# Skill Enhancer

> Use when you need to audit, fix, or improve an existing agent skill to meet Gold Standard compliance.

- Skill: `matrixfounder/skill-enhancer` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 15 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add matrixfounder/skill-enhancer`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/matrixfounder/skill-enhancer/raw
- Safety review: WARNING
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: AI & ML
- Author: MatrixFounder (https://skillmd.com/u/matrixfounder)
- Updated: 2026-09-10
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/matrixfounder/skill-enhancer

---

# Skill Enhancer

**Purpose**: This meta-skill analyzes other skills for compliance with TDD, CSO, and Script-First standards, guiding the agent through upgrades.

## 1. Red Flags (Anti-Rationalization)
**STOP and READ THIS if you are thinking:**
- "I'll just add the sections blindly" -> **WRONG**. You must understand *why* the skill fails before fixing it.
- "The description is close enough" -> **WRONG**. It must start with "Use when".
- "Examples are optional" -> **WRONG**. "Rich Skills" mandate examples.
- "It's just a small 20-line example" -> **WRONG**. Inline blocks > 12 lines are prohibited. Extract them.
- "I'll instruct the agent to parse the file line-by-line in text" -> **WRONG**. Use "Script-First".

## 2. Capabilities
- **Audit**: Detect gaps (missing Red Flags, oversized inline blocks, poor CSO, weak language) using `analyze_gaps.py`.
- **Rule scoping**: the analyser reads prose, not code. Fenced blocks and inline
  code spans are masked before the prose rules run, `[--flag VALUE]` is CLI usage
  notation rather than an unfilled slot, and `/tmp/out.pdf` in a reproducible
  command is not the absolute-path anti-pattern — only a path naming one machine
  or one user's account is (WI-033).
- **Execution Policy Audit**: Detect missing `Execution Mode`, `Script Contract`, `Safety Boundaries`, and `Validation Evidence` sections.
- **Security Remediation**: Fix vulnerabilities flagged by `skill-validator` (e.g., `curl | bash`, secrets, weak permissions).
- **Plan**: Propose specific content improvements using `references/refactoring_patterns.md`.
- **Execute**: Apply refactoring patterns to upgrade the skill.

## 2.5. Execution Mode
- **Mode**: `hybrid`
- **Rationale**: gap triage and refactoring decisions are prompt-driven, while gap detection is script-driven.

## 2.6. Script Contract
- **Primary Command**: `python3 scripts/analyze_gaps.py <target-skill-path> [--json] [--strict]`
- **Inputs**: target skill path + optional output mode.
- **Outputs**: two lists and a status — `gaps` (blocking) and `advisories`
  (reported, non-blocking).
- **Failure Semantics**: non-zero exit when **blocking gaps** exist (deterministic
  gate behavior). Advisories are printed and leave the exit code at 0; `--strict`
  promotes them to blocking. The split mirrors `validate_skill.py`, which already
  passes a skill that has only warnings — without it the two gates return
  different verdicts on the same file (WI-033).
- **Advisory classes**: `[Language]` (the graduated-wording call is per
  instruction, not mechanical) and `[Execution Policy]` (a declared warning-first
  migration), plus the minor tier of `[Token Efficiency]`.

## 2.7. Safety Boundaries
- **Scope**: apply edits only to explicitly selected target skill.
- **Default Exclusions**: do not refactor unrelated skills or global docs by default.
- **Destructive Actions**: full-file overwrite is prohibited unless explicitly requested and reviewed.

## 2.8. Validation Evidence
- **Primary Evidence**: before/after `analyze_gaps.py` output.
- **Secondary Evidence**: targeted diffs proving that each reported gap was addressed.
- **Quality Gate**: no unresolved critical structure gaps after refactor.

## 3. Instructions

### Phase 1: Audit
1.  **Run Analyzer**: `python3 scripts/analyze_gaps.py <target-skill-path>`.
2.  **Manual Checks**:
    *   **Graduated Language Review**: Check instruction language against the graduated approach:
        - **Safety-critical** steps (data loss, destructive ops): Must use `MUST`/`ALWAYS` **+ explanation why** — if the explanation is missing, add it
        - **Behavioral** steps (formatting, style): Apply **explain-why + imperative** style — if bare `MUST` without rationale, add the rationale; if weak "should"/"could", strengthen to imperative + reason
        - Do NOT blindly replace every "should" with "MUST" — evaluate whether the instruction is safety-critical or behavioral first
    *   **Script-First Gap**: Identify if complex logic steps (> 5 lines of text) **MUST** be converted to a `script/`.
3.  **Review Gaps**: Read the analyzer output and your manual findings.

### Phase 1.5: Execution-Policy Audit
1.  Verify `Execution Mode` section exists and is explicit (`prompt-first`, `script-first`, or `hybrid`).
2.  If skill uses `scripts/`, verify `Script Contract` section defines command, inputs, outputs, and exit behavior.
3.  Verify `Safety Boundaries` section defines scope limits and non-default destructive behavior.
4.  Verify `Validation Evidence` section defines objective verification outputs.
4a. **Check its size.** `validate_skill.py` warns past
    `quality_checks.max_validation_evidence_lines` (`skill_standards_default.yaml`), which means
    the section is carrying an investigation rather than a verdict. Refactor: keep date, commands,
    counts and pass/fail in `SKILL.md`; move figures, refuted hypotheses and worked examples into
    `references/<topic>.md` and link them. This is a gap to fix, not prose to trim arbitrarily —
    nothing is deleted, it moves.
5.  Mark missing pieces as migration gaps (warning-first for legacy skills).

