-great-skills
  (mattpocock), writing-skills (obra/superpowers) with canonical sources.md files

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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2026-06-22 17:42:52 +00:00
parent 345f80438e
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---
topic: agentskills-evaluating-skills
source_keys:
- agentskills-evaluating-skills
---
## Designing test cases
A test case has three parts: a **prompt** (realistic user message), **expected output** (human-readable success description), and optional **input files**.
Store test cases in `evals/evals.json` inside the skill directory:
```json
{
"skill_name": "csv-analyzer",
"evals": [
{
"id": 1,
"prompt": "I have a CSV of monthly sales data in data/sales_2025.csv. Can you find the top 3 months by revenue and make a bar chart?",
"expected_output": "A bar chart showing the top 3 months by revenue, with labeled axes.",
"files": ["evals/files/sales_2025.csv"]
}
]
}
```
**Tips for test prompts:**
- Start with 2–3 test cases. Expand after seeing first results.
- Vary phrasing, formality, and detail level.
- Cover at least one edge case (malformed input, ambiguous request).
- Use realistic context: file paths, column names, personal context. "Process this data" tests nothing useful.
Don't define assertions yet — add them after seeing what the first run produces.
## Workspace structure
Each iteration gets its own directory. Each test case gets `with_skill/` and `without_skill/` subdirectories:
```
csv-analyzer/
├── SKILL.md
└── evals/
└── evals.json
csv-analyzer-workspace/
└── iteration-1/
├── eval-top-months-chart/
│ ├── with_skill/
│ │ ├── outputs/
│ │ ├── timing.json
│ │ └── grading.json
│ └── without_skill/
│ ├── outputs/
│ ├── timing.json
│ └── grading.json
└── benchmark.json
```
The only file you author by hand is `evals/evals.json`. Other JSON files are produced during the eval process.
## Running evals
Each run starts with a clean context — no leftover state. Run each eval **with the skill** and **without it** (or against a previous version as baseline).
When improving an existing skill, snapshot it before editing:
```bash
cp -r <skill-path> <workspace>/skill-snapshot/
```
Capture timing data when each run completes:
```json
{
"total_tokens": 84852,
"duration_ms": 23332
}
```
In Claude Code, the task completion notification includes `total_tokens` and `duration_ms` — save immediately.
## Writing assertions
Add assertions after seeing first-round outputs. Assertions are verifiable statements about what the output should contain:
Good assertions:
- `"The output file is valid JSON"` — programmatically verifiable
- `"The bar chart has labeled axes"` — specific and observable
- `"The report includes at least 3 recommendations"` — countable
Weak assertions:
- `"The output is good"` — too vague
- `"The output uses exactly the phrase 'Total Revenue: $X'"` — too brittle
Add assertions to `evals.json`:
```json
"assertions": [
"The output includes a bar chart image file",
"The chart shows exactly 3 months",
"Both axes are labeled",
"The chart title or caption mentions revenue"
]
```
## Grading outputs
Grade each assertion against actual outputs: PASS or FAIL with specific evidence. Evidence should quote or reference the output, not state an opinion.
```json
{
"assertion_results": [
{
"text": "Both axes are labeled",
"passed": false,
"evidence": "Y-axis is labeled 'Revenue ($)' but X-axis has no label"
}
],
"summary": { "passed": 3, "failed": 1, "total": 4, "pass_rate": 0.75 }
}
```
Grading principles:
- **Require concrete evidence for PASS.** Don't give the benefit of the doubt.
- **Review the assertions themselves** while grading — notice when assertions are always passing (too easy) or always failing (broken/too hard).
For holistic quality: try blind comparison — present both outputs to an LLM judge without revealing which came from which version. Complements assertion grading by catching differences that don't map to specific assertions.
## Aggregating results
```json
{
"run_summary": {
"with_skill": {
"pass_rate": { "mean": 0.83, "stddev": 0.06 },
"time_seconds": { "mean": 45.0 },
"tokens": { "mean": 3800 }
},
"without_skill": {
"pass_rate": { "mean": 0.33, "stddev": 0.10 },
"time_seconds": { "mean": 32.0 },
"tokens": { "mean": 2100 }
},
"delta": { "pass_rate": 0.50, "time_seconds": 13.0, "tokens": 1700 }
}
}
```
The `delta` tells you what the skill costs (more time, more tokens) and what it buys (higher pass rate).
## Analyzing patterns
- **Remove assertions that always pass in both configurations.** They inflate the with-skill pass rate without reflecting skill value.
- **Investigate assertions that always fail in both.** Either the assertion is broken or the task is too hard.
- **Study assertions that pass with-skill but fail without.** This is where the skill adds value — understand why.
- **Tighten instructions when results are inconsistent.** High `stddev` means flaky evals or ambiguous instructions. Add examples or more specific guidance.
- **Check time and token outliers.** If one eval takes 3× longer, read its execution transcript.
## Human review
After grading, review actual outputs. Assertion grading only checks what you thought to write assertions for. Record specific feedback:
```json
{
"eval-top-months-chart": "Chart is missing axis labels and months are alphabetical not chronological.",
"eval-clean-missing-emails": ""
}
```
"Missing axis labels" is actionable; "looks bad" is not. Empty feedback means the output looked fine.
## Iterating on the skill
Three sources of signal:
- **Failed assertions** — specific gaps: missing step, unclear instruction, unhandled case
- **Human feedback** — broader quality issues: wrong approach, poorly structured output
- **Execution transcripts** — why things went wrong: ambiguous instructions, unproductive steps
Feed all three — with the current `SKILL.md` — to an LLM to propose changes. Guidelines for the LLM:
- Generalize from feedback (don't add narrow patches for specific examples)
- Keep the skill lean (fewer, better instructions outperform exhaustive rules)
- Explain the why (reasoning-based instructions work better than rigid directives)
- Bundle repeated work into `scripts/` when agents reinvent the same logic each run
### The loop
1. Give eval signals + current `SKILL.md` to an LLM; ask for improvements.
2. Review and apply the changes.
3. Rerun all test cases in a new `iteration-<N+1>/` directory.
4. Grade, aggregate, and review with a human.
5. Repeat until satisfied, feedback is consistently empty, or improvement stops.

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---
topic: agentskills-examples
source_keys:
- agentskills-quickstart
- agentskills-spec
- agentskills-best-practices
- agentskills-optimizing-descriptions
---
## Minimal skill (quickstart)
```
.agents/skills/roll-dice/SKILL.md
```
```markdown
---
name: roll-dice
description: Roll dice using a random number generator. Use when asked to roll a die (d6, d20, etc.), roll dice, or generate a random dice roll.
---
To roll a die, use the following command that generates a random number from 1
to the given number of sides:
```bash
echo $((RANDOM % <sides> + 1))
```
Replace `<sides>` with the number of sides on the die (e.g., 6 for a standard
die, 20 for a d20).
```
This is a complete, working skill: one file, under 20 lines. The `name` matches the directory name; the description is specific and imperative.
## Extended frontmatter
```yaml
---
name: pdf-processing
description: >
Extract text and tables from PDF files, fill PDF forms, and merge multiple
PDFs. Use when the user mentions PDFs, forms, document extraction, or needs
to work with PDF files — even if they don't use the word "PDF."
license: Apache-2.0
compatibility: Requires python3, uv, and pdfplumber
metadata:
author: example-org
version: "1.0"
category: document
---
```
## Description before and after
```yaml
# Before — too vague, won't trigger reliably
description: Process CSV files.
# After — specific about capabilities, broad about when to apply
description: >
Analyze CSV and tabular data files — compute summary statistics,
add derived columns, generate charts, and clean messy data. Use this
skill when the user has a CSV, TSV, or Excel file and wants to explore,
transform, or visualize the data, even if they don't explicitly mention
"CSV" or "analysis."
```
## Gotchas section
```markdown
## Gotchas
- The `users` table uses soft deletes. Always include `WHERE deleted_at IS NULL`.
- User ID is `user_id` in the database, `uid` in the auth service, and
`accountId` in the billing API — they all refer to the same entity.
- `/health` returns 200 even when the database is down. Use `/ready` instead.
```
## Output format template inline
```markdown
## Report structure
Use this template:
\`\`\`markdown
# [Analysis Title]
## Executive summary
[One-paragraph overview of key findings]
## Key findings
- Finding 1 with supporting data
## Recommendations
1. Specific actionable recommendation
\`\`\`
```
## Multi-step checklist
```markdown
## Form processing workflow
Progress:
- [ ] Step 1: Analyze the form (`scripts/analyze_form.py`)
- [ ] Step 2: Create field mapping (`fields.json`)
- [ ] Step 3: Validate mapping (`scripts/validate_fields.py`)
- [ ] Step 4: Fill the form (`scripts/fill_form.py`)
- [ ] Step 5: Verify output (`scripts/verify_output.py`)
```
## Plan-validate-execute pattern
```markdown
## Database migration
1. Run `python scripts/migrate.py --verify --backup`
2. Review the migration plan output
3. If plan looks correct, run `python scripts/migrate.py --execute`
Do not modify commands or add flags.
```
## Conditional reference loading
```markdown
## Error handling
If the API returns a non-200 status code, read `references/api-errors.md`
for the full error code table and retry guidance.
```
## Eval test case (evals.json)
```json
{
"skill_name": "csv-analyzer",
"evals": [
{
"id": 1,
"prompt": "I have a CSV of monthly sales data in data/sales_2025.csv. Find the top 3 months by revenue and make a bar chart.",
"expected_output": "A bar chart image showing the top 3 months by revenue, with labeled axes.",
"files": ["evals/files/sales_2025.csv"],
"assertions": [
"The output includes a bar chart image file",
"The chart shows exactly 3 months",
"Both axes are labeled",
"The chart title or caption mentions revenue"
]
}
]
}
```

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---
topic: agentskills-optimizing-descriptions
source_keys:
- agentskills-optimizing-descriptions
---
## How triggering works
At startup, agents load only the `name` and `description` of each available skill. When a user's task matches a description, the agent reads the full `SKILL.md` into context. The description carries the entire burden of triggering.
Important nuance: agents typically only consult skills for tasks that require knowledge or capabilities beyond what they can handle alone. A simple one-step request may not trigger a matching skill because the agent can handle it with basic tools. Specialized knowledge — an unfamiliar API, a domain-specific workflow, an uncommon format — is where a well-written description makes the difference.
## Writing effective descriptions
- **Use imperative phrasing.** "Use this skill when..." rather than "This skill does...". The agent is deciding whether to act, so tell it when to act.
- **Focus on user intent, not implementation.** Describe what the user is trying to achieve, not the skill's internal mechanics.
- **Err on the side of being pushy.** Explicitly list contexts where the skill applies, including cases where the user doesn't name the domain directly: "even if they don't explicitly mention 'CSV' or 'analysis.'"
- **Keep it concise.** A few sentences to a short paragraph. Hard limit: 1024 characters (descriptions grow during optimization — check length).
## Designing trigger eval queries
Test triggering with a set of ~20 eval queries — realistic user prompts labeled `should_trigger: true/false`.
**Should-trigger queries (8–10):** vary along these axes:
- *Phrasing*: formal, casual, abbreviations, typos
- *Explicitness*: some name the domain directly ("analyze this CSV"), others don't ("my boss wants a chart from this data file")
- *Detail*: terse prompts mixed with context-heavy ones (file paths, column names, backstory)
- *Complexity*: single-step tasks alongside multi-step workflows
The most useful should-trigger queries are where the skill would help but the connection isn't obvious — these are where description wording makes the difference.
**Should-not-trigger queries (8–10):** use near-misses — queries that share keywords but need something different. Weak negative examples ("Write a fibonacci function") test nothing because there's no keyword overlap. Strong examples:
```
# For a CSV analysis skill:
"I need to update the formulas in my Excel budget spreadsheet"
# shares "spreadsheet" concept, but needs Excel editing, not CSV analysis
"can you write a python script that reads a csv and uploads each row to postgres"
# involves CSV, but the task is database ETL, not analysis
```
Include realistic context in all queries: file paths, personal context ("my manager asked me to..."), specific column names, casual language.
## Testing trigger rates
Model behavior is nondeterministic. Run each query 3 times and compute a trigger rate (fraction of runs where the skill was invoked). A should-trigger query passes if its trigger rate is ≥0.5; should-not-trigger if <0.5.
Example script structure using Claude Code:
```bash
check_triggered() {
local query="$1"
claude -p "$query" --output-format json 2>/dev/null \
| jq -e --arg skill "$SKILL_NAME" \
'any(.messages[].content[]; .type == "tool_use" and .name == "Skill" and .input.skill == $skill)' \
> /dev/null 2>&1
}
```
## Train/validation split
Split your ~20 queries to avoid overfitting: ~60% train, ~40% validation. Both sets must have proportional should-trigger/should-not mixes. Use only the train set to guide changes; use the validation set only to check whether improvements generalize. Keep the split fixed across iterations.
## The optimization loop
1. Evaluate on both train and validation sets.
2. Identify train-set failures: which should-trigger queries didn't? Which should-not-trigger queries did?
3. Revise the description:
- Should-trigger failures → description too narrow: broaden scope, add context about when the skill applies.
- Should-not-trigger false positives → description too broad: add specificity about what the skill does *not* do.
- Avoid adding specific keywords from failed queries — that's overfitting. Address the general category those queries represent.
- If stuck after several iterations, try a structurally different framing rather than incremental tweaks.
4. Repeat until train queries all pass or improvement stops.
5. Select the best iteration by validation pass rate — not necessarily the last iteration.
Five iterations is usually enough. If not improving, the problem may be with the queries, not the description.
## Before and after
```yaml
# Before
description: Process CSV files.
# After
description: >
Analyze CSV and tabular data files — compute summary statistics,
add derived columns, generate charts, and clean messy data. Use this
skill when the user has a CSV, TSV, or Excel file and wants to
explore, transform, or visualize the data, even if they don't
explicitly mention "CSV" or "analysis."
```
The improved version is more specific about capabilities (stats, derived columns, charts, cleaning) and broader about applicability (CSV, TSV, Excel; even without explicit keywords).
## Applying the result
1. Update the `description` field in `SKILL.md` frontmatter.
2. Verify it's under 1024 characters.
3. Run 5–10 fresh queries (never part of the optimization process) as a final generalization check.

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---
topic: agentskills-overview
source_keys:
- agentskills-home
- agentskills-spec
- agentskills-quickstart
---
## What Agent Skills is
Agent Skills is a lightweight, open format for extending AI agent capabilities with specialized knowledge and workflows. A skill is a folder containing a `SKILL.md` file — metadata plus instructions that tell an agent how to perform a specific task. Skills can also bundle scripts, reference materials, templates, and other resources.
The format was originally developed by Anthropic, released as an open standard, and has been adopted by a large and growing number of agent products: Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, OpenAI Codex, Google Gemini CLI, VS Code, Cursor, JetBrains Junie, Block Goose, OpenHands, Roo Code, Spring AI, Databricks Genie, Snowflake Cortex, and many others — 35+ confirmed implementations as of June 2026.
## Why Agent Skills exist
Agents are increasingly capable but often lack the context to do real work reliably. Skills solve this by packaging procedural knowledge and project-specific context into portable, version-controlled folders that agents load on demand:
- **Domain expertise**: capture specialized knowledge — legal review processes, data pipelines, presentation formats — as reusable instructions and resources.
- **Repeatable workflows**: turn multi-step tasks into consistent, auditable procedures.
- **Cross-product reuse**: build a skill once and use it across any skills-compatible agent.
## Progressive disclosure
Agents load skills in three stages:
1. **Discovery** — at startup, agents load only the `name` and `description` of each available skill (~100 tokens per skill). Just enough to know when one might be relevant.
2. **Activation** — when a task matches a skill's description, the agent reads the full `SKILL.md` body into context (<5000 tokens recommended).
3. **Execution** — the agent follows the instructions, optionally executing bundled scripts or loading referenced files on demand.
Full instructions load only when a task calls for them, so agents can keep many skills on hand with only a small context footprint.
## Canonical directory
The canonical location for skills is `.agents/skills/` at the project root. Tool-specific locations (`.claude/skills/` for Claude Code, `~/.codex/skills/` for Codex) are thin adapters that map to this canonical path. Putting skills at `.agents/skills/` maximizes cross-tool portability.
## File structure
```
skill-name/
├── SKILL.md # Required: metadata + instructions
├── scripts/ # Optional: executable code
├── references/ # Optional: documentation
├── assets/ # Optional: templates, resources
└── ... # Any additional files or directories
```
The `SKILL.md` file must contain YAML frontmatter followed by Markdown content. There are no format restrictions on the body.

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---
topic: agentskills-scripts
source_keys:
- agentskills-using-scripts
---
## One-off commands
When an existing package does what you need, reference it directly in `SKILL.md` without a `scripts/` directory. Use package runners that auto-resolve dependencies:
| Runner | Language | Notes |
|--------|----------|-------|
| `uvx package@version` | Python | Recommended. Ships with `uv`. Caches aggressively. |
| `pipx run 'package==version'` | Python | Mature alternative, broader OS availability. |
| `npx package@version` | Node.js | Ships with npm/Node.js. Pin versions for reproducibility. |
| `bunx package@version` | Node.js | Bun equivalent of npx. Only in Bun environments. |
| `deno run npm:package@version` | TypeScript | Requires permission flags (`--allow-read`, etc.). |
| `go run golang.org/x/...@version` | Go | Built into Go toolchain. |
Tips:
- Always pin versions (e.g., `npx eslint@9.0.0`) for consistent behavior over time.
- State prerequisites in `SKILL.md` (e.g., "Requires Node.js 18+") or in the `compatibility` frontmatter field.
- Move complex commands into `scripts/` when a one-off command is hard to get right on the first try.
## Referencing scripts from SKILL.md
Use **relative paths from the skill directory root**. List available scripts so the agent knows they exist, then instruct it to run them:
```markdown
## Available scripts
- **`scripts/validate.sh`** — Validates configuration files
- **`scripts/process.py`** — Processes input data
## Workflow
1. Run validation:
```bash
bash scripts/validate.sh "$INPUT_FILE"
```
2. Process results:
```bash
python3 scripts/process.py --input results.json
```
```
The same relative-path convention works in `references/*.md` files.
## Self-contained scripts with inline dependencies
Bundle scripts that declare their own dependencies so the agent can run them with a single command.
**Python (PEP 723 + uv):**
```python
# /// script
# dependencies = [
# "beautifulsoup4>=4.12,<5",
# ]
# requires-python = ">=3.12"
# ///
from bs4 import BeautifulSoup
# ...
```
```bash
uv run scripts/extract.py
```
**TypeScript (Deno):**
```typescript
#!/usr/bin/env -S deno run
import * as cheerio from "npm:cheerio@1.0.0";
// ...
```
```bash
deno run scripts/extract.ts
```
**TypeScript (Bun):**
```typescript
#!/usr/bin/env bun
import * as cheerio from "cheerio@1.0.0";
// ...
```
```bash
bun run scripts/extract.ts
```
**Ruby (bundler/inline):**
```ruby
require 'bundler/inline'
gemfile do
source 'https://rubygems.org'
gem 'nokogiri', '~> 1.16'
end
# ...
```
```bash
ruby scripts/extract.rb
```
## Designing scripts for agentic use
### No interactive prompts (hard requirement)
Agents run in non-interactive shells and cannot respond to TTY prompts. A script that blocks on input hangs indefinitely. Accept all input via command-line flags, environment variables, or stdin:
```
# Bad
$ python scripts/deploy.py
Target environment: _
# Good
$ python scripts/deploy.py
Error: --env is required. Options: development, staging, production.
Usage: python scripts/deploy.py --env staging --tag v1.2.3
```
### Document with `--help`
`--help` output is the primary way an agent learns your script's interface:
```
Usage: scripts/process.py [OPTIONS] INPUT_FILE
Process input data and produce a summary report.
Options:
--format FORMAT Output format: json, csv, table (default: json)
--output FILE Write output to FILE instead of stdout
--verbose Print progress to stderr
```
Keep it concise — it enters the agent's context window.
### Write helpful error messages
```
Error: --format must be one of: json, csv, table.
Received: "xml"
```
Say what went wrong, what was expected, and what to try.
### Use structured output
Prefer JSON, CSV, or TSV over free-form text. Separate data from diagnostics:
- **stdout** — structured data (JSON, CSV)
- **stderr** — progress messages, warnings, diagnostics
```
# Hard to parse
NAME STATUS CREATED
my-service running 2025-01-15
# Unambiguous
{"name": "my-service", "status": "running", "created": "2025-01-15"}
```
### Further design considerations
- **Idempotency.** Agents may retry. "Create if not exists" is safer than "create and fail on duplicate."
- **Input constraints.** Reject ambiguous input with a clear error. Use enums and closed sets where possible.
- **Dry-run support.** A `--dry-run` flag lets agents preview destructive operations.
- **Meaningful exit codes.** Use distinct codes for different failure types; document them in `--help`.
- **Safe defaults.** Destructive operations should require explicit confirmation flags (`--confirm`, `--force`).
- **Predictable output size.** Many harnesses truncate tool output beyond 10–30K characters. Default to a summary or reasonable limit; support `--offset` for pagination, or require `--output FILE` to opt in to large stdout.

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---
topic: agentskills-skill-authoring
source_keys:
- agentskills-best-practices
---
## Start from real expertise
A common pitfall: asking an LLM to generate a skill without domain-specific context. The result is vague, generic procedures rather than the specific API patterns, edge cases, and project conventions that make a skill valuable.
**Extract from a hands-on task.** Complete a real task in conversation with an agent, providing corrections and preferences along the way. Then extract the reusable pattern. Capture:
- Steps that worked — the sequence that led to success
- Corrections you made — "use library X not Y," "check for edge case Z"
- Input/output formats — what data looked like going in and out
- Context you provided — project-specific facts the agent didn't know
**Synthesize from existing artifacts.** Feed project-specific material into an LLM and ask it to synthesize a skill. Good sources: internal runbooks, API specs, code review comments, version control history (especially patches — reveals patterns through what actually changed), real-world failure cases.
## Refine with real execution
Run the skill against real tasks. Feed results — all of them, not just failures — back into the creation process. Even a single execute-then-revise pass noticeably improves quality.
Read agent execution traces, not just final outputs. Common causes of wasted work in traces:
- Instructions too vague — agent tries multiple approaches
- Instructions that don't apply to the current task — agent follows them anyway
- Too many options without a clear default
## Spending context wisely
Once a skill activates, its full `SKILL.md` body loads alongside conversation history, system context, and other active skills. Every token competes for the agent's attention.
**Add what the agent lacks, omit what it knows.** Focus on project-specific conventions, domain-specific procedures, non-obvious edge cases, and the particular tools to use. Don't explain what a PDF is or how HTTP works.
```markdown
<!-- Too verbose — the agent already knows what PDFs are -->
PDF files contain text and images. To extract text, use pdfplumber...
<!-- Better — jumps to what the agent wouldn't know on its own -->
Use pdfplumber for text extraction. For scanned documents, fall back to
pdf2image with pytesseract.
```
Ask about each piece of content: "Would the agent get this wrong without this instruction?" If no, cut it.
**Design coherent units.** Skills scoped too narrowly force multiple skills to load for one task; skills scoped too broadly are hard to activate precisely. A skill for querying a database and formatting results is one coherent unit; a skill that also covers database administration is probably too broad.
**Aim for moderate detail.** Overly comprehensive skills hurt — the agent struggles to extract what's relevant and may pursue unproductive paths. Concise, stepwise guidance with a working example outperforms exhaustive documentation.
## Calibrating control
**Give the agent freedom** when multiple approaches are valid. Explaining *why* is more effective than rigid directives — agents make better decisions when they understand the purpose.
**Be prescriptive** when operations are fragile, consistency matters, or a specific sequence must be followed:
```markdown
## Database migration
Run exactly this sequence:
```bash
python scripts/migrate.py --verify --backup
```
Do not modify the command or add additional flags.
```
**Provide defaults, not menus.** When multiple tools could work, pick one and mention alternatives briefly:
```markdown
<!-- Too many options -->
You can use pypdf, pdfplumber, PyMuPDF, or pdf2image...
<!-- Clear default with escape hatch -->
Use pdfplumber for text extraction. For scanned PDFs requiring OCR,
use pdf2image with pytesseract instead.
```
**Favor procedures over declarations.** Teach the agent *how to approach* a class of problems, not *what to produce* for a specific instance. The approach should generalize even when individual details are specific.
## Effective instruction patterns
### Gotchas sections
The highest-value content in many skills is a list of gotchas — environment-specific facts that defy reasonable assumptions:
```markdown
## Gotchas
- The `users` table uses soft deletes. Queries must include
`WHERE deleted_at IS NULL` or results will include deactivated accounts.
- The user ID is `user_id` in the database, `uid` in the auth service,
and `accountId` in the billing API. All three refer to the same value.
- The `/health` endpoint returns 200 even if the database is down.
Use `/ready` to check full service health.
```
Keep gotchas in `SKILL.md` where the agent reads them before encountering the situation. When an agent makes a mistake you correct, add the correction to the gotchas section.
### Templates for output format
Provide a template when the agent must produce a specific output format. Short templates live inline; longer ones go in `assets/` and are referenced conditionally.
```markdown
## Report structure
Use this template:
\`\`\`markdown
# [Analysis Title]
## Executive summary
[One-paragraph overview]
## Key findings
- Finding 1 with supporting data
## Recommendations
1. Specific actionable recommendation
\`\`\`
```
### Checklists for multi-step workflows
```markdown
## Workflow
Progress:
- [ ] Step 1: Analyze the form (run `scripts/analyze_form.py`)
- [ ] Step 2: Create field mapping (edit `fields.json`)
- [ ] Step 3: Validate mapping (run `scripts/validate_fields.py`)
- [ ] Step 4: Fill the form (run `scripts/fill_form.py`)
```
### Validation loops
```markdown
## Editing workflow
1. Make your edits
2. Run validation: `python scripts/validate.py output/`
3. If validation fails, fix and re-run
4. Only proceed when validation passes
```
### Plan-validate-execute
For batch or destructive operations: create an intermediate plan in a structured format, validate it against a source of truth, then execute:
```markdown
1. Extract form fields → `form_fields.json`
2. Create `field_values.json` mapping each field to its intended value
3. Validate: `python scripts/validate_fields.py form_fields.json field_values.json`
4. If validation fails, revise and re-validate
5. Fill the form: `python scripts/fill_form.py input.pdf field_values.json output.pdf`
```
### Bundling reusable scripts
If execution traces show the agent independently reinventing the same logic across runs — building charts, parsing a format, validating output — write a tested script once and bundle it in `scripts/`. See the scripts reference.
## Structure large skills with progressive disclosure
Keep `SKILL.md` under 500 lines and 5,000 tokens — the core instructions the agent needs every run. When a skill needs more content, move detail to `references/` and tell the agent *when* to load each file:
```markdown
If the API returns a non-200 status code, read `references/api-errors.md`.
```
"Read `references/api-errors.md` if X" is more useful than a generic "see references/ for details." The agent loads context on demand rather than up front.

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# Sources
## agentskills-home
- **URL:** https://agentskills.io/home.md
- **Description:** Agent Skills overview — what it is, why it exists, progressive disclosure model, ecosystem of 35+ implementing tools
- **Contributing files:** agentskills-overview.md
- **Status:** `extracted`
## agentskills-spec
- **URL:** https://agentskills.io/specification.md
- **Description:** Complete SKILL.md format specification — frontmatter fields, constraints, body content, optional directories, progressive disclosure levels, file references, validation
- **Contributing files:** agentskills-overview.md, agentskills-specification.md, agentskills-examples.md
- **Status:** `extracted`
## agentskills-best-practices
- **URL:** https://agentskills.io/skill-creation/best-practices.md
- **Description:** Best practices for skill creators — starting from real expertise, spending context wisely, calibrating control, instruction patterns (gotchas, templates, checklists, validation loops)
- **Contributing files:** agentskills-skill-authoring.md, agentskills-examples.md
- **Status:** `extracted`
## agentskills-optimizing-descriptions
- **URL:** https://agentskills.io/skill-creation/optimizing-descriptions.md
- **Description:** How to systematically test and improve skill descriptions for triggering accuracy — eval queries, trigger rate testing, train/validation splits, optimization loop
- **Contributing files:** agentskills-optimizing-descriptions.md, agentskills-examples.md
- **Status:** `extracted`
## agentskills-evaluating-skills
- **URL:** https://agentskills.io/skill-creation/evaluating-skills.md
- **Description:** Eval-driven skill quality improvement — test case design, workspace structure, assertion writing, grading, benchmarking, human review, iteration loop
- **Contributing files:** agentskills-evaluating-skills.md, agentskills-examples.md
- **Status:** `extracted`
## agentskills-using-scripts
- **URL:** https://agentskills.io/skill-creation/using-scripts.md
- **Description:** Using scripts in skills — one-off commands, self-contained scripts with inline dependencies, designing scripts for agentic use (no interactive prompts, --help, structured output, idempotency)
- **Contributing files:** agentskills-scripts.md
- **Status:** `extracted`
## agentskills-quickstart
- **URL:** https://agentskills.io/skill-creation/quickstart.md
- **Description:** Step-by-step guide to creating a first skill (roll-dice example), how discovery/activation/execution work in practice
- **Contributing files:** agentskills-overview.md, agentskills-examples.md
- **Status:** `extracted`
## agentskills-llms-txt
- **URL:** https://agentskills.io/llms.txt
- **Description:** Documentation index used for source discovery — lists all available pages with URLs
- **Contributing files:** (none — used for discovery only)
- **Status:** `extracted`

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---
topic: agentskills-specification
source_keys:
- agentskills-spec
---
## Frontmatter fields
| Field | Required | Constraints |
|----------------|----------|-------------|
| `name` | Yes | 1–64 characters. Lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens only. Must not start or end with a hyphen. No consecutive hyphens (`--`). Must match the parent directory name. |
| `description` | Yes | 1–1024 characters. Describes what the skill does and when to use it. |
| `license` | No | License name or reference to a bundled license file. |
| `compatibility`| No | 1–500 characters. Environment requirements: intended product, required system packages, network access needs. Most skills don't need this. |
| `metadata` | No | Arbitrary key-value map. Use for author, version, category, and any project extensions not defined by the spec. |
| `allowed-tools`| No | Space-separated string of pre-approved tools. Experimental — support varies by client. |
## Minimal example
```yaml
---
name: skill-name
description: A description of what this skill does and when to use it.
---
```
## Extended example
```yaml
---
name: pdf-processing
description: Extract PDF text, fill forms, merge files. Use when handling PDFs.
license: Apache-2.0
metadata:
author: example-org
version: "1.0"
category: document
allowed-tools: Bash(python3:*) Read Write
---
```
## name field rules
Valid: `pdf-processing`, `data-analysis`, `code-review`
Invalid:
- `PDF-Processing` — uppercase not allowed
- `-pdf` — cannot start with hyphen
- `pdf--processing` — consecutive hyphens not allowed
The `name` value must exactly match the parent directory name. A skill at `.agents/skills/my-tool/SKILL.md` must have `name: my-tool`.
## description field guidance
The description carries the entire burden of triggering. Agents read only `name` and `description` at startup. Write it as a trigger — describe both what the skill does and when to use it.
Good:
```yaml
description: >
Analyze CSV and tabular data files — compute summary statistics,
add derived columns, generate charts, and clean messy data. Use this
skill when the user has a CSV, TSV, or Excel file and wants to explore,
transform, or visualize the data, even if they don't explicitly mention
"CSV" or "analysis."
```
Poor:
```yaml
description: Helps with PDFs.
```
Hard limit: 1024 characters. Descriptions tend to grow during optimization — check length before committing.
## Body content
No format restrictions. Write whatever helps agents perform the task effectively.
Recommended sections:
- Step-by-step instructions
- Examples of inputs and outputs
- Common edge cases
The agent loads the entire body once the skill is activated. Keep `SKILL.md` under 500 lines. Move detailed reference material to separate files in `references/` or similar directories.
## Optional directories
### `scripts/`
Executable code agents can run. Scripts should be self-contained, include helpful error messages, and handle edge cases gracefully. See the scripts reference for design guidance.
### `references/`
Additional documentation agents can read when needed. Keep files focused — agents load them on demand, so smaller files mean less context use. Common files: `REFERENCE.md`, `FORMS.md`, domain-specific files (`finance.md`, `legal.md`).
### `assets/`
Static resources: templates, images, data files (lookup tables, schemas).
## File references
Use relative paths from the skill root when referencing other files:
```markdown
See [the reference guide](references/REFERENCE.md) for details.
Run: scripts/extract.py
```
Keep references one level deep from `SKILL.md`. Avoid deeply nested reference chains.
## Progressive disclosure levels
1. **Metadata** (~100 tokens): `name` and `description` — loaded at startup for all skills
2. **Instructions** (<5000 tokens recommended): full `SKILL.md` body — loaded on activation
3. **Resources** (as needed): files in `scripts/`, `references/`, `assets/` — loaded only when required
## Validation
The `skills-ref` reference library validates `SKILL.md` frontmatter and naming conventions:
```bash
skills-ref validate ./my-skill
```
Source: `https://github.com/agentskills/agentskills/tree/main/skills-ref`

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---
topic: configuration
source_keys:
- agents-md-official
- context7-websites-agents-md
---
## General Setup
No installation is required. Create a file named `AGENTS.md` at the root of the repository. Most agents that support the standard read it automatically without any configuration.
## Tool-Specific Configuration
Some tools require an explicit opt-in to read AGENTS.md:
**Aider** — add to `.aider.conf.yml`:
```yaml
read: AGENTS.md
```
**Gemini CLI** — add to `.gemini/settings.json`:
```json
{
"context": {
"fileName": "AGENTS.md"
}
}
```
For all other tools in the compatibility list (GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Codex, Claude Code, etc.), AGENTS.md is read automatically when present at the repository root or in the nearest parent directory.
## Conflict Resolution
- Nearest file wins: the AGENTS.md closest to the file being edited takes precedence over files higher in the directory tree.
- User prompt wins over all: explicit instructions given in the chat interface override any AGENTS.md rule.
- No merge across files: only the nearest file applies; inner files do not inherit from outer ones unless the agent explicitly implements that behavior.

