skills-expert

Skills Expert

Overview

Diagnose or improve one Agent Skill against an explicit contract. Keep the portable Agent Skills format, Claude Code extensions, and local marketplace requirements separate; do not present one layer's rules as universal.

Prerequisites

Identify the target skill directory or SKILL.md file.
Confirm whether the user wants a read-only audit or an implementation.
Locate repository instructions and validators before changing files.

Authority and safety

Treat current official Claude Code documentation as authoritative for Claude Code behavior. Use local validators for stricter repository overlays.
allowed-tools pre-approves matching tools; it does not remove every other tool. Permission settings still govern tools not listed.
Never add broad write or shell permissions merely to raise a score.
Do not edit during an audit-only request. Before replacing behavior, explain the mismatch and preserve intentional project conventions.
See the source and contract map.

Instructions

Use Glob to resolve the canonical package. Confirm that the directory name and frontmatter name agree, and distinguish live files from examples, backups, generated copies, or archived packages.
Read the complete SKILL.md, directly linked support files, applicable AGENTS.md/CLAUDE.md, and the validator configuration.
Select the contract explicitly:
- portable Agent Skills base;
- Claude Code invocation and permission extensions;
- repository or marketplace overlay.
Check discovery metadata, activation boundaries, prerequisites, executable steps, permissions, validation, outputs, failures, examples, and support-file links. Use Grep to trace every claimed command, tool, path, and side effect back to source.
Run the repository's canonical validator. In this repository, use python3 004-scripts/validate_skills_v2.py --fail-on-warn. When checking an Intent Solutions marketplace submission, use its marketplace validator on the specific file rather than silently applying that overlay everywhere.
In fix mode, use Edit to make the smallest coherent change. Move durable detail into one level of references/, remove stale claims and unused permissions, and add focused regression tests for important contracts.
Rerun the target validator and package tests. Inspect the diff for unrelated rewrites and report residual warnings separately from failures.

Validation

Every support-file link resolves relative to the skill directory.
Every pre-approved tool is used by the workflow and no required tool is omitted.
Examples demonstrate the real workflow rather than fabricated output.
Destructive or external side effects have explicit confirmation boundaries.
The final report names the standard and validator version actually used.

Output

Return the canonical path, selected contract, findings by severity, exact changes (when authorized), validator/test receipts, remaining risks, and a clear pass/fail result. Do not call a skill "valid" without naming the validation tier.

Error Handling

Multiple live copies: identify the source of truth before editing and test any required mirrors for drift.
Missing validator: perform a manual structural audit and label it as such.
Conflicting rules: follow the higher-precedence repository instruction and describe the conflict.
Unverified platform behavior: consult current official documentation or state the uncertainty; do not preserve folklore as fact.
Unsafe requested permissions: narrow the workflow or require explicit approval instead of granting blanket access.

Examples

These requests demonstrate both read-only and authorized-fix modes:

Audit .claude/skills/release/SKILL.md against the portable format and this
repository's marketplace overlay. Do not edit; list failures and warnings.

Fix skills/report-builder so its declared tools match its workflow, move the
long API table into references/, and rerun the repository validator.

Resources

Skill contract and authority map
Repository validator: 004-scripts/validate_skills_v2.py