How do I install the Improve skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add cwijayasundara/improve-3 in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

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Which AI agents work with Improve?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Improve free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Improve?

cwijayasundara (@cwijayasundara) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Improve by cwijayasundara — Agent Skill

Name: Improve
Author: cwijayasundara

File contents

/improve — Feature Enhancement

Usage

/improve "add confidence score display to extraction results"
/improve E2-S3                           # improve based on existing story
/improve --perf src/service/extraction.py # performance improvement

Steps

Write or locate the story.
- If no story exists: write one with acceptance criteria → append to specs/stories/.
- If story exists: read acceptance criteria from specs/stories/.
- Every improvement needs a story. No story → no code.

Assess impact — identify which layers are affected:

# What files will change?
grep -rn "relevant_function_or_class" src/
# What tests cover them?
uv run pytest --collect-only -q | grep "relevant_module"

Read architecture — .claude/architecture.md, api-contracts.md, data-models.md.
Implement the change:
- Modify existing code (don't create parallel paths).
- Update types/interfaces if contracts change.
- Update API contracts if endpoints change.
- Follow the six quality principles (read .claude/skills/code-gen/SKILL.md).
Update tests:
- Modify existing tests to match new behavior.
- Add new tests for new acceptance criteria.
- Run full suite — no regressions allowed.
```
uv run pytest -x -q --cov=src --cov-report=term-missing
npm test -- --coverage
```
Run code review — spawn code-reviewer on changed files.
Fix BLOCK findings (max 3 retries).
Update story file with implementation status.

Difference from /refactor

	/refactor	/improve
Changes behavior?	No	Yes
Needs a story?	No (traces to principles)	Yes (traces to acceptance criteria)
Updates tests?	Tests must still pass unchanged	Tests change to match new behavior
Modifies contracts?	Never	May update APIs, types, schemas

Gotchas

Improving without a story. Even small changes need acceptance criteria. "Make it faster" is not a story — "Extraction latency < 2s for 100-page PDFs" is.
Scope creep. Improving one feature and "while I'm here" fixing three others. Each change gets its own story.
Breaking existing tests. If tests fail after your change, determine: is the test wrong (behavior intentionally changed) or is your code wrong? Don't blindly update tests to pass.
Forgetting API contract updates. If you change a response shape, update api-contracts.md AND the TypeScript interfaces. Frontend breaks silently otherwise.
No baseline measurement for performance improvements. Before optimizing, measure current performance. After optimizing, measure again. No numbers = no proof it helped.
Parallel path anti-pattern. Don't create extraction_v2.py alongside extraction.py. Modify in place, use feature flags if needed.

---name: improve-3description: Enhance existing features with new behavior, performance improvements, or UX changes. Story-driven with full SDLC enforcement including tests and code review.---# /improve — Feature Enhancement## Usage```/improve "add confidence score display to extraction results"/improve E2-S3 # improve based on existing story/improve --perf src/service/extraction.py # performance improvement```## Steps1. **Write or locate the story.** - If no story exists: write one with acceptance criteria → append to `specs/stories/`. - If story exists: read acceptance criteria from `specs/stories/`. - Every improvement needs a story. No story → no code.2. **Assess impact** — identify which layers are affected: ```bash # What files will change? grep -rn "relevant_function_or_class" src/ # What tests cover them? uv run pytest --collect-only -q | grep "relevant_module" ```3. **Read architecture** — `.claude/architecture.md`, `api-contracts.md`, `data-models.md`.4. **Implement the change:** - Modify existing code (don't create parallel paths). - Update types/interfaces if contracts change. - Update API contracts if endpoints change. - Follow the six quality principles (read `.claude/skills/code-gen/SKILL.md`).5. **Update tests:** - Modify existing tests to match new behavior. - Add new tests for new acceptance criteria. - Run full suite — no regressions allowed. ```bash uv run pytest -x -q --cov=src --cov-report=term-missing npm test -- --coverage ```6. **Run code review** — spawn `code-reviewer` on changed files.7. Fix BLOCK findings (max 3 retries).8. Update story file with implementation status.## Difference from /refactor| | /refactor | /improve ||---|-----------|----------|| **Changes behavior?** | No | Yes || **Needs a story?** | No (traces to principles) | Yes (traces to acceptance criteria) || **Updates tests?** | Tests must still pass unchanged | Tests change to match new behavior || **Modifies contracts?** | Never | May update APIs, types, schemas |## Gotchas- **Improving without a story.** Even small changes need acceptance criteria. "Make it faster" is not a story — "Extraction latency < 2s for 100-page PDFs" is.- **Scope creep.** Improving one feature and "while I'm here" fixing three others. Each change gets its own story.- **Breaking existing tests.** If tests fail after your change, determine: is the test wrong (behavior intentionally changed) or is your code wrong? Don't blindly update tests to pass.- **Forgetting API contract updates.** If you change a response shape, update `api-contracts.md` AND the TypeScript interfaces. Frontend breaks silently otherwise.- **No baseline measurement for performance improvements.** Before optimizing, measure current performance. After optimizing, measure again. No numbers = no proof it helped.- **Parallel path anti-pattern.** Don't create `extraction_v2.py` alongside `extraction.py`. Modify in place, use feature flags if needed.

Frequently asked questions

Improve