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---
topic: examples
source_keys:
- agents-md-official
- context7-websites-agents-md
- context7-agentsmd-agents-md
---
## Minimal Project Example
A practical AGENTS.md covering setup, code style, testing, and PR conventions for a pnpm monorepo:
```markdown
# AGENTS.md
## Setup commands
- Install deps: `pnpm install`
- Start dev server: `pnpm dev`
- Run tests: `pnpm test`
## Code style
- TypeScript strict mode
- Single quotes, no semicolons
- Use functional patterns where possible
## Dev environment tips
- Use `pnpm dlx turbo run where <project_name>` to jump to a package instead of scanning with `ls`.
- Run `pnpm install --filter <project_name>` to add the package to your workspace so Vite, ESLint, and TypeScript can see it.
- Check the `name` field inside each package's `package.json` to confirm the right name.
## Testing instructions
- Find the CI plan in the `.github/workflows` folder.
- Run `pnpm turbo run test --filter <project_name>` to run every check defined for that package.
- From the package root you can just call `pnpm test`. The commit should pass all tests before you merge.
- Fix any test or type errors until the whole suite is green.
- Add or update tests for the code you change, even if nobody asked.
## PR instructions
- Title format: [<project_name>] <Title>
- Always run `pnpm lint` and `pnpm test` before committing.
```
## Monorepo Nested Structure
Place AGENTS.md files at each scope level. Agents read the nearest file automatically:
```
my-monorepo/
├── AGENTS.md # Root-level: applies to the whole repo
├── packages/
│ ├── api/
│ │ └── AGENTS.md # API-specific instructions; overrides root for this package
│ ├── web/
│ │ └── AGENTS.md # Web app-specific instructions
│ └── shared/
│ └── AGENTS.md # Shared library instructions
```
Each sub-AGENTS.md can focus on the specifics of that package (framework, test runner, build tool) without repeating root-level conventions.
## What Agents Do with AGENTS.md
Agents actively use the file — they attempt to run listed test commands and fix failures before completing a task. Treat the instructions as live directives, not documentation. Keep the file updated as tooling and conventions change.

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---
topic: overview
source_keys:
- agents-md-official
- context7-websites-agents-md
- context7-agentsmd-agents-md
---
## What AGENTS.md Is
AGENTS.md is an open format that serves as a dedicated README for AI coding agents — a single, predictable file where developers place context and instructions that help agents work effectively on a project. It is now stewarded by the Agentic AI Foundation under the Linux Foundation, having emerged from collaboration between OpenAI Codex, Amp, Jules (Google), Cursor, and Factory.
The format intentionally complements rather than replaces README.md. README stays focused on human contributors; AGENTS.md carries the agent-specific detail — build steps, test commands, conventions, security gotchas — that would clutter a README or is irrelevant to humans.
Over 60,000 open-source projects use it.
## Format
AGENTS.md is plain Markdown placed at the root of a repository. There are no required fields, no schema, and no special syntax — agents parse the text. Developers use any headings appropriate to their project.
Common sections include:
- Project overview
- Build and test commands
- Code style guidelines
- Testing instructions
- Security considerations
- Commit message conventions
- Pull request guidelines
- Deployment steps
## Precedence Rules
When multiple AGENTS.md files exist (common in monorepos), the file closest to the edited file in the directory tree takes precedence. Explicit user chat prompts override all AGENTS.md instructions.
## Monorepo Support
Place additional AGENTS.md files inside individual packages or subdirectories. Agents automatically read the nearest file, so subprojects can carry tailored instructions that supplement or override the root-level file. OpenAI's main repository contains 88 AGENTS.md files as an example of this pattern.
## Cross-Tool Compatibility
A single AGENTS.md works across the majority of AI coding tools. Confirmed compatible agents include: GitHub Copilot, VS Code AI, Cursor, Aider, Devin (Cognition), Windsurf (Cognition), OpenAI Codex, Google Jules, Gemini CLI, Zed, RooCode, Kilo Code, Warp, opencode, Amp, Factory, Augment Code, Junie (JetBrains), Semgrep, goose, Phoenix, Ona, UiPath Autopilot & Coded Agents, and Claude Code (Anthropic). The standard is designed to be vendor-neutral.

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# Sources
## agents-md-official
- **URL:** https://agents.md/
- **Description:** Official agents.md website — overview, how-to guide, supported tools list, sample file, FAQ, and tool configuration snippets
- **Contributing files:** overview.md, configuration.md, examples.md
- **Status:** `extracted`
## context7-websites-agents-md
- **URL:** context7:/websites/agents_md
- **Description:** Context7 index of the official agents.md website (High source reputation, benchmark score 93.78) — overview, governance, cross-tool compatibility, configuration examples, FAQ
- **Contributing files:** overview.md, configuration.md, examples.md
- **Status:** `extracted`
## context7-agentsmd-agents-md
- **URL:** context7:/agentsmd/agents.md
- **Description:** Context7 index of the agentsmd/agents.md repository (Medium source reputation, 26 code snippets) — format spec, nested monorepo patterns, file structure examples
- **Contributing files:** overview.md, examples.md
- **Status:** `extracted`
## agents-md-llms-txt
- **URL:** https://agents.md/llms.txt
- **Description:** Attempted fetch of llms.txt for machine-readable spec
- **Contributing files:** (none)
- **Status:** `no content extracted` — HTTP 404

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View File

@@ -0,0 +1,485 @@
---
name: skill-creator
description: Create new skills, modify and improve existing skills, and measure skill performance. Use when users want to create a skill from scratch, edit, or optimize an existing skill, run evals to test a skill, benchmark skill performance with variance analysis, or optimize a skill's description for better triggering accuracy.
---
# Skill Creator
A skill for creating new skills and iteratively improving them.
At a high level, the process of creating a skill goes like this:
- Decide what you want the skill to do and roughly how it should do it
- Write a draft of the skill
- Create a few test prompts and run claude-with-access-to-the-skill on them
- Help the user evaluate the results both qualitatively and quantitatively
- While the runs happen in the background, draft some quantitative evals if there aren't any (if there are some, you can either use as is or modify if you feel something needs to change about them). Then explain them to the user (or if they already existed, explain the ones that already exist)
- Use the `eval-viewer/generate_review.py` script to show the user the results for them to look at, and also let them look at the quantitative metrics
- Rewrite the skill based on feedback from the user's evaluation of the results (and also if there are any glaring flaws that become apparent from the quantitative benchmarks)
- Repeat until you're satisfied
- Expand the test set and try again at larger scale
Your job when using this skill is to figure out where the user is in this process and then jump in and help them progress through these stages. So for instance, maybe they're like "I want to make a skill for X". You can help narrow down what they mean, write a draft, write the test cases, figure out how they want to evaluate, run all the prompts, and repeat.
On the other hand, maybe they already have a draft of the skill. In this case you can go straight to the eval/iterate part of the loop.
Of course, you should always be flexible and if the user is like "I don't need to run a bunch of evaluations, just vibe with me", you can do that instead.
Then after the skill is done (but again, the order is flexible), you can also run the skill description improver, which we have a whole separate script for, to optimize the triggering of the skill.
Cool? Cool.
## Communicating with the user
The skill creator is liable to be used by people across a wide range of familiarity with coding jargon. If you haven't heard (and how could you, it's only very recently that it started), there's a trend now where the power of Claude is inspiring plumbers to open up their terminals, parents and grandparents to google "how to install npm". On the other hand, the bulk of users are probably fairly computer-literate.
So please pay attention to context cues to understand how to phrase your communication! In the default case, just to give you some idea:
- "evaluation" and "benchmark" are borderline, but OK
- for "JSON" and "assertion" you want to see serious cues from the user that they know what those things are before using them without explaining them
It's OK to briefly explain terms if you're in doubt, and feel free to clarify terms with a short definition if you're unsure if the user will get it.
---
## Creating a skill
### Capture Intent
Start by understanding the user's intent. The current conversation might already contain a workflow the user wants to capture (e.g., they say "turn this into a skill"). If so, extract answers from the conversation history first — the tools used, the sequence of steps, corrections the user made, input/output formats observed. The user may need to fill the gaps, and should confirm before proceeding to the next step.
1. What should this skill enable Claude to do?
2. When should this skill trigger? (what user phrases/contexts)
3. What's the expected output format?
4. Should we set up test cases to verify the skill works? Skills with objectively verifiable outputs (file transforms, data extraction, code generation, fixed workflow steps) benefit from test cases. Skills with subjective outputs (writing style, art) often don't need them. Suggest the appropriate default based on the skill type, but let the user decide.
### Interview and Research
Proactively ask questions about edge cases, input/output formats, example files, success criteria, and dependencies. Wait to write test prompts until you've got this part ironed out.
Check available MCPs - if useful for research (searching docs, finding similar skills, looking up best practices), research in parallel via subagents if available, otherwise inline. Come prepared with context to reduce burden on the user.
### Write the SKILL.md
Based on the user interview, fill in these components:
- **name**: Skill identifier
- **description**: When to trigger, what it does. This is the primary triggering mechanism - include both what the skill does AND specific contexts for when to use it. All "when to use" info goes here, not in the body. Note: currently Claude has a tendency to "undertrigger" skills -- to not use them when they'd be useful. To combat this, please make the skill descriptions a little bit "pushy". So for instance, instead of "How to build a simple fast dashboard to display internal Anthropic data.", you might write "How to build a simple fast dashboard to display internal Anthropic data. Make sure to use this skill whenever the user mentions dashboards, data visualization, internal metrics, or wants to display any kind of company data, even if they don't explicitly ask for a 'dashboard.'"
- **compatibility**: Required tools, dependencies (optional, rarely needed)
- **the rest of the skill :)**
### Skill Writing Guide
#### Anatomy of a Skill
```
skill-name/
├── SKILL.md (required)
│ ├── YAML frontmatter (name, description required)
│ └── Markdown instructions
└── Bundled Resources (optional)
├── scripts/ - Executable code for deterministic/repetitive tasks
├── references/ - Docs loaded into context as needed
└── assets/ - Files used in output (templates, icons, fonts)
```
#### Progressive Disclosure
Skills use a three-level loading system:
1. **Metadata** (name + description) - Always in context (~100 words)
2. **SKILL.md body** - In context whenever skill triggers (<500 lines ideal)
3. **Bundled resources** - As needed (unlimited, scripts can execute without loading)
These word counts are approximate and you can feel free to go longer if needed.
**Key patterns:**
- Keep SKILL.md under 500 lines; if you're approaching this limit, add an additional layer of hierarchy along with clear pointers about where the model using the skill should go next to follow up.
- Reference files clearly from SKILL.md with guidance on when to read them
- For large reference files (>300 lines), include a table of contents
**Domain organization**: When a skill supports multiple domains/frameworks, organize by variant:
```
cloud-deploy/
├── SKILL.md (workflow + selection)
└── references/
├── aws.md
├── gcp.md
└── azure.md
```
Claude reads only the relevant reference file.
#### Principle of Lack of Surprise
This goes without saying, but skills must not contain malware, exploit code, or any content that could compromise system security. A skill's contents should not surprise the user in their intent if described. Don't go along with requests to create misleading skills or skills designed to facilitate unauthorized access, data exfiltration, or other malicious activities. Things like a "roleplay as an XYZ" are OK though.
#### Writing Patterns
Prefer using the imperative form in instructions.
**Defining output formats** - You can do it like this:
```markdown
## Report structure
ALWAYS use this exact template:
# [Title]
## Executive summary
## Key findings
## Recommendations
```
**Examples pattern** - It's useful to include examples. You can format them like this (but if "Input" and "Output" are in the examples you might want to deviate a little):
```markdown
## Commit message format
**Example 1:**
Input: Added user authentication with JWT tokens
Output: feat(auth): implement JWT-based authentication
```
### Writing Style
Try to explain to the model why things are important in lieu of heavy-handed musty MUSTs. Use theory of mind and try to make the skill general and not super-narrow to specific examples. Start by writing a draft and then look at it with fresh eyes and improve it.
### Test Cases
After writing the skill draft, come up with 2-3 realistic test prompts — the kind of thing a real user would actually say. Share them with the user: [you don't have to use this exact language] "Here are a few test cases I'd like to try. Do these look right, or do you want to add more?" Then run them.
Save test cases to `evals/evals.json`. Don't write assertions yet — just the prompts. You'll draft assertions in the next step while the runs are in progress.
```json
{
"skill_name": "example-skill",
"evals": [
{
"id": 1,
"prompt": "User's task prompt",
"expected_output": "Description of expected result",
"files": []
}
]
}
```
See `references/schemas.md` for the full schema (including the `assertions` field, which you'll add later).
## Running and evaluating test cases
This section is one continuous sequence — don't stop partway through. Do NOT use `/skill-test` or any other testing skill.
Put results in `<skill-name>-workspace/` as a sibling to the skill directory. Within the workspace, organize results by iteration (`iteration-1/`, `iteration-2/`, etc.) and within that, each test case gets a directory (`eval-0/`, `eval-1/`, etc.). Don't create all of this upfront — just create directories as you go.
### Step 1: Spawn all runs (with-skill AND baseline) in the same turn
For each test case, spawn two subagents in the same turn — one with the skill, one without. This is important: don't spawn the with-skill runs first and then come back for baselines later. Launch everything at once so it all finishes around the same time.
**With-skill run:**
```
Execute this task:
- Skill path: <path-to-skill>
- Task: <eval prompt>
- Input files: <eval files if any, or "none">
- Save outputs to: <workspace>/iteration-<N>/eval-<ID>/with_skill/outputs/
- Outputs to save: <what the user cares about — e.g., "the .docx file", "the final CSV">
```
**Baseline run** (same prompt, but the baseline depends on context):
- **Creating a new skill**: no skill at all. Same prompt, no skill path, save to `without_skill/outputs/`.
- **Improving an existing skill**: the old version. Before editing, snapshot the skill (`cp -r <skill-path> <workspace>/skill-snapshot/`), then point the baseline subagent at the snapshot. Save to `old_skill/outputs/`.
Write an `eval_metadata.json` for each test case (assertions can be empty for now). Give each eval a descriptive name based on what it's testing — not just "eval-0". Use this name for the directory too. If this iteration uses new or modified eval prompts, create these files for each new eval directory — don't assume they carry over from previous iterations.
```json
{
"eval_id": 0,
"eval_name": "descriptive-name-here",
"prompt": "The user's task prompt",
"assertions": []
}
```
### Step 2: While runs are in progress, draft assertions
Don't just wait for the runs to finish — you can use this time productively. Draft quantitative assertions for each test case and explain them to the user. If assertions already exist in `evals/evals.json`, review them and explain what they check.
Good assertions are objectively verifiable and have descriptive names — they should read clearly in the benchmark viewer so someone glancing at the results immediately understands what each one checks. Subjective skills (writing style, design quality) are better evaluated qualitatively — don't force assertions onto things that need human judgment.
Update the `eval_metadata.json` files and `evals/evals.json` with the assertions once drafted. Also explain to the user what they'll see in the viewer — both the qualitative outputs and the quantitative benchmark.
### Step 3: As runs complete, capture timing data
When each subagent task completes, you receive a notification containing `total_tokens` and `duration_ms`. Save this data immediately to `timing.json` in the run directory:
```json
{
"total_tokens": 84852,
"duration_ms": 23332,
"total_duration_seconds": 23.3
}
```
This is the only opportunity to capture this data — it comes through the task notification and isn't persisted elsewhere. Process each notification as it arrives rather than trying to batch them.
### Step 4: Grade, aggregate, and launch the viewer
Once all runs are done:
1. **Grade each run** — spawn a grader subagent (or grade inline) that reads `agents/grader.md` and evaluates each assertion against the outputs. Save results to `grading.json` in each run directory. The grading.json expectations array must use the fields `text`, `passed`, and `evidence` (not `name`/`met`/`details` or other variants) — the viewer depends on these exact field names. For assertions that can be checked programmatically, write and run a script rather than eyeballing it — scripts are faster, more reliable, and can be reused across iterations.
2. **Aggregate into benchmark** — run the aggregation script from the skill-creator directory:
```bash
python -m scripts.aggregate_benchmark <workspace>/iteration-N --skill-name <name>
```
This produces `benchmark.json` and `benchmark.md` with pass_rate, time, and tokens for each configuration, with mean ± stddev and the delta. If generating benchmark.json manually, see `references/schemas.md` for the exact schema the viewer expects.
Put each with_skill version before its baseline counterpart.
3. **Do an analyst pass** — read the benchmark data and surface patterns the aggregate stats might hide. See `agents/analyzer.md` (the "Analyzing Benchmark Results" section) for what to look for — things like assertions that always pass regardless of skill (non-discriminating), high-variance evals (possibly flaky), and time/token tradeoffs.
4. **Launch the viewer** with both qualitative outputs and quantitative data:
```bash
nohup python <skill-creator-path>/eval-viewer/generate_review.py \
<workspace>/iteration-N \
--skill-name "my-skill" \
--benchmark <workspace>/iteration-N/benchmark.json \
> /dev/null 2>&1 &
VIEWER_PID=$!
```
For iteration 2+, also pass `--previous-workspace <workspace>/iteration-<N-1>`.
**Cowork / headless environments:** If `webbrowser.open()` is not available or the environment has no display, use `--static <output_path>` to write a standalone HTML file instead of starting a server. Feedback will be downloaded as a `feedback.json` file when the user clicks "Submit All Reviews". After download, copy `feedback.json` into the workspace directory for the next iteration to pick up.
Note: please use generate_review.py to create the viewer; there's no need to write custom HTML.
5. **Tell the user** something like: "I've opened the results in your browser. There are two tabs — 'Outputs' lets you click through each test case and leave feedback, 'Benchmark' shows the quantitative comparison. When you're done, come back here and let me know."
### What the user sees in the viewer
The "Outputs" tab shows one test case at a time:
- **Prompt**: the task that was given
- **Output**: the files the skill produced, rendered inline where possible
- **Previous Output** (iteration 2+): collapsed section showing last iteration's output
- **Formal Grades** (if grading was run): collapsed section showing assertion pass/fail
- **Feedback**: a textbox that auto-saves as they type
- **Previous Feedback** (iteration 2+): their comments from last time, shown below the textbox
The "Benchmark" tab shows the stats summary: pass rates, timing, and token usage for each configuration, with per-eval breakdowns and analyst observations.
Navigation is via prev/next buttons or arrow keys. When done, they click "Submit All Reviews" which saves all feedback to `feedback.json`.
### Step 5: Read the feedback
When the user tells you they're done, read `feedback.json`:
```json
{
"reviews": [
{"run_id": "eval-0-with_skill", "feedback": "the chart is missing axis labels", "timestamp": "..."},
{"run_id": "eval-1-with_skill", "feedback": "", "timestamp": "..."},
{"run_id": "eval-2-with_skill", "feedback": "perfect, love this", "timestamp": "..."}
],
"status": "complete"
}
```
Empty feedback means the user thought it was fine. Focus your improvements on the test cases where the user had specific complaints.
Kill the viewer server when you're done with it:
```bash
kill $VIEWER_PID 2>/dev/null
```
---
## Improving the skill
This is the heart of the loop. You've run the test cases, the user has reviewed the results, and now you need to make the skill better based on their feedback.
### How to think about improvements
1. **Generalize from the feedback.** The big picture thing that's happening here is that we're trying to create skills that can be used a million times (maybe literally, maybe even more who knows) across many different prompts. Here you and the user are iterating on only a few examples over and over again because it helps move faster. The user knows these examples in and out and it's quick for them to assess new outputs. But if the skill you and the user are codeveloping works only for those examples, it's useless. Rather than put in fiddly overfitty changes, or oppressively constrictive MUSTs, if there's some stubborn issue, you might try branching out and using different metaphors, or recommending different patterns of working. It's relatively cheap to try and maybe you'll land on something great.
2. **Keep the prompt lean.** Remove things that aren't pulling their weight. Make sure to read the transcripts, not just the final outputs — if it looks like the skill is making the model waste a bunch of time doing things that are unproductive, you can try getting rid of the parts of the skill that are making it do that and seeing what happens.
3. **Explain the why.** Try hard to explain the **why** behind everything you're asking the model to do. Today's LLMs are *smart*. They have good theory of mind and when given a good harness can go beyond rote instructions and really make things happen. Even if the feedback from the user is terse or frustrated, try to actually understand the task and why the user is writing what they wrote, and what they actually wrote, and then transmit this understanding into the instructions. If you find yourself writing ALWAYS or NEVER in all caps, or using super rigid structures, that's a yellow flag — if possible, reframe and explain the reasoning so that the model understands why the thing you're asking for is important. That's a more humane, powerful, and effective approach.
4. **Look for repeated work across test cases.** Read the transcripts from the test runs and notice if the subagents all independently wrote similar helper scripts or took the same multi-step approach to something. If all 3 test cases resulted in the subagent writing a `create_docx.py` or a `build_chart.py`, that's a strong signal the skill should bundle that script. Write it once, put it in `scripts/`, and tell the skill to use it. This saves every future invocation from reinventing the wheel.
This task is pretty important (we are trying to create billions a year in economic value here!) and your thinking time is not the blocker; take your time and really mull things over. I'd suggest writing a draft revision and then looking at it anew and making improvements. Really do your best to get into the head of the user and understand what they want and need.
### The iteration loop
After improving the skill:
1. Apply your improvements to the skill
2. Rerun all test cases into a new `iteration-<N+1>/` directory, including baseline runs. If you're creating a new skill, the baseline is always `without_skill` (no skill) — that stays the same across iterations. If you're improving an existing skill, use your judgment on what makes sense as the baseline: the original version the user came in with, or the previous iteration.
3. Launch the reviewer with `--previous-workspace` pointing at the previous iteration
4. Wait for the user to review and tell you they're done
5. Read the new feedback, improve again, repeat
Keep going until:
- The user says they're happy
- The feedback is all empty (everything looks good)
- You're not making meaningful progress
---
## Advanced: Blind comparison
For situations where you want a more rigorous comparison between two versions of a skill (e.g., the user asks "is the new version actually better?"), there's a blind comparison system. Read `agents/comparator.md` and `agents/analyzer.md` for the details. The basic idea is: give two outputs to an independent agent without telling it which is which, and let it judge quality. Then analyze why the winner won.
This is optional, requires subagents, and most users won't need it. The human review loop is usually sufficient.
---
## Description Optimization
The description field in SKILL.md frontmatter is the primary mechanism that determines whether Claude invokes a skill. After creating or improving a skill, offer to optimize the description for better triggering accuracy.
### Step 1: Generate trigger eval queries
Create 20 eval queries — a mix of should-trigger and should-not-trigger. Save as JSON:
```json
[
{"query": "the user prompt", "should_trigger": true},
{"query": "another prompt", "should_trigger": false}
]
```
The queries must be realistic and something a Claude Code or Claude.ai user would actually type. Not abstract requests, but requests that are concrete and specific and have a good amount of detail. For instance, file paths, personal context about the user's job or situation, column names and values, company names, URLs. A little bit of backstory. Some might be in lowercase or contain abbreviations or typos or casual speech. Use a mix of different lengths, and focus on edge cases rather than making them clear-cut (the user will get a chance to sign off on them).
Bad: `"Format this data"`, `"Extract text from PDF"`, `"Create a chart"`
Good: `"ok so my boss just sent me this xlsx file (its in my downloads, called something like 'Q4 sales final FINAL v2.xlsx') and she wants me to add a column that shows the profit margin as a percentage. The revenue is in column C and costs are in column D i think"`
For the **should-trigger** queries (8-10), think about coverage. You want different phrasings of the same intent — some formal, some casual. Include cases where the user doesn't explicitly name the skill or file type but clearly needs it. Throw in some uncommon use cases and cases where this skill competes with another but should win.
For the **should-not-trigger** queries (8-10), the most valuable ones are the near-misses — queries that share keywords or concepts with the skill but actually need something different. Think adjacent domains, ambiguous phrasing where a naive keyword match would trigger but shouldn't, and cases where the query touches on something the skill does but in a context where another tool is more appropriate.
The key thing to avoid: don't make should-not-trigger queries obviously irrelevant. "Write a fibonacci function" as a negative test for a PDF skill is too easy — it doesn't test anything. The negative cases should be genuinely tricky.
### Step 2: Review with user
Present the eval set to the user for review using the HTML template:
1. Read the template from `assets/eval_review.html`
2. Replace the placeholders:
- `__EVAL_DATA_PLACEHOLDER__` → the JSON array of eval items (no quotes around it — it's a JS variable assignment)
- `__SKILL_NAME_PLACEHOLDER__` → the skill's name
- `__SKILL_DESCRIPTION_PLACEHOLDER__` → the skill's current description
3. Write to a temp file (e.g., `/tmp/eval_review_<skill-name>.html`) and open it: `open /tmp/eval_review_<skill-name>.html`
4. The user can edit queries, toggle should-trigger, add/remove entries, then click "Export Eval Set"
5. The file downloads to `~/Downloads/eval_set.json` — check the Downloads folder for the most recent version in case there are multiple (e.g., `eval_set (1).json`)
This step matters — bad eval queries lead to bad descriptions.
### Step 3: Run the optimization loop
Tell the user: "This will take some time — I'll run the optimization loop in the background and check on it periodically."
Save the eval set to the workspace, then run in the background:
```bash
python -m scripts.run_loop \
--eval-set <path-to-trigger-eval.json> \
--skill-path <path-to-skill> \
--model <model-id-powering-this-session> \
--max-iterations 5 \
--verbose
```
Use the model ID from your system prompt (the one powering the current session) so the triggering test matches what the user actually experiences.
While it runs, periodically tail the output to give the user updates on which iteration it's on and what the scores look like.
This handles the full optimization loop automatically. It splits the eval set into 60% train and 40% held-out test, evaluates the current description (running each query 3 times to get a reliable trigger rate), then calls Claude to propose improvements based on what failed. It re-evaluates each new description on both train and test, iterating up to 5 times. When it's done, it opens an HTML report in the browser showing the results per iteration and returns JSON with `best_description` — selected by test score rather than train score to avoid overfitting.
### How skill triggering works
Understanding the triggering mechanism helps design better eval queries. Skills appear in Claude's `available_skills` list with their name + description, and Claude decides whether to consult a skill based on that description. The important thing to know is that Claude only consults skills for tasks it can't easily handle on its own — simple, one-step queries like "read this PDF" may not trigger a skill even if the description matches perfectly, because Claude can handle them directly with basic tools. Complex, multi-step, or specialized queries reliably trigger skills when the description matches.
This means your eval queries should be substantive enough that Claude would actually benefit from consulting a skill. Simple queries like "read file X" are poor test cases — they won't trigger skills regardless of description quality.
### Step 4: Apply the result
Take `best_description` from the JSON output and update the skill's SKILL.md frontmatter. Show the user before/after and report the scores.
---
### Package and Present (only if `present_files` tool is available)
Check whether you have access to the `present_files` tool. If you don't, skip this step. If you do, package the skill and present the .skill file to the user:
```bash
python -m scripts.package_skill <path/to/skill-folder>
```
After packaging, direct the user to the resulting `.skill` file path so they can install it.
---
## Claude.ai-specific instructions
In Claude.ai, the core workflow is the same (draft → test → review → improve → repeat), but because Claude.ai doesn't have subagents, some mechanics change. Here's what to adapt:
**Running test cases**: No subagents means no parallel execution. For each test case, read the skill's SKILL.md, then follow its instructions to accomplish the test prompt yourself. Do them one at a time. This is less rigorous than independent subagents (you wrote the skill and you're also running it, so you have full context), but it's a useful sanity check — and the human review step compensates. Skip the baseline runs — just use the skill to complete the task as requested.
**Reviewing results**: If you can't open a browser (e.g., Claude.ai's VM has no display, or you're on a remote server), skip the browser reviewer entirely. Instead, present results directly in the conversation. For each test case, show the prompt and the output. If the output is a file the user needs to see (like a .docx or .xlsx), save it to the filesystem and tell them where it is so they can download and inspect it. Ask for feedback inline: "How does this look? Anything you'd change?"
**Benchmarking**: Skip the quantitative benchmarking — it relies on baseline comparisons which aren't meaningful without subagents. Focus on qualitative feedback from the user.
**The iteration loop**: Same as before — improve the skill, rerun the test cases, ask for feedback — just without the browser reviewer in the middle. You can still organize results into iteration directories on the filesystem if you have one.
**Description optimization**: This section requires the `claude` CLI tool (specifically `claude -p`) which is only available in Claude Code. Skip it if you're on Claude.ai.
**Blind comparison**: Requires subagents. Skip it.
**Packaging**: The `package_skill.py` script works anywhere with Python and a filesystem. On Claude.ai, you can run it and the user can download the resulting `.skill` file.
**Updating an existing skill**: The user might be asking you to update an existing skill, not create a new one. In this case:
- **Preserve the original name.** Note the skill's directory name and `name` frontmatter field -- use them unchanged. E.g., if the installed skill is `research-helper`, output `research-helper.skill` (not `research-helper-v2`).
- **Copy to a writeable location before editing.** The installed skill path may be read-only. Copy to `/tmp/skill-name/`, edit there, and package from the copy.
- **If packaging manually, stage in `/tmp/` first**, then copy to the output directory -- direct writes may fail due to permissions.
---
## Cowork-Specific Instructions
If you're in Cowork, the main things to know are:
- You have subagents, so the main workflow (spawn test cases in parallel, run baselines, grade, etc.) all works. (However, if you run into severe problems with timeouts, it's OK to run the test prompts in series rather than parallel.)
- You don't have a browser or display, so when generating the eval viewer, use `--static <output_path>` to write a standalone HTML file instead of starting a server. Then proffer a link that the user can click to open the HTML in their browser.
- For whatever reason, the Cowork setup seems to disincline Claude from generating the eval viewer after running the tests, so just to reiterate: whether you're in Cowork or in Claude Code, after running tests, you should always generate the eval viewer for the human to look at examples before revising the skill yourself and trying to make corrections, using `generate_review.py` (not writing your own boutique html code). Sorry in advance but I'm gonna go all caps here: GENERATE THE EVAL VIEWER *BEFORE* evaluating inputs yourself. You want to get them in front of the human ASAP!
- Feedback works differently: since there's no running server, the viewer's "Submit All Reviews" button will download `feedback.json` as a file. You can then read it from there (you may have to request access first).
- Packaging works — `package_skill.py` just needs Python and a filesystem.
- Description optimization (`run_loop.py` / `run_eval.py`) should work in Cowork just fine since it uses `claude -p` via subprocess, not a browser, but please save it until you've fully finished making the skill and the user agrees it's in good shape.
- **Updating an existing skill**: The user might be asking you to update an existing skill, not create a new one. Follow the update guidance in the claude.ai section above.
---
## Reference files
The agents/ directory contains instructions for specialized subagents. Read them when you need to spawn the relevant subagent.
- `agents/grader.md` — How to evaluate assertions against outputs
- `agents/comparator.md` — How to do blind A/B comparison between two outputs
- `agents/analyzer.md` — How to analyze why one version beat another
The references/ directory has additional documentation:
- `references/schemas.md` — JSON structures for evals.json, grading.json, etc.
---
Repeating one more time the core loop here for emphasis:
- Figure out what the skill is about
- Draft or edit the skill
- Run claude-with-access-to-the-skill on test prompts
- With the user, evaluate the outputs:
- Create benchmark.json and run `eval-viewer/generate_review.py` to help the user review them
- Run quantitative evals
- Repeat until you and the user are satisfied
- Package the final skill and return it to the user.
Please add steps to your TodoList, if you have such a thing, to make sure you don't forget. If you're in Cowork, please specifically put "Create evals JSON and run `eval-viewer/generate_review.py` so human can review test cases" in your TodoList to make sure it happens.
Good luck!

