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forgeron-AIforgeron-AI/claude-skill-doctor/skill-doctor/SKILL.md

skill-doctor

Skill0 starsChanged 4 months agoMITView on GitHub

Audit and repair Claude skills that misbehave. Use when a skill never triggers, triggers on the wrong requests, produces inconsistent outputs, has grown too long to maintain, or when the user shares a SKILL.md saying "it doesn't work", "audit this skill", "why doesn't my skill trigger", "clean up this skill". Also use to review a skill before publishing or installing it. Do NOT use for creating a new skill from scratch, for prompt writing unrelated to skills, or for simple text correction.

27 other projects use a version of this.

Adopted by

Most recently taken up by

Used with

Projects with it also use herdr, diagnosing-bugs and 4 more.

Other files people use alongside this one.

Files found in the same public projects as a version of this one, more often than they turn up anywhere else. Each project counts once, large collections count for less, and this file's own repository is left out.
  • ninehillsSkill

    herdr

    Control herdr from inside it. Manage workspaces and tabs, split panes, run commands, read output, and wait for state changes — all via CLI commands that talk to the running herdr instance over a local unix socket. Use when running inside herdr (HERDR_ENV=1).

    Also in 3 projects that use this

  • GoogleSkill

    diagnosing-bugs

    Diagnosis loop for hard bugs and performance regressions. Use when the user says "diagnose"/"debug this", or reports something broken/throwing/failing/slow.

    Also in 3 projects that use this

  • NVIDIASkill

    research

    Before designing a feature, research how comparable libraries solve the problem, check best practices, known pitfalls, and upstream changes. Use when starting a new feature, investigating an unfamiliar area, or the user asks to research something.

    Also in 4 projects that use this

  • SentrySkill

    security-review

    Finds exploitable application security vulnerabilities in code changes. Use for Warden security scans, appsec review, OWASP-style checks, authentication or authorization bugs, injection, XSS, SSRF, path traversal, secrets, unsafe crypto, webhook verification, open redirects, or sensitive data exposure.

    Also in 3 projects that use this

  • GoogleSkill

    grill-me

    A relentless interview to sharpen a plan or design.

    Also in 4 projects that use this

  • MicrosoftSkill

    handoff

    Compact the current conversation into a handoff document for another agent to pick up.

    Also in 3 projects that use this

  • Other versions27 projects use a version of this.

    Word for word · 0

    None found.

    Edited · 0

    None found.

    Wrote their own version · 27

    1. nyldn/claude-octopus★ 4.4ksame name
    2. compozy/compozy★ 2.9ksame name
    3. dotCMS/core★ 971same name
    4. warpdotdev/common-skills★ 630same name
    5. mintuz/skills★ 33same name
    6. jongio/skills★ 18same name
    7. evilstar2016/skill-doctor★ 15same name
    8. Yassimba/loom★ 9same name
    9. IbrahimSobh/AISkills★ 7same name
    10. isalicema/skill-doctor★ 7same name

    17 more not listed

    How matches are found. Word for word: the exact same text. Edited: shares passages with this file (“99% same” means 99% of its five-word phrases also appear here; 10% or more counts). Their own version: similar meaning, or, weakest, the same name. We can’t tell which project had it first. Projects are counted among the 200 most-starred candidates, and mentions are links to the repository we found, up to 50 per site, so both counts are a floor.

The file

We split this skill into the rules it gives an agent

7 rules. 0 are common, 4 are distinctive, and 3 are very specific to this project.

  • 0

    Common

    Most of the 24 edited versions we read keep these.

  • 4

    Distinctive

    This author's own choices. Worth a look.

  • 3

    Very specific

    Tied to their project's names, files or tools. Probably skip.

