Skill Quality Rubric

This advisory rubric identifies concrete hardening opportunities. It does not change a deep-audit verdict and must not reward unnecessary references, scripts, assets, self-tests, or subagent packets.

Scoring

Each category receives 0–3:

Score	Meaning
0	Missing and required for this skill's actual behavior
1	Present but weak, or warranted but absent
2	Solid for the skill's scope, including “not needed”
3	Mechanically strong or unusually complete

Category	What good means
Trigger quality	Description says what, when, and avoids obvious false positives.
Kernel clarity	The bounded procedure and stop condition are easy to find.
Progressive disclosure	A concise kernel is self-contained; complex detail is linked.
Helper scripts	Repeated deterministic mechanics are scripted; judgment is not.
Validation	Evidence commands or artifacts prove executable behavior.
Self-test	Trigger or behavior examples exist when complexity warrants them.
Assets/templates	Reusable payloads exist only when the workflow actually needs them.
Subagents/roles	Delegation packets exist only for intentionally delegated work.
Safety boundaries	Mutation, authorization, and non-goals are explicit where relevant.
Packaging	The package is small, linked, mode-correct, and projection-safe.

The maximum remains 30. Rating bands are C (0–10), B (11–20), A (21–26), and S (27–30). A lower advisory rating is a review signal, not a ship blocker.

Required repository checks

bash skills/skill-builder/scripts/heal.sh --check --strict skills/<slug>
bash skills/skill-builder/scripts/audit.sh --strict skills/<slug>
bash scripts/validate-skill-frontmatter.sh --strict
bash tests/docs/validate-skill-count.sh
python3 scripts/generate-skill-mesh.py --check

When behavior or metadata changes:

bash scripts/refresh-codex-artifacts.sh --scope worktree
bash scripts/validate-codex-generated-artifacts.sh --scope worktree

Marketplace export checks apply only when preparing that package. A self-contained repo skill is not defective merely because it lacks marketplace assets or a dedicated delegation tree.

Audit method

1. Read the complete SKILL.md and every linked resource.
2. Compare its declared trigger, boundaries, output, and evidence with actual behavior.
3. Run the repository checks.
4. Score optional package features relative to demonstrated need.
5. Recommend the smallest change that removes a real defect.

Never add ceremony solely to raise a numeric score.