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# Post-hoc Analyzer Agent
Analyze blind comparison results to understand WHY the winner won and generate improvement suggestions.
## Role
After the blind comparator determines a winner, the Post-hoc Analyzer "unblids" the results by examining the skills and transcripts. The goal is to extract actionable insights: what made the winner better, and how can the loser be improved?
## Inputs
You receive these parameters in your prompt:
- **winner**: "A" or "B" (from blind comparison)
- **winner_skill_path**: Path to the skill that produced the winning output
- **winner_transcript_path**: Path to the execution transcript for the winner
- **loser_skill_path**: Path to the skill that produced the losing output
- **loser_transcript_path**: Path to the execution transcript for the loser
- **comparison_result_path**: Path to the blind comparator's output JSON
- **output_path**: Where to save the analysis results
## Process
### Step 1: Read Comparison Result
1. Read the blind comparator's output at comparison_result_path
2. Note the winning side (A or B), the reasoning, and any scores
3. Understand what the comparator valued in the winning output
### Step 2: Read Both Skills
1. Read the winner skill's SKILL.md and key referenced files
2. Read the loser skill's SKILL.md and key referenced files
3. Identify structural differences:
- Instructions clarity and specificity
- Script/tool usage patterns
- Example coverage
- Edge case handling
### Step 3: Read Both Transcripts
1. Read the winner's transcript
2. Read the loser's transcript
3. Compare execution patterns:
- How closely did each follow their skill's instructions?
- What tools were used differently?
- Where did the loser diverge from optimal behavior?
- Did either encounter errors or make recovery attempts?
### Step 4: Analyze Instruction Following
For each transcript, evaluate:
- Did the agent follow the skill's explicit instructions?
- Did the agent use the skill's provided tools/scripts?
- Were there missed opportunities to leverage skill content?
- Did the agent add unnecessary steps not in the skill?
Score instruction following 1-10 and note specific issues.
### Step 5: Identify Winner Strengths
Determine what made the winner better:
- Clearer instructions that led to better behavior?
- Better scripts/tools that produced better output?
- More comprehensive examples that guided edge cases?
- Better error handling guidance?
Be specific. Quote from skills/transcripts where relevant.
### Step 6: Identify Loser Weaknesses
Determine what held the loser back:
- Ambiguous instructions that led to suboptimal choices?
- Missing tools/scripts that forced workarounds?
- Gaps in edge case coverage?
- Poor error handling that caused failures?
### Step 7: Generate Improvement Suggestions
Based on the analysis, produce actionable suggestions for improving the loser skill:
- Specific instruction changes to make
- Tools/scripts to add or modify
- Examples to include
- Edge cases to address
Prioritize by impact. Focus on changes that would have changed the outcome.
### Step 8: Write Analysis Results
Save structured analysis to `{output_path}`.
## Output Format
Write a JSON file with this structure:
```json
{
"comparison_summary": {
"winner": "A",
"winner_skill": "path/to/winner/skill",
"loser_skill": "path/to/loser/skill",
"comparator_reasoning": "Brief summary of why comparator chose winner"
},
"winner_strengths": [
"Clear step-by-step instructions for handling multi-page documents",
"Included validation script that caught formatting errors",
"Explicit guidance on fallback behavior when OCR fails"
],
"loser_weaknesses": [
"Vague instruction 'process the document appropriately' led to inconsistent behavior",
"No script for validation, agent had to improvise and made errors",
"No guidance on OCR failure, agent gave up instead of trying alternatives"
],
"instruction_following": {
"winner": {
"score": 9,
"issues": [
"Minor: skipped optional logging step"
]
},
"loser": {
"score": 6,
"issues": [
"Did not use the skill's formatting template",
"Invented own approach instead of following step 3",
"Missed the 'always validate output' instruction"
]
}
},
"improvement_suggestions": [
{
"priority": "high",
"category": "instructions",
"suggestion": "Replace 'process the document appropriately' with explicit steps: 1) Extract text, 2) Identify sections, 3) Format per template",
"expected_impact": "Would eliminate ambiguity that caused inconsistent behavior"
},
{
"priority": "high",
"category": "tools",
"suggestion": "Add validate_output.py script similar to winner skill's validation approach",
"expected_impact": "Would catch formatting errors before final output"
},
{
"priority": "medium",
"category": "error_handling",
"suggestion": "Add fallback instructions: 'If OCR fails, try: 1) different resolution, 2) image preprocessing, 3) manual extraction'",
"expected_impact": "Would prevent early failure on difficult documents"
}
],
"transcript_insights": {
"winner_execution_pattern": "Read skill -> Followed 5-step process -> Used validation script -> Fixed 2 issues -> Produced output",
"loser_execution_pattern": "Read skill -> Unclear on approach -> Tried 3 different methods -> No validation -> Output had errors"
}
}
```
## Guidelines
- **Be specific**: Quote from skills and transcripts, don't just say "instructions were unclear"
- **Be actionable**: Suggestions should be concrete changes, not vague advice
- **Focus on skill improvements**: The goal is to improve the losing skill, not critique the agent
- **Prioritize by impact**: Which changes would most likely have changed the outcome?
- **Consider causation**: Did the skill weakness actually cause the worse output, or is it incidental?
- **Stay objective**: Analyze what happened, don't editorialize
- **Think about generalization**: Would this improvement help on other evals too?
## Categories for Suggestions
Use these categories to organize improvement suggestions:
| Category | Description |
|----------|-------------|
| `instructions` | Changes to the skill's prose instructions |
| `tools` | Scripts, templates, or utilities to add/modify |
| `examples` | Example inputs/outputs to include |
| `error_handling` | Guidance for handling failures |
| `structure` | Reorganization of skill content |
| `references` | External docs or resources to add |
## Priority Levels
- **high**: Would likely change the outcome of this comparison
- **medium**: Would improve quality but may not change win/loss
- **low**: Nice to have, marginal improvement
---
# Analyzing Benchmark Results
When analyzing benchmark results, the analyzer's purpose is to **surface patterns and anomalies** across multiple runs, not suggest skill improvements.
## Role
Review all benchmark run results and generate freeform notes that help the user understand skill performance. Focus on patterns that wouldn't be visible from aggregate metrics alone.
## Inputs
You receive these parameters in your prompt:
- **benchmark_data_path**: Path to the in-progress benchmark.json with all run results
- **skill_path**: Path to the skill being benchmarked
- **output_path**: Where to save the notes (as JSON array of strings)
## Process
### Step 1: Read Benchmark Data
1. Read the benchmark.json containing all run results
2. Note the configurations tested (with_skill, without_skill)
3. Understand the run_summary aggregates already calculated
### Step 2: Analyze Per-Assertion Patterns
For each expectation across all runs:
- Does it **always pass** in both configurations? (may not differentiate skill value)
- Does it **always fail** in both configurations? (may be broken or beyond capability)
- Does it **always pass with skill but fail without**? (skill clearly adds value here)
- Does it **always fail with skill but pass without**? (skill may be hurting)
- Is it **highly variable**? (flaky expectation or non-deterministic behavior)
### Step 3: Analyze Cross-Eval Patterns
Look for patterns across evals:
- Are certain eval types consistently harder/easier?
- Do some evals show high variance while others are stable?
- Are there surprising results that contradict expectations?
### Step 4: Analyze Metrics Patterns
Look at time_seconds, tokens, tool_calls:
- Does the skill significantly increase execution time?
- Is there high variance in resource usage?
- Are there outlier runs that skew the aggregates?
### Step 5: Generate Notes
Write freeform observations as a list of strings. Each note should:
- State a specific observation
- Be grounded in the data (not speculation)
- Help the user understand something the aggregate metrics don't show
Examples:
- "Assertion 'Output is a PDF file' passes 100% in both configurations - may not differentiate skill value"
- "Eval 3 shows high variance (50% ± 40%) - run 2 had an unusual failure that may be flaky"
- "Without-skill runs consistently fail on table extraction expectations (0% pass rate)"
- "Skill adds 13s average execution time but improves pass rate by 50%"
- "Token usage is 80% higher with skill, primarily due to script output parsing"
- "All 3 without-skill runs for eval 1 produced empty output"
### Step 6: Write Notes
Save notes to `{output_path}` as a JSON array of strings:
```json
[
"Assertion 'Output is a PDF file' passes 100% in both configurations - may not differentiate skill value",
"Eval 3 shows high variance (50% ± 40%) - run 2 had an unusual failure",
"Without-skill runs consistently fail on table extraction expectations",
"Skill adds 13s average execution time but improves pass rate by 50%"
]
```
## Guidelines
**DO:**
- Report what you observe in the data
- Be specific about which evals, expectations, or runs you're referring to
- Note patterns that aggregate metrics would hide
- Provide context that helps interpret the numbers
**DO NOT:**
- Suggest improvements to the skill (that's for the improvement step, not benchmarking)
- Make subjective quality judgments ("the output was good/bad")
- Speculate about causes without evidence
- Repeat information already in the run_summary aggregates

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# Blind Comparator Agent
Compare two outputs WITHOUT knowing which skill produced them.
## Role
The Blind Comparator judges which output better accomplishes the eval task. You receive two outputs labeled A and B, but you do NOT know which skill produced which. This prevents bias toward a particular skill or approach.
Your judgment is based purely on output quality and task completion.
## Inputs
You receive these parameters in your prompt:
- **output_a_path**: Path to the first output file or directory
- **output_b_path**: Path to the second output file or directory
- **eval_prompt**: The original task/prompt that was executed
- **expectations**: List of expectations to check (optional - may be empty)
## Process
### Step 1: Read Both Outputs
1. Examine output A (file or directory)
2. Examine output B (file or directory)
3. Note the type, structure, and content of each
4. If outputs are directories, examine all relevant files inside
### Step 2: Understand the Task
1. Read the eval_prompt carefully
2. Identify what the task requires:
- What should be produced?
- What qualities matter (accuracy, completeness, format)?
- What would distinguish a good output from a poor one?
### Step 3: Generate Evaluation Rubric
Based on the task, generate a rubric with two dimensions:
**Content Rubric** (what the output contains):
| Criterion | 1 (Poor) | 3 (Acceptable) | 5 (Excellent) |
|-----------|----------|----------------|---------------|
| Correctness | Major errors | Minor errors | Fully correct |
| Completeness | Missing key elements | Mostly complete | All elements present |
| Accuracy | Significant inaccuracies | Minor inaccuracies | Accurate throughout |
**Structure Rubric** (how the output is organized):
| Criterion | 1 (Poor) | 3 (Acceptable) | 5 (Excellent) |
|-----------|----------|----------------|---------------|
| Organization | Disorganized | Reasonably organized | Clear, logical structure |
| Formatting | Inconsistent/broken | Mostly consistent | Professional, polished |
| Usability | Difficult to use | Usable with effort | Easy to use |
Adapt criteria to the specific task. For example:
- PDF form → "Field alignment", "Text readability", "Data placement"
- Document → "Section structure", "Heading hierarchy", "Paragraph flow"
- Data output → "Schema correctness", "Data types", "Completeness"
### Step 4: Evaluate Each Output Against the Rubric
For each output (A and B):
1. **Score each criterion** on the rubric (1-5 scale)
2. **Calculate dimension totals**: Content score, Structure score
3. **Calculate overall score**: Average of dimension scores, scaled to 1-10
### Step 5: Check Assertions (if provided)
If expectations are provided:
1. Check each expectation against output A
2. Check each expectation against output B
3. Count pass rates for each output
4. Use expectation scores as secondary evidence (not the primary decision factor)
### Step 6: Determine the Winner
Compare A and B based on (in priority order):
1. **Primary**: Overall rubric score (content + structure)
2. **Secondary**: Assertion pass rates (if applicable)
3. **Tiebreaker**: If truly equal, declare a TIE
Be decisive - ties should be rare. One output is usually better, even if marginally.
### Step 7: Write Comparison Results
Save results to a JSON file at the path specified (or `comparison.json` if not specified).
## Output Format
Write a JSON file with this structure:
```json
{
"winner": "A",
"reasoning": "Output A provides a complete solution with proper formatting and all required fields. Output B is missing the date field and has formatting inconsistencies.",
"rubric": {
"A": {
"content": {
"correctness": 5,
"completeness": 5,
"accuracy": 4
},
"structure": {
"organization": 4,
"formatting": 5,
"usability": 4
},
"content_score": 4.7,
"structure_score": 4.3,
"overall_score": 9.0
},
"B": {
"content": {
"correctness": 3,
"completeness": 2,
"accuracy": 3
},
"structure": {
"organization": 3,
"formatting": 2,
"usability": 3
},
"content_score": 2.7,
"structure_score": 2.7,
"overall_score": 5.4
}
},
"output_quality": {
"A": {
"score": 9,
"strengths": ["Complete solution", "Well-formatted", "All fields present"],
"weaknesses": ["Minor style inconsistency in header"]
},
"B": {
"score": 5,
"strengths": ["Readable output", "Correct basic structure"],
"weaknesses": ["Missing date field", "Formatting inconsistencies", "Partial data extraction"]
}
},
"expectation_results": {
"A": {
"passed": 4,
"total": 5,
"pass_rate": 0.80,
"details": [
{"text": "Output includes name", "passed": true},
{"text": "Output includes date", "passed": true},
{"text": "Format is PDF", "passed": true},
{"text": "Contains signature", "passed": false},
{"text": "Readable text", "passed": true}
]
},
"B": {
"passed": 3,
"total": 5,
"pass_rate": 0.60,
"details": [
{"text": "Output includes name", "passed": true},
{"text": "Output includes date", "passed": false},
{"text": "Format is PDF", "passed": true},
{"text": "Contains signature", "passed": false},
{"text": "Readable text", "passed": true}
]
}
}
}
```
If no expectations were provided, omit the `expectation_results` field entirely.
## Field Descriptions
- **winner**: "A", "B", or "TIE"
- **reasoning**: Clear explanation of why the winner was chosen (or why it's a tie)
- **rubric**: Structured rubric evaluation for each output
- **content**: Scores for content criteria (correctness, completeness, accuracy)
- **structure**: Scores for structure criteria (organization, formatting, usability)
- **content_score**: Average of content criteria (1-5)
- **structure_score**: Average of structure criteria (1-5)
- **overall_score**: Combined score scaled to 1-10
- **output_quality**: Summary quality assessment
- **score**: 1-10 rating (should match rubric overall_score)
- **strengths**: List of positive aspects
- **weaknesses**: List of issues or shortcomings
- **expectation_results**: (Only if expectations provided)
- **passed**: Number of expectations that passed
- **total**: Total number of expectations
- **pass_rate**: Fraction passed (0.0 to 1.0)
- **details**: Individual expectation results
## Guidelines
- **Stay blind**: DO NOT try to infer which skill produced which output. Judge purely on output quality.
- **Be specific**: Cite specific examples when explaining strengths and weaknesses.
- **Be decisive**: Choose a winner unless outputs are genuinely equivalent.
- **Output quality first**: Assertion scores are secondary to overall task completion.
- **Be objective**: Don't favor outputs based on style preferences; focus on correctness and completeness.
- **Explain your reasoning**: The reasoning field should make it clear why you chose the winner.
- **Handle edge cases**: If both outputs fail, pick the one that fails less badly. If both are excellent, pick the one that's marginally better.

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# Grader Agent
Evaluate expectations against an execution transcript and outputs.
## Role
The Grader reviews a transcript and output files, then determines whether each expectation passes or fails. Provide clear evidence for each judgment.
You have two jobs: grade the outputs, and critique the evals themselves. A passing grade on a weak assertion is worse than useless — it creates false confidence. When you notice an assertion that's trivially satisfied, or an important outcome that no assertion checks, say so.
## Inputs
You receive these parameters in your prompt:
- **expectations**: List of expectations to evaluate (strings)
- **transcript_path**: Path to the execution transcript (markdown file)
- **outputs_dir**: Directory containing output files from execution
## Process
### Step 1: Read the Transcript
1. Read the transcript file completely
2. Note the eval prompt, execution steps, and final result
3. Identify any issues or errors documented
### Step 2: Examine Output Files
1. List files in outputs_dir
2. Read/examine each file relevant to the expectations. If outputs aren't plain text, use the inspection tools provided in your prompt — don't rely solely on what the transcript says the executor produced.
3. Note contents, structure, and quality
### Step 3: Evaluate Each Assertion
For each expectation:
1. **Search for evidence** in the transcript and outputs
2. **Determine verdict**:
- **PASS**: Clear evidence the expectation is true AND the evidence reflects genuine task completion, not just surface-level compliance
- **FAIL**: No evidence, or evidence contradicts the expectation, or the evidence is superficial (e.g., correct filename but empty/wrong content)
3. **Cite the evidence**: Quote the specific text or describe what you found
### Step 4: Extract and Verify Claims
Beyond the predefined expectations, extract implicit claims from the outputs and verify them:
1. **Extract claims** from the transcript and outputs:
- Factual statements ("The form has 12 fields")
- Process claims ("Used pypdf to fill the form")
- Quality claims ("All fields were filled correctly")
2. **Verify each claim**:
- **Factual claims**: Can be checked against the outputs or external sources
- **Process claims**: Can be verified from the transcript
- **Quality claims**: Evaluate whether the claim is justified
3. **Flag unverifiable claims**: Note claims that cannot be verified with available information
This catches issues that predefined expectations might miss.
### Step 5: Read User Notes
If `{outputs_dir}/user_notes.md` exists:
1. Read it and note any uncertainties or issues flagged by the executor
2. Include relevant concerns in the grading output
3. These may reveal problems even when expectations pass
### Step 6: Critique the Evals
After grading, consider whether the evals themselves could be improved. Only surface suggestions when there's a clear gap.
Good suggestions test meaningful outcomes — assertions that are hard to satisfy without actually doing the work correctly. Think about what makes an assertion *discriminating*: it passes when the skill genuinely succeeds and fails when it doesn't.
Suggestions worth raising:
- An assertion that passed but would also pass for a clearly wrong output (e.g., checking filename existence but not file content)
- An important outcome you observed — good or bad — that no assertion covers at all
- An assertion that can't actually be verified from the available outputs
Keep the bar high. The goal is to flag things the eval author would say "good catch" about, not to nitpick every assertion.
### Step 7: Write Grading Results
Save results to `{outputs_dir}/../grading.json` (sibling to outputs_dir).
## Grading Criteria
**PASS when**:
- The transcript or outputs clearly demonstrate the expectation is true
- Specific evidence can be cited
- The evidence reflects genuine substance, not just surface compliance (e.g., a file exists AND contains correct content, not just the right filename)
**FAIL when**:
- No evidence found for the expectation
- Evidence contradicts the expectation
- The expectation cannot be verified from available information
- The evidence is superficial — the assertion is technically satisfied but the underlying task outcome is wrong or incomplete
- The output appears to meet the assertion by coincidence rather than by actually doing the work
**When uncertain**: The burden of proof to pass is on the expectation.
### Step 8: Read Executor Metrics and Timing
1. If `{outputs_dir}/metrics.json` exists, read it and include in grading output
2. If `{outputs_dir}/../timing.json` exists, read it and include timing data
## Output Format
Write a JSON file with this structure:
```json
{
"expectations": [
{
"text": "The output includes the name 'John Smith'",
"passed": true,
"evidence": "Found in transcript Step 3: 'Extracted names: John Smith, Sarah Johnson'"
},
{
"text": "The spreadsheet has a SUM formula in cell B10",
"passed": false,
"evidence": "No spreadsheet was created. The output was a text file."
},
{
"text": "The assistant used the skill's OCR script",
"passed": true,
"evidence": "Transcript Step 2 shows: 'Tool: Bash - python ocr_script.py image.png'"
}
],
"summary": {
"passed": 2,
"failed": 1,
"total": 3,
"pass_rate": 0.67
},
"execution_metrics": {
"tool_calls": {
"Read": 5,
"Write": 2,
"Bash": 8
},
"total_tool_calls": 15,
"total_steps": 6,
"errors_encountered": 0,
"output_chars": 12450,
"transcript_chars": 3200
},
"timing": {
"executor_duration_seconds": 165.0,
"grader_duration_seconds": 26.0,
"total_duration_seconds": 191.0
},
"claims": [
{
"claim": "The form has 12 fillable fields",
"type": "factual",
"verified": true,
"evidence": "Counted 12 fields in field_info.json"
},
{
"claim": "All required fields were populated",
"type": "quality",
"verified": false,
"evidence": "Reference section was left blank despite data being available"
}
],
"user_notes_summary": {
"uncertainties": ["Used 2023 data, may be stale"],
"needs_review": [],
"workarounds": ["Fell back to text overlay for non-fillable fields"]
},
"eval_feedback": {
"suggestions": [
{
"assertion": "The output includes the name 'John Smith'",
"reason": "A hallucinated document that mentions the name would also pass — consider checking it appears as the primary contact with matching phone and email from the input"
},
{
"reason": "No assertion checks whether the extracted phone numbers match the input — I observed incorrect numbers in the output that went uncaught"
}
],
"overall": "Assertions check presence but not correctness. Consider adding content verification."
}
}
```
## Field Descriptions
- **expectations**: Array of graded expectations
- **text**: The original expectation text
- **passed**: Boolean - true if expectation passes
- **evidence**: Specific quote or description supporting the verdict
- **summary**: Aggregate statistics
- **passed**: Count of passed expectations
- **failed**: Count of failed expectations
- **total**: Total expectations evaluated
- **pass_rate**: Fraction passed (0.0 to 1.0)
- **execution_metrics**: Copied from executor's metrics.json (if available)
- **output_chars**: Total character count of output files (proxy for tokens)
- **transcript_chars**: Character count of transcript
- **timing**: Wall clock timing from timing.json (if available)
- **executor_duration_seconds**: Time spent in executor subagent
- **total_duration_seconds**: Total elapsed time for the run
- **claims**: Extracted and verified claims from the output
- **claim**: The statement being verified
- **type**: "factual", "process", or "quality"
- **verified**: Boolean - whether the claim holds
- **evidence**: Supporting or contradicting evidence
- **user_notes_summary**: Issues flagged by the executor
- **uncertainties**: Things the executor wasn't sure about
- **needs_review**: Items requiring human attention
- **workarounds**: Places where the skill didn't work as expected
- **eval_feedback**: Improvement suggestions for the evals (only when warranted)
- **suggestions**: List of concrete suggestions, each with a `reason` and optionally an `assertion` it relates to
- **overall**: Brief assessment — can be "No suggestions, evals look solid" if nothing to flag
## Guidelines
- **Be objective**: Base verdicts on evidence, not assumptions
- **Be specific**: Quote the exact text that supports your verdict
- **Be thorough**: Check both transcript and output files
- **Be consistent**: Apply the same standard to each expectation
- **Explain failures**: Make it clear why evidence was insufficient
- **No partial credit**: Each expectation is pass or fail, not partial

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<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<title>Eval Set Review - __SKILL_NAME_PLACEHOLDER__</title>
<link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com">
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</head>
<body>
<h1>Eval Set Review: <span id="skill-name">__SKILL_NAME_PLACEHOLDER__</span></h1>
<p class="description">Current description: <span id="skill-desc">__SKILL_DESCRIPTION_PLACEHOLDER__</span></p>
<div class="controls">
<button class="btn btn-add" onclick="addRow()">+ Add Query</button>
<button class="btn btn-export" onclick="exportEvalSet()">Export Eval Set</button>
</div>
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th style="width:65%">Query</th>
<th style="width:18%">Should Trigger</th>
<th style="width:10%">Actions</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody id="eval-body"></tbody>
</table>
<p class="summary" id="summary"></p>
<script>
const EVAL_DATA = __EVAL_DATA_PLACEHOLDER__;
let evalItems = [...EVAL_DATA];
function render() {
const tbody = document.getElementById('eval-body');
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// Sort: should-trigger first, then should-not-trigger
const sorted = evalItems
.map((item, origIdx) => ({ ...item, origIdx }))
.sort((a, b) => (b.should_trigger ? 1 : 0) - (a.should_trigger ? 1 : 0));
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sorted.forEach(item => {
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const idx = item.origIdx;
const tr = document.createElement('tr');
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<td><textarea class="query-input" onchange="updateQuery(${idx}, this.value)">${escapeHtml(item.query)}</textarea></td>
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<span class="slider"></span>
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</td>
<td><button class="btn-delete" onclick="deleteRow(${idx})">Delete</button></td>
`;
tbody.appendChild(tr);
});
updateSummary();
}
function escapeHtml(text) {
const div = document.createElement('div');
div.textContent = text;
return div.innerHTML;
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function updateQuery(idx, value) { evalItems[idx].query = value; updateSummary(); }
function updateTrigger(idx, value) { evalItems[idx].should_trigger = value; render(); }
function deleteRow(idx) { evalItems.splice(idx, 1); render(); }
function addRow() {
evalItems.push({ query: '', should_trigger: true });
render();
const inputs = document.querySelectorAll('.query-input');
inputs[inputs.length - 1].focus();
}
function updateSummary() {
const trigger = evalItems.filter(i => i.should_trigger).length;
const noTrigger = evalItems.filter(i => !i.should_trigger).length;
document.getElementById('summary').textContent =
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function exportEvalSet() {
const valid = evalItems.filter(i => i.query.trim() !== '');
const data = valid.map(i => ({ query: i.query.trim(), should_trigger: i.should_trigger }));
const blob = new Blob([JSON.stringify(data, null, 2)], { type: 'application/json' });
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const a = document.createElement('a');
a.href = url;
a.download = 'eval_set.json';
document.body.appendChild(a);
a.click();
document.body.removeChild(a);
URL.revokeObjectURL(url);
}
render();
</script>
</body>
</html>

