review-skill
Installation
SKILL.md
Skill Reviewer
Review agent skills against best practices and rewrite weak areas.
When to Use
- After writing or editing a SKILL.md
- Before publishing a skill to agentskill.sh or sharing with a team
- When a skill underperforms (low ratings, poor triggering, inconsistent output)
- When asked to audit, review, or improve a skill
Review Process
Step 1: Read the Skill
Read the full SKILL.md and all referenced files (references/, scripts/, assets/). Note the skill's purpose, target audience, and complexity.
Step 2: Score Against 10 Dimensions
Evaluate each dimension on a 1-5 scale using the rubric in references/rubric.md.
Skill Review: <skill-name>
| # | Dimension | Score | Key Issue |
|---|------------------------|-------|----------------------------------|
| 1 | Frontmatter | ?/5 | |
| 2 | Description Quality | ?/5 | |
| 3 | Conciseness | ?/5 | |
| 4 | Structure | ?/5 | |
| 5 | Instruction Clarity | ?/5 | |
| 6 | Freedom Calibration | ?/5 | |
| 7 | Error Handling | ?/5 | |
| 8 | Progressive Disclosure | ?/5 | |
| 9 | Scripts Quality | ?/5 | |
|10 | Completeness | ?/5 | |
Overall: ?/50
Step 3: List Specific Issues
For each dimension scoring 3 or below, list concrete issues:
### Issues
1. [D2] Description is 15 characters, too vague to trigger reliably
2. [D3] Lines 45-80 explain what a CSV is; the agent already knows this
3. [D6] Three PDF libraries listed as equal options; pick a default
Step 4: Rewrite Problem Areas
For each issue, show the current text and a rewritten version. Apply changes directly if the user asks for it, otherwise present as suggestions.
### Fix: [D2] Description too vague
BEFORE:
description: Helps with PDFs.
AFTER:
description: >
Extract text and tables from PDF files, fill PDF forms, merge
documents. Use when working with PDF files or when the user
mentions PDFs, forms, or document extraction.
Step 5: Estimate Token Impact
Count approximate tokens for the full SKILL.md body (excluding frontmatter). Flag if over 5,000 tokens with specific sections to move to references/.
Scoring Reference
The full rubric with examples is in references/rubric.md.
Quick thresholds:
- 40-50/50: Production-ready. Minor polish at most.
- 30-39/50: Good foundation. Address flagged issues before publishing.
- 20-29/50: Needs significant work. Multiple dimensions require rewriting.
- Below 20/50: Fundamental issues. Consider restructuring from scratch.
Common Fixes (Quick Reference)
| Problem | Fix |
|---|---|
| Description too vague | Add what it does + when to use it + trigger keywords |
| Description uses first/second person | Rewrite in third person imperative |
| Explains things the agent already knows | Delete. Only add what the agent lacks. |
| Multiple equal options presented | Pick a default, mention alternatives briefly |
| No examples provided | Add 1-2 input/output pairs |
| Deeply nested file references | Flatten to one level from SKILL.md |
| SKILL.md over 500 lines | Move reference material to references/ |
| Magic numbers in scripts | Add comments explaining why each value |
| Scripts fail silently | Add explicit error messages with guidance |
| No validation step in workflow | Add a validate-then-proceed loop |
| Time-sensitive information | Remove dates, use "current" / "legacy" sections |
| Inconsistent terminology | Pick one term per concept, use throughout |
| No frontmatter name field | Add name (lowercase, hyphens, max 64 chars) |
| No frontmatter description | Add description (max 1024 chars) |
| Windows-style paths | Replace backslashes with forward slashes |
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