skill-improve

!bash "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../hooks/yaml-helper.sh" resolve_config --keys automation

Automation mode: Resolve modes.automation (project.local.yaml → project.yaml → default collaborative). Every AskUserQuestion call and every file write follows .claude/docs/automation-modes.md (collaborative asks always · guided major-only · autonomous logs and proceeds; automation_always_ask categories always prompt).

Skill Improve

Runs an improvement loop on a single skill: test → fix → retest → keep or revert.

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Phase 1: Parse Argument

Read the skill name from the first argument. If missing, output usage and stop:

Usage: /skill-improve [skill-name]
Example: /skill-improve tech-debt

Verify .claude/skills/[name]/SKILL.md exists. If not, stop with: "Skill '[name]' not found."

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Phase 2: Baseline Test

Run /skill-test static [name] and record the baseline score:

• Count of FAILs
• Count of WARNs
• Which specific checks failed (Check 1–7)

Display to the user:

Static baseline:   [N] failures, [M] warnings
Failing: Check 4 (no ask-before-write), Check 5 (no handoff)

If the static result is NOT ASSESSED (the skill file could not be read or parsed), stop and report it with its reason: there is no score to improve, and 0 FAILs from a file nobody could read is not a clean result.

If baseline is 0 FAILs and 0 WARNs, note it and proceed to Phase 2b.

Phase 2b: Category Baseline

Look up the skill's category: field in CCGS Skill Testing Framework/catalog.yaml.

If no category: field is found, display: "Category: not yet assigned — skipping category checks." and skip to Phase 3.

If category is found, run /skill-test category [name] and record the category baseline:

• Count of FAILs
• Count of WARNs
• Which specific category rubric metrics failed

Display to the user:

Category baseline: [N] failures, [M] warnings  ([category] rubric)

A category result of NOT ASSESSED (a rubric section the skill-test could not find or apply) is reported with its reason and is not a zero: the category dimension is then excluded from "already passes" below.

If BOTH static and category baselines are 0 FAILs and 0 WARNs — and neither is NOT ASSESSED — stop: "This skill already passes all static and category checks. No improvements needed."

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Phase 3: Diagnose

Read the full skill file at .claude/skills/[name]/SKILL.md.

For each failing or warning static check, identify the exact gap:

• Check 1 fail → which frontmatter field is missing
• Check 2 fail → how many phases found vs. minimum required
• Check 3 fail → no verdict keywords anywhere in the skill body
• Check 4 fail → Write or Edit in allowed-tools but no ask-before-write language
• Check 5 warn → no follow-up or next-step section at the end
• Check 6 warn → context: fork set but fewer than 5 phases found
• Check 7 warn → argument-hint is empty or doesn't match documented modes

For each failing or warning category check (if category was assigned in Phase 2b), identify the exact gap in the skill's text. For example:

• If G2 fails (gate mode, director panel width): skill body does not size the PHASE-GATE panel from modes.workflow (PR at minimal, TD + PR at standard, all 4 at full)
• If A2 fails (authoring, no per-section May-I-write): skill asks once at the end, not before each section write
• If T3 fails (team, BLOCKED not surfaced): skill doesn't halt dependent work on blocked agent

Show the full combined diagnosis to the user before proposing any changes.

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Phase 4: Propose Fix

Write a targeted fix for each failure and warning. Show the proposed changes as clearly marked before/after blocks. Only change what is failing — do not rewrite sections that are passing.

Ask: "May I write this improved version to .claude/skills/[name]/SKILL.md?"

If the user says no, stop here.

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Phase 5: Write and Retest

Record the current content of the skill file — the exact text, kept in this conversation — so Phase 6 can restore it.

Write the improved skill to .claude/skills/[name]/SKILL.md.

Re-run /skill-test static [name] and record the new static score — measured by that run, never stated from the edit. If a category was assigned, also re-run /skill-test category [name] and record the new category score.

Display the comparison:

Static:   Before [N] failures, [M] warnings  →  After [N'] failures, [M'] warnings
Category: Before [N] failures, [M] warnings  →  After [N'] failures, [M'] warnings  (if applicable)
Combined: [before] → [after] (improved / no change / worse)

[before] and [after] are the Phase 6 combined counts — failures plus warnings, both dimensions — e.g. Combined: 3 → 0 (improved).

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Phase 6: Verdict

Count the combined failure total: static FAILs + category FAILs + static WARNs + category WARNs. A re-test that comes back NOT ASSESSED (for example, the edit broke the frontmatter so the file no longer parses) is never an improvement, whatever its counts: take the "did not improve" branch below.

If combined score improved (combined failure count is lower than baseline): Report: "Score improved. Changes kept." Show a summary of what was fixed in each dimension.

If combined score is the same or worse: Report: "Combined score did not improve." Show what changed and why it may not have helped. Ask: "May I restore .claude/skills/[name]/SKILL.md to the content it had before this run?" If yes: write the content recorded in Phase 5 back to the file with Write; if no, leave the file as written. Never git checkout it — that returns the last committed version and discards any edits made before this run that were not yet committed.

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Phase 7: Next Steps

• Run /skill-test static all to find the next skill with failures.
• Run /skill-improve [next-name] to continue the loop on another skill.
• Run /skill-test audit to see overall coverage progress.