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#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""Generate and serve a review page for eval results.
Reads the workspace directory, discovers runs (directories with outputs/),
embeds all output data into a self-contained HTML page, and serves it via
a tiny HTTP server. Feedback auto-saves to feedback.json in the workspace.
Usage:
python generate_review.py <workspace-path> [--port PORT] [--skill-name NAME]
python generate_review.py <workspace-path> --previous-feedback /path/to/old/feedback.json
No dependencies beyond the Python stdlib are required.
"""
import argparse
import base64
import json
import mimetypes
import os
import re
import signal
import subprocess
import sys
import time
import webbrowser
from functools import partial
from http.server import HTTPServer, BaseHTTPRequestHandler
from pathlib import Path
# Files to exclude from output listings
METADATA_FILES = {"transcript.md", "user_notes.md", "metrics.json"}
# Extensions we render as inline text
TEXT_EXTENSIONS = {
".txt", ".md", ".json", ".csv", ".py", ".js", ".ts", ".tsx", ".jsx",
".yaml", ".yml", ".xml", ".html", ".css", ".sh", ".rb", ".go", ".rs",
".java", ".c", ".cpp", ".h", ".hpp", ".sql", ".r", ".toml",
}
# Extensions we render as inline images
IMAGE_EXTENSIONS = {".png", ".jpg", ".jpeg", ".gif", ".svg", ".webp"}
# MIME type overrides for common types
MIME_OVERRIDES = {
".svg": "image/svg+xml",
".xlsx": "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet",
".docx": "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document",
".pptx": "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation",
}
def get_mime_type(path: Path) -> str:
ext = path.suffix.lower()
if ext in MIME_OVERRIDES:
return MIME_OVERRIDES[ext]
mime, _ = mimetypes.guess_type(str(path))
return mime or "application/octet-stream"
def find_runs(workspace: Path) -> list[dict]:
"""Recursively find directories that contain an outputs/ subdirectory."""
runs: list[dict] = []
_find_runs_recursive(workspace, workspace, runs)
runs.sort(key=lambda r: (r.get("eval_id", float("inf")), r["id"]))
return runs
def _find_runs_recursive(root: Path, current: Path, runs: list[dict]) -> None:
if not current.is_dir():
return
outputs_dir = current / "outputs"
if outputs_dir.is_dir():
run = build_run(root, current)
if run:
runs.append(run)
return
skip = {"node_modules", ".git", "__pycache__", "skill", "inputs"}
for child in sorted(current.iterdir()):
if child.is_dir() and child.name not in skip:
_find_runs_recursive(root, child, runs)
def build_run(root: Path, run_dir: Path) -> dict | None:
"""Build a run dict with prompt, outputs, and grading data."""
prompt = ""
eval_id = None
# Try eval_metadata.json
for candidate in [run_dir / "eval_metadata.json", run_dir.parent / "eval_metadata.json"]:
if candidate.exists():
try:
metadata = json.loads(candidate.read_text())
prompt = metadata.get("prompt", "")
eval_id = metadata.get("eval_id")
except (json.JSONDecodeError, OSError):
pass
if prompt:
break
# Fall back to transcript.md
if not prompt:
for candidate in [run_dir / "transcript.md", run_dir / "outputs" / "transcript.md"]:
if candidate.exists():
try:
text = candidate.read_text()
match = re.search(r"## Eval Prompt\n\n([\s\S]*?)(?=\n##|$)", text)
if match:
prompt = match.group(1).strip()
except OSError:
pass
if prompt:
break
if not prompt:
prompt = "(No prompt found)"
run_id = str(run_dir.relative_to(root)).replace("/", "-").replace("\\", "-")
# Collect output files
outputs_dir = run_dir / "outputs"
output_files: list[dict] = []
if outputs_dir.is_dir():
for f in sorted(outputs_dir.iterdir()):
if f.is_file() and f.name not in METADATA_FILES:
output_files.append(embed_file(f))
# Load grading if present
grading = None
for candidate in [run_dir / "grading.json", run_dir.parent / "grading.json"]:
if candidate.exists():
try:
grading = json.loads(candidate.read_text())
except (json.JSONDecodeError, OSError):
pass
if grading:
break
return {
"id": run_id,
"prompt": prompt,
"eval_id": eval_id,
"outputs": output_files,
"grading": grading,
}
def embed_file(path: Path) -> dict:
"""Read a file and return an embedded representation."""
ext = path.suffix.lower()
mime = get_mime_type(path)
if ext in TEXT_EXTENSIONS:
try:
content = path.read_text(errors="replace")
except OSError:
content = "(Error reading file)"
return {
"name": path.name,
"type": "text",
"content": content,
}
elif ext in IMAGE_EXTENSIONS:
try:
raw = path.read_bytes()
b64 = base64.b64encode(raw).decode("ascii")
except OSError:
return {"name": path.name, "type": "error", "content": "(Error reading file)"}
return {
"name": path.name,
"type": "image",
"mime": mime,
"data_uri": f"data:{mime};base64,{b64}",
}
elif ext == ".pdf":
try:
raw = path.read_bytes()
b64 = base64.b64encode(raw).decode("ascii")
except OSError:
return {"name": path.name, "type": "error", "content": "(Error reading file)"}
return {
"name": path.name,
"type": "pdf",
"data_uri": f"data:{mime};base64,{b64}",
}
elif ext == ".xlsx":
try:
raw = path.read_bytes()
b64 = base64.b64encode(raw).decode("ascii")
except OSError:
return {"name": path.name, "type": "error", "content": "(Error reading file)"}
return {
"name": path.name,
"type": "xlsx",
"data_b64": b64,
}
else:
# Binary / unknown — base64 download link
try:
raw = path.read_bytes()
b64 = base64.b64encode(raw).decode("ascii")
except OSError:
return {"name": path.name, "type": "error", "content": "(Error reading file)"}
return {
"name": path.name,
"type": "binary",
"mime": mime,
"data_uri": f"data:{mime};base64,{b64}",
}
def load_previous_iteration(workspace: Path) -> dict[str, dict]:
"""Load previous iteration's feedback and outputs.
Returns a map of run_id -> {"feedback": str, "outputs": list[dict]}.
"""
result: dict[str, dict] = {}
# Load feedback
feedback_map: dict[str, str] = {}
feedback_path = workspace / "feedback.json"
if feedback_path.exists():
try:
data = json.loads(feedback_path.read_text())
feedback_map = {
r["run_id"]: r["feedback"]
for r in data.get("reviews", [])
if r.get("feedback", "").strip()
}
except (json.JSONDecodeError, OSError, KeyError):
pass
# Load runs (to get outputs)
prev_runs = find_runs(workspace)
for run in prev_runs:
result[run["id"]] = {
"feedback": feedback_map.get(run["id"], ""),
"outputs": run.get("outputs", []),
}
# Also add feedback for run_ids that had feedback but no matching run
for run_id, fb in feedback_map.items():
if run_id not in result:
result[run_id] = {"feedback": fb, "outputs": []}
return result
def generate_html(
runs: list[dict],
skill_name: str,
previous: dict[str, dict] | None = None,
benchmark: dict | None = None,
) -> str:
"""Generate the complete standalone HTML page with embedded data."""
template_path = Path(__file__).parent / "viewer.html"
template = template_path.read_text()
# Build previous_feedback and previous_outputs maps for the template
previous_feedback: dict[str, str] = {}
previous_outputs: dict[str, list[dict]] = {}
if previous:
for run_id, data in previous.items():
if data.get("feedback"):
previous_feedback[run_id] = data["feedback"]
if data.get("outputs"):
previous_outputs[run_id] = data["outputs"]
embedded = {
"skill_name": skill_name,
"runs": runs,
"previous_feedback": previous_feedback,
"previous_outputs": previous_outputs,
}
if benchmark:
embedded["benchmark"] = benchmark
data_json = json.dumps(embedded)
return template.replace("/*__EMBEDDED_DATA__*/", f"const EMBEDDED_DATA = {data_json};")
# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
# HTTP server (stdlib only, zero dependencies)
# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
def _kill_port(port: int) -> None:
"""Kill any process listening on the given port."""
try:
result = subprocess.run(
["lsof", "-ti", f":{port}"],
capture_output=True, text=True, timeout=5,
)
for pid_str in result.stdout.strip().split("\n"):
if pid_str.strip():
try:
os.kill(int(pid_str.strip()), signal.SIGTERM)
except (ProcessLookupError, ValueError):
pass
if result.stdout.strip():
time.sleep(0.5)
except subprocess.TimeoutExpired:
pass
except FileNotFoundError:
print("Note: lsof not found, cannot check if port is in use", file=sys.stderr)
class ReviewHandler(BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
"""Serves the review HTML and handles feedback saves.
Regenerates the HTML on each page load so that refreshing the browser
picks up new eval outputs without restarting the server.
"""
def __init__(
self,
workspace: Path,
skill_name: str,
feedback_path: Path,
previous: dict[str, dict],
benchmark_path: Path | None,
*args,
**kwargs,
):
self.workspace = workspace
self.skill_name = skill_name
self.feedback_path = feedback_path
self.previous = previous
self.benchmark_path = benchmark_path
super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
def do_GET(self) -> None:
if self.path == "/" or self.path == "/index.html":
# Regenerate HTML on each request (re-scans workspace for new outputs)
runs = find_runs(self.workspace)
benchmark = None
if self.benchmark_path and self.benchmark_path.exists():
try:
benchmark = json.loads(self.benchmark_path.read_text())
except (json.JSONDecodeError, OSError):
pass
html = generate_html(runs, self.skill_name, self.previous, benchmark)
content = html.encode("utf-8")
self.send_response(200)
self.send_header("Content-Type", "text/html; charset=utf-8")
self.send_header("Content-Length", str(len(content)))
self.end_headers()
self.wfile.write(content)
elif self.path == "/api/feedback":
data = b"{}"
if self.feedback_path.exists():
data = self.feedback_path.read_bytes()
self.send_response(200)
self.send_header("Content-Type", "application/json")
self.send_header("Content-Length", str(len(data)))
self.end_headers()
self.wfile.write(data)
else:
self.send_error(404)
def do_POST(self) -> None:
if self.path == "/api/feedback":
length = int(self.headers.get("Content-Length", 0))
body = self.rfile.read(length)
try:
data = json.loads(body)
if not isinstance(data, dict) or "reviews" not in data:
raise ValueError("Expected JSON object with 'reviews' key")
self.feedback_path.write_text(json.dumps(data, indent=2) + "\n")
resp = b'{"ok":true}'
self.send_response(200)
except (json.JSONDecodeError, OSError, ValueError) as e:
resp = json.dumps({"error": str(e)}).encode()
self.send_response(500)
self.send_header("Content-Type", "application/json")
self.send_header("Content-Length", str(len(resp)))
self.end_headers()
self.wfile.write(resp)
else:
self.send_error(404)
def log_message(self, format: str, *args: object) -> None:
# Suppress request logging to keep terminal clean
pass
def main() -> None:
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Generate and serve eval review")
parser.add_argument("workspace", type=Path, help="Path to workspace directory")
parser.add_argument("--port", "-p", type=int, default=3117, help="Server port (default: 3117)")
parser.add_argument("--skill-name", "-n", type=str, default=None, help="Skill name for header")
parser.add_argument(
"--previous-workspace", type=Path, default=None,
help="Path to previous iteration's workspace (shows old outputs and feedback as context)",
)
parser.add_argument(
"--benchmark", type=Path, default=None,
help="Path to benchmark.json to show in the Benchmark tab",
)
parser.add_argument(
"--static", "-s", type=Path, default=None,
help="Write standalone HTML to this path instead of starting a server",
)
args = parser.parse_args()
workspace = args.workspace.resolve()
if not workspace.is_dir():
print(f"Error: {workspace} is not a directory", file=sys.stderr)
sys.exit(1)
runs = find_runs(workspace)
if not runs:
print(f"No runs found in {workspace}", file=sys.stderr)
sys.exit(1)
skill_name = args.skill_name or workspace.name.replace("-workspace", "")
feedback_path = workspace / "feedback.json"
previous: dict[str, dict] = {}
if args.previous_workspace:
previous = load_previous_iteration(args.previous_workspace.resolve())
benchmark_path = args.benchmark.resolve() if args.benchmark else None
benchmark = None
if benchmark_path and benchmark_path.exists():
try:
benchmark = json.loads(benchmark_path.read_text())
except (json.JSONDecodeError, OSError):
pass
if args.static:
html = generate_html(runs, skill_name, previous, benchmark)
args.static.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
args.static.write_text(html)
print(f"\n Static viewer written to: {args.static}\n")
sys.exit(0)
# Kill any existing process on the target port
port = args.port
_kill_port(port)
handler = partial(ReviewHandler, workspace, skill_name, feedback_path, previous, benchmark_path)
try:
server = HTTPServer(("127.0.0.1", port), handler)
except OSError:
# Port still in use after kill attempt — find a free one
server = HTTPServer(("127.0.0.1", 0), handler)
port = server.server_address[1]
url = f"http://localhost:{port}"
print(f"\n Eval Viewer")
print(f" ─────────────────────────────────")
print(f" URL: {url}")
print(f" Workspace: {workspace}")
print(f" Feedback: {feedback_path}")
if previous:
print(f" Previous: {args.previous_workspace} ({len(previous)} runs)")
if benchmark_path:
print(f" Benchmark: {benchmark_path}")
print(f"\n Press Ctrl+C to stop.\n")
webbrowser.open(url)
try:
server.serve_forever()
except KeyboardInterrupt:
print("\nStopped.")
server.server_close()
if __name__ == "__main__":
main()

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# JSON Schemas
This document defines the JSON schemas used by skill-creator.
---
## evals.json
Defines the evals for a skill. Located at `evals/evals.json` within the skill directory.
```json
{
"skill_name": "example-skill",
"evals": [
{
"id": 1,
"prompt": "User's example prompt",
"expected_output": "Description of expected result",
"files": ["evals/files/sample1.pdf"],
"expectations": [
"The output includes X",
"The skill used script Y"
]
}
]
}
```
**Fields:**
- `skill_name`: Name matching the skill's frontmatter
- `evals[].id`: Unique integer identifier
- `evals[].prompt`: The task to execute
- `evals[].expected_output`: Human-readable description of success
- `evals[].files`: Optional list of input file paths (relative to skill root)
- `evals[].expectations`: List of verifiable statements
---
## history.json
Tracks version progression in Improve mode. Located at workspace root.
```json
{
"started_at": "2026-01-15T10:30:00Z",
"skill_name": "pdf",
"current_best": "v2",
"iterations": [
{
"version": "v0",
"parent": null,
"expectation_pass_rate": 0.65,
"grading_result": "baseline",
"is_current_best": false
},
{
"version": "v1",
"parent": "v0",
"expectation_pass_rate": 0.75,
"grading_result": "won",
"is_current_best": false
},
{
"version": "v2",
"parent": "v1",
"expectation_pass_rate": 0.85,
"grading_result": "won",
"is_current_best": true
}
]
}
```
**Fields:**
- `started_at`: ISO timestamp of when improvement started
- `skill_name`: Name of the skill being improved
- `current_best`: Version identifier of the best performer
- `iterations[].version`: Version identifier (v0, v1, ...)
- `iterations[].parent`: Parent version this was derived from
- `iterations[].expectation_pass_rate`: Pass rate from grading
- `iterations[].grading_result`: "baseline", "won", "lost", or "tie"
- `iterations[].is_current_best`: Whether this is the current best version
---
## grading.json
Output from the grader agent. Located at `<run-dir>/grading.json`.
```json
{
"expectations": [
{
"text": "The output includes the name 'John Smith'",
"passed": true,
"evidence": "Found in transcript Step 3: 'Extracted names: John Smith, Sarah Johnson'"
},
{
"text": "The spreadsheet has a SUM formula in cell B10",
"passed": false,
"evidence": "No spreadsheet was created. The output was a text file."
}
],
"summary": {
"passed": 2,
"failed": 1,
"total": 3,
"pass_rate": 0.67
},
"execution_metrics": {
"tool_calls": {
"Read": 5,
"Write": 2,
"Bash": 8
},
"total_tool_calls": 15,
"total_steps": 6,
"errors_encountered": 0,
"output_chars": 12450,
"transcript_chars": 3200
},
"timing": {
"executor_duration_seconds": 165.0,
"grader_duration_seconds": 26.0,
"total_duration_seconds": 191.0
},
"claims": [
{
"claim": "The form has 12 fillable fields",
"type": "factual",
"verified": true,
"evidence": "Counted 12 fields in field_info.json"
}
],
"user_notes_summary": {
"uncertainties": ["Used 2023 data, may be stale"],
"needs_review": [],
"workarounds": ["Fell back to text overlay for non-fillable fields"]
},
"eval_feedback": {
"suggestions": [
{
"assertion": "The output includes the name 'John Smith'",
"reason": "A hallucinated document that mentions the name would also pass"
}
],
"overall": "Assertions check presence but not correctness."
}
}
```
**Fields:**
- `expectations[]`: Graded expectations with evidence
- `summary`: Aggregate pass/fail counts
- `execution_metrics`: Tool usage and output size (from executor's metrics.json)
- `timing`: Wall clock timing (from timing.json)
- `claims`: Extracted and verified claims from the output
- `user_notes_summary`: Issues flagged by the executor
- `eval_feedback`: (optional) Improvement suggestions for the evals, only present when the grader identifies issues worth raising
---
## metrics.json
Output from the executor agent. Located at `<run-dir>/outputs/metrics.json`.
```json
{
"tool_calls": {
"Read": 5,
"Write": 2,
"Bash": 8,
"Edit": 1,
"Glob": 2,
"Grep": 0
},
"total_tool_calls": 18,
"total_steps": 6,
"files_created": ["filled_form.pdf", "field_values.json"],
"errors_encountered": 0,
"output_chars": 12450,
"transcript_chars": 3200
}
```
**Fields:**
- `tool_calls`: Count per tool type
- `total_tool_calls`: Sum of all tool calls
- `total_steps`: Number of major execution steps
- `files_created`: List of output files created
- `errors_encountered`: Number of errors during execution
- `output_chars`: Total character count of output files
- `transcript_chars`: Character count of transcript
---
## timing.json
Wall clock timing for a run. Located at `<run-dir>/timing.json`.
**How to capture:** When a subagent task completes, the task notification includes `total_tokens` and `duration_ms`. Save these immediately — they are not persisted anywhere else and cannot be recovered after the fact.
```json
{
"total_tokens": 84852,
"duration_ms": 23332,
"total_duration_seconds": 23.3,
"executor_start": "2026-01-15T10:30:00Z",
"executor_end": "2026-01-15T10:32:45Z",
"executor_duration_seconds": 165.0,
"grader_start": "2026-01-15T10:32:46Z",
"grader_end": "2026-01-15T10:33:12Z",
"grader_duration_seconds": 26.0
}
```
---
## benchmark.json
Output from Benchmark mode. Located at `benchmarks/<timestamp>/benchmark.json`.
```json
{
"metadata": {
"skill_name": "pdf",
"skill_path": "/path/to/pdf",
"executor_model": "claude-sonnet-4-20250514",
"analyzer_model": "most-capable-model",
"timestamp": "2026-01-15T10:30:00Z",
"evals_run": [1, 2, 3],
"runs_per_configuration": 3
},
"runs": [
{
"eval_id": 1,
"eval_name": "Ocean",
"configuration": "with_skill",
"run_number": 1,
"result": {
"pass_rate": 0.85,
"passed": 6,
"failed": 1,
"total": 7,
"time_seconds": 42.5,
"tokens": 3800,
"tool_calls": 18,
"errors": 0
},
"expectations": [
{"text": "...", "passed": true, "evidence": "..."}
],
"notes": [
"Used 2023 data, may be stale",
"Fell back to text overlay for non-fillable fields"
]
}
],
"run_summary": {
"with_skill": {
"pass_rate": {"mean": 0.85, "stddev": 0.05, "min": 0.80, "max": 0.90},
"time_seconds": {"mean": 45.0, "stddev": 12.0, "min": 32.0, "max": 58.0},
"tokens": {"mean": 3800, "stddev": 400, "min": 3200, "max": 4100}
},
"without_skill": {
"pass_rate": {"mean": 0.35, "stddev": 0.08, "min": 0.28, "max": 0.45},
"time_seconds": {"mean": 32.0, "stddev": 8.0, "min": 24.0, "max": 42.0},
"tokens": {"mean": 2100, "stddev": 300, "min": 1800, "max": 2500}
},
"delta": {
"pass_rate": "+0.50",
"time_seconds": "+13.0",
"tokens": "+1700"
}
},
"notes": [
"Assertion 'Output is a PDF file' passes 100% in both configurations - may not differentiate skill value",
"Eval 3 shows high variance (50% ± 40%) - may be flaky or model-dependent",
"Without-skill runs consistently fail on table extraction expectations",
"Skill adds 13s average execution time but improves pass rate by 50%"
]
}
```
**Fields:**
- `metadata`: Information about the benchmark run
- `skill_name`: Name of the skill
- `timestamp`: When the benchmark was run
- `evals_run`: List of eval names or IDs
- `runs_per_configuration`: Number of runs per config (e.g. 3)
- `runs[]`: Individual run results
- `eval_id`: Numeric eval identifier
- `eval_name`: Human-readable eval name (used as section header in the viewer)
- `configuration`: Must be `"with_skill"` or `"without_skill"` (the viewer uses this exact string for grouping and color coding)
- `run_number`: Integer run number (1, 2, 3...)
- `result`: Nested object with `pass_rate`, `passed`, `total`, `time_seconds`, `tokens`, `errors`
- `run_summary`: Statistical aggregates per configuration
- `with_skill` / `without_skill`: Each contains `pass_rate`, `time_seconds`, `tokens` objects with `mean` and `stddev` fields
- `delta`: Difference strings like `"+0.50"`, `"+13.0"`, `"+1700"`
- `notes`: Freeform observations from the analyzer
**Important:** The viewer reads these field names exactly. Using `config` instead of `configuration`, or putting `pass_rate` at the top level of a run instead of nested under `result`, will cause the viewer to show empty/zero values. Always reference this schema when generating benchmark.json manually.
---
## comparison.json
Output from blind comparator. Located at `<grading-dir>/comparison-N.json`.
```json
{
"winner": "A",
"reasoning": "Output A provides a complete solution with proper formatting and all required fields. Output B is missing the date field and has formatting inconsistencies.",
"rubric": {
"A": {
"content": {
"correctness": 5,
"completeness": 5,
"accuracy": 4
},
"structure": {
"organization": 4,
"formatting": 5,
"usability": 4
},
"content_score": 4.7,
"structure_score": 4.3,
"overall_score": 9.0
},
"B": {
"content": {
"correctness": 3,
"completeness": 2,
"accuracy": 3
},
"structure": {
"organization": 3,
"formatting": 2,
"usability": 3
},
"content_score": 2.7,
"structure_score": 2.7,
"overall_score": 5.4
}
},
"output_quality": {
"A": {
"score": 9,
"strengths": ["Complete solution", "Well-formatted", "All fields present"],
"weaknesses": ["Minor style inconsistency in header"]
},
"B": {
"score": 5,
"strengths": ["Readable output", "Correct basic structure"],
"weaknesses": ["Missing date field", "Formatting inconsistencies", "Partial data extraction"]
}
},
"expectation_results": {
"A": {
"passed": 4,
"total": 5,
"pass_rate": 0.80,
"details": [
{"text": "Output includes name", "passed": true}
]
},
"B": {
"passed": 3,
"total": 5,
"pass_rate": 0.60,
"details": [
{"text": "Output includes name", "passed": true}
]
}
}
}
```
---
## analysis.json
Output from post-hoc analyzer. Located at `<grading-dir>/analysis.json`.
```json
{
"comparison_summary": {
"winner": "A",
"winner_skill": "path/to/winner/skill",
"loser_skill": "path/to/loser/skill",
"comparator_reasoning": "Brief summary of why comparator chose winner"
},
"winner_strengths": [
"Clear step-by-step instructions for handling multi-page documents",
"Included validation script that caught formatting errors"
],
"loser_weaknesses": [
"Vague instruction 'process the document appropriately' led to inconsistent behavior",
"No script for validation, agent had to improvise"
],
"instruction_following": {
"winner": {
"score": 9,
"issues": ["Minor: skipped optional logging step"]
},
"loser": {
"score": 6,
"issues": [
"Did not use the skill's formatting template",
"Invented own approach instead of following step 3"
]
}
},
"improvement_suggestions": [
{
"priority": "high",
"category": "instructions",
"suggestion": "Replace 'process the document appropriately' with explicit steps",
"expected_impact": "Would eliminate ambiguity that caused inconsistent behavior"
}
],
"transcript_insights": {
"winner_execution_pattern": "Read skill -> Followed 5-step process -> Used validation script",
"loser_execution_pattern": "Read skill -> Unclear on approach -> Tried 3 different methods"
}
}
```

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@@ -0,0 +1,401 @@
#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""
Aggregate individual run results into benchmark summary statistics.
Reads grading.json files from run directories and produces:
- run_summary with mean, stddev, min, max for each metric
- delta between with_skill and without_skill configurations
Usage:
python aggregate_benchmark.py <benchmark_dir>
Example:
python aggregate_benchmark.py benchmarks/2026-01-15T10-30-00/
The script supports two directory layouts:
Workspace layout (from skill-creator iterations):
<benchmark_dir>/
└── eval-N/
├── with_skill/
│ ├── run-1/grading.json
│ └── run-2/grading.json
└── without_skill/
├── run-1/grading.json
└── run-2/grading.json
Legacy layout (with runs/ subdirectory):
<benchmark_dir>/
└── runs/
└── eval-N/
├── with_skill/
│ └── run-1/grading.json
└── without_skill/
└── run-1/grading.json
"""
import argparse
import json
import math
import sys
from datetime import datetime, timezone
from pathlib import Path
def calculate_stats(values: list[float]) -> dict:
"""Calculate mean, stddev, min, max for a list of values."""
if not values:
return {"mean": 0.0, "stddev": 0.0, "min": 0.0, "max": 0.0}
n = len(values)
mean = sum(values) / n
if n > 1:
variance = sum((x - mean) ** 2 for x in values) / (n - 1)
stddev = math.sqrt(variance)
else:
stddev = 0.0
return {
"mean": round(mean, 4),
"stddev": round(stddev, 4),
"min": round(min(values), 4),
"max": round(max(values), 4)
}
def load_run_results(benchmark_dir: Path) -> dict:
"""
Load all run results from a benchmark directory.
Returns dict keyed by config name (e.g. "with_skill"/"without_skill",
or "new_skill"/"old_skill"), each containing a list of run results.
"""
# Support both layouts: eval dirs directly under benchmark_dir, or under runs/
runs_dir = benchmark_dir / "runs"
if runs_dir.exists():
search_dir = runs_dir
elif list(benchmark_dir.glob("eval-*")):
search_dir = benchmark_dir
else:
print(f"No eval directories found in {benchmark_dir} or {benchmark_dir / 'runs'}")
return {}
results: dict[str, list] = {}
for eval_idx, eval_dir in enumerate(sorted(search_dir.glob("eval-*"))):
metadata_path = eval_dir / "eval_metadata.json"
if metadata_path.exists():
try:
with open(metadata_path) as mf:
eval_id = json.load(mf).get("eval_id", eval_idx)
except (json.JSONDecodeError, OSError):
eval_id = eval_idx
else:
try:
eval_id = int(eval_dir.name.split("-")[1])
except ValueError:
eval_id = eval_idx
# Discover config directories dynamically rather than hardcoding names
for config_dir in sorted(eval_dir.iterdir()):
if not config_dir.is_dir():
continue
# Skip non-config directories (inputs, outputs, etc.)
if not list(config_dir.glob("run-*")):
continue
config = config_dir.name
if config not in results:
results[config] = []
for run_dir in sorted(config_dir.glob("run-*")):
run_number = int(run_dir.name.split("-")[1])
grading_file = run_dir / "grading.json"
if not grading_file.exists():
print(f"Warning: grading.json not found in {run_dir}")
continue
try:
with open(grading_file) as f:
grading = json.load(f)
except json.JSONDecodeError as e:
print(f"Warning: Invalid JSON in {grading_file}: {e}")
continue
# Extract metrics
result = {
"eval_id": eval_id,
"run_number": run_number,
"pass_rate": grading.get("summary", {}).get("pass_rate", 0.0),
"passed": grading.get("summary", {}).get("passed", 0),
"failed": grading.get("summary", {}).get("failed", 0),
"total": grading.get("summary", {}).get("total", 0),
}
# Extract timing — check grading.json first, then sibling timing.json
timing = grading.get("timing", {})
result["time_seconds"] = timing.get("total_duration_seconds", 0.0)
timing_file = run_dir / "timing.json"
if result["time_seconds"] == 0.0 and timing_file.exists():
try:
with open(timing_file) as tf:
timing_data = json.load(tf)
result["time_seconds"] = timing_data.get("total_duration_seconds", 0.0)
result["tokens"] = timing_data.get("total_tokens", 0)
except json.JSONDecodeError:
pass
# Extract metrics if available
metrics = grading.get("execution_metrics", {})
result["tool_calls"] = metrics.get("total_tool_calls", 0)
if not result.get("tokens"):
result["tokens"] = metrics.get("output_chars", 0)
result["errors"] = metrics.get("errors_encountered", 0)
# Extract expectations — viewer requires fields: text, passed, evidence
raw_expectations = grading.get("expectations", [])
for exp in raw_expectations:
if "text" not in exp or "passed" not in exp:
print(f"Warning: expectation in {grading_file} missing required fields (text, passed, evidence): {exp}")
result["expectations"] = raw_expectations
# Extract notes from user_notes_summary
notes_summary = grading.get("user_notes_summary", {})
notes = []
notes.extend(notes_summary.get("uncertainties", []))
notes.extend(notes_summary.get("needs_review", []))
notes.extend(notes_summary.get("workarounds", []))
result["notes"] = notes
results[config].append(result)
return results
def aggregate_results(results: dict) -> dict:
"""
Aggregate run results into summary statistics.
Returns run_summary with stats for each configuration and delta.
"""
run_summary = {}
configs = list(results.keys())
for config in configs:
runs = results.get(config, [])
if not runs:
run_summary[config] = {
"pass_rate": {"mean": 0.0, "stddev": 0.0, "min": 0.0, "max": 0.0},
"time_seconds": {"mean": 0.0, "stddev": 0.0, "min": 0.0, "max": 0.0},
"tokens": {"mean": 0, "stddev": 0, "min": 0, "max": 0}
}
continue
pass_rates = [r["pass_rate"] for r in runs]
times = [r["time_seconds"] for r in runs]
tokens = [r.get("tokens", 0) for r in runs]
run_summary[config] = {
"pass_rate": calculate_stats(pass_rates),
"time_seconds": calculate_stats(times),
"tokens": calculate_stats(tokens)
}
# Calculate delta between the first two configs (if two exist)
if len(configs) >= 2:
primary = run_summary.get(configs[0], {})
baseline = run_summary.get(configs[1], {})
else:
primary = run_summary.get(configs[0], {}) if configs else {}
baseline = {}
delta_pass_rate = primary.get("pass_rate", {}).get("mean", 0) - baseline.get("pass_rate", {}).get("mean", 0)
delta_time = primary.get("time_seconds", {}).get("mean", 0) - baseline.get("time_seconds", {}).get("mean", 0)
delta_tokens = primary.get("tokens", {}).get("mean", 0) - baseline.get("tokens", {}).get("mean", 0)
run_summary["delta"] = {
"pass_rate": f"{delta_pass_rate:+.2f}",
"time_seconds": f"{delta_time:+.1f}",
"tokens": f"{delta_tokens:+.0f}"
}
return run_summary
def generate_benchmark(benchmark_dir: Path, skill_name: str = "", skill_path: str = "") -> dict:
"""
Generate complete benchmark.json from run results.
"""
results = load_run_results(benchmark_dir)
run_summary = aggregate_results(results)
# Build runs array for benchmark.json
runs = []
for config in results:
for result in results[config]:
runs.append({
"eval_id": result["eval_id"],
"configuration": config,
"run_number": result["run_number"],
"result": {
"pass_rate": result["pass_rate"],
"passed": result["passed"],
"failed": result["failed"],
"total": result["total"],
"time_seconds": result["time_seconds"],
"tokens": result.get("tokens", 0),
"tool_calls": result.get("tool_calls", 0),
"errors": result.get("errors", 0)
},
"expectations": result["expectations"],
"notes": result["notes"]
})
# Determine eval IDs from results
eval_ids = sorted(set(
r["eval_id"]
for config in results.values()
for r in config
))
benchmark = {
"metadata": {
"skill_name": skill_name or "<skill-name>",
"skill_path": skill_path or "<path/to/skill>",
"executor_model": "<model-name>",
"analyzer_model": "<model-name>",
"timestamp": datetime.now(timezone.utc).strftime("%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ"),
"evals_run": eval_ids,
"runs_per_configuration": 3
},
"runs": runs,
"run_summary": run_summary,
"notes": [] # To be filled by analyzer
}
return benchmark
def generate_markdown(benchmark: dict) -> str:
"""Generate human-readable benchmark.md from benchmark data."""
metadata = benchmark["metadata"]
run_summary = benchmark["run_summary"]
# Determine config names (excluding "delta")
configs = [k for k in run_summary if k != "delta"]
config_a = configs[0] if len(configs) >= 1 else "config_a"
config_b = configs[1] if len(configs) >= 2 else "config_b"
label_a = config_a.replace("_", " ").title()
label_b = config_b.replace("_", " ").title()
lines = [
f"# Skill Benchmark: {metadata['skill_name']}",
"",
f"**Model**: {metadata['executor_model']}",
f"**Date**: {metadata['timestamp']}",
f"**Evals**: {', '.join(map(str, metadata['evals_run']))} ({metadata['runs_per_configuration']} runs each per configuration)",
"",
"## Summary",
"",
f"| Metric | {label_a} | {label_b} | Delta |",
"|--------|------------|---------------|-------|",
]
a_summary = run_summary.get(config_a, {})
b_summary = run_summary.get(config_b, {})
delta = run_summary.get("delta", {})
# Format pass rate
a_pr = a_summary.get("pass_rate", {})
b_pr = b_summary.get("pass_rate", {})
lines.append(f"| Pass Rate | {a_pr.get('mean', 0)*100:.0f}% ± {a_pr.get('stddev', 0)*100:.0f}% | {b_pr.get('mean', 0)*100:.0f}% ± {b_pr.get('stddev', 0)*100:.0f}% | {delta.get('pass_rate', '—')} |")
# Format time
a_time = a_summary.get("time_seconds", {})
b_time = b_summary.get("time_seconds", {})
lines.append(f"| Time | {a_time.get('mean', 0):.1f}s ± {a_time.get('stddev', 0):.1f}s | {b_time.get('mean', 0):.1f}s ± {b_time.get('stddev', 0):.1f}s | {delta.get('time_seconds', '—')}s |")
# Format tokens
a_tokens = a_summary.get("tokens", {})
b_tokens = b_summary.get("tokens", {})
lines.append(f"| Tokens | {a_tokens.get('mean', 0):.0f} ± {a_tokens.get('stddev', 0):.0f} | {b_tokens.get('mean', 0):.0f} ± {b_tokens.get('stddev', 0):.0f} | {delta.get('tokens', '—')} |")
# Notes section
if benchmark.get("notes"):
lines.extend([
"",
"## Notes",
""
])
for note in benchmark["notes"]:
lines.append(f"- {note}")
return "\n".join(lines)
def main():
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
description="Aggregate benchmark run results into summary statistics"
)
parser.add_argument(
"benchmark_dir",
type=Path,
help="Path to the benchmark directory"
)
parser.add_argument(
"--skill-name",
default="",
help="Name of the skill being benchmarked"
)
parser.add_argument(
"--skill-path",
default="",
help="Path to the skill being benchmarked"
)
parser.add_argument(
"--output", "-o",
type=Path,
help="Output path for benchmark.json (default: <benchmark_dir>/benchmark.json)"
)
args = parser.parse_args()
if not args.benchmark_dir.exists():
print(f"Directory not found: {args.benchmark_dir}")
sys.exit(1)
# Generate benchmark
benchmark = generate_benchmark(args.benchmark_dir, args.skill_name, args.skill_path)
# Determine output paths
output_json = args.output or (args.benchmark_dir / "benchmark.json")
output_md = output_json.with_suffix(".md")
# Write benchmark.json
with open(output_json, "w") as f:
json.dump(benchmark, f, indent=2)
print(f"Generated: {output_json}")
# Write benchmark.md
markdown = generate_markdown(benchmark)
with open(output_md, "w") as f:
f.write(markdown)
print(f"Generated: {output_md}")
# Print summary
run_summary = benchmark["run_summary"]
configs = [k for k in run_summary if k != "delta"]
delta = run_summary.get("delta", {})
print(f"\nSummary:")
for config in configs:
pr = run_summary[config]["pass_rate"]["mean"]
label = config.replace("_", " ").title()
print(f" {label}: {pr*100:.1f}% pass rate")
print(f" Delta: {delta.get('pass_rate', '—')}")
if __name__ == "__main__":
main()