  • Common
  • Distinctive
  • Very specific
  1. Distinctive:

    When a skill "doesn't work", the cause is almost never the content — it's the structure.

    line 17
  2. Very specific:

    Every sentence in a SKILL.md must change Claude's behavior.

    line 22
  3. Distinctive:

    Use if: a skill misfires, under-triggers, over-triggers, drifts, or needs a pre-publication review.

    line 26
  4. Distinctive:

    Do not use if: the user wants a brand-new skill built from scratch (that's creation, not repair — see Full toolkit note at the bottom).

    line 27
  5. Very specific:

    Every file pointed to by SKILL.md must exist.

    line 39
  6. Very specific:

    Read references/audit-grid.md and score each criterion 0–5: clarity, triggering, concision, reusability, testability, maintainability, …

    line 42
  7. Distinctive:

    Every audit follows this order:

    line 71

“Common” is measured: kept by at least 6 in 10 of the 24 edited versions of this file we could read. “Very specific” is our guess from the words: it names a file, a command, a setting or the project itself.

Keep what fits and drop the rest. Your version, ready for your agents.
Files
SKILL.md

Skill Doctor

Core principle

When a skill "doesn't work", the cause is almost never the content — it's the structure. Two failure modes explain ~90% of cases:

  1. Never triggers → the frontmatter description is generic. It's the only text Claude always sees; it must list exact trigger signals AND exclusions.
  2. Inconsistent outputs → the context is saturated. Everything loads on every use, the signal drowns. SKILL.md should stay under 500 lines; everything else belongs in references/ behind an explicit read condition.

Every sentence in a SKILL.md must change Claude's behavior. If it doesn't, it's noise — delete it.

When to use / not use

Use if: a skill misfires, under-triggers, over-triggers, drifts, or needs a pre-publication review. Do not use if: the user wants a brand-new skill built from scratch (that's creation, not repair — see Full toolkit note at the bottom).

Rule when information is missing

Make explicit assumptions, produce a first version, flag the assumptions. Ask at most 1–3 questions, and only if an assumption would be too risky. Never block.

Audit workflow

1. Read the whole skill

SKILL.md including frontmatter, plus every file in references/, templates/, scripts/. Never audit from the SKILL.md alone if other files exist.

2. Check promised vs. present

Every file pointed to by SKILL.md must exist. Phantom references silently degrade outputs — this is one of the most common defects in published skills.

3. Score against the 7-criteria grid

Read references/audit-grid.md and score each criterion 0–5: clarity, triggering, concision, reusability, testability, maintainability, robustness. Delivery threshold: 4/5 average.

4. Identify the dominant failure

Match symptoms to the anti-pattern table below. Name ONE dominant cause — a repair that fixes everything fixes nothing.

5. Produce the fix list, ranked by impact

Each fix: what to change, where, why it changes behavior.

6. Deliver the corrected version

Full corrected SKILL.md, not a diff. Preserve the author's intent and voice — repair the structure, not the project.

7. Test on 5 cases

Normal · vague · edge · missing info · out of scope (must NOT trigger). Binary verdict per case. Every failure becomes a rule, an example, or a constraint. Protocol details in references/audit-grid.md.

Anti-pattern table

SymptomStructural causeFix
Never triggersGeneric description, no signalsRewrite description: keywords, request types, exclusions
Triggers on wrong requestsNo exclusions in descriptionAdd explicit "do NOT use for..."
Inconsistent outputsSKILL.md overloaded (500+ lines)Move bulk to references/ with read conditions
References never readFiles not pointed from SKILL.md, or no conditionAdd pointer + "read X only if Y"
Claude rewrites code instead of running scriptsNo exact call documentedDocument: python scripts/x.py <args>
Install brokenFrontmatter name ≠ folder nameAlign both
Output varies wildly between runsNo imposed output formatAdd a numbered output format section
Skill fabricates when input is badNo missing-info ruleAdd the assumptions-first rule (see above)

Imposed output format

Every audit follows this order:

  1. Quick diagnosis — solid / to simplify / structurally broken, in 3 lines
  2. Promised vs. present — list of phantom files, if any
  3. 7-criteria scores — table with one-line cause per score below 4
  4. Dominant failure — one named cause
  5. Fix list — ranked by impact
  6. Corrected SKILL.md — complete
  7. 5-case test plan — with expected verdicts

Resources

  • references/audit-grid.md — 7-criteria scoring grid + 5-case test protocol — read at steps 3 and 7
  • templates/skill-md-template.md — clean SKILL.md skeleton — use when the corrected version needs restructuring from the ground up

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