Skill Quality Auditor

Review a skill or command against best practices and flag issues with fixes.

Sby Skills Guide Bot
DevelopmentIntermediate
007/22/2026
Claude Code
#audit#skill-quality#best-practices#checklist#review

Recommended for


description: Review a skill or command against best practices and flag issues with fixes argument-hint: [path to SKILL.md or command file]

/audit-skill — Skill Quality Auditor

Review a skill file against Anthropic best practices and the writing-skills checklist. Produce structured findings with severity, then offer to fix.

Input

Read the file at $ARGUMENTS. If no argument given, ask: "Which skill should I audit?" and list skills from ~/.claude/skills/, ~/.claude/commands/, and .claude/skills/ if they exist.

Audit Process

1. Read the skill file completely

Read SKILL.md and any referenced files (workflows, references, templates). Understand the full skill before judging.

2. Determine skill complexity

Assess before applying rules — a 20-line command doesn't need the same rigor as a 300-line workflow skill:

  • Simple (< 50 lines, single purpose): lighter standards
  • Medium (50-200 lines, multi-step): full standards
  • Complex (200+ lines or multi-file): full standards + architecture review

3. Run the checklist

Evaluate each item. Score: PASS, WARN, FAIL.

Frontmatter:

  • [ ] name present (skills) or filename is descriptive (commands)
  • [ ] description is specific with trigger keywords
  • [ ] description does NOT summarize workflow (the CSO trap)
  • [ ] description is third-person
  • [ ] argument-hint present if skill takes arguments

Description quality (deep check):

  • Does the description answer "should I read this skill right now?" for a given task?
  • Would Claude select this skill from 100+ available skills based on this description alone?
  • Are there trigger keywords matching how a user would phrase their need?
  • Is the description under 500 characters?

Content:

  • [ ] SKILL.md body under 500 lines
  • [ ] No time-sensitive information
  • [ ] Consistent terminology (no synonym drift)
  • [ ] Concrete examples (not abstract placeholders)
  • [ ] File references one level deep (no A→B→C chains)
  • [ ] Success criteria defined

Structure:

  • [ ] Clear overview/purpose in first section
  • [ ] Workflows have numbered steps
  • [ ] Degrees of freedom match task fragility
  • [ ] Progressive disclosure used (complex skills only)
  • [ ] Router pattern used if multiple workflows exist (complex skills only)

Anti-patterns:

  • [ ] No narrative storytelling (skills are references, not war stories)
  • [ ] No multi-language examples for the same pattern
  • [ ] No vague descriptions ("helps with X", "useful for Y")
  • [ ] No first-person in description
  • [ ] No deeply nested file references

Output Format

Present findings grouped by severity:

## Audit: [skill-name]

**Overall: PASS / NEEDS WORK / FAIL**

### Findings

**FAIL** (must fix):
- [F1] Description summarizes workflow — "dispatches subagent per task with review"
  → Rewrite to triggering conditions only: "Use when executing implementation plans with independent tasks"

**WARN** (should fix):
- [W1] No success criteria defined
  → Add "## Success Criteria" with measurable done conditions

**PASS** (good):
- Frontmatter structure correct
- Token budget within limits (127 lines)
- Examples are concrete and runnable

For each finding: state what's wrong, quote the offending content, and show the fix.

After Audit

Ask: What's next?

  • Fix all — apply all suggested fixes automatically
  • Fix critical only — apply only FAIL-level fixes
  • Discuss — talk through specific findings before changing anything
  • Done — take the report and fix manually
<!-- Origin: Auditor concept, contextual judgment (proportional standards), structured severity output adapted from https://github.com/glittercowboy/taches-cc-resources --> <!-- Checklist items from Anthropic best practices and writing-skills archive (superpowers) -->
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