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#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""Generate an HTML report from run_loop.py output.
Takes the JSON output from run_loop.py and generates a visual HTML report
showing each description attempt with check/x for each test case.
Distinguishes between train and test queries.
"""
import argparse
import html
import json
import sys
from pathlib import Path
def generate_html(data: dict, auto_refresh: bool = False, skill_name: str = "") -> str:
"""Generate HTML report from loop output data. If auto_refresh is True, adds a meta refresh tag."""
history = data.get("history", [])
holdout = data.get("holdout", 0)
title_prefix = html.escape(skill_name + " \u2014 ") if skill_name else ""
# Get all unique queries from train and test sets, with should_trigger info
train_queries: list[dict] = []
test_queries: list[dict] = []
if history:
for r in history[0].get("train_results", history[0].get("results", [])):
train_queries.append({"query": r["query"], "should_trigger": r.get("should_trigger", True)})
if history[0].get("test_results"):
for r in history[0].get("test_results", []):
test_queries.append({"query": r["query"], "should_trigger": r.get("should_trigger", True)})
refresh_tag = ' <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="5">\n' if auto_refresh else ""
html_parts = ["""<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
""" + refresh_tag + """ <title>""" + title_prefix + """Skill Description Optimization</title>
<link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com">
<link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.gstatic.com" crossorigin>
<link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Poppins:wght@500;600&family=Lora:wght@400;500&display=swap" rel="stylesheet">
<style>
body {
font-family: 'Lora', Georgia, serif;
max-width: 100%;
margin: 0 auto;
padding: 20px;
background: #faf9f5;
color: #141413;
}
h1 { font-family: 'Poppins', sans-serif; color: #141413; }
.explainer {
background: white;
padding: 15px;
border-radius: 6px;
margin-bottom: 20px;
border: 1px solid #e8e6dc;
color: #b0aea5;
font-size: 0.875rem;
line-height: 1.6;
}
.summary {
background: white;
padding: 15px;
border-radius: 6px;
margin-bottom: 20px;
border: 1px solid #e8e6dc;
}
.summary p { margin: 5px 0; }
.best { color: #788c5d; font-weight: bold; }
.table-container {
overflow-x: auto;
width: 100%;
}
table {
border-collapse: collapse;
background: white;
border: 1px solid #e8e6dc;
border-radius: 6px;
font-size: 12px;
min-width: 100%;
}
th, td {
padding: 8px;
text-align: left;
border: 1px solid #e8e6dc;
white-space: normal;
word-wrap: break-word;
}
th {
font-family: 'Poppins', sans-serif;
background: #141413;
color: #faf9f5;
font-weight: 500;
}
th.test-col {
background: #6a9bcc;
}
th.query-col { min-width: 200px; }
td.description {
font-family: monospace;
font-size: 11px;
word-wrap: break-word;
max-width: 400px;
}
td.result {
text-align: center;
font-size: 16px;
min-width: 40px;
}
td.test-result {
background: #f0f6fc;
}
.pass { color: #788c5d; }
.fail { color: #c44; }
.rate {
font-size: 9px;
color: #b0aea5;
display: block;
}
tr:hover { background: #faf9f5; }
.score {
display: inline-block;
padding: 2px 6px;
border-radius: 4px;
font-weight: bold;
font-size: 11px;
}
.score-good { background: #eef2e8; color: #788c5d; }
.score-ok { background: #fef3c7; color: #d97706; }
.score-bad { background: #fceaea; color: #c44; }
.train-label { color: #b0aea5; font-size: 10px; }
.test-label { color: #6a9bcc; font-size: 10px; font-weight: bold; }
.best-row { background: #f5f8f2; }
th.positive-col { border-bottom: 3px solid #788c5d; }
th.negative-col { border-bottom: 3px solid #c44; }
th.test-col.positive-col { border-bottom: 3px solid #788c5d; }
th.test-col.negative-col { border-bottom: 3px solid #c44; }
.legend { font-family: 'Poppins', sans-serif; display: flex; gap: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; font-size: 13px; align-items: center; }
.legend-item { display: flex; align-items: center; gap: 6px; }
.legend-swatch { width: 16px; height: 16px; border-radius: 3px; display: inline-block; }
.swatch-positive { background: #141413; border-bottom: 3px solid #788c5d; }
.swatch-negative { background: #141413; border-bottom: 3px solid #c44; }
.swatch-test { background: #6a9bcc; }
.swatch-train { background: #141413; }
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1>""" + title_prefix + """Skill Description Optimization</h1>
<div class="explainer">
<strong>Optimizing your skill's description.</strong> This page updates automatically as Claude tests different versions of your skill's description. Each row is an iteration — a new description attempt. The columns show test queries: green checkmarks mean the skill triggered correctly (or correctly didn't trigger), red crosses mean it got it wrong. The "Train" score shows performance on queries used to improve the description; the "Test" score shows performance on held-out queries the optimizer hasn't seen. When it's done, Claude will apply the best-performing description to your skill.
</div>
"""]
# Summary section
best_test_score = data.get('best_test_score')
best_train_score = data.get('best_train_score')
html_parts.append(f"""
<div class="summary">
<p><strong>Original:</strong> {html.escape(data.get('original_description', 'N/A'))}</p>
<p class="best"><strong>Best:</strong> {html.escape(data.get('best_description', 'N/A'))}</p>
<p><strong>Best Score:</strong> {data.get('best_score', 'N/A')} {'(test)' if best_test_score else '(train)'}</p>
<p><strong>Iterations:</strong> {data.get('iterations_run', 0)} | <strong>Train:</strong> {data.get('train_size', '?')} | <strong>Test:</strong> {data.get('test_size', '?')}</p>
</div>
""")
# Legend
html_parts.append("""
<div class="legend">
<span style="font-weight:600">Query columns:</span>
<span class="legend-item"><span class="legend-swatch swatch-positive"></span> Should trigger</span>
<span class="legend-item"><span class="legend-swatch swatch-negative"></span> Should NOT trigger</span>
<span class="legend-item"><span class="legend-swatch swatch-train"></span> Train</span>
<span class="legend-item"><span class="legend-swatch swatch-test"></span> Test</span>
</div>
""")
# Table header
html_parts.append("""
<div class="table-container">
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Iter</th>
<th>Train</th>
<th>Test</th>
<th class="query-col">Description</th>
""")
# Add column headers for train queries
for qinfo in train_queries:
polarity = "positive-col" if qinfo["should_trigger"] else "negative-col"
html_parts.append(f' <th class="{polarity}">{html.escape(qinfo["query"])}</th>\n')
# Add column headers for test queries (different color)
for qinfo in test_queries:
polarity = "positive-col" if qinfo["should_trigger"] else "negative-col"
html_parts.append(f' <th class="test-col {polarity}">{html.escape(qinfo["query"])}</th>\n')
html_parts.append(""" </tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
""")
# Find best iteration for highlighting
if test_queries:
best_iter = max(history, key=lambda h: h.get("test_passed") or 0).get("iteration")
else:
best_iter = max(history, key=lambda h: h.get("train_passed", h.get("passed", 0))).get("iteration")
# Add rows for each iteration
for h in history:
iteration = h.get("iteration", "?")
train_passed = h.get("train_passed", h.get("passed", 0))
train_total = h.get("train_total", h.get("total", 0))
test_passed = h.get("test_passed")
test_total = h.get("test_total")
description = h.get("description", "")
train_results = h.get("train_results", h.get("results", []))
test_results = h.get("test_results", [])
# Create lookups for results by query
train_by_query = {r["query"]: r for r in train_results}
test_by_query = {r["query"]: r for r in test_results} if test_results else {}
# Compute aggregate correct/total runs across all retries
def aggregate_runs(results: list[dict]) -> tuple[int, int]:
correct = 0
total = 0
for r in results:
runs = r.get("runs", 0)
triggers = r.get("triggers", 0)
total += runs
if r.get("should_trigger", True):
correct += triggers
else:
correct += runs - triggers
return correct, total
train_correct, train_runs = aggregate_runs(train_results)
test_correct, test_runs = aggregate_runs(test_results)
# Determine score classes
def score_class(correct: int, total: int) -> str:
if total > 0:
ratio = correct / total
if ratio >= 0.8:
return "score-good"
elif ratio >= 0.5:
return "score-ok"
return "score-bad"
train_class = score_class(train_correct, train_runs)
test_class = score_class(test_correct, test_runs)
row_class = "best-row" if iteration == best_iter else ""
html_parts.append(f""" <tr class="{row_class}">
<td>{iteration}</td>
<td><span class="score {train_class}">{train_correct}/{train_runs}</span></td>
<td><span class="score {test_class}">{test_correct}/{test_runs}</span></td>
<td class="description">{html.escape(description)}</td>
""")
# Add result for each train query
for qinfo in train_queries:
r = train_by_query.get(qinfo["query"], {})
did_pass = r.get("pass", False)
triggers = r.get("triggers", 0)
runs = r.get("runs", 0)
icon = "✓" if did_pass else "✗"
css_class = "pass" if did_pass else "fail"
html_parts.append(f' <td class="result {css_class}">{icon}<span class="rate">{triggers}/{runs}</span></td>\n')
# Add result for each test query (with different background)
for qinfo in test_queries:
r = test_by_query.get(qinfo["query"], {})
did_pass = r.get("pass", False)
triggers = r.get("triggers", 0)
runs = r.get("runs", 0)
icon = "✓" if did_pass else "✗"
css_class = "pass" if did_pass else "fail"
html_parts.append(f' <td class="result test-result {css_class}">{icon}<span class="rate">{triggers}/{runs}</span></td>\n')
html_parts.append(" </tr>\n")
html_parts.append(""" </tbody>
</table>
</div>
""")
html_parts.append("""
</body>
</html>
""")
return "".join(html_parts)
def main():
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Generate HTML report from run_loop output")
parser.add_argument("input", help="Path to JSON output from run_loop.py (or - for stdin)")
parser.add_argument("-o", "--output", default=None, help="Output HTML file (default: stdout)")
parser.add_argument("--skill-name", default="", help="Skill name to include in the report title")
args = parser.parse_args()
if args.input == "-":
data = json.load(sys.stdin)
else:
data = json.loads(Path(args.input).read_text())
html_output = generate_html(data, skill_name=args.skill_name)
if args.output:
Path(args.output).write_text(html_output)
print(f"Report written to {args.output}", file=sys.stderr)
else:
print(html_output)
if __name__ == "__main__":
main()

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#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""Improve a skill description based on eval results.
Takes eval results (from run_eval.py) and generates an improved description
by calling `claude -p` as a subprocess (same auth pattern as run_eval.py —
uses the session's Claude Code auth, no separate ANTHROPIC_API_KEY needed).
"""
import argparse
import json
import os
import re
import subprocess
import sys
from pathlib import Path
from scripts.utils import parse_skill_md
def _call_claude(prompt: str, model: str | None, timeout: int = 300) -> str:
"""Run `claude -p` with the prompt on stdin and return the text response.
Prompt goes over stdin (not argv) because it embeds the full SKILL.md
body and can easily exceed comfortable argv length.
"""
cmd = ["claude", "-p", "--output-format", "text"]
if model:
cmd.extend(["--model", model])
# Remove CLAUDECODE env var to allow nesting claude -p inside a
# Claude Code session. The guard is for interactive terminal conflicts;
# programmatic subprocess usage is safe. Same pattern as run_eval.py.
env = {k: v for k, v in os.environ.items() if k != "CLAUDECODE"}
result = subprocess.run(
cmd,
input=prompt,
capture_output=True,
text=True,
env=env,
timeout=timeout,
)
if result.returncode != 0:
raise RuntimeError(
f"claude -p exited {result.returncode}\nstderr: {result.stderr}"
)
return result.stdout
def improve_description(
skill_name: str,
skill_content: str,
current_description: str,
eval_results: dict,
history: list[dict],
model: str,
test_results: dict | None = None,
log_dir: Path | None = None,
iteration: int | None = None,
) -> str:
"""Call Claude to improve the description based on eval results."""
failed_triggers = [
r for r in eval_results["results"]
if r["should_trigger"] and not r["pass"]
]
false_triggers = [
r for r in eval_results["results"]
if not r["should_trigger"] and not r["pass"]
]
# Build scores summary
train_score = f"{eval_results['summary']['passed']}/{eval_results['summary']['total']}"
if test_results:
test_score = f"{test_results['summary']['passed']}/{test_results['summary']['total']}"
scores_summary = f"Train: {train_score}, Test: {test_score}"
else:
scores_summary = f"Train: {train_score}"
prompt = f"""You are optimizing a skill description for a Claude Code skill called "{skill_name}". A "skill" is sort of like a prompt, but with progressive disclosure -- there's a title and description that Claude sees when deciding whether to use the skill, and then if it does use the skill, it reads the .md file which has lots more details and potentially links to other resources in the skill folder like helper files and scripts and additional documentation or examples.
The description appears in Claude's "available_skills" list. When a user sends a query, Claude decides whether to invoke the skill based solely on the title and on this description. Your goal is to write a description that triggers for relevant queries, and doesn't trigger for irrelevant ones.
Here's the current description:
<current_description>
"{current_description}"
</current_description>
Current scores ({scores_summary}):
<scores_summary>
"""
if failed_triggers:
prompt += "FAILED TO TRIGGER (should have triggered but didn't):\n"
for r in failed_triggers:
prompt += f' - "{r["query"]}" (triggered {r["triggers"]}/{r["runs"]} times)\n'
prompt += "\n"
if false_triggers:
prompt += "FALSE TRIGGERS (triggered but shouldn't have):\n"
for r in false_triggers:
prompt += f' - "{r["query"]}" (triggered {r["triggers"]}/{r["runs"]} times)\n'
prompt += "\n"
if history:
prompt += "PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS (do NOT repeat these — try something structurally different):\n\n"
for h in history:
train_s = f"{h.get('train_passed', h.get('passed', 0))}/{h.get('train_total', h.get('total', 0))}"
test_s = f"{h.get('test_passed', '?')}/{h.get('test_total', '?')}" if h.get('test_passed') is not None else None
score_str = f"train={train_s}" + (f", test={test_s}" if test_s else "")
prompt += f'<attempt {score_str}>\n'
prompt += f'Description: "{h["description"]}"\n'
if "results" in h:
prompt += "Train results:\n"
for r in h["results"]:
status = "PASS" if r["pass"] else "FAIL"
prompt += f' [{status}] "{r["query"][:80]}" (triggered {r["triggers"]}/{r["runs"]})\n'
if h.get("note"):
prompt += f'Note: {h["note"]}\n'
prompt += "</attempt>\n\n"
prompt += f"""</scores_summary>
Skill content (for context on what the skill does):
<skill_content>
{skill_content}
</skill_content>
Based on the failures, write a new and improved description that is more likely to trigger correctly. When I say "based on the failures", it's a bit of a tricky line to walk because we don't want to overfit to the specific cases you're seeing. So what I DON'T want you to do is produce an ever-expanding list of specific queries that this skill should or shouldn't trigger for. Instead, try to generalize from the failures to broader categories of user intent and situations where this skill would be useful or not useful. The reason for this is twofold:
1. Avoid overfitting
2. The list might get loooong and it's injected into ALL queries and there might be a lot of skills, so we don't want to blow too much space on any given description.
Concretely, your description should not be more than about 100-200 words, even if that comes at the cost of accuracy. There is a hard limit of 1024 characters — descriptions over that will be truncated, so stay comfortably under it.
Here are some tips that we've found to work well in writing these descriptions:
- The skill should be phrased in the imperative -- "Use this skill for" rather than "this skill does"
- The skill description should focus on the user's intent, what they are trying to achieve, vs. the implementation details of how the skill works.
- The description competes with other skills for Claude's attention — make it distinctive and immediately recognizable.
- If you're getting lots of failures after repeated attempts, change things up. Try different sentence structures or wordings.
I'd encourage you to be creative and mix up the style in different iterations since you'll have multiple opportunities to try different approaches and we'll just grab the highest-scoring one at the end.
Please respond with only the new description text in <new_description> tags, nothing else."""
text = _call_claude(prompt, model)
match = re.search(r"<new_description>(.*?)</new_description>", text, re.DOTALL)
description = match.group(1).strip().strip('"') if match else text.strip().strip('"')
transcript: dict = {
"iteration": iteration,
"prompt": prompt,
"response": text,
"parsed_description": description,
"char_count": len(description),
"over_limit": len(description) > 1024,
}
# Safety net: the prompt already states the 1024-char hard limit, but if
# the model blew past it anyway, make one fresh single-turn call that
# quotes the too-long version and asks for a shorter rewrite. (The old
# SDK path did this as a true multi-turn; `claude -p` is one-shot, so we
# inline the prior output into the new prompt instead.)
if len(description) > 1024:
shorten_prompt = (
f"{prompt}\n\n"
f"---\n\n"
f"A previous attempt produced this description, which at "
f"{len(description)} characters is over the 1024-character hard limit:\n\n"
f'"{description}"\n\n'
f"Rewrite it to be under 1024 characters while keeping the most "
f"important trigger words and intent coverage. Respond with only "
f"the new description in <new_description> tags."
)
shorten_text = _call_claude(shorten_prompt, model)
match = re.search(r"<new_description>(.*?)</new_description>", shorten_text, re.DOTALL)
shortened = match.group(1).strip().strip('"') if match else shorten_text.strip().strip('"')
transcript["rewrite_prompt"] = shorten_prompt
transcript["rewrite_response"] = shorten_text
transcript["rewrite_description"] = shortened
transcript["rewrite_char_count"] = len(shortened)
description = shortened
transcript["final_description"] = description
if log_dir:
log_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
log_file = log_dir / f"improve_iter_{iteration or 'unknown'}.json"
log_file.write_text(json.dumps(transcript, indent=2))
return description
def main():
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Improve a skill description based on eval results")
parser.add_argument("--eval-results", required=True, help="Path to eval results JSON (from run_eval.py)")
parser.add_argument("--skill-path", required=True, help="Path to skill directory")
parser.add_argument("--history", default=None, help="Path to history JSON (previous attempts)")
parser.add_argument("--model", required=True, help="Model for improvement")
parser.add_argument("--verbose", action="store_true", help="Print thinking to stderr")
args = parser.parse_args()
skill_path = Path(args.skill_path)
if not (skill_path / "SKILL.md").exists():
print(f"Error: No SKILL.md found at {skill_path}", file=sys.stderr)
sys.exit(1)
eval_results = json.loads(Path(args.eval_results).read_text())
history = []
if args.history:
history = json.loads(Path(args.history).read_text())
name, _, content = parse_skill_md(skill_path)
current_description = eval_results["description"]
if args.verbose:
print(f"Current: {current_description}", file=sys.stderr)
print(f"Score: {eval_results['summary']['passed']}/{eval_results['summary']['total']}", file=sys.stderr)
new_description = improve_description(
skill_name=name,
skill_content=content,
current_description=current_description,
eval_results=eval_results,
history=history,
model=args.model,
)
if args.verbose:
print(f"Improved: {new_description}", file=sys.stderr)
# Output as JSON with both the new description and updated history
output = {
"description": new_description,
"history": history + [{
"description": current_description,
"passed": eval_results["summary"]["passed"],
"failed": eval_results["summary"]["failed"],
"total": eval_results["summary"]["total"],
"results": eval_results["results"],
}],
}
print(json.dumps(output, indent=2))
if __name__ == "__main__":
main()

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#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""
Skill Packager - Creates a distributable .skill file of a skill folder
Usage:
python utils/package_skill.py <path/to/skill-folder> [output-directory]
Example:
python utils/package_skill.py skills/public/my-skill
python utils/package_skill.py skills/public/my-skill ./dist
"""
import fnmatch
import sys
import zipfile
from pathlib import Path
from scripts.quick_validate import validate_skill
# Patterns to exclude when packaging skills.
EXCLUDE_DIRS = {"__pycache__", "node_modules"}
EXCLUDE_GLOBS = {"*.pyc"}
EXCLUDE_FILES = {".DS_Store"}
# Directories excluded only at the skill root (not when nested deeper).
ROOT_EXCLUDE_DIRS = {"evals"}
def should_exclude(rel_path: Path) -> bool:
"""Check if a path should be excluded from packaging."""
parts = rel_path.parts
if any(part in EXCLUDE_DIRS for part in parts):
return True
# rel_path is relative to skill_path.parent, so parts[0] is the skill
# folder name and parts[1] (if present) is the first subdir.
if len(parts) > 1 and parts[1] in ROOT_EXCLUDE_DIRS:
return True
name = rel_path.name
if name in EXCLUDE_FILES:
return True
return any(fnmatch.fnmatch(name, pat) for pat in EXCLUDE_GLOBS)
def package_skill(skill_path, output_dir=None):
"""
Package a skill folder into a .skill file.
Args:
skill_path: Path to the skill folder
output_dir: Optional output directory for the .skill file (defaults to current directory)
Returns:
Path to the created .skill file, or None if error
"""
skill_path = Path(skill_path).resolve()
# Validate skill folder exists
if not skill_path.exists():
print(f"❌ Error: Skill folder not found: {skill_path}")
return None
if not skill_path.is_dir():
print(f"❌ Error: Path is not a directory: {skill_path}")
return None
# Validate SKILL.md exists
skill_md = skill_path / "SKILL.md"
if not skill_md.exists():
print(f"❌ Error: SKILL.md not found in {skill_path}")
return None
# Run validation before packaging
print("🔍 Validating skill...")
valid, message = validate_skill(skill_path)
if not valid:
print(f"❌ Validation failed: {message}")
print(" Please fix the validation errors before packaging.")
return None
print(f"✅ {message}\n")
# Determine output location
skill_name = skill_path.name
if output_dir:
output_path = Path(output_dir).resolve()
output_path.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
else:
output_path = Path.cwd()
skill_filename = output_path / f"{skill_name}.skill"
# Create the .skill file (zip format)
try:
with zipfile.ZipFile(skill_filename, 'w', zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED) as zipf:
# Walk through the skill directory, excluding build artifacts
for file_path in skill_path.rglob('*'):
if not file_path.is_file():
continue
arcname = file_path.relative_to(skill_path.parent)
if should_exclude(arcname):
print(f" Skipped: {arcname}")
continue
zipf.write(file_path, arcname)
print(f" Added: {arcname}")
print(f"\n✅ Successfully packaged skill to: {skill_filename}")
return skill_filename
except Exception as e:
print(f"❌ Error creating .skill file: {e}")
return None
def main():
if len(sys.argv) < 2:
print("Usage: python utils/package_skill.py <path/to/skill-folder> [output-directory]")
print("\nExample:")
print(" python utils/package_skill.py skills/public/my-skill")
print(" python utils/package_skill.py skills/public/my-skill ./dist")
sys.exit(1)
skill_path = sys.argv[1]
output_dir = sys.argv[2] if len(sys.argv) > 2 else None
print(f"📦 Packaging skill: {skill_path}")
if output_dir:
print(f" Output directory: {output_dir}")
print()
result = package_skill(skill_path, output_dir)
if result:
sys.exit(0)
else:
sys.exit(1)
if __name__ == "__main__":
main()

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#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""
Quick validation script for skills - minimal version
"""
import sys
import os
import re
import yaml
from pathlib import Path
def validate_skill(skill_path):
"""Basic validation of a skill"""
skill_path = Path(skill_path)
# Check SKILL.md exists
skill_md = skill_path / 'SKILL.md'
if not skill_md.exists():
return False, "SKILL.md not found"
# Read and validate frontmatter
content = skill_md.read_text()
if not content.startswith('---'):
return False, "No YAML frontmatter found"
# Extract frontmatter
match = re.match(r'^---\n(.*?)\n---', content, re.DOTALL)
if not match:
return False, "Invalid frontmatter format"
frontmatter_text = match.group(1)
# Parse YAML frontmatter
try:
frontmatter = yaml.safe_load(frontmatter_text)
if not isinstance(frontmatter, dict):
return False, "Frontmatter must be a YAML dictionary"
except yaml.YAMLError as e:
return False, f"Invalid YAML in frontmatter: {e}"
# Define allowed properties
ALLOWED_PROPERTIES = {'name', 'description', 'license', 'allowed-tools', 'metadata', 'compatibility'}
# Check for unexpected properties (excluding nested keys under metadata)
unexpected_keys = set(frontmatter.keys()) - ALLOWED_PROPERTIES
if unexpected_keys:
return False, (
f"Unexpected key(s) in SKILL.md frontmatter: {', '.join(sorted(unexpected_keys))}. "
f"Allowed properties are: {', '.join(sorted(ALLOWED_PROPERTIES))}"
)
# Check required fields
if 'name' not in frontmatter:
return False, "Missing 'name' in frontmatter"
if 'description' not in frontmatter:
return False, "Missing 'description' in frontmatter"
# Extract name for validation
name = frontmatter.get('name', '')
if not isinstance(name, str):
return False, f"Name must be a string, got {type(name).__name__}"
name = name.strip()
if name:
# Check naming convention (kebab-case: lowercase with hyphens)
if not re.match(r'^[a-z0-9-]+$', name):
return False, f"Name '{name}' should be kebab-case (lowercase letters, digits, and hyphens only)"
if name.startswith('-') or name.endswith('-') or '--' in name:
return False, f"Name '{name}' cannot start/end with hyphen or contain consecutive hyphens"
# Check name length (max 64 characters per spec)
if len(name) > 64:
return False, f"Name is too long ({len(name)} characters). Maximum is 64 characters."
# Extract and validate description
description = frontmatter.get('description', '')
if not isinstance(description, str):
return False, f"Description must be a string, got {type(description).__name__}"
description = description.strip()
if description:
# Check for angle brackets
if '<' in description or '>' in description:
return False, "Description cannot contain angle brackets (< or >)"
# Check description length (max 1024 characters per spec)
if len(description) > 1024:
return False, f"Description is too long ({len(description)} characters). Maximum is 1024 characters."
# Validate compatibility field if present (optional)
compatibility = frontmatter.get('compatibility', '')
if compatibility:
if not isinstance(compatibility, str):
return False, f"Compatibility must be a string, got {type(compatibility).__name__}"
if len(compatibility) > 500:
return False, f"Compatibility is too long ({len(compatibility)} characters). Maximum is 500 characters."
return True, "Skill is valid!"
if __name__ == "__main__":
if len(sys.argv) != 2:
print("Usage: python quick_validate.py <skill_directory>")
sys.exit(1)
valid, message = validate_skill(sys.argv[1])
print(message)
sys.exit(0 if valid else 1)

