!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.
Its score comes from /skill-test static and category checks, which read the
skill rather than run it: a better score means a better-written skill, not proof
that it behaves better. To check behaviour, run the skill on a real request
before and after the change.
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."
Glob CCGS Skill Testing Framework/catalog.yaml. When it exists, say so first:
"CCGS Skill Testing Framework/ was renamed studio-tests/ in 1.2.0, and this
skill reads only studio-tests/. Move any specs you wrote there; UPGRADING.md
(v1.1.3 → v1.2.0, studio-tests/) says how." Then go on.
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 studio-tests/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."
Phase 3: Diagnose
Read the full skill: .claude/skills/[name]/SKILL.md and every file in its references/ folder,
if it has one — the longest skills keep each phase there. Name the file each
gap is in.
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.
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. In a skill with a references/ folder, a
fix to a phase's steps goes in that phase's references/ file, not back into
SKILL.md; the question below then names each file the fix changes.
Ask: "May I write this improved version to .claude/skills/[name]/SKILL.md?"
If the user says no, stop here.
Phase 5: Write and Retest
Record the current content of each file the fix changes — the exact text, kept
in this conversation — so Phase 6 can restore it.
Write the improved skill to .claude/skills/[name]/SKILL.md, and to each
references/ file the fix changes.
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).
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?"
— naming every file Phase 5 wrote.
If yes: write the content recorded in Phase 5 back to each file with Write; if no, leave the files 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.
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.