/skill-health-check

name: skill-health-check
description: "Validate skill quality against routing, progressive loading, and verification criteria. Use when: auditing skills, checking skill health, reviewing skill design. Not for: code review (use codex-code-review) or doc review (use doc-review). Output: health report with per-skill ratings + Gate."
allowed-tools: Read, Grep, Glob, Bash(node:*)
context: fork

Skill Health Check

Trigger

• Keywords: skill health, skill audit, skill lint, check skills, skill quality, validate skills

When NOT to Use

• Code review (use `/codex-review-fast`)
• Document review (use `/codex-review-doc`)
• Creating new skills (use `skill-creator` plugin, external)
• .claude directory structure check (use `/claude-health`)

Core Principle

Skills are **on-demand context packages**. Their value comes from routing precision (right skill triggers at right time) and context efficiency (minimum tokens for maximum capability). A poorly routed skill wastes context on every mismatch; a well-routed skill transforms a generalist into a specialist at exactly the right moment.

Workflow

Run automated lint → Review manual dimensions → Produce integrated report → Gate

Step 1: Automated Lint

node skills/skill-health-check/scripts/skill-lint.js --fix-hint

**Script I/O contract:**

| Parameter | Description | |-----------|-------------| | `--skills-dir <path>` | Skills directory (default: `./skills`) | | `--agents-dir <path>` | Agents directory (default: `./agents`) | | `--json` | Output JSON instead of markdown | | `--fix-hint` | Include fix suggestions | | Exit 0 | All pass | | Exit 1 | Warnings only (P2) | | Exit 2 | Errors found (P0/P1) |

**Per-skill checks (11 items):**

| # | Check | Severity | Criteria | |---|-------|----------|----------| | 1 | Frontmatter exists | P0 | `name` + `description` required | | 2 | Routing signature | P1 | Description has at least 2 of 3 routing cues (Use/Avoid/Output); 0 cues = P1, 1 cue = P2 | | 3 | When NOT section | P1 | Body has "When NOT to Use" heading | | 4 | Output section | P2 | Body defines expected deliverable | | 5 | Verification section | P2 | Body has verification checklist | | 6 | References routing | P2 | Each reference file mentioned in body | | 7 | Scripts contract | P2 | Each script filename referenced in SKILL.md body | | 8 | Line count | P2 | Warning >150, flag >250 | | 9 | Agent entitlement | P2 | Body describes `Agent()` dispatch but `allowed-tools` lacks Agent | | 10 | Task entitlement | P2 | Body describes `Task()` dispatch but `allowed-tools` lacks Task | | 11 | Cross-skill ref path | P1 | Bare ref paths not found locally but existing in another skill → must use `@skills/<parent>/` prefix |

**Cross-skill checks (3 items):**

| # | Check | Severity | Criteria | |---|-------|----------|----------| | 12 | Description overlap | P2 | Jaccard similarity >60% flagged | | 13 | Agent ref validity | P1 | `subagent_type` references in skills must exist in `agents/` | | 14 | Agent tools syntax | P2 | Agent `.md` tools field uses canonical format (ToolName or `Bash(<prefix>:*)`) |

Step 2: Manual Review (when comprehensive audit requested)

Read flagged skills and evaluate:

| Dimension | Question | Rating | |-----------|----------|--------| | **Why > What** | Does skill explain underlying principles, not just steps? | ⭐1-5 | | **Scope fitness** | Is the skill focused? Could it be split? | ⭐1-5 | | **Progressive loading** | Is heavy content in references/, not inline? | ⭐1-5 | | **Routing precision** | Would a user's request unambiguously trigger this skill? | ⭐1-5 |

Only run Step 2 when user explicitly requests deep audit. Default: Step 1 only.

Output

# Skill Health Check Report

## Summary

| Metric | Value |
|--------|-------|
| Skills scanned | N |
| Checks passed | N |
| P0 (Must Fix) | N |
| P1 (Should Fix) | N |
| P2 (Suggestion) | N |

## Per-Skill Results

| Skill | Routing | When-NOT | Output | Verification | Refs | AgEnt | TskEnt | Lines | Status |
|-------|---------|----------|--------|--------------|------|-------|--------|-------|--------|
| name  | ✅/🟡/⚪ | ...    | ...    | ...          | ...  | ✅/⚪ | ✅/⚪  | N     | ✅/🟡/⚪/🔴 |

## P0 (Must Fix)
- **skill-name**: Issue → Fix recommendation

## P1 (Should Fix)
- **skill-name**: Issue → Fix recommendation

## P2 (Suggestion)
- **skill-name**: Issue → Fix recommendation

## Gate: ✅ All Pass / ⛔ N issues need fixing

Verification

• [ ] Automated lint executed (exit code checked)
• [ ] All P0/P1 findings have fix recommendations
• [ ] Per-skill table includes all scanned skills
• [ ] Gate sentinel present for hook parsing

References

• `references/routing-signature-guide.md` — How to write effective routing signatures (read when fixing P1 routing issues)

Examples

Input: /skill-health-check
Action: Run skill-lint.js → Output markdown report + Gate

Input: /skill-health-check --deep
Action: Run skill-lint.js → Manual review of flagged skills → Integrated report

Input: Are my skills well-designed?
Action: Trigger health check → Report + improvement suggestions