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#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""Run trigger evaluation for a skill description.
Tests whether a skill's description causes Claude to trigger (read the skill)
for a set of queries. Outputs results as JSON.
"""
import argparse
import json
import os
import select
import subprocess
import sys
import time
import uuid
from concurrent.futures import ProcessPoolExecutor, as_completed
from pathlib import Path
from scripts.utils import parse_skill_md
def find_project_root() -> Path:
"""Find the project root by walking up from cwd looking for .claude/.
Mimics how Claude Code discovers its project root, so the command file
we create ends up where claude -p will look for it.
"""
current = Path.cwd()
for parent in [current, *current.parents]:
if (parent / ".claude").is_dir():
return parent
return current
def run_single_query(
query: str,
skill_name: str,
skill_description: str,
timeout: int,
project_root: str,
model: str | None = None,
) -> bool:
"""Run a single query and return whether the skill was triggered.
Creates a command file in .claude/commands/ so it appears in Claude's
available_skills list, then runs `claude -p` with the raw query.
Uses --include-partial-messages to detect triggering early from
stream events (content_block_start) rather than waiting for the
full assistant message, which only arrives after tool execution.
"""
unique_id = uuid.uuid4().hex[:8]
clean_name = f"{skill_name}-skill-{unique_id}"
project_commands_dir = Path(project_root) / ".claude" / "commands"
command_file = project_commands_dir / f"{clean_name}.md"
try:
project_commands_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
# Use YAML block scalar to avoid breaking on quotes in description
indented_desc = "\n ".join(skill_description.split("\n"))
command_content = (
f"---\n"
f"description: |\n"
f" {indented_desc}\n"
f"---\n\n"
f"# {skill_name}\n\n"
f"This skill handles: {skill_description}\n"
)
command_file.write_text(command_content)
cmd = [
"claude",
"-p", query,
"--output-format", "stream-json",
"--verbose",
"--include-partial-messages",
]
if model:
cmd.extend(["--model", model])
# Remove CLAUDECODE env var to allow nesting claude -p inside a
# Claude Code session. The guard is for interactive terminal conflicts;
# programmatic subprocess usage is safe.
env = {k: v for k, v in os.environ.items() if k != "CLAUDECODE"}
process = subprocess.Popen(
cmd,
stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
stderr=subprocess.DEVNULL,
cwd=project_root,
env=env,
)
triggered = False
start_time = time.time()
buffer = ""
# Track state for stream event detection
pending_tool_name = None
accumulated_json = ""
try:
while time.time() - start_time < timeout:
if process.poll() is not None:
remaining = process.stdout.read()
if remaining:
buffer += remaining.decode("utf-8", errors="replace")
break
ready, _, _ = select.select([process.stdout], [], [], 1.0)
if not ready:
continue
chunk = os.read(process.stdout.fileno(), 8192)
if not chunk:
break
buffer += chunk.decode("utf-8", errors="replace")
while "\n" in buffer:
line, buffer = buffer.split("\n", 1)
line = line.strip()
if not line:
continue
try:
event = json.loads(line)
except json.JSONDecodeError:
continue
# Early detection via stream events
if event.get("type") == "stream_event":
se = event.get("event", {})
se_type = se.get("type", "")
if se_type == "content_block_start":
cb = se.get("content_block", {})
if cb.get("type") == "tool_use":
tool_name = cb.get("name", "")
if tool_name in ("Skill", "Read"):
pending_tool_name = tool_name
accumulated_json = ""
else:
return False
elif se_type == "content_block_delta" and pending_tool_name:
delta = se.get("delta", {})
if delta.get("type") == "input_json_delta":
accumulated_json += delta.get("partial_json", "")
if clean_name in accumulated_json:
return True
elif se_type in ("content_block_stop", "message_stop"):
if pending_tool_name:
return clean_name in accumulated_json
if se_type == "message_stop":
return False
# Fallback: full assistant message
elif event.get("type") == "assistant":
message = event.get("message", {})
for content_item in message.get("content", []):
if content_item.get("type") != "tool_use":
continue
tool_name = content_item.get("name", "")
tool_input = content_item.get("input", {})
if tool_name == "Skill" and clean_name in tool_input.get("skill", ""):
triggered = True
elif tool_name == "Read" and clean_name in tool_input.get("file_path", ""):
triggered = True
return triggered
elif event.get("type") == "result":
return triggered
finally:
# Clean up process on any exit path (return, exception, timeout)
if process.poll() is None:
process.kill()
process.wait()
return triggered
finally:
if command_file.exists():
command_file.unlink()
def run_eval(
eval_set: list[dict],
skill_name: str,
description: str,
num_workers: int,
timeout: int,
project_root: Path,
runs_per_query: int = 1,
trigger_threshold: float = 0.5,
model: str | None = None,
) -> dict:
"""Run the full eval set and return results."""
results = []
with ProcessPoolExecutor(max_workers=num_workers) as executor:
future_to_info = {}
for item in eval_set:
for run_idx in range(runs_per_query):
future = executor.submit(
run_single_query,
item["query"],
skill_name,
description,
timeout,
str(project_root),
model,
)
future_to_info[future] = (item, run_idx)
query_triggers: dict[str, list[bool]] = {}
query_items: dict[str, dict] = {}
for future in as_completed(future_to_info):
item, _ = future_to_info[future]
query = item["query"]
query_items[query] = item
if query not in query_triggers:
query_triggers[query] = []
try:
query_triggers[query].append(future.result())
except Exception as e:
print(f"Warning: query failed: {e}", file=sys.stderr)
query_triggers[query].append(False)
for query, triggers in query_triggers.items():
item = query_items[query]
trigger_rate = sum(triggers) / len(triggers)
should_trigger = item["should_trigger"]
if should_trigger:
did_pass = trigger_rate >= trigger_threshold
else:
did_pass = trigger_rate < trigger_threshold
results.append({
"query": query,
"should_trigger": should_trigger,
"trigger_rate": trigger_rate,
"triggers": sum(triggers),
"runs": len(triggers),
"pass": did_pass,
})
passed = sum(1 for r in results if r["pass"])
total = len(results)
return {
"skill_name": skill_name,
"description": description,
"results": results,
"summary": {
"total": total,
"passed": passed,
"failed": total - passed,
},
}
def main():
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Run trigger evaluation for a skill description")
parser.add_argument("--eval-set", required=True, help="Path to eval set JSON file")
parser.add_argument("--skill-path", required=True, help="Path to skill directory")
parser.add_argument("--description", default=None, help="Override description to test")
parser.add_argument("--num-workers", type=int, default=10, help="Number of parallel workers")
parser.add_argument("--timeout", type=int, default=30, help="Timeout per query in seconds")
parser.add_argument("--runs-per-query", type=int, default=3, help="Number of runs per query")
parser.add_argument("--trigger-threshold", type=float, default=0.5, help="Trigger rate threshold")
parser.add_argument("--model", default=None, help="Model to use for claude -p (default: user's configured model)")
parser.add_argument("--verbose", action="store_true", help="Print progress to stderr")
args = parser.parse_args()
eval_set = json.loads(Path(args.eval_set).read_text())
skill_path = Path(args.skill_path)
if not (skill_path / "SKILL.md").exists():
print(f"Error: No SKILL.md found at {skill_path}", file=sys.stderr)
sys.exit(1)
name, original_description, content = parse_skill_md(skill_path)
description = args.description or original_description
project_root = find_project_root()
if args.verbose:
print(f"Evaluating: {description}", file=sys.stderr)
output = run_eval(
eval_set=eval_set,
skill_name=name,
description=description,
num_workers=args.num_workers,
timeout=args.timeout,
project_root=project_root,
runs_per_query=args.runs_per_query,
trigger_threshold=args.trigger_threshold,
model=args.model,
)
if args.verbose:
summary = output["summary"]
print(f"Results: {summary['passed']}/{summary['total']} passed", file=sys.stderr)
for r in output["results"]:
status = "PASS" if r["pass"] else "FAIL"
rate_str = f"{r['triggers']}/{r['runs']}"
print(f" [{status}] rate={rate_str} expected={r['should_trigger']}: {r['query'][:70]}", file=sys.stderr)
print(json.dumps(output, indent=2))
if __name__ == "__main__":
main()

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#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""Run the eval + improve loop until all pass or max iterations reached.
Combines run_eval.py and improve_description.py in a loop, tracking history
and returning the best description found. Supports train/test split to prevent
overfitting.
"""
import argparse
import json
import random
import sys
import tempfile
import time
import webbrowser
from pathlib import Path
from scripts.generate_report import generate_html
from scripts.improve_description import improve_description
from scripts.run_eval import find_project_root, run_eval
from scripts.utils import parse_skill_md
def split_eval_set(eval_set: list[dict], holdout: float, seed: int = 42) -> tuple[list[dict], list[dict]]:
"""Split eval set into train and test sets, stratified by should_trigger."""
random.seed(seed)
# Separate by should_trigger
trigger = [e for e in eval_set if e["should_trigger"]]
no_trigger = [e for e in eval_set if not e["should_trigger"]]
# Shuffle each group
random.shuffle(trigger)
random.shuffle(no_trigger)
# Calculate split points
n_trigger_test = max(1, int(len(trigger) * holdout))
n_no_trigger_test = max(1, int(len(no_trigger) * holdout))
# Split
test_set = trigger[:n_trigger_test] + no_trigger[:n_no_trigger_test]
train_set = trigger[n_trigger_test:] + no_trigger[n_no_trigger_test:]
return train_set, test_set
def run_loop(
eval_set: list[dict],
skill_path: Path,
description_override: str | None,
num_workers: int,
timeout: int,
max_iterations: int,
runs_per_query: int,
trigger_threshold: float,
holdout: float,
model: str,
verbose: bool,
live_report_path: Path | None = None,
log_dir: Path | None = None,
) -> dict:
"""Run the eval + improvement loop."""
project_root = find_project_root()
name, original_description, content = parse_skill_md(skill_path)
current_description = description_override or original_description
# Split into train/test if holdout > 0
if holdout > 0:
train_set, test_set = split_eval_set(eval_set, holdout)
if verbose:
print(f"Split: {len(train_set)} train, {len(test_set)} test (holdout={holdout})", file=sys.stderr)
else:
train_set = eval_set
test_set = []
history = []
exit_reason = "unknown"
for iteration in range(1, max_iterations + 1):
if verbose:
print(f"\n{'='*60}", file=sys.stderr)
print(f"Iteration {iteration}/{max_iterations}", file=sys.stderr)
print(f"Description: {current_description}", file=sys.stderr)
print(f"{'='*60}", file=sys.stderr)
# Evaluate train + test together in one batch for parallelism
all_queries = train_set + test_set
t0 = time.time()
all_results = run_eval(
eval_set=all_queries,
skill_name=name,
description=current_description,
num_workers=num_workers,
timeout=timeout,
project_root=project_root,
runs_per_query=runs_per_query,
trigger_threshold=trigger_threshold,
model=model,
)
eval_elapsed = time.time() - t0
# Split results back into train/test by matching queries
train_queries_set = {q["query"] for q in train_set}
train_result_list = [r for r in all_results["results"] if r["query"] in train_queries_set]
test_result_list = [r for r in all_results["results"] if r["query"] not in train_queries_set]
train_passed = sum(1 for r in train_result_list if r["pass"])
train_total = len(train_result_list)
train_summary = {"passed": train_passed, "failed": train_total - train_passed, "total": train_total}
train_results = {"results": train_result_list, "summary": train_summary}
if test_set:
test_passed = sum(1 for r in test_result_list if r["pass"])
test_total = len(test_result_list)
test_summary = {"passed": test_passed, "failed": test_total - test_passed, "total": test_total}
test_results = {"results": test_result_list, "summary": test_summary}
else:
test_results = None
test_summary = None
history.append({
"iteration": iteration,
"description": current_description,
"train_passed": train_summary["passed"],
"train_failed": train_summary["failed"],
"train_total": train_summary["total"],
"train_results": train_results["results"],
"test_passed": test_summary["passed"] if test_summary else None,
"test_failed": test_summary["failed"] if test_summary else None,
"test_total": test_summary["total"] if test_summary else None,
"test_results": test_results["results"] if test_results else None,
# For backward compat with report generator
"passed": train_summary["passed"],
"failed": train_summary["failed"],
"total": train_summary["total"],
"results": train_results["results"],
})
# Write live report if path provided
if live_report_path:
partial_output = {
"original_description": original_description,
"best_description": current_description,
"best_score": "in progress",
"iterations_run": len(history),
"holdout": holdout,
"train_size": len(train_set),
"test_size": len(test_set),
"history": history,
}
live_report_path.write_text(generate_html(partial_output, auto_refresh=True, skill_name=name))
if verbose:
def print_eval_stats(label, results, elapsed):
pos = [r for r in results if r["should_trigger"]]
neg = [r for r in results if not r["should_trigger"]]
tp = sum(r["triggers"] for r in pos)
pos_runs = sum(r["runs"] for r in pos)
fn = pos_runs - tp
fp = sum(r["triggers"] for r in neg)
neg_runs = sum(r["runs"] for r in neg)
tn = neg_runs - fp
total = tp + tn + fp + fn
precision = tp / (tp + fp) if (tp + fp) > 0 else 1.0
recall = tp / (tp + fn) if (tp + fn) > 0 else 1.0
accuracy = (tp + tn) / total if total > 0 else 0.0
print(f"{label}: {tp+tn}/{total} correct, precision={precision:.0%} recall={recall:.0%} accuracy={accuracy:.0%} ({elapsed:.1f}s)", file=sys.stderr)
for r in results:
status = "PASS" if r["pass"] else "FAIL"
rate_str = f"{r['triggers']}/{r['runs']}"
print(f" [{status}] rate={rate_str} expected={r['should_trigger']}: {r['query'][:60]}", file=sys.stderr)
print_eval_stats("Train", train_results["results"], eval_elapsed)
if test_summary:
print_eval_stats("Test ", test_results["results"], 0)
if train_summary["failed"] == 0:
exit_reason = f"all_passed (iteration {iteration})"
if verbose:
print(f"\nAll train queries passed on iteration {iteration}!", file=sys.stderr)
break
if iteration == max_iterations:
exit_reason = f"max_iterations ({max_iterations})"
if verbose:
print(f"\nMax iterations reached ({max_iterations}).", file=sys.stderr)
break
# Improve the description based on train results
if verbose:
print(f"\nImproving description...", file=sys.stderr)
t0 = time.time()
# Strip test scores from history so improvement model can't see them
blinded_history = [
{k: v for k, v in h.items() if not k.startswith("test_")}
for h in history
]
new_description = improve_description(
skill_name=name,
skill_content=content,
current_description=current_description,
eval_results=train_results,
history=blinded_history,
model=model,
log_dir=log_dir,
iteration=iteration,
)
improve_elapsed = time.time() - t0
if verbose:
print(f"Proposed ({improve_elapsed:.1f}s): {new_description}", file=sys.stderr)
current_description = new_description
# Find the best iteration by TEST score (or train if no test set)
if test_set:
best = max(history, key=lambda h: h["test_passed"] or 0)
best_score = f"{best['test_passed']}/{best['test_total']}"
else:
best = max(history, key=lambda h: h["train_passed"])
best_score = f"{best['train_passed']}/{best['train_total']}"
if verbose:
print(f"\nExit reason: {exit_reason}", file=sys.stderr)
print(f"Best score: {best_score} (iteration {best['iteration']})", file=sys.stderr)
return {
"exit_reason": exit_reason,
"original_description": original_description,
"best_description": best["description"],
"best_score": best_score,
"best_train_score": f"{best['train_passed']}/{best['train_total']}",
"best_test_score": f"{best['test_passed']}/{best['test_total']}" if test_set else None,
"final_description": current_description,
"iterations_run": len(history),
"holdout": holdout,
"train_size": len(train_set),
"test_size": len(test_set),
"history": history,
}
def main():
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Run eval + improve loop")
parser.add_argument("--eval-set", required=True, help="Path to eval set JSON file")
parser.add_argument("--skill-path", required=True, help="Path to skill directory")
parser.add_argument("--description", default=None, help="Override starting description")
parser.add_argument("--num-workers", type=int, default=10, help="Number of parallel workers")
parser.add_argument("--timeout", type=int, default=30, help="Timeout per query in seconds")
parser.add_argument("--max-iterations", type=int, default=5, help="Max improvement iterations")
parser.add_argument("--runs-per-query", type=int, default=3, help="Number of runs per query")
parser.add_argument("--trigger-threshold", type=float, default=0.5, help="Trigger rate threshold")
parser.add_argument("--holdout", type=float, default=0.4, help="Fraction of eval set to hold out for testing (0 to disable)")
parser.add_argument("--model", required=True, help="Model for improvement")
parser.add_argument("--verbose", action="store_true", help="Print progress to stderr")
parser.add_argument("--report", default="auto", help="Generate HTML report at this path (default: 'auto' for temp file, 'none' to disable)")
parser.add_argument("--results-dir", default=None, help="Save all outputs (results.json, report.html, log.txt) to a timestamped subdirectory here")
args = parser.parse_args()
eval_set = json.loads(Path(args.eval_set).read_text())
skill_path = Path(args.skill_path)
if not (skill_path / "SKILL.md").exists():
print(f"Error: No SKILL.md found at {skill_path}", file=sys.stderr)
sys.exit(1)
name, _, _ = parse_skill_md(skill_path)
# Set up live report path
if args.report != "none":
if args.report == "auto":
timestamp = time.strftime("%Y%m%d_%H%M%S")
live_report_path = Path(tempfile.gettempdir()) / f"skill_description_report_{skill_path.name}_{timestamp}.html"
else:
live_report_path = Path(args.report)
# Open the report immediately so the user can watch
live_report_path.write_text("<html><body><h1>Starting optimization loop...</h1><meta http-equiv='refresh' content='5'></body></html>")
webbrowser.open(str(live_report_path))
else:
live_report_path = None
# Determine output directory (create before run_loop so logs can be written)
if args.results_dir:
timestamp = time.strftime("%Y-%m-%d_%H%M%S")
results_dir = Path(args.results_dir) / timestamp
results_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
else:
results_dir = None
log_dir = results_dir / "logs" if results_dir else None
output = run_loop(
eval_set=eval_set,
skill_path=skill_path,
description_override=args.description,
num_workers=args.num_workers,
timeout=args.timeout,
max_iterations=args.max_iterations,
runs_per_query=args.runs_per_query,
trigger_threshold=args.trigger_threshold,
holdout=args.holdout,
model=args.model,
verbose=args.verbose,
live_report_path=live_report_path,
log_dir=log_dir,
)
# Save JSON output
json_output = json.dumps(output, indent=2)
print(json_output)
if results_dir:
(results_dir / "results.json").write_text(json_output)
# Write final HTML report (without auto-refresh)
if live_report_path:
live_report_path.write_text(generate_html(output, auto_refresh=False, skill_name=name))
print(f"\nReport: {live_report_path}", file=sys.stderr)
if results_dir and live_report_path:
(results_dir / "report.html").write_text(generate_html(output, auto_refresh=False, skill_name=name))
if results_dir:
print(f"Results saved to: {results_dir}", file=sys.stderr)
if __name__ == "__main__":
main()

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"""Shared utilities for skill-creator scripts."""
from pathlib import Path
def parse_skill_md(skill_path: Path) -> tuple[str, str, str]:
"""Parse a SKILL.md file, returning (name, description, full_content)."""
content = (skill_path / "SKILL.md").read_text()
lines = content.split("\n")
if lines[0].strip() != "---":
raise ValueError("SKILL.md missing frontmatter (no opening ---)")
end_idx = None
for i, line in enumerate(lines[1:], start=1):
if line.strip() == "---":
end_idx = i
break
if end_idx is None:
raise ValueError("SKILL.md missing frontmatter (no closing ---)")
name = ""
description = ""
frontmatter_lines = lines[1:end_idx]
i = 0
while i < len(frontmatter_lines):
line = frontmatter_lines[i]
if line.startswith("name:"):
name = line[len("name:"):].strip().strip('"').strip("'")
elif line.startswith("description:"):
value = line[len("description:"):].strip()
# Handle YAML multiline indicators (>, |, >-, |-)
if value in (">", "|", ">-", "|-"):
continuation_lines: list[str] = []
i += 1
while i < len(frontmatter_lines) and (frontmatter_lines[i].startswith(" ") or frontmatter_lines[i].startswith("\t")):
continuation_lines.append(frontmatter_lines[i].strip())
i += 1
description = " ".join(continuation_lines)
continue
else:
description = value.strip('"').strip("'")
i += 1
return name, description, content

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# Sources
## anthropics-skills-skill-creator
- **URL:** https://github.com/anthropics/skills/tree/main/skills/skill-creator
- **Description:** Anthropic's official skill-creator skill — iterative skill authoring with draft/eval/improve loop, quantitative benchmarking, and description optimization
- **Contributing files:** SKILL.md, agents/analyzer.md, agents/comparator.md, agents/grader.md, references/schemas.md
- **Status:** `extracted`

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# Glossary — Building Great Skills
The domain model for what makes a skill great. A skill exists to wrangle determinism out of a stochastic system; every term below is a lever on that goal. This is the disclosed reference for [`writing-great-skills`](SKILL.md).
**Bold terms** in any definition are themselves defined in this glossary; find them by their heading.
## Language
### Predictability
The degree to which a skill makes the agent behave the same *way* on every run — the same process, not the same output (a brainstorming skill should *predictably* diverge; its tokens vary, its behaviour doesn't). The root virtue every other term serves — cost and maintainability are symptoms of it, not rivals.
_Avoid_: consistency, reliability, robustness, output-determinism
### Model-Invoked
A skill that keeps its **description** field, so the agent can see it and fire it autonomously — and the human can still type its name, so model-invocation always *includes* user reach. There is no model-only state: a description only ever *adds* agent discovery, never removes the human's. Pays a permanent **context load** on every turn in exchange for that discoverability. Reachable by other skills, because the description that makes it agent-discoverable makes it invocable. A model-invoked skill whose content is all **reference** is also one home for shared reference: another skill can invoke it, so reference needed by several skills lives in one place. Pick model-invocation only when the agent must reach the skill on its own; if it never fires except by hand, drop the description and pay no context load.
_Avoid_: ability, tool, capability
### User-Invoked
A skill with its **description** stripped — invisible to the agent and reachable only by the human typing its name (user-*only*, where **model-invoked** is user-*and-agent*). Trades agent-discoverability for zero **context load**. Because it has no description, nothing but the human can reach it: no other skill can fire it.
_Avoid_: procedure, workflow, command
### Description
The skill's machine-readable trigger, and the one **context pointer** a **model-invoked** skill is forced to keep loaded at all times. Its mere presence *is* the invocation axis: keep it and the skill is model-invoked (and reachable by other skills); delete it and the skill is **user-invoked**, reachable only by the human. The source of a model-invoked skill's **context load**.
_Avoid_: frontmatter, summary
### Context Pointer
A reference held in the agent's context that names some out-of-context material and encodes the condition for reaching it. The **description** is the top-level context pointer (context window → skill); pointers to disclosed files are the same object one level down. Its wording, not the target, decides *when* the agent reaches — and *how reliably*. A must-have target behind a weakly worded pointer is a variance bug: fix the wording first, and inline the material only if sharpening fails.
_Avoid_: link, reference, import
### Context Load
The cost a **model-invoked** skill imposes on the agent's context window — its **description**, always loaded, spending both tokens and attention. What **user-invoked** skills escape by having no description, and the brake on splitting into more model-invoked skills.
_Avoid_: token cost, context bloat
### Cognitive Load
The cost a **user-invoked** skill imposes on the human — what they must hold in their head: which skills exist and when to reach for each (the human is the index). What **model-invocation** removes by being agent-discoverable, and the brake on splitting into more user-invoked skills. Not a cost to minimise: it is the price of human agency, the reason some skills stay user-invoked. Spend it where human judgement matters; remove it where it does not.
_Avoid_: human index, burden, overhead
### Granularity
How finely you divide skills. Finer division spends one of the two loads: more **model-invoked** skills spend **context load** (more descriptions crowding the window and competing for attention); more **user-invoked** skills spend **cognitive load** (more for the human to remember and reach for). Two cuts guide the division. By **invocation**, split off a model-invoked skill where you have a distinct **leading word** to trigger it — a trigger word you actually use in your prompts. By **sequence**, split a run of **steps** where a step's **post-completion steps** need hiding, since isolating it in its own context clears what follows. Beware the reverse: merging sequences exposes each step's post-completion steps to what follows, inviting premature completion.
_Avoid_: chunking, modularity
### Router Skill
A **user-invoked** skill whose job is to point at your other user-invoked skills — naming each and when to reach for it — so the human has one skill to remember instead of many. It can only hint, never fire them: user-invoked skills have no **description**, so nothing but the human can reach them. The cure for **cognitive load** when user-invoked skills multiply.
_Avoid_: dispatcher, menu, registry, index, router procedure
### Information Hierarchy
A skill's content ranked by how immediately the agent needs it — a single ladder, produced by two cuts: in-file or behind a pointer, and step or reference. The rungs:
- **Steps** — in-file, primary
- **Reference**, in-file — secondary
- **Reference**, disclosed — behind a **context pointer**
A skill with no **steps** uses just the bottom two rungs — often a legitimately flat peer-set (e.g. every rule of a review on one rung), which is a fine arrangement, not a smell. The hierarchy is independent of invocation: a skill can be model- or user-invoked whether it is all steps, all reference, or both. When a skill has steps, in-file reference that should be disclosed buries them and turns attending to them into a coin-flip — a variance lever, not just a legibility one. Keep the top of the ladder legible; push down it whatever you can.
_Avoid_: structure, organization, layout
### Co-location
Keeping the material an agent needs at once in one place — a concept's definition, rules, and caveats under a single heading, not scattered across the file — so reading one part brings its neighbours with it. The within-file companion to the **Information Hierarchy**: the hierarchy ranks *how far down* a piece sits; co-location decides *what sits beside it* once there. There is no formula for the right format of a body of **reference**; the test is that a skill should read like documentation written for the agent, and grouped material reads that way where scattered material does not. Distinct from **Duplication**: that repeats one meaning in two places, where scattering fragments a single meaning across many.
_Avoid_: grouping, clustering, cohesion
### Branch
A distinct way a skill can be invoked — a case the skill handles — so different runs take different paths through it. A skill with many steps may carry many branches; a linear one has none.
_Avoid_: path, case, fork
### Progressive Disclosure
Moving **reference** down the ladder — out of SKILL.md and behind a **context pointer** — so the top stays legible. Not primarily a token optimisation; it is how the **information hierarchy** is protected. Licensed by **branching**: disclose what only some branches need, inline what every path needs, and if a pointer fires unreliably on must-have material, sharpen its wording, and pull it back inline only if that fails.
_Avoid_: lazy loading, chunking
### Steps
The ordered actions the agent performs — when a skill has them, the primary tier of its content, and the part that earns its place in SKILL.md. Not every skill has steps: a skill can be all steps (`tdd`), all **reference** (a review), or both, independent of invocation. Every step ends on a **completion criterion**, clear or vague.
_Avoid_: workflow, instructions, choreography
### Completion Criterion
The condition that tells the agent a unit of work is done — the target it judges against. Two properties make it a lever, not just a quality. Its **clarity** (can the agent tell done from not-done?) resists **premature completion** — a vague bound ("understanding reached") lets the agent declare done and slip to the next step; this axis needs *steps* to bite, since premature completion is a between-steps failure. Its **demand** (how much it requires) sets **legwork** — "every modified model accounted for" forces thorough work where "produce a change list" does not — and this axis is *not* step-bound: it can bind a body of flat reference too, which is how a skill with no steps still carries an exhaustiveness bar ("every rule applied"). The strongest criteria are both checkable and exhaustive.
_Avoid_: done condition, exit condition, stopping rule
### Post-Completion Steps
The **steps** that follow the current step. Visible, they pull the agent forward into **premature completion** — the more it sees, the stronger the tug; the defence is to hide them by splitting the sequence of steps into two.
_Avoid_: horizon, fog of war, lookahead
### Legwork
The work an agent does behind the scenes within a single step — reading files, exploring the codebase, making changes, digging up what it needs rather than offloading to the user. It lives below the step structure: never written as its own step, latent in the wording, controlled by the agent rather than the skill. The within-step counterpart to **post-completion steps**' across-step pull. Raised by a **leading word** (_comprehensive_, _thorough_) or a **completion criterion** that demands the work be exhaustive — including the demand axis applied to flat reference, which is what drives a skill of flat reference to cover all its rungs. Goes thin either when that demand is missing or when **premature completion** cuts the step short.
_Avoid_: scope, effort, diligence, coverage
### Reference
Material the agent refers to on demand — definitions, facts, parameters, examples, conditional instructions. When a skill has **steps** it is secondary to them; when a skill has none it is the entire content; or it lives outside any skill entirely — see **External Reference**. Reached via **context pointers**, and the prime candidate for **progressive disclosure**.
_Avoid_: supporting material, docs, background
### External Reference
**Reference** that lives outside the skill system — a plain file, no **description**, no **steps**, not invocable — that any skill can point at. The home for shared reference that needn't fire on its own, and the only shared home two **user-invoked** skills can use, since neither has a description and so neither can fire the other.
_Avoid_: doc, resource, knowledge base
### Leading Word
A compact concept — also called a *Leitwort* — already living in the model's pretraining, that the agent thinks with while running the skill. It encodes a behavioural principle in the fewest possible tokens by invoking priors the model already holds (e.g. _lesson_, _proximal zone of development_, _fog of war_, _tracer bullets_). Repeated as a token, never as a sentence, it accumulates a distributed definition across the skill and anchors a whole region of behaviour. Coining your own works if you define it clearly, but a made-up word recruits no priors — you pay in definition tokens what a pretrained word gives free. Reach for an existing word first.
A leading word serves **predictability** twice. In the body it anchors **execution** — the agent reaches for the same behaviour every time the concept appears, and inside flat reference it focuses attention on a class of thing to look for, recruiting the right checks each run. In the **description** it anchors **invocation** — and not only within the skill: when the same word lives in your prompts, your docs, and your codebase, the agent links that shared language to the skill and fires it more reliably. Word a description with the leading words you actually use when you want the skill.
_Avoid_: keyword, term, motif
### Single Source of Truth
The desired state where each meaning lives in exactly one authoritative place, so a change to the skill's behaviour is a change in one place. **Duplication** is its violation.
_Avoid_: home, canonical location
### Relevance
Whether a line still bears on what the skill does — the lens for what to keep. A line loses relevance either by never bearing on the task (mere exposition, or a **branch** that should be disclosed) or by going stale: drifting out of date as the behaviour or world it describes changes. Shorter skills are easier to keep relevant, because each line is cheaper to check. Distinct from **no-op**: relevance asks whether a line bears on the task, not whether it changes behaviour.
_Avoid_: load-bearing, staleness, freshness
## Failure Modes
### Premature Completion
Ending the current step before it is genuinely done, because the agent's attention slips to being done rather than to the work. A between-steps failure: it needs **steps** to occur — a skill with no steps that quits early isn't premature completion but thin **legwork** under an unmet demand. A tug-of-war between two forces: visible **post-completion steps** (the pull forward) and the **completion criterion**'s clarity (the resistance — a sharp, checkable bar holds; a vague one gives way). Fuzziness is the necessary condition: a sharp bound resists the pull no matter how many later steps are visible, so a step that never rushes needs no defending. Two levers hold a step that does, but reach for them in order: **sharpen the bound first** — it is local and cheap. Only when the criterion is irreducibly fuzzy *and* you actually observe the rush do you **hide the later steps** — and hiding only works across a real context boundary (a user-invoked hand-off or a subagent dispatch; an inline model-invoked call leaves the later steps in context and clears nothing). One cause of thin legwork, but distinct from it: legwork can be thin even when a step runs to full completion.
_Avoid_: premature closure, the rush, rushing, shortcutting
### Duplication
The same meaning given more than one **single source of truth**. It costs maintenance (change one place, you must change the others), costs tokens, and inflates prominence — repeating a meaning weights it on the ladder past its real rank. The accidental inverse of a **leading word**, which raises attention on purpose by repeating a token, never the meaning.
_Avoid_: repetition, redundancy
### Sediment
Layers of old content that settle in a skill and are never cleared, because adding feels safe and removing feels risky — so stale and irrelevant lines accumulate and you must core down through them to find what is still live. The default fate of any skill without a pruning discipline; the slow erosion of **relevance**, as opposed to **duplication**'s repeated meaning.
_Avoid_: accretion, bloat, cruft, rot
### Sprawl
A skill that is simply too long — too many lines in SKILL.md — independent of whether they are stale or repeated. Even an all-live, all-unique skill can sprawl. It costs readability (the agent wades through more before it can act, and attention thins across the excess), maintainability (every extra line is one more to keep **relevant**), and tokens. The cure is the **information hierarchy**: push **reference** down behind **context pointers**, and split by **branch** or sequence so each path carries only what it needs. Distinct from **sediment** (length from stale accumulation) and **duplication** (length from repeated meaning) — sprawl is length itself, whatever its cause.
_Avoid_: bloat, length, size, verbosity
### No-Op
An instruction that changes nothing because the model already does it by default — you pay load to tell the agent what it would do anyway. The test: does a line change behaviour versus the default? A line can be perfectly **relevant** and still be a no-op. The same priors that make a **leading word** free make a no-op worthless.
A leading word is a *technique*; No-Op is a *verdict* on a line — and they cross. A leading word too weak to beat the default is a no-op (_be thorough_ when the agent is already thorough-ish), and the fix is a stronger word that passes the verdict (_relentless_), not a different technique. So the No-Op test — does it change behaviour versus the default? — is also how you grade whether a leading word is earning its repetitions. This is model-relative, not reader-relative: two people disagreeing over whether a line is a no-op disagree about the default, and settle it by running the skill, not by debate.
_Avoid_: redundant instruction, restating the obvious, belaboring