### Phase 1.7: Behavioral Analysis (If Usage Logs Available)
If transcripts or logs from real skill usage exist, analyze them for patterns:
1.  **Repeated Code**: Did the agent write the same helper script across multiple runs? → Extract to `scripts/`.
2.  **Repeated Questions**: Did the agent ask the same questions or re-discover the same context? → Add to `references/`.
3.  **Excessive Token Usage**: Did the agent spend tokens reading large inline blocks? → Plan extraction to external files.
4.  **Unused Sections**: Did the agent skip reading certain sections entirely? → Consider trimming or consolidating.

If no usage logs are available, skip this phase — it will become relevant after the skill is deployed.

### Phase 2: Plan
1.  **Read Target Skill**: Read the content of the target skill.
2.  **Draft Improvements**:
    *   *Token Efficiency*: Identify blocks > 12 lines and plan extraction to `examples/`, `assets/`, or `references/`.
    *   *Script-First*: Identify logic blocks > 5 lines and plan extraction to `scripts/`.
    *   *Execution Policy*: Add missing policy sections and scope constraints.
    *   *Graduated Language*: Replace weak words using the graduated approach — `MUST + why` for safety, `explain-why + imperative` for behavioral.
    *   *Red Flags*: Identify 2-3 likely agent excuses for *this specific task*.
    *   *CSO & Pushiness*: Rewrite description to "Use when [TRIGGER]...". Check if description is "pushy" enough to prevent under-triggering — add edge-case triggers and phrases like "even if the user doesn't explicitly ask for…".
    *   *Generalization*: Check if instructions are overfitted to specific examples. A skill must work across many prompts, not just the test cases it was developed with.
3.  **Confirm**: Ensure improvements align with the "Skills as Code" philosophy.

### Phase 3: Execute
1.  **Update File**: Edit the target `SKILL.md` to insert the new sections.
    *   **CRITICAL**: Use `replace_file_content` or `multi_replace_file_content`.
    *   **DO NOT** use `write_to_file` to overwrite existing content (Data Loss Risk).
    *   *Tip*: Use `references/refactoring_patterns.md` for the style guide.
2.  **Verify**: Re-run `analyze_gaps.py`. Expect "No Gaps Found", or "No blocking
    gaps" with the advisories listed. An advisory is closed by fixing it or by
    writing down why it stands — never by editing correct documentation to
    satisfy a rule that is reading it wrong. If a rule fires on correct content,
    narrow the rule and pin both halves in `scripts/tests/test_rule_scoping.py`:
    what it now ignores, and the defect it must still catch.

### Phase 3.5: Security Repair (If triggered by Validator)
1.  **Analyze Report**: Read the `skill-validator` JSON output.
2.  **Consult Guide**: Use `references/security_refactoring.md` to find safe alternatives for flagged patterns.
3.  **Apply Fixes**:
    *   *Shell Injection*: Replace direct execution with argument arrays.
    *   *Downloads*: Replace `curl | bash` with download -> inspect -> execute.
    *   *Secrets*: Move hardcoded keys to environment variables.

### Phase 4: Final VDD Check
1.  **Read Checklist**: Open `references/vdd_checklist.md`.
2.  **Self-Correction**: Verify your work against the 5 criteria (Data Safety, Anti-Laziness, etc.).
3.  **Refine**: If any check fails (e.g., found "TODO", found unmotivated "should"), fix it immediately.
4.  **Test Coverage**: Verify the skill has at least 2-3 test prompts — either in `evals/evals.json` or documented inline. If none exist, create them based on the skill's intended use cases.

## 4. Best Practices

| DO THIS | DO NOT DO THIS |
| :--- | :--- |
| **Specific Red Flags**: "Don't skip tests" | **Generic Red Flags**: "Don't be lazy" |
| **Trigger-Based Desc**: "Use when debugging race conditions" | **Summary Desc**: "Guide for debugging" |
| **Strong Verbs**: "MUST", "EXECUTE", "VERIFY" | **Weak Verbs**: "should", "consider", "try" |

### Rationalization Table
| Agent Excuse | Reality / Counter-Argument |
| :--- | :--- |
| "The skill is too simple for Red Flags" | Simple skills are skipped most often. Explicit rules prevent this. |
| "I don't have time to write examples" | Examples save time by preventing hallucinations later. |
| "It's easier to write logic in text" | Text logic is unreliable. Scripts are deterministic. |

## 5. Examples (Few-Shot)
> [!TIP]
> See `examples/usage_example.md` for a complete **Before & After** walkthrough of upgrading a legacy skill.

**Input:**
```bash
python3 scripts/analyze_gaps.py ../target-skill
```

**Output:**
```text
⚠️  Gaps Detected...
Recommendation: Run 'Execute Improvement Plan'...
```

## 6. Resources
- `scripts/analyze_gaps.py`: The gap detection tool.
- `references/writing_skills_best_practices_anthropic.md`: The authoritative "Gold Standard" guide used to verify compliance.
- `references/testing-skills-with-subagents.md`: Methodology for verifying fixes using TDD (Red-Green-Refactor).
- `../skill-creator/agents/grader.md`: Prompt for evaluating skill execution results against expectations.
- `../skill-creator/agents/comparator.md`: Prompt for blind A/B comparison of two skill outputs.
- `../skill-creator/agents/analyzer.md`: Prompt for post-hoc analysis — identifies why one skill version outperforms another.