---
name: skill-evaluator
description: Evaluates agent skills against Anthropic's best practices. Use when asked to review, evaluate, assess, or audit a skill for quality. Analyzes SKILL.md structure, naming conventions, description quality, content organization, and identifies anti-patterns. Produces actionable improvement recommendations.
metadata:
skillport:
category: skills
tags:
- agent-skills
---
# Skill Evaluator (WIP)
Evaluates skills against Anthropic's official best practices for agent skill authoring. Produces structured evaluation reports with scores and actionable recommendations.
## Quick Start
1. Read the skill's SKILL.md and understand its purpose
2. Run automated validation: `scripts/validate_skill.py <skill-path>`
3. Perform manual evaluation against criteria below
4. Generate evaluation report with scores and recommendations
## Evaluation Workflow
### Step 1: Automated Validation
Run the validation script first:
```bash
scripts/validate_skill.py <path/to/skill>
```
This checks:
- SKILL.md exists with valid YAML frontmatter
- Name follows conventions (lowercase, hyphens, max 64 chars)
- Description is present and under 1024 chars
- Body is under 500 lines
- File references are one-level deep
### Step 2: Manual Evaluation
Evaluate each dimension and assign a score (1-5):
#### A. Naming (Weight: 10%)
| Score | Criteria |
|-------|----------|
| 5 | Gerund form (-ing), clear purpose, memorable |
| 4 | Descriptive, follows conventions |
| 3 | Acceptable but could be clearer |
| 2 | Vague or misleading |
| 1 | Violates naming rules |
**Rules**: Max 64 chars, lowercase + numbers + hyphens only, no reserved words (anthropic, claude), no XML tags.
**Good**: `processing-pdfs`, `analyzing-spreadsheets`, `building-dashboards`
**Bad**: `pdf`, `my-skill`, `ClaudeHelper`, `anthropic-tools`
#### B. Description (Weight: 20%)
| Score | Criteria |
|-------|----------|
| 5 | Clear functionality + specific activation triggers + third person |
| 4 | Good description with some triggers |
| 3 | Adequate but missing triggers or vague |
| 2 | Too brief or unclear purpose |
| 1 | Missing or unhelpful |
**Must include**: What the skill does AND when to use it.
**Good**: "Extracts text from PDFs. Use when working with PDF documents for text extraction, form parsing, or content analysis."
**Bad**: "A skill for PDFs." or "Helps with documents."
#### C. Content Quality (Weight: 30%)
| Score | Criteria |
|-------|----------|
| 5 | Concise, assumes Claude intelligence, actionable instructions |
| 4 | Generally good, minor verbosity |
| 3 | Some unnecessary explanations or redundancy |
| 2 | Overly verbose or confusing |
| 1 | Bloated, explains obvious concepts |
**Ask**: "Does Claude really need this explanation?" Remove anything Claude already knows.
#### D. Structure & Organization (Weight: 25%)
| Score | Criteria |
|-------|----------|
| 5 | Excellent progressive disclosure, clear navigation, optimal length |
| 4 | Good organization, appropriate file splits |
| 3 | Acceptable but could be better organized |
| 2 | Poor organization, missing references, or bloated SKILL.md |
| 1 | No structure, everything dumped in SKILL.md |
**Check**:
- SKILL.md under 500 lines
- References are one-level deep (no nested chains)
- Long reference files (>100 lines) have table of contents
- Uses forward slashes in all paths
#### E. Degrees of Freedom (Weight: 10%)
| Score | Criteria |
|-------|----------|
| 5 | Perfect match: high freedom for flexible tasks, low for fragile operations |
| 4 | Generally appropriate freedom levels |
| 3 | Acceptable but could be better calibrated |
| 2 | Mismatched: too rigid or too loose |
| 1 | Completely wrong freedom level for the task type |
**Guideline**:
- High freedom (text): Multiple valid approaches, context-dependent
- Medium freedom (parameterized): Preferred pattern exists, some variation OK
- Low freedom (specific scripts): Fragile operations, exact sequence required
#### F. Anti-Pattern Check (Weight: 5%)
Deduct points for each anti-pattern found:
- [ ] Too many options without clear recommendation (-1)
- [ ] Time-sensitive information with date conditionals (-1)
- [ ] Inconsistent terminology (-1)
- [ ] Windows-style paths (backslashes) (-1)
- [ ] Deeply nested references (more than one level) (-2)
- [ ] Scripts that punt error handling to Claude (-1)
- [ ] Magic numbers without justification (-1)
### Step 3: Generate Report
Use this template:
```markdown
# Skill Evaluation Report: [skill-name]
## Summary
- **Overall Score**: X.X/5.0
- **Recommendation**: [Ready for publication / Needs minor improvements / Needs major revision]
## Dimension Scores
| Dimension | Score | Weight | Weighted |
|-----------|-------|--------|----------|
| Naming | X/5 | 10% | X.XX |
| Description | X/5 | 20% | X.XX |
| Content Quality | X/5 | 30% | X.XX |
| Structure | X/5 | 25% | X.XX |
| Degrees of Freedom | X/5 | 10% | X.XX |
| Anti-Patterns | X/5 | 5% | X.XX |
| **Total** | | 100% | **X.XX** |
## Strengths
- [List 2-3 things done well]
## Areas for Improvement
- [List specific issues with actionable fixes]
## Anti-Patterns Found
- [List any anti-patterns detected]
## Recommendations
1. [Priority 1 fix]
2. [Priority 2 fix]
3. [Priority 3 fix]
## Pre-Publication Checklist
- [ ] Description is specific with activation triggers
- [ ] SKILL.md under 500 lines
- [ ] One-level-deep file references
- [ ] Forward slashes in all paths
- [ ] No time-sensitive information
- [ ] Consistent terminology
- [ ] Concrete examples provided
- [ ] Scripts handle errors explicitly
- [ ] All configuration values justified
- [ ] Required packages listed
- [ ] Tested with Haiku, Sonnet, Opus
```
## Score Interpretation
| Score Range | Rating | Action |
|-------------|--------|--------|
| 4.5 - 5.0 | Excellent | Ready for publication |
| 4.0 - 4.4 | Good | Minor improvements recommended |
| 3.0 - 3.9 | Acceptable | Several improvements needed |
| 2.0 - 2.9 | Needs Work | Major revision required |
| 1.0 - 1.9 | Poor | Fundamental redesign needed |
## References
- [references/evaluation-criteria.md](references/evaluation-criteria.md) - Detailed evaluation criteria with examples
- [references/scoring-rubric.md](references/scoring-rubric.md) - Complete scoring rubric and edge cases
## Examples
See [evaluations/](evaluations/) for example evaluation scenarios.
