Meta Skill Validation

Framework for validating Claude Code skills against best practices. This skill provides checklists and templates used by validation commands.

When to Use This Skill

• Validating a skill before publishing
• Running quality checks on existing skills
• Creating GitHub issues for skill improvements
• Understanding validation criteria

Quick Navigation

| Resource | Purpose | |----------|---------| | checklists/frontmatter.md | Name, description, required fields | | checklists/structure.md | Token budget, progressive disclosure | | checklists/quality.md | Content quality checks | | checklists/8-pillars.md | 8+1 Pillar coverage for lang/convert skills | | templates/issue-templates.md | GitHub issue body templates |

Validation Levels

| Level | Scope | Command | |-------|-------|---------| | Quick | Naming, frontmatter, SKILL.md exists | just validate-skill <path> | | Standard | + Token budget, structure, quality | /refine-skill --check-only | | Deep | + 8 Pillars, meta-skill compliance | /validate-lang-conversion-skill |

Quick Validation

just validate-skill components/skills/my-skill

Checks:

• Skill name format (hyphen-case, lowercase)
• SKILL.md exists and has frontmatter
• Description present and non-empty

Standard Validation

/refine-skill components/skills/my-skill --check-only

Adds:

• Token budget (< 500 lines)
• Progressive disclosure patterns
• Content quality checklist
• Directory structure

Deep Validation (for lang--dev and convert--* skills)

/validate-lang-conversion-skill convert-python-rust

# Or for pillar coverage only:
just validate-pillars lang-rust-dev

Adds:

• 8 Pillars coverage scoring
• Meta-skill table updates
• Conversion-specific checks

Severity Classification

| Severity | Definition | Action | |----------|------------|--------| | Critical | Blocks functionality, must fix before use | Create bug issue | | Warning | Should fix, impacts quality | Create enhancement issue | | Suggestion | Nice to have, improves experience | Create docs issue |

Thresholds

| Check | Critical | Warning | Pass | |-------|----------|---------|------| | SKILL.md lines | > 800 | 500-800 | < 500 | | Description length | > 300 chars | vague/missing | < 200, trigger words | | 8 Pillars score | < 4/8 | 4-5.5/8 | >= 6/8 | | 9 Pillars score | < 5/9 | 5-6.5/9 | >= 7/9 | | Type mappings | < 5 | 5-14 | >= 15 | | Pitfalls listed | 0-2 | 3-4 | >= 5 |

Justfile Integration

This skill documents validation criteria. Automation lives in justfile:

| Recipe | Purpose | |--------|---------| | validate-skill <path> | Quick structural validation | | validate-pillars <skill> | 8 pillars coverage check | | validate-all-skills | Batch validation | | validate-all-lang-skills | Batch lang skill validation |

Running Batch Validation

# All skills
just validate-all-skills

# Lang skills only (with pillar coverage)
just validate-all-lang-skills

# Single skill with pillars
just validate-pillars lang-rust-dev

Workflow Integration

Creating a New Skill

1. Use /create-skill or manual creation
2. Run just validate-skill <path> - quick check
3. Iterate until quick validation passes
4. Run /refine-skill --check-only - full check
5. Address warnings and suggestions

Validating Conversion Skills

1. Create with /create-lang-conversion-skill
2. Run /validate-lang-conversion-skill - includes pillar coverage
3. Review generated issues
4. Address gaps and re-validate

Pre-commit Validation

# Add to pre-commit config
- repo: local
  hooks:
    - id: validate-skills
      name: Validate Skills
      entry: just validate-all-skills
      language: system
      pass_filenames: false

See Also

• meta-skill-authoring-dev - Creating and authoring skills
• meta-convert-dev - Structure for conversion skills
• meta-convert-guide - Content guide for conversion skills