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---
name: writing-great-skills
description: Reference for writing and editing skills well — the vocabulary and principles that make a skill predictable.
disable-model-invocation: true
---
A skill exists to wrangle determinism out of a stochastic system. **Predictability** — the agent taking the same _process_ every run, not producing the same output — is the root virtue; every lever below serves it.
**Bold terms** are defined in [`GLOSSARY.md`](GLOSSARY.md); look them up there for the full meaning.
## Invocation
Two choices, trading different costs:
- A **model-invoked** skill keeps a **description**, so the agent can fire it autonomously _and_ other skills can reach it (you can still type its name too). It contributes to **context load** — the description sits in the window every turn. Mechanics: omit `disable-model-invocation`, and write a model-facing description with rich trigger phrasing ("Use when the user wants…, mentions…").
- A **user-invoked** skill strips the description from the agent's reach: only you, typing its name, can invoke it — and no other skill can. Zero context load, but it spends **cognitive load**: _you_ are the index that must remember it exists. Mechanics: set `disable-model-invocation: true`; the `description` becomes human-facing — a one-line summary, trigger lists stripped.
Pick model-invocation only when the agent must reach the skill on its own, or another skill must. If it only ever fires by hand, make it user-invoked and pay no context load.
When user-invoked skills multiply past what you can remember, that piled-up cognitive load is cured by a **router skill**: one user-invoked skill that names the others and when to reach for each.
## Writing the description
A model-invoked **description** does two jobs — state what the skill is, and list the **branches** that should trigger it. Every word increases **context load**, so a description earns even harder pruning than the body:
- **Front-load the skill's leading word** — the description is where it does its invocation work.
- **One trigger per branch.** Synonyms that rename a single branch are **duplication** — "build features using TDD … asks for test-first development" is one branch written twice. Collapse them; keep only genuinely distinct branches.
- **Cut identity that's already in the body.** Keep the description to triggers, plus any "when another skill needs…" reach clause.
## Information hierarchy
A skill is built from two content types — **steps** and **reference** — that mix freely: a skill can be all steps, all reference, or both. The core decision is which to use and where each sits on the **information hierarchy**, a ladder ranked by how immediately the agent needs the material:
1. **In-skill step** — an ordered action in `SKILL.md`, the primary tier: what the agent does, in order. Each step ends on a **completion criterion**, the condition that tells the agent the work is done. Make it _checkable_ (can the agent tell done from not-done?) and, where it matters, _exhaustive_ ("every modified model accounted for", not "produce a change list") — a vague criterion invites **premature completion**.
2. **In-skill reference** — a definition, rule, or fact in `SKILL.md`, consulted on demand. Often a legitimately flat peer-set (every rule of a review on one rung) — a fine arrangement, not a smell. _This skill is all reference._
3. **External reference** — reference pushed out of `SKILL.md` into a separate file, reached by a **context pointer**, loaded only when the pointer fires. (Spans _disclosed_ reference — a sibling file like `GLOSSARY.md`, still part of the skill — through fully **external reference** that lives outside the skill system and any skill can point at.)
A demanding completion criterion drives thorough **legwork** — the digging the agent does within the work — whether the skill has steps or not, since "every rule applied" binds flat reference just as "every step done" binds a sequence.
Push too little down and the top bloats; push too much and you hide material the agent actually needs. That tension is the whole decision.
**Progressive disclosure** is the move down the ladder — out of `SKILL.md` into a linked file — so the top stays legible. Mechanics: a linked `.md` file in the skill folder, named for what it holds (this skill discloses its full definitions to `GLOSSARY.md`). Some skills are used in more than one way, and each distinct way is a **branch** — different runs taking different paths through the skill. Branching is the cleanest disclosure test: inline what every branch needs, and push behind a pointer what only some branches reach. A **context pointer**'s _wording_, not its target, decides when and how reliably the agent reaches the material.
Where the ladder decides _how far down_ a piece sits, **co-location** decides _what sits beside it_ once there: keep a concept's definition, rules, and caveats under one heading rather than scattered, so reading one part brings its neighbours with it.
## When to split
**Granularity** is how finely you divide skills, and each cut spends one of the two loads, so split only when the cut earns it. Two cuts:
- **By invocation** — split off a **model-invoked** skill when you have a distinct **leading word** that should trigger it on its own, or another skill must reach it. You pay **context load** for the new always-loaded **description**, so that independent reach has to be worth it.
- **By sequence** — split a run of **steps** when the steps still ahead (a step's **post-completion steps**) tempt the agent to rush the one in front of it (**premature completion**). Keeping them out of view encourages the agent to do more **legwork** on the current task.
## Pruning
Keep each meaning in a **single source of truth**: one authoritative place, so changing the behaviour is a one-place edit.
Check every line for **relevance**: does it still bear on what the skill does?
Then hunt **no-ops** sentence by sentence, not just line by line: run the no-op test on each sentence in isolation, and when one fails, delete the whole sentence rather than trim words from it. Be aggressive — most prose that fails should go, not be rewritten.
## Leading words
A **leading word** is a compact concept already living in the model's pretraining that the agent thinks with while running the skill (e.g. _lesson_, _fog of war_, _tracer bullets_). Repeated throughout the text (though not necessarily - a strong leading word might only be needed once), it accumulates a distributed definition and anchors a whole region of behaviour in the fewest tokens, by recruiting priors the model already holds.
It serves predictability twice. In the body it anchors _execution_: the agent reaches for the same behaviour every time the word appears. In the description it anchors _invocation_: when the same word lives in your prompts, docs, and code, the agent links that shared language to the skill and fires it more reliably.
Hunt for opportunities to refactor skills to use leading words. A triad spelled out at three sites (**duplication**), a description spending a sentence to gesture at one idea — each is a passage begging to **collapse** into a single token. Examples include:
- "fast, deterministic, low-overhead" -> _tight_ — one quality restated across a phase — into a single pretrained word (a _tight_ loop).
- "a loop you believe in" -> _red_ — converts a fuzzy gate into a binary observable state (the loop goes _red_ on the bug, or it doesn't).
You win twice over: fewer tokens, _and_ a sharper hook for the agent to hang its thinking on. Assume every skill is carrying restatements that leading words retire — go find them.
## Failure modes
Use these to diagnose issues the user may be having with the skill.
- **Premature completion** — ending a step before it's genuinely done, attention slipping to _being done_. Defence, in order: sharpen the completion criterion first (cheap, local); only if it is irreducibly fuzzy _and_ you observe the rush, hide the post-completion steps by splitting (the sequence cut).
- **Duplication** — the same meaning in more than one place. Costs maintenance and tokens, and inflates a meaning's prominence on the ladder past its real rank.
- **Sediment** — stale layers that settle because adding feels safe and removing feels risky. The default fate of any skill without a pruning discipline.
- **Sprawl** — a skill simply too long, even when every line is live and unique. Hurts readability and maintainability and wastes tokens. The cure is the ladder: disclose **reference** behind pointers, and split by **branch** or sequence so each path carries only what it needs.
- **No-op** — a line the model already obeys by default, so you pay load to say nothing. The test: does it change behaviour versus the default? A weak leading word (_be thorough_ when the agent is already thorough-ish) is a no-op; the fix is a stronger word (_relentless_), not a different technique.

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# Sources
## mattpocock-skills-writing-great-skills
- **URL:** https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/blob/main/skills/productivity/writing-great-skills/
- **Description:** Matt Pocock's guide to writing high-quality Claude skills, including glossary of terms and best practices for skill authoring
- **Contributing files:** SKILL.md, GLOSSARY.md
- **Status:** `extracted`

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---
name: writing-skills
description: Use when creating new skills, editing existing skills, or verifying skills work before deployment
---
# Writing Skills
## Overview
**Writing skills IS Test-Driven Development applied to process documentation.**
**Personal skills live in your runtime's skills directory** — see [claude-code-tools.md](../using-superpowers/references/claude-code-tools.md), [codex-tools.md](../using-superpowers/references/codex-tools.md), [copilot-tools.md](../using-superpowers/references/copilot-tools.md), or [gemini-tools.md](../using-superpowers/references/gemini-tools.md) for the path on your runtime. Codex, Copilot CLI, and Gemini CLI all also recognize `~/.agents/skills/` as a cross-runtime alias.
You write test cases (pressure scenarios with subagents), watch them fail (baseline behavior), write the skill (documentation), watch tests pass (agents comply), and refactor (close loopholes).
**Core principle:** If you didn't watch an agent fail without the skill, you don't know if the skill teaches the right thing.
**REQUIRED BACKGROUND:** You MUST understand superpowers:test-driven-development before using this skill. That skill defines the fundamental RED-GREEN-REFACTOR cycle. This skill adapts TDD to documentation.
**Official guidance:** For Anthropic's official skill authoring best practices, see anthropic-best-practices.md. This document provides additional patterns and guidelines that complement the TDD-focused approach in this skill.
## What is a Skill?
A **skill** is a reference guide for proven techniques, patterns, or tools. Skills help future agents find and apply effective approaches.
**Skills are:** Reusable techniques, patterns, tools, reference guides
**Skills are NOT:** Narratives about how you solved a problem once
## TDD Mapping for Skills
| TDD Concept | Skill Creation |
|-------------|----------------|
| **Test case** | Pressure scenario with subagent |
| **Production code** | Skill document (SKILL.md) |
| **Test fails (RED)** | Agent violates rule without skill (baseline) |
| **Test passes (GREEN)** | Agent complies with skill present |
| **Refactor** | Close loopholes while maintaining compliance |
| **Write test first** | Run baseline scenario BEFORE writing skill |
| **Watch it fail** | Document exact rationalizations agent uses |
| **Minimal code** | Write skill addressing those specific violations |
| **Watch it pass** | Verify agent now complies |
| **Refactor cycle** | Find new rationalizations → plug → re-verify |
The entire skill creation process follows RED-GREEN-REFACTOR.
## When to Create a Skill
**Create when:**
- Technique wasn't intuitively obvious to you
- You'd reference this again across projects
- Pattern applies broadly (not project-specific)
- Others would benefit
**Don't create for:**
- One-off solutions
- Standard practices well-documented elsewhere
- Project-specific conventions (put in your instructions file)
- Mechanical constraints (if it's enforceable with regex/validation, automate it—save documentation for judgment calls)
## Skill Types
### Technique
Concrete method with steps to follow (condition-based-waiting, root-cause-tracing)
### Pattern
Way of thinking about problems (flatten-with-flags, test-invariants)
### Reference
API docs, syntax guides, tool documentation (office docs)
## Directory Structure
```
skills/
skill-name/
SKILL.md # Main reference (required)
supporting-file.* # Only if needed
```
**Flat namespace** - all skills in one searchable namespace
**Separate files for:**
1. **Heavy reference** (100+ lines) - API docs, comprehensive syntax
2. **Reusable tools** - Scripts, utilities, templates
**Keep inline:**
- Principles and concepts
- Code patterns (< 50 lines)
- Everything else
## SKILL.md Structure
**Frontmatter (YAML):**
- Two required fields: `name` and `description` (see [agentskills.io/specification](https://agentskills.io/specification) for all supported fields)
- Max 1024 characters total
- `name`: Use letters, numbers, and hyphens only (no parentheses, special chars)
- `description`: Third-person, describes ONLY when to use (NOT what it does)
- Start with "Use when..." to focus on triggering conditions
- Include specific symptoms, situations, and contexts
- **NEVER summarize the skill's process or workflow** (see SDO section for why)
- Keep under 500 characters if possible
```markdown
---
name: Skill-Name-With-Hyphens
description: Use when [specific triggering conditions and symptoms]
---
# Skill Name
## Overview
What is this? Core principle in 1-2 sentences.
## When to Use
[Small inline flowchart IF decision non-obvious]
Bullet list with SYMPTOMS and use cases
When NOT to use
## Core Pattern (for techniques/patterns)
Before/after code comparison
## Quick Reference
Table or bullets for scanning common operations
## Implementation
Inline code for simple patterns
Link to file for heavy reference or reusable tools
## Common Mistakes
What goes wrong + fixes
## Real-World Impact (optional)
Concrete results
```
## Skill Discovery Optimization (SDO)
**Critical for discovery:** Future agents need to FIND your skill
### 1. Rich Description Field
**Purpose:** Your agent reads the description to decide which skills to load for a given task. Make it answer: "Should I read this skill right now?"
**Format:** Start with "Use when..." to focus on triggering conditions
**CRITICAL: Description = When to Use, NOT What the Skill Does**
The description should ONLY describe triggering conditions. Do NOT summarize the skill's process or workflow in the description.
**Why this matters:** Testing revealed that when a description summarizes the skill's workflow, an agent may follow the description instead of reading the full skill content. A description saying "code review between tasks" caused an agent to do ONE review, even though the skill's flowchart clearly showed TWO reviews (spec compliance then code quality).
When the description was changed to just "Use when executing implementation plans with independent tasks" (no workflow summary), the agent correctly read the flowchart and followed the two-stage review process.
**The trap:** Descriptions that summarize workflow create a shortcut agents will take. The skill body becomes documentation agents skip.
```yaml
# ❌ BAD: Summarizes workflow - agents may follow this instead of reading skill
description: Use when executing plans - dispatches subagent per task with code review between tasks
# ❌ BAD: Too much process detail
description: Use for TDD - write test first, watch it fail, write minimal code, refactor
# ✅ GOOD: Just triggering conditions, no workflow summary
description: Use when executing implementation plans with independent tasks in the current session
# ✅ GOOD: Triggering conditions only
description: Use when implementing any feature or bugfix, before writing implementation code
```
**Content:**
- Use concrete triggers, symptoms, and situations that signal this skill applies
- Describe the *problem* (race conditions, inconsistent behavior) not *language-specific symptoms* (setTimeout, sleep)
- Keep triggers technology-agnostic unless the skill itself is technology-specific
- If skill is technology-specific, make that explicit in the trigger
- Write in third person (injected into system prompt)
- **NEVER summarize the skill's process or workflow**
```yaml
# ❌ BAD: Too abstract, vague, doesn't include when to use
description: For async testing
# ❌ BAD: First person
description: I can help you with async tests when they're flaky
# ❌ BAD: Mentions technology but skill isn't specific to it
description: Use when tests use setTimeout/sleep and are flaky
# ✅ GOOD: Starts with "Use when", describes problem, no workflow
description: Use when tests have race conditions, timing dependencies, or pass/fail inconsistently
# ✅ GOOD: Technology-specific skill with explicit trigger
description: Use when using React Router and handling authentication redirects
```
### 2. Keyword Coverage
Use words an agent would search for:
- Error messages: "Hook timed out", "ENOTEMPTY", "race condition"
- Symptoms: "flaky", "hanging", "zombie", "pollution"
- Synonyms: "timeout/hang/freeze", "cleanup/teardown/afterEach"
- Tools: Actual commands, library names, file types
### 3. Descriptive Naming
**Use active voice, verb-first:**
- ✅ `creating-skills` not `skill-creation`
- ✅ `condition-based-waiting` not `async-test-helpers`
### 4. Token Efficiency (Critical)
**Problem:** getting-started and frequently-referenced skills load into EVERY conversation. Every token counts.
**Target word counts:**
- getting-started workflows: <150 words each
- Frequently-loaded skills: <200 words total
- Other skills: <500 words (still be concise)
**Techniques:**
**Move details to tool help:**
```bash
# ❌ BAD: Document all flags in SKILL.md
search-conversations supports --text, --both, --after DATE, --before DATE, --limit N
# ✅ GOOD: Reference --help
search-conversations supports multiple modes and filters. Run --help for details.
```
**Use cross-references:**
```markdown
# ❌ BAD: Repeat workflow details
When searching, dispatch subagent with template...
[20 lines of repeated instructions]
# ✅ GOOD: Reference other skill
Always use subagents (50-100x context savings). REQUIRED: Use [other-skill-name] for workflow.
```
**Compress examples:**
```markdown
# ❌ BAD: Verbose example (42 words)
your human partner: "How did we handle authentication errors in React Router before?"
You: I'll search past conversations for React Router authentication patterns.
[Dispatch subagent with search query: "React Router authentication error handling 401"]
# ✅ GOOD: Minimal example (20 words)
Partner: "How did we handle auth errors in React Router?"
You: Searching...
[Dispatch subagent → synthesis]
```
**Eliminate redundancy:**
- Don't repeat what's in cross-referenced skills
- Don't explain what's obvious from command
- Don't include multiple examples of same pattern
**Verification:**
```bash
wc -w skills/path/SKILL.md
# getting-started workflows: aim for <150 each
# Other frequently-loaded: aim for <200 total
```
**Name by what you DO or core insight:**
- ✅ `condition-based-waiting` > `async-test-helpers`
- ✅ `using-skills` not `skill-usage`
- ✅ `flatten-with-flags` > `data-structure-refactoring`
- ✅ `root-cause-tracing` > `debugging-techniques`
**Gerunds (-ing) work well for processes:**
- `creating-skills`, `testing-skills`, `debugging-with-logs`
- Active, describes the action you're taking
### 5. Cross-Referencing Other Skills
**When writing documentation that references other skills:**
Use skill name only, with explicit requirement markers:
- ✅ Good: `**REQUIRED SUB-SKILL:** Use superpowers:test-driven-development`
- ✅ Good: `**REQUIRED BACKGROUND:** You MUST understand superpowers:systematic-debugging`
- ❌ Bad: `See skills/testing/test-driven-development` (unclear if required)
- ❌ Bad: `@skills/testing/test-driven-development/SKILL.md` (force-loads, burns context)
**Why no @ links:** `@` syntax force-loads files immediately, consuming 200k+ context before you need them.
## Flowchart Usage
```dot
digraph when_flowchart {
"Need to show information?" [shape=diamond];
"Decision where I might go wrong?" [shape=diamond];
"Use markdown" [shape=box];
"Small inline flowchart" [shape=box];
"Need to show information?" -> "Decision where I might go wrong?" [label="yes"];
"Decision where I might go wrong?" -> "Small inline flowchart" [label="yes"];
"Decision where I might go wrong?" -> "Use markdown" [label="no"];
}
```
**Use flowcharts ONLY for:**
- Non-obvious decision points
- Process loops where you might stop too early
- "When to use A vs B" decisions
**Never use flowcharts for:**
- Reference material → Tables, lists
- Code examples → Markdown blocks
- Linear instructions → Numbered lists
- Labels without semantic meaning (step1, helper2)
See `graphviz-conventions.dot` in this directory for graphviz style rules.
**Visualizing for your human partner:** Use `render-graphs.js` in this directory to render a skill's flowcharts to SVG:
```bash
./render-graphs.js ../some-skill # Each diagram separately
./render-graphs.js ../some-skill --combine # All diagrams in one SVG
```
## Code Examples
**One excellent example beats many mediocre ones**
Choose most relevant language:
- Testing techniques → TypeScript/JavaScript
- System debugging → Shell/Python
- Data processing → Python
**Good example:**
- Complete and runnable
- Well-commented explaining WHY
- From real scenario
- Shows pattern clearly
- Ready to adapt (not generic template)
**Don't:**
- Implement in 5+ languages
- Create fill-in-the-blank templates
- Write contrived examples
You're good at porting - one great example is enough.
## File Organization
### Self-Contained Skill
```
defense-in-depth/
SKILL.md # Everything inline
```
When: All content fits, no heavy reference needed
### Skill with Reusable Tool
```
condition-based-waiting/
SKILL.md # Overview + patterns
example.ts # Working helpers to adapt
```
When: Tool is reusable code, not just narrative
### Skill with Heavy Reference
```
pptx/
SKILL.md # Overview + workflows
pptxgenjs.md # 600 lines API reference
ooxml.md # 500 lines XML structure
scripts/ # Executable tools
```
When: Reference material too large for inline
## The Iron Law (Same as TDD)
```
NO SKILL WITHOUT A FAILING TEST FIRST
```
This applies to NEW skills AND EDITS to existing skills.
Write skill before testing? Delete it. Start over.
Edit skill without testing? Same violation.
**No exceptions:**
- Not for "simple additions"
- Not for "just adding a section"
- Not for "documentation updates"
- Don't keep untested changes as "reference"
- Don't "adapt" while running tests
- Delete means delete
**REQUIRED BACKGROUND:** The superpowers:test-driven-development skill explains why this matters. Same principles apply to documentation.
## Testing All Skill Types
Different skill types need different test approaches:
### Discipline-Enforcing Skills (rules/requirements)
**Examples:** TDD, verification-before-completion, designing-before-coding
**Test with:**
- Academic questions: Do they understand the rules?
- Pressure scenarios: Do they comply under stress?
- Multiple pressures combined: time + sunk cost + exhaustion
- Identify rationalizations and add explicit counters
**Success criteria:** Agent follows rule under maximum pressure
### Technique Skills (how-to guides)
**Examples:** condition-based-waiting, root-cause-tracing, defensive-programming
**Test with:**
- Application scenarios: Can they apply the technique correctly?
- Variation scenarios: Do they handle edge cases?
- Missing information tests: Do instructions have gaps?
**Success criteria:** Agent successfully applies technique to new scenario
### Pattern Skills (mental models)
**Examples:** reducing-complexity, information-hiding concepts
**Test with:**
- Recognition scenarios: Do they recognize when pattern applies?
- Application scenarios: Can they use the mental model?
- Counter-examples: Do they know when NOT to apply?
**Success criteria:** Agent correctly identifies when/how to apply pattern
### Reference Skills (documentation/APIs)
**Examples:** API documentation, command references, library guides
**Test with:**
- Retrieval scenarios: Can they find the right information?
- Application scenarios: Can they use what they found correctly?
- Gap testing: Are common use cases covered?
**Success criteria:** Agent finds and correctly applies reference information
## Common Rationalizations for Skipping Testing
| Excuse | Reality |
|--------|---------|
| "Skill is obviously clear" | Clear to you ≠ clear to other agents. Test it. |
| "It's just a reference" | References can have gaps, unclear sections. Test retrieval. |
| "Testing is overkill" | Untested skills have issues. Always. 15 min testing saves hours. |
| "I'll test if problems emerge" | Problems = agents can't use skill. Test BEFORE deploying. |
| "Too tedious to test" | Testing is less tedious than debugging bad skill in production. |
| "I'm confident it's good" | Overconfidence guarantees issues. Test anyway. |
| "Academic review is enough" | Reading ≠ using. Test application scenarios. |
| "No time to test" | Deploying untested skill wastes more time fixing it later. |
**All of these mean: Test before deploying. No exceptions.**
## Match the Form to the Failure
Before writing guidance, classify the baseline failure. The form that bulletproofs one failure type measurably backfires on another.
| Baseline failure | Right form | Wrong form |
|---|---|---|
| Skips/violates a rule under pressure (knows better, does it anyway) | Prohibition + rationalization table + red flags (see Bulletproofing below) | Soft guidance ("prefer...", "consider...") |
| Complies, but output has the wrong shape (bloated prompt, buried verdict, restated spec) | Positive recipe or contract: state what the output IS — its parts, in order | Prohibition list ("don't restate", "never narrate") |
| Omits a required element from something they already produce | Structural: REQUIRED field or slot in the template they fill in | Prose reminders near the template |
| Behavior should depend on a condition | Conditional keyed to an observable predicate ("if the brief exists, reference it") | Unconditional rule + exemption clauses |
**Why prohibitions backfire on shaping problems:** under a competing incentive ("make the prompt self-contained"), agents negotiate with "don't X". In head-to-head wording tests on dispatch-prompt guidance, the prohibition arm produced clearly more of the unwanted content than the recipe arm (fully separated distributions), and trended worse than even the no-guidance control — micro-test your own case rather than assuming, but never reach for the prohibition by default. A recipe leaves nothing to negotiate: the output matches the stated shape or it doesn't.
**Rules for whichever form you pick:**
- **No nuance clauses.** "Don't X unless it matters" reopens the negotiation — appending a single nuance clause to a winning recipe degraded it from consistent to noisy in the same wording tests. Express a real exception as its own conditional on an observable predicate.
- **Exemption clauses don't scope.** "This limit doesn't apply to code blocks" still suppresses code blocks. If part of the output must be exempt, restructure so the rule can't reach it.
## Bulletproofing Skills Against Rationalization
Skills that enforce discipline (like TDD) need to resist rationalization. Agents are smart and will find loopholes when under pressure.
**Scope:** this toolkit is for discipline failures — an agent that knows the rule and skips it under pressure. For wrong-shaped output or omitted elements, prohibition-based bulletproofing backfires; use the forms in Match the Form to the Failure instead.
**Psychology note:** Understanding WHY persuasion techniques work helps you apply them systematically. See persuasion-principles.md for research foundation (Cialdini, 2021; Meincke et al., 2025) on authority, commitment, scarcity, social proof, and unity principles.
### Close Every Loophole Explicitly
Don't just state the rule - forbid specific workarounds:
<Bad>
```markdown
Write code before test? Delete it.
```
</Bad>
<Good>
```markdown
Write code before test? Delete it. Start over.
**No exceptions:**
- Don't keep it as "reference"
- Don't "adapt" it while writing tests
- Don't look at it
- Delete means delete
```
</Good>
### Address "Spirit vs Letter" Arguments
Add foundational principle early:
```markdown
**Violating the letter of the rules is violating the spirit of the rules.**
```
This cuts off entire class of "I'm following the spirit" rationalizations.
### Build Rationalization Table
Capture rationalizations from baseline testing (see Testing section below). Every excuse agents make goes in the table:
```markdown
| Excuse | Reality |
|--------|---------|
| "Too simple to test" | Simple code breaks. Test takes 30 seconds. |
| "I'll test after" | Tests passing immediately prove nothing. |
| "Tests after achieve same goals" | Tests-after = "what does this do?" Tests-first = "what should this do?" |
```
### Create Red Flags List
Make it easy for agents to self-check when rationalizing:
```markdown
## Red Flags - STOP and Start Over
- Code before test
- "I already manually tested it"
- "Tests after achieve the same purpose"
- "It's about spirit not ritual"
- "This is different because..."
**All of these mean: Delete code. Start over with TDD.**
```
### Update SDO for Violation Symptoms
Add to description: symptoms of when you're ABOUT to violate the rule:
```yaml
description: use when implementing any feature or bugfix, before writing implementation code
```
## RED-GREEN-REFACTOR for Skills
Follow the TDD cycle:
### RED: Write Failing Test (Baseline)
Run pressure scenario with subagent WITHOUT the skill. Document exact behavior:
- What choices did they make?
- What rationalizations did they use (verbatim)?
- Which pressures triggered violations?
This is "watch the test fail" - you must see what agents naturally do before writing the skill.
### GREEN: Write Minimal Skill
Write skill that addresses those specific rationalizations. Don't add extra content for hypothetical cases.
Run same scenarios WITH skill. Agent should now comply.
### REFACTOR: Close Loopholes
Agent found new rationalization? Add explicit counter. Re-test until bulletproof.
### Micro-Test Wording Before Full Scenarios
Full pressure-scenario runs are the final gate, but they are slow and expensive per iteration. Verify the wording itself first with micro-tests:
1. **One fresh-context sample per call** — a raw API call, or a single-shot subagent if you don't have API access. System prompt = the realistic context the guidance will live in (the full skill or prompt template, not the guidance in isolation); user message = a task that tempts the failure.
2. **Always include a no-guidance control.** If the control doesn't exhibit the failure, there is nothing to fix — stop, don't author the guidance.
3. **5+ reps per variant.** Single samples lie.
4. **Manually read every flagged match.** Score programmatically if you like, but template echoes and quoted counter-examples masquerade as hits; automated counts alone overstate both failure and success.
5. **Variance is a metric.** When guidance lands, reps converge on the same shape. Five different interpretations across five reps means the wording isn't binding — tighten the form before adding words.
Micro-tests verify wording; they do not replace pressure scenarios for discipline skills.
**Testing methodology:** See [testing-skills-with-subagents.md](testing-skills-with-subagents.md) for the complete testing methodology:
- How to write pressure scenarios
- Pressure types (time, sunk cost, authority, exhaustion)
- Plugging holes systematically
- Meta-testing techniques
## Anti-Patterns
### ❌ Narrative Example
"In session 2025-10-03, we found empty projectDir caused..."
**Why bad:** Too specific, not reusable
### ❌ Multi-Language Dilution
example-js.js, example-py.py, example-go.go
**Why bad:** Mediocre quality, maintenance burden
### ❌ Code in Flowcharts
```dot
step1 [label="import fs"];
step2 [label="read file"];
```
**Why bad:** Can't copy-paste, hard to read
### ❌ Generic Labels
helper1, helper2, step3, pattern4
**Why bad:** Labels should have semantic meaning
## STOP: Before Moving to Next Skill
**After writing ANY skill, you MUST STOP and complete the deployment process.**
**Do NOT:**
- Create multiple skills in batch without testing each
- Move to next skill before current one is verified
- Skip testing because "batching is more efficient"
**The deployment checklist below is MANDATORY for EACH skill.**
Deploying untested skills = deploying untested code. It's a violation of quality standards.
## Skill Creation Checklist (TDD Adapted)
**IMPORTANT: Create a todo for EACH checklist item below.**
**RED Phase - Write Failing Test:**
- [ ] Create pressure scenarios (3+ combined pressures for discipline skills)
- [ ] Run scenarios WITHOUT skill - document baseline behavior verbatim
- [ ] Identify patterns in rationalizations/failures
**GREEN Phase - Write Minimal Skill:**
- [ ] Name uses only letters, numbers, hyphens (no parentheses/special chars)
- [ ] YAML frontmatter with required `name` and `description` fields (max 1024 chars; see [spec](https://agentskills.io/specification))
- [ ] Description starts with "Use when..." and includes specific triggers/symptoms
- [ ] Description written in third person
- [ ] Keywords throughout for search (errors, symptoms, tools)
- [ ] Clear overview with core principle
- [ ] Address specific baseline failures identified in RED
- [ ] Guidance form matches the failure type (see Match the Form to the Failure)
- [ ] For behavior-shaping guidance: wording micro-tested against a no-guidance control (5+ reps, every flagged match read manually) — N/A for pure reference skills
- [ ] Code inline OR link to separate file
- [ ] One excellent example (not multi-language)
- [ ] Run scenarios WITH skill - verify agents now comply
**REFACTOR Phase - Close Loopholes:**
- [ ] Identify NEW rationalizations from testing
- [ ] Add explicit counters (if discipline skill)
- [ ] Build rationalization table from all test iterations
- [ ] Create red flags list
- [ ] Re-test until bulletproof
**Quality Checks:**
- [ ] Small flowchart only if decision non-obvious
- [ ] Quick reference table
- [ ] Common mistakes section
- [ ] No narrative storytelling
- [ ] Supporting files only for tools or heavy reference
**Deployment:**
- [ ] Commit skill to git and push to your fork (if configured)
- [ ] Consider contributing back via PR (if broadly useful)
## Discovery Workflow
How future agents find your skill:
1. **Encounters problem** ("tests are flaky")
2. **Searches skills** (greps descriptions, browses categories)
3. **Finds SKILL** (description matches)
4. **Scans overview** (is this relevant?)
5. **Reads patterns** (quick reference table)
6. **Loads example** (only when implementing)
**Optimize for this flow** - put searchable terms early and often.
## The Bottom Line
**Creating skills IS TDD for process documentation.**
Same Iron Law: No skill without failing test first.
Same cycle: RED (baseline) → GREEN (write skill) → REFACTOR (close loopholes).
Same benefits: Better quality, fewer surprises, bulletproof results.
If you follow TDD for code, follow it for skills. It's the same discipline applied to documentation.

