Assess

Comprehensive assessment skill for answering "is this good?" with structured evaluation, scoring, and actionable recommendations.

Quick Start

/ork:assess backend/app/services/auth.py
/ork:assess our caching strategy
/ork:assess the current database schema
/ork:assess frontend/src/components/Dashboard

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STEP 0: Verify User Intent with AskUserQuestion

BEFORE creating tasks, clarify assessment dimensions:

AskUserQuestion(
  questions=[{
    "question": "What dimensions to assess?",
    "header": "Dimensions",
    "options": [
      {"label": "Full assessment (Recommended)", "description": "All dimensions: quality, maintainability, security, performance"},
      {"label": "Code quality only", "description": "Readability, complexity, best practices"},
      {"label": "Security focus", "description": "Vulnerabilities, attack surface, compliance"},
      {"label": "Quick score", "description": "Just give me a 0-10 score with brief notes"}
    ],
    "multiSelect": false
  }]
)

Based on answer, adjust workflow:

• Full assessment: All 7 phases, parallel agents
• Code quality only: Skip security and performance phases
• Security focus: Prioritize security-auditor agent
• Quick score: Single pass, brief output

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STEP 0b: Select Orchestration Mode

See Orchestration Mode for env var check logic, Agent Teams vs Task Tool comparison, and mode selection rules.

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Task Management (CC 2.1.16)

TaskCreate(
  subject="Assess: {target}",
  description="Comprehensive evaluation with quality scores and recommendations",
  activeForm="Assessing {target}"
)

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What This Skill Answers

Question	How It's Answered
"Is this good?"	Quality score 0-10 with reasoning
"What are the trade-offs?"	Structured pros/cons list
"Should we change this?"	Improvement suggestions with effort
"What are the alternatives?"	Comparison with scores
"Where should we focus?"	Prioritized recommendations

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Workflow Overview

Phase	Activities	Output
1. Target Understanding	Read code/design, identify scope	Context summary
1.5. Scope Discovery	Build bounded file list	Scoped file list
2. Quality Rating	7-dimension scoring (0-10)	Scores with reasoning
3. Pros/Cons Analysis	Strengths and weaknesses	Balanced evaluation
4. Alternative Comparison	Score alternatives	Comparison matrix
5. Improvement Suggestions	Actionable recommendations	Prioritized list
6. Effort Estimation	Time and complexity estimates	Effort breakdown
7. Assessment Report	Compile findings	Final report

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Phase 1: Target Understanding

Identify what's being assessed and gather context:

# PARALLEL - Gather context
Read(file_path="$ARGUMENTS")  # If file path
Grep(pattern="$ARGUMENTS", output_mode="files_with_matches")
mcp__memory__search_nodes(query="$ARGUMENTS")  # Past decisions

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Phase 1.5: Scope Discovery

See Scope Discovery for the full file discovery, limit application (MAX 30 files), and sampling priority logic. Always include the scoped file list in every agent prompt.

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Phase 2: Quality Rating (7 Dimensions)

Rate each dimension 0-10 with weighted composite score. See Quality Model for dimensions, weights, and grade interpretation. See Scoring Rubric for per-dimension criteria.

See Agent Spawn Definitions for Task Tool mode spawn patterns and Agent Teams alternative.

Composite Score: Weighted average of all 7 dimensions (see quality-model.md).

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Phases 3-7: Analysis, Comparison & Report

See Phase Templates for output templates for pros/cons, alternatives, improvements, effort, and the final report.

See also: Alternative Analysis | Improvement Prioritization

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Grade Interpretation

See Quality Model for scoring dimensions, weights, and grade interpretation.

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Key Decisions

Decision	Choice	Rationale
7 dimensions	Comprehensive coverage	All quality aspects without overwhelming
0-10 scale	Industry standard	Easy to understand and compare
Parallel assessment	4 agents (7 dimensions)	Fast, thorough evaluation
Effort/Impact scoring	1-5 scale	Simple prioritization math

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Rules Quick Reference

Rule	Impact	What It Covers
complexity-metrics	HIGH	7-criterion scoring (1-5), complexity levels, thresholds
complexity-breakdown	HIGH	Task decomposition strategies, risk assessment

Related Skills

• assess-complexity - Task complexity assessment
• ork:verify - Post-implementation verification
• ork:code-review-playbook - Code review patterns
• ork:quality-gates - Quality gate patterns

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Version: 1.1.0 (February 2026)