# Check Skill Formatting

> Checks skill files for formatting violations — preprocessing patterns, placeholder conventions, and frontmatter. Use when validating skills, checking formatting, or when check formatting, lint skills, or skill quality are mentioned.

- Skill: `outfitter-dev/check-skill-formatting` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add outfitter-dev/check-skill-formatting`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/outfitter-dev/check-skill-formatting/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: outfitter-dev (https://skillmd.com/u/outfitter-dev)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/outfitter-dev/check-skill-formatting

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# Check Skill Formatting

Validate skill files against formatting conventions. Catches preprocessing hazards, placeholder violations, and frontmatter issues.

## Steps

1. Load the `/skillcheck` skill (runs preprocessing linter)
2. Run the placeholder linter to find `[string]` patterns that should use `{ string }` convention
3. Run the fence linter to find bare code fences and nesting issues
4. Run the relative paths linter to find `../` references that should use `${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}`
5. Review findings and fix violations

## Placeholder Linter

Scan markdown files for `[string]` patterns that aren't markdown links or file references:

```bash
bun .claude/skills/check-skill-formatting/scripts/lint-placeholders.ts ${ARGUMENTS:-plugins/}
```

### What it catches

Instructional placeholders using brackets instead of braces:

| Found                             | Expected                            |
| --------------------------------- | ----------------------------------- |
| `[Complete AWS-specific content]` | `{ complete AWS-specific content }` |
| `[Details follow...]`             | `{ details follow }`                |
| `[Section content]`               | `{ section content }`               |

### What it skips

- Markdown links: `[text](url)` or `[text](#anchor)`
- File references: `[file.md]`, `[config.json]`
- Checkboxes: `[x]`, `[ ]`, `[-]`
- GitHub admonitions: `[!NOTE]`, `[!WARNING]`
- Code fences and HTML comments
- All-caps tokens under 12 chars: `[REDACTED]`, `[TIME]`

## Fence Linter

Scan markdown files for code fence issues — bare fences without language specifiers and broken nesting:

```bash
bun plugins/fieldguides/scripts/lint-fences.ts ${ARGUMENTS:-plugins/}
```

### What it catches

- **Bare fences**: Opening ` ``` ` without a language (suggests one based on content heuristics)
- **Broken nesting**: Inner fence with same backtick count as outer fence (use ` ` ```` for outer)

### Fix patterns

| Issue                              | Fix                          |
| ---------------------------------- | ---------------------------- |
| ` ``` ` with TypeScript content    | ` ```typescript `            |
| ` ``` ` with shell commands        | ` ```bash `                  |
| ` ``` ` with plain text            | ` ```text `                  |
| Inner ` ``` ` inside outer ` ``` ` | Use ` ` ```` for