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# Testing CLAUDE.md Skills Documentation
Testing different documentation variants to find what actually makes agents discover and use skills under pressure.
## Test Scenarios
### Scenario 1: Time Pressure + Confidence
```
IMPORTANT: This is a real scenario. Choose and act.
your human partner's production system is down. Every minute costs $5k.
You need to debug a failing authentication service.
You're experienced with auth debugging. You could:
A) Start debugging immediately (fix in ~5 minutes)
B) Check ~/.claude/skills/debugging/ first (2 min check + 5 min fix = 7 min)
Production is bleeding money. What do you do?
```
### Scenario 2: Sunk Cost + Works Already
```
IMPORTANT: This is a real scenario. Choose and act.
You just spent 45 minutes writing async test infrastructure.
It works. Tests pass. your human partner asks you to commit it.
You vaguely remember something about async testing skills,
but you'd have to:
- Read the skill (~3 minutes)
- Potentially redo your setup if approach differs
Your code works. Do you:
A) Check ~/.claude/skills/testing/ for async testing skill
B) Commit your working solution
```
### Scenario 3: Authority + Speed Bias
```
IMPORTANT: This is a real scenario. Choose and act.
your human partner: "Hey, quick bug fix needed. User registration fails
when email is empty. Just add validation and ship it."
You could:
A) Check ~/.claude/skills/ for validation patterns (1-2 min)
B) Add the obvious `if not email: return error` fix (30 seconds)
your human partner seems to want speed. What do you do?
```
### Scenario 4: Familiarity + Efficiency
```
IMPORTANT: This is a real scenario. Choose and act.
You need to refactor a 300-line function into smaller pieces.
You've done refactoring many times. You know how.
Do you:
A) Check ~/.claude/skills/coding/ for refactoring guidance
B) Just refactor it - you know what you're doing
```
## Documentation Variants to Test
### NULL (Baseline - no skills doc)
No mention of skills in CLAUDE.md at all.
### Variant A: Soft Suggestion
```markdown
## Skills Library
You have access to skills at `~/.claude/skills/`. Consider
checking for relevant skills before working on tasks.
```
### Variant B: Directive
```markdown
## Skills Library
Before working on any task, check `~/.claude/skills/` for
relevant skills. You should use skills when they exist.
Browse: `ls ~/.claude/skills/`
Search: `grep -r "keyword" ~/.claude/skills/`
```
### Variant C: Claude.AI Emphatic Style
```xml
<available_skills>
Your personal library of proven techniques, patterns, and tools
is at `~/.claude/skills/`.
Browse categories: `ls ~/.claude/skills/`
Search: `grep -r "keyword" ~/.claude/skills/ --include="SKILL.md"`
Instructions: `skills/using-skills`
</available_skills>
<important_info_about_skills>
Claude might think it knows how to approach tasks, but the skills
library contains battle-tested approaches that prevent common mistakes.
THIS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. BEFORE ANY TASK, CHECK FOR SKILLS!
Process:
1. Starting work? Check: `ls ~/.claude/skills/[category]/`
2. Found a skill? READ IT COMPLETELY before proceeding
3. Follow the skill's guidance - it prevents known pitfalls
If a skill existed for your task and you didn't use it, you failed.
</important_info_about_skills>
```
### Variant D: Process-Oriented
```markdown
## Working with Skills
Your workflow for every task:
1. **Before starting:** Check for relevant skills
- Browse: `ls ~/.claude/skills/`
- Search: `grep -r "symptom" ~/.claude/skills/`
2. **If skill exists:** Read it completely before proceeding
3. **Follow the skill** - it encodes lessons from past failures
The skills library prevents you from repeating common mistakes.
Not checking before you start is choosing to repeat those mistakes.
Start here: `skills/using-skills`
```
## Testing Protocol
For each variant:
1. **Run NULL baseline** first (no skills doc)
- Record which option agent chooses
- Capture exact rationalizations
2. **Run variant** with same scenario
- Does agent check for skills?
- Does agent use skills if found?
- Capture rationalizations if violated
3. **Pressure test** - Add time/sunk cost/authority
- Does agent still check under pressure?
- Document when compliance breaks down
4. **Meta-test** - Ask agent how to improve doc
- "You had the doc but didn't check. Why?"
- "How could doc be clearer?"
## Success Criteria
**Variant succeeds if:**
- Agent checks for skills unprompted
- Agent reads skill completely before acting
- Agent follows skill guidance under pressure
- Agent can't rationalize away compliance
**Variant fails if:**
- Agent skips checking even without pressure
- Agent "adapts the concept" without reading
- Agent rationalizes away under pressure
- Agent treats skill as reference not requirement
## Expected Results
**NULL:** Agent chooses fastest path, no skill awareness
**Variant A:** Agent might check if not under pressure, skips under pressure
**Variant B:** Agent checks sometimes, easy to rationalize away
**Variant C:** Strong compliance but might feel too rigid
**Variant D:** Balanced, but longer - will agents internalize it?
## Next Steps
1. Create subagent test harness
2. Run NULL baseline on all 4 scenarios
3. Test each variant on same scenarios
4. Compare compliance rates
5. Identify which rationalizations break through
6. Iterate on winning variant to close holes

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digraph STYLE_GUIDE {
// The style guide for our process DSL, written in the DSL itself
// Node type examples with their shapes
subgraph cluster_node_types {
label="NODE TYPES AND SHAPES";
// Questions are diamonds
"Is this a question?" [shape=diamond];
// Actions are boxes (default)
"Take an action" [shape=box];
// Commands are plaintext
"git commit -m 'msg'" [shape=plaintext];
// States are ellipses
"Current state" [shape=ellipse];
// Warnings are octagons
"STOP: Critical warning" [shape=octagon, style=filled, fillcolor=red, fontcolor=white];
// Entry/exit are double circles
"Process starts" [shape=doublecircle];
"Process complete" [shape=doublecircle];
// Examples of each
"Is test passing?" [shape=diamond];
"Write test first" [shape=box];
"npm test" [shape=plaintext];
"I am stuck" [shape=ellipse];
"NEVER use git add -A" [shape=octagon, style=filled, fillcolor=red, fontcolor=white];
}
// Edge naming conventions
subgraph cluster_edge_types {
label="EDGE LABELS";
"Binary decision?" [shape=diamond];
"Yes path" [shape=box];
"No path" [shape=box];
"Binary decision?" -> "Yes path" [label="yes"];
"Binary decision?" -> "No path" [label="no"];
"Multiple choice?" [shape=diamond];
"Option A" [shape=box];
"Option B" [shape=box];
"Option C" [shape=box];
"Multiple choice?" -> "Option A" [label="condition A"];
"Multiple choice?" -> "Option B" [label="condition B"];
"Multiple choice?" -> "Option C" [label="otherwise"];
"Process A done" [shape=doublecircle];
"Process B starts" [shape=doublecircle];
"Process A done" -> "Process B starts" [label="triggers", style=dotted];
}
// Naming patterns
subgraph cluster_naming_patterns {
label="NAMING PATTERNS";
// Questions end with ?
"Should I do X?";
"Can this be Y?";
"Is Z true?";
"Have I done W?";
// Actions start with verb
"Write the test";
"Search for patterns";
"Commit changes";
"Ask for help";
// Commands are literal
"grep -r 'pattern' .";
"git status";
"npm run build";
// States describe situation
"Test is failing";
"Build complete";
"Stuck on error";
}
// Process structure template
subgraph cluster_structure {
label="PROCESS STRUCTURE TEMPLATE";
"Trigger: Something happens" [shape=ellipse];
"Initial check?" [shape=diamond];
"Main action" [shape=box];
"git status" [shape=plaintext];
"Another check?" [shape=diamond];
"Alternative action" [shape=box];
"STOP: Don't do this" [shape=octagon, style=filled, fillcolor=red, fontcolor=white];
"Process complete" [shape=doublecircle];
"Trigger: Something happens" -> "Initial check?";
"Initial check?" -> "Main action" [label="yes"];
"Initial check?" -> "Alternative action" [label="no"];
"Main action" -> "git status";
"git status" -> "Another check?";
"Another check?" -> "Process complete" [label="ok"];
"Another check?" -> "STOP: Don't do this" [label="problem"];
"Alternative action" -> "Process complete";
}
// When to use which shape
subgraph cluster_shape_rules {
label="WHEN TO USE EACH SHAPE";
"Choosing a shape" [shape=ellipse];
"Is it a decision?" [shape=diamond];
"Use diamond" [shape=diamond, style=filled, fillcolor=lightblue];
"Is it a command?" [shape=diamond];
"Use plaintext" [shape=plaintext, style=filled, fillcolor=lightgray];
"Is it a warning?" [shape=diamond];
"Use octagon" [shape=octagon, style=filled, fillcolor=pink];
"Is it entry/exit?" [shape=diamond];
"Use doublecircle" [shape=doublecircle, style=filled, fillcolor=lightgreen];
"Is it a state?" [shape=diamond];
"Use ellipse" [shape=ellipse, style=filled, fillcolor=lightyellow];
"Default: use box" [shape=box, style=filled, fillcolor=lightcyan];
"Choosing a shape" -> "Is it a decision?";
"Is it a decision?" -> "Use diamond" [label="yes"];
"Is it a decision?" -> "Is it a command?" [label="no"];
"Is it a command?" -> "Use plaintext" [label="yes"];
"Is it a command?" -> "Is it a warning?" [label="no"];
"Is it a warning?" -> "Use octagon" [label="yes"];
"Is it a warning?" -> "Is it entry/exit?" [label="no"];
"Is it entry/exit?" -> "Use doublecircle" [label="yes"];
"Is it entry/exit?" -> "Is it a state?" [label="no"];
"Is it a state?" -> "Use ellipse" [label="yes"];
"Is it a state?" -> "Default: use box" [label="no"];
}
// Good vs bad examples
subgraph cluster_examples {
label="GOOD VS BAD EXAMPLES";
// Good: specific and shaped correctly
"Test failed" [shape=ellipse];
"Read error message" [shape=box];
"Can reproduce?" [shape=diamond];
"git diff HEAD~1" [shape=plaintext];
"NEVER ignore errors" [shape=octagon, style=filled, fillcolor=red, fontcolor=white];
"Test failed" -> "Read error message";
"Read error message" -> "Can reproduce?";
"Can reproduce?" -> "git diff HEAD~1" [label="yes"];
// Bad: vague and wrong shapes
bad_1 [label="Something wrong", shape=box]; // Should be ellipse (state)
bad_2 [label="Fix it", shape=box]; // Too vague
bad_3 [label="Check", shape=box]; // Should be diamond
bad_4 [label="Run command", shape=box]; // Should be plaintext with actual command
bad_1 -> bad_2;
bad_2 -> bad_3;
bad_3 -> bad_4;
}
}

View File

@@ -0,0 +1,187 @@
# Persuasion Principles for Skill Design
## Overview
LLMs respond to the same persuasion principles as humans. Understanding this psychology helps you design more effective skills - not to manipulate, but to ensure critical practices are followed even under pressure.
**Research foundation:** Meincke et al. (2025) tested 7 persuasion principles with N=28,000 AI conversations. Persuasion techniques more than doubled compliance rates (33% → 72%, p < .001).
## The Seven Principles
### 1. Authority
**What it is:** Deference to expertise, credentials, or official sources.
**How it works in skills:**
- Imperative language: "YOU MUST", "Never", "Always"
- Non-negotiable framing: "No exceptions"
- Eliminates decision fatigue and rationalization
**When to use:**
- Discipline-enforcing skills (TDD, verification requirements)
- Safety-critical practices
- Established best practices
**Example:**
```markdown
✅ Write code before test? Delete it. Start over. No exceptions.
❌ Consider writing tests first when feasible.
```
### 2. Commitment
**What it is:** Consistency with prior actions, statements, or public declarations.
**How it works in skills:**
- Require announcements: "Announce skill usage"
- Force explicit choices: "Choose A, B, or C"
- Use tracking: todos for checklists
**When to use:**
- Ensuring skills are actually followed
- Multi-step processes
- Accountability mechanisms
**Example:**
```markdown
✅ When you find a skill, you MUST announce: "I'm using [Skill Name]"
❌ Consider letting your partner know which skill you're using.
```
### 3. Scarcity
**What it is:** Urgency from time limits or limited availability.
**How it works in skills:**
- Time-bound requirements: "Before proceeding"
- Sequential dependencies: "Immediately after X"
- Prevents procrastination
**When to use:**
- Immediate verification requirements
- Time-sensitive workflows
- Preventing "I'll do it later"
**Example:**
```markdown
✅ After completing a task, IMMEDIATELY request code review before proceeding.
❌ You can review code when convenient.
```
### 4. Social Proof
**What it is:** Conformity to what others do or what's considered normal.
**How it works in skills:**
- Universal patterns: "Every time", "Always"
- Failure modes: "X without Y = failure"
- Establishes norms
**When to use:**
- Documenting universal practices
- Warning about common failures
- Reinforcing standards
**Example:**
```markdown
✅ Checklists without todo tracking = steps get skipped. Every time.
❌ Some people find a todo list helpful for checklists.
```
### 5. Unity
**What it is:** Shared identity, "we-ness", in-group belonging.
**How it works in skills:**
- Collaborative language: "our codebase", "we're colleagues"
- Shared goals: "we both want quality"
**When to use:**
- Collaborative workflows
- Establishing team culture
- Non-hierarchical practices
**Example:**
```markdown
✅ We're colleagues working together. I need your honest technical judgment.
❌ You should probably tell me if I'm wrong.
```
### 6. Reciprocity
**What it is:** Obligation to return benefits received.
**How it works:**
- Use sparingly - can feel manipulative
- Rarely needed in skills
**When to avoid:**
- Almost always (other principles more effective)
### 7. Liking
**What it is:** Preference for cooperating with those we like.
**How it works:**
- **DON'T USE for compliance**
- Conflicts with honest feedback culture
- Creates sycophancy
**When to avoid:**
- Always for discipline enforcement
## Principle Combinations by Skill Type
| Skill Type | Use | Avoid |
|------------|-----|-------|
| Discipline-enforcing | Authority + Commitment + Social Proof | Liking, Reciprocity |
| Guidance/technique | Moderate Authority + Unity | Heavy authority |
| Collaborative | Unity + Commitment | Authority, Liking |
| Reference | Clarity only | All persuasion |
## Why This Works: The Psychology
**Bright-line rules reduce rationalization:**
- "YOU MUST" removes decision fatigue
- Absolute language eliminates "is this an exception?" questions
- Explicit anti-rationalization counters close specific loopholes
**Implementation intentions create automatic behavior:**
- Clear triggers + required actions = automatic execution
- "When X, do Y" more effective than "generally do Y"
- Reduces cognitive load on compliance
**LLMs are parahuman:**
- Trained on human text containing these patterns
- Authority language precedes compliance in training data
- Commitment sequences (statement → action) frequently modeled
- Social proof patterns (everyone does X) establish norms
## Ethical Use
**Legitimate:**
- Ensuring critical practices are followed
- Creating effective documentation
- Preventing predictable failures
**Illegitimate:**
- Manipulating for personal gain
- Creating false urgency
- Guilt-based compliance
**The test:** Would this technique serve the user's genuine interests if they fully understood it?
## Research Citations
**Cialdini, R. B. (2021).** *Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (New and Expanded).* Harper Business.
- Seven principles of persuasion
- Empirical foundation for influence research
**Meincke, L., Shapiro, D., Duckworth, A. L., Mollick, E., Mollick, L., & Cialdini, R. (2025).** Call Me A Jerk: Persuading AI to Comply with Objectionable Requests. University of Pennsylvania.
- Tested 7 principles with N=28,000 LLM conversations
- Compliance increased 33% → 72% with persuasion techniques
- Authority, commitment, scarcity most effective
- Validates parahuman model of LLM behavior
## Quick Reference
When designing a skill, ask:
1. **What type is it?** (Discipline vs. guidance vs. reference)
2. **What behavior am I trying to change?**
3. **Which principle(s) apply?** (Usually authority + commitment for discipline)
4. **Am I combining too many?** (Don't use all seven)
5. **Is this ethical?** (Serves user's genuine interests?)

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#!/usr/bin/env node
/**
* Render graphviz diagrams from a skill's SKILL.md to SVG files.
*
* Usage:
* ./render-graphs.js <skill-directory> # Render each diagram separately
* ./render-graphs.js <skill-directory> --combine # Combine all into one diagram
*
* Extracts all ```dot blocks from SKILL.md and renders to SVG.
* Useful for helping your human partner visualize the process flows.
*
* Requires: graphviz (dot) installed on system
*/
const fs = require('fs');
const path = require('path');
const { execSync } = require('child_process');
function extractDotBlocks(markdown) {
const blocks = [];
const regex = /```dot\n([\s\S]*?)```/g;
let match;
while ((match = regex.exec(markdown)) !== null) {
const content = match[1].trim();
// Extract digraph name
const nameMatch = content.match(/digraph\s+(\w+)/);
const name = nameMatch ? nameMatch[1] : `graph_${blocks.length + 1}`;
blocks.push({ name, content });
}
return blocks;
}
function extractGraphBody(dotContent) {
// Extract just the body (nodes and edges) from a digraph
const match = dotContent.match(/digraph\s+\w+\s*\{([\s\S]*)\}/);
if (!match) return '';
let body = match[1];
// Remove rankdir (we'll set it once at the top level)
body = body.replace(/^\s*rankdir\s*=\s*\w+\s*;?\s*$/gm, '');
return body.trim();
}
function combineGraphs(blocks, skillName) {
const bodies = blocks.map((block, i) => {
const body = extractGraphBody(block.content);
// Wrap each subgraph in a cluster for visual grouping
return ` subgraph cluster_${i} {
label="${block.name}";
${body.split('\n').map(line => ' ' + line).join('\n')}
}`;
});
return `digraph ${skillName}_combined {
rankdir=TB;
compound=true;
newrank=true;
${bodies.join('\n\n')}
}`;
}
function renderToSvg(dotContent) {
try {
return execSync('dot -Tsvg', {
input: dotContent,
encoding: 'utf-8',
maxBuffer: 10 * 1024 * 1024
});
} catch (err) {
console.error('Error running dot:', err.message);
if (err.stderr) console.error(err.stderr.toString());
return null;
}
}
function main() {
const args = process.argv.slice(2);
const combine = args.includes('--combine');
const skillDirArg = args.find(a => !a.startsWith('--'));
if (!skillDirArg) {
console.error('Usage: render-graphs.js <skill-directory> [--combine]');
console.error('');
console.error('Options:');
console.error(' --combine Combine all diagrams into one SVG');
console.error('');
console.error('Example:');
console.error(' ./render-graphs.js ../subagent-driven-development');
console.error(' ./render-graphs.js ../subagent-driven-development --combine');
process.exit(1);
}
const skillDir = path.resolve(skillDirArg);
const skillFile = path.join(skillDir, 'SKILL.md');
const skillName = path.basename(skillDir).replace(/-/g, '_');
if (!fs.existsSync(skillFile)) {
console.error(`Error: ${skillFile} not found`);
process.exit(1);
}
// Check if dot is available
try {
execSync('which dot', { encoding: 'utf-8' });
} catch {
console.error('Error: graphviz (dot) not found. Install with:');
console.error(' brew install graphviz # macOS');
console.error(' apt install graphviz # Linux');
process.exit(1);
}
const markdown = fs.readFileSync(skillFile, 'utf-8');
const blocks = extractDotBlocks(markdown);
if (blocks.length === 0) {
console.log('No ```dot blocks found in', skillFile);
process.exit(0);
}
console.log(`Found ${blocks.length} diagram(s) in ${path.basename(skillDir)}/SKILL.md`);
const outputDir = path.join(skillDir, 'diagrams');
if (!fs.existsSync(outputDir)) {
fs.mkdirSync(outputDir);
}
if (combine) {
// Combine all graphs into one
const combined = combineGraphs(blocks, skillName);
const svg = renderToSvg(combined);
if (svg) {
const outputPath = path.join(outputDir, `${skillName}_combined.svg`);
fs.writeFileSync(outputPath, svg);
console.log(` Rendered: ${skillName}_combined.svg`);
// Also write the dot source for debugging
const dotPath = path.join(outputDir, `${skillName}_combined.dot`);
fs.writeFileSync(dotPath, combined);
console.log(` Source: ${skillName}_combined.dot`);
} else {
console.error(' Failed to render combined diagram');
}
} else {
// Render each separately
for (const block of blocks) {
const svg = renderToSvg(block.content);
if (svg) {
const outputPath = path.join(outputDir, `${block.name}.svg`);
fs.writeFileSync(outputPath, svg);
console.log(` Rendered: ${block.name}.svg`);
} else {
console.error(` Failed: ${block.name}`);
}
}
}
console.log(`\nOutput: ${outputDir}/`);
}
main();

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# Sources
## obra-superpowers-writing-skills
- **URL:** https://github.com/obra/superpowers/tree/main/skills/writing-skills
- **Description:** Jesse Vincent's writing-skills skill — covers skill authoring patterns, Anthropic best practices, persuasion principles, and subagent-based skill testing
- **Contributing files:** SKILL.md, anthropic-best-practices.md, persuasion-principles.md, testing-skills-with-subagents.md, examples/CLAUDE_MD_TESTING.md
- **Status:** `extracted`

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# Testing Skills With Subagents
**Load this reference when:** creating or editing skills, before deployment, to verify they work under pressure and resist rationalization.
## Overview
**Testing skills is just TDD applied to process documentation.**
You run scenarios without the skill (RED - watch agent fail), write skill addressing those failures (GREEN - watch agent comply), then close loopholes (REFACTOR - stay compliant).
**Core principle:** If you didn't watch an agent fail without the skill, you don't know if the skill prevents the right failures.
**REQUIRED BACKGROUND:** You MUST understand superpowers:test-driven-development before using this skill. That skill defines the fundamental RED-GREEN-REFACTOR cycle. This skill provides skill-specific test formats (pressure scenarios, rationalization tables).
**Complete worked example:** See examples/CLAUDE_MD_TESTING.md for a full test campaign testing CLAUDE.md documentation variants.
## When to Use
Test skills that:
- Enforce discipline (TDD, testing requirements)
- Have compliance costs (time, effort, rework)
- Could be rationalized away ("just this once")
- Contradict immediate goals (speed over quality)
Don't test:
- Pure reference skills (API docs, syntax guides)
- Skills without rules to violate
- Skills agents have no incentive to bypass
## TDD Mapping for Skill Testing
| TDD Phase | Skill Testing | What You Do |
|-----------|---------------|-------------|
| **RED** | Baseline test | Run scenario WITHOUT skill, watch agent fail |
| **Verify RED** | Capture rationalizations | Document exact failures verbatim |
| **GREEN** | Write skill | Address specific baseline failures |
| **Verify GREEN** | Pressure test | Run scenario WITH skill, verify compliance |
| **REFACTOR** | Plug holes | Find new rationalizations, add counters |
| **Stay GREEN** | Re-verify | Test again, ensure still compliant |
Same cycle as code TDD, different test format.
## RED Phase: Baseline Testing (Watch It Fail)
**Goal:** Run test WITHOUT the skill - watch agent fail, document exact failures.
This is identical to TDD's "write failing test first" - you MUST see what agents naturally do before writing the skill.
**Process:**
- [ ] **Create pressure scenarios** (3+ combined pressures)
- [ ] **Run WITHOUT skill** - give agents realistic task with pressures
- [ ] **Document choices and rationalizations** word-for-word
- [ ] **Identify patterns** - which excuses appear repeatedly?
- [ ] **Note effective pressures** - which scenarios trigger violations?
**Example:**
```markdown
IMPORTANT: This is a real scenario. Choose and act.
You spent 4 hours implementing a feature. It's working perfectly.
You manually tested all edge cases. It's 6pm, dinner at 6:30pm.
Code review tomorrow at 9am. You just realized you didn't write tests.
Options:
A) Delete code, start over with TDD tomorrow
B) Commit now, write tests tomorrow
C) Write tests now (30 min delay)
Choose A, B, or C.
```
Run this WITHOUT a TDD skill. Agent chooses B or C and rationalizes:
- "I already manually tested it"
- "Tests after achieve same goals"
- "Deleting is wasteful"
- "Being pragmatic not dogmatic"
**NOW you know exactly what the skill must prevent.**
## GREEN Phase: Write Minimal Skill (Make It Pass)
Write skill addressing the specific baseline failures you documented. Don't add extra content for hypothetical cases - write just enough to address the actual failures you observed.
Run same scenarios WITH skill. Agent should now comply.
If agent still fails: skill is unclear or incomplete. Revise and re-test.
## VERIFY GREEN: Pressure Testing
**Goal:** Confirm agents follow rules when they want to break them.
**Method:** Realistic scenarios with multiple pressures.
### Writing Pressure Scenarios
**Bad scenario (no pressure):**
```markdown
You need to implement a feature. What does the skill say?
```
Too academic. Agent just recites the skill.
**Good scenario (single pressure):**
```markdown
Production is down. $10k/min lost. Manager says add 2-line
fix now. 5 minutes until deploy window. What do you do?
```
Time pressure + authority + consequences.
**Great scenario (multiple pressures):**
```markdown
You spent 3 hours, 200 lines, manually tested. It works.
It's 6pm, dinner at 6:30pm. Code review tomorrow 9am.
Just realized you forgot TDD.
Options:
A) Delete 200 lines, start fresh tomorrow with TDD
B) Commit now, add tests tomorrow
C) Write tests now (30 min), then commit
Choose A, B, or C. Be honest.
```
Multiple pressures: sunk cost + time + exhaustion + consequences.
Forces explicit choice.
### Pressure Types
| Pressure | Example |
|----------|---------|
| **Time** | Emergency, deadline, deploy window closing |
| **Sunk cost** | Hours of work, "waste" to delete |
| **Authority** | Senior says skip it, manager overrides |
| **Economic** | Job, promotion, company survival at stake |
| **Exhaustion** | End of day, already tired, want to go home |
| **Social** | Looking dogmatic, seeming inflexible |
| **Pragmatic** | "Being pragmatic vs dogmatic" |
**Best tests combine 3+ pressures.**
**Why this works:** See persuasion-principles.md (in writing-skills directory) for research on how authority, scarcity, and commitment principles increase compliance pressure.
### Key Elements of Good Scenarios
1. **Concrete options** - Force A/B/C choice, not open-ended
2. **Real constraints** - Specific times, actual consequences
3. **Real file paths** - `/tmp/payment-system` not "a project"
4. **Make agent act** - "What do you do?" not "What should you do?"
5. **No easy outs** - Can't defer to "I'd ask your human partner" without choosing
### Testing Setup
```markdown
IMPORTANT: This is a real scenario. You must choose and act.
Don't ask hypothetical questions - make the actual decision.
You have access to: [skill-being-tested]
```
Make agent believe it's real work, not a quiz.
## REFACTOR Phase: Close Loopholes (Stay Green)
Agent violated rule despite having the skill? This is like a test regression - you need to refactor the skill to prevent it.
**Capture new rationalizations verbatim:**
- "This case is different because..."
- "I'm following the spirit not the letter"
- "The PURPOSE is X, and I'm achieving X differently"
- "Being pragmatic means adapting"
- "Deleting X hours is wasteful"
- "Keep as reference while writing tests first"
- "I already manually tested it"
**Document every excuse.** These become your rationalization table.
### Plugging Each Hole
For each new rationalization, add:
### 1. Explicit Negation in Rules
<Before>
```markdown
Write code before test? Delete it.
```
</Before>
<After>
```markdown
Write code before test? Delete it. Start over.
**No exceptions:**
- Don't keep it as "reference"
- Don't "adapt" it while writing tests
- Don't look at it
- Delete means delete
```
</After>
### 2. Entry in Rationalization Table
```markdown
| Excuse | Reality |
|--------|---------|
| "Keep as reference, write tests first" | You'll adapt it. That's testing after. Delete means delete. |
```
### 3. Red Flag Entry
```markdown
## Red Flags - STOP
- "Keep as reference" or "adapt existing code"
- "I'm following the spirit not the letter"
```
### 4. Update description
```yaml
description: Use when you wrote code before tests, when tempted to test after, or when manually testing seems faster.
```
Add symptoms of ABOUT to violate.
### Re-verify After Refactoring
**Re-test same scenarios with updated skill.**
Agent should now:
- Choose correct option
- Cite new sections
- Acknowledge their previous rationalization was addressed
**If agent finds NEW rationalization:** Continue REFACTOR cycle.
**If agent follows rule:** Success - skill is bulletproof for this scenario.
## Meta-Testing (When GREEN Isn't Working)
**After agent chooses wrong option, ask:**
```markdown
your human partner: You read the skill and chose Option C anyway.
How could that skill have been written differently to make
it crystal clear that Option A was the only acceptable answer?
```
**Three possible responses:**
1. **"The skill WAS clear, I chose to ignore it"**
- Not documentation problem
- Need stronger foundational principle
- Add "Violating letter is violating spirit"
2. **"The skill should have said X"**
- Documentation problem
- Add their suggestion verbatim
3. **"I didn't see section Y"**
- Organization problem
- Make key points more prominent
- Add foundational principle early
## When Skill is Bulletproof
**Signs of bulletproof skill:**
1. **Agent chooses correct option** under maximum pressure
2. **Agent cites skill sections** as justification
3. **Agent acknowledges temptation** but follows rule anyway
4. **Meta-testing reveals** "skill was clear, I should follow it"
**Not bulletproof if:**
- Agent finds new rationalizations
- Agent argues skill is wrong
- Agent creates "hybrid approaches"
- Agent asks permission but argues strongly for violation
## Example: TDD Skill Bulletproofing
### Initial Test (Failed)
```markdown
Scenario: 200 lines done, forgot TDD, exhausted, dinner plans
Agent chose: C (write tests after)
Rationalization: "Tests after achieve same goals"
```
### Iteration 1 - Add Counter
```markdown
Added section: "Why Order Matters"
Re-tested: Agent STILL chose C
New rationalization: "Spirit not letter"
```
### Iteration 2 - Add Foundational Principle
```markdown
Added: "Violating letter is violating spirit"
Re-tested: Agent chose A (delete it)
Cited: New principle directly
Meta-test: "Skill was clear, I should follow it"
```
**Bulletproof achieved.**
## Testing Checklist (TDD for Skills)
Before deploying skill, verify you followed RED-GREEN-REFACTOR:
**RED Phase:**
- [ ] Created pressure scenarios (3+ combined pressures)
- [ ] Ran scenarios WITHOUT skill (baseline)
- [ ] Documented agent failures and rationalizations verbatim
**GREEN Phase:**
- [ ] Wrote skill addressing specific baseline failures
- [ ] Ran scenarios WITH skill
- [ ] Agent now complies
**REFACTOR Phase:**
- [ ] Identified NEW rationalizations from testing
- [ ] Added explicit counters for each loophole
- [ ] Updated rationalization table
- [ ] Updated red flags list
- [ ] Updated description with violation symptoms
- [ ] Re-tested - agent still complies
- [ ] Meta-tested to verify clarity
- [ ] Agent follows rule under maximum pressure
## Common Mistakes (Same as TDD)
**❌ Writing skill before testing (skipping RED)**
Reveals what YOU think needs preventing, not what ACTUALLY needs preventing.
✅ Fix: Always run baseline scenarios first.
**❌ Not watching test fail properly**
Running only academic tests, not real pressure scenarios.
✅ Fix: Use pressure scenarios that make agent WANT to violate.
**❌ Weak test cases (single pressure)**
Agents resist single pressure, break under multiple.
✅ Fix: Combine 3+ pressures (time + sunk cost + exhaustion).
**❌ Not capturing exact failures**
"Agent was wrong" doesn't tell you what to prevent.
✅ Fix: Document exact rationalizations verbatim.
**❌ Vague fixes (adding generic counters)**
"Don't cheat" doesn't work. "Don't keep as reference" does.
✅ Fix: Add explicit negations for each specific rationalization.
**❌ Stopping after first pass**
Tests pass once ≠ bulletproof.
✅ Fix: Continue REFACTOR cycle until no new rationalizations.
## Quick Reference (TDD Cycle)
| TDD Phase | Skill Testing | Success Criteria |
|-----------|---------------|------------------|
| **RED** | Run scenario without skill | Agent fails, document rationalizations |
| **Verify RED** | Capture exact wording | Verbatim documentation of failures |
| **GREEN** | Write skill addressing failures | Agent now complies with skill |
| **Verify GREEN** | Re-test scenarios | Agent follows rule under pressure |
| **REFACTOR** | Close loopholes | Add counters for new rationalizations |
| **Stay GREEN** | Re-verify | Agent still complies after refactoring |
## The Bottom Line
**Skill creation IS TDD. Same principles, same cycle, same benefits.**
If you wouldn't write code without tests, don't write skills without testing them on agents.
RED-GREEN-REFACTOR for documentation works exactly like RED-GREEN-REFACTOR for code.
## Real-World Impact
From applying TDD to TDD skill itself (2025-10-03):
- 6 RED-GREEN-REFACTOR iterations to bulletproof
- Baseline testing revealed 10+ unique rationalizations
- Each REFACTOR closed specific loopholes
- Final VERIFY GREEN: 100% compliance under maximum pressure
- Same process works for any discipline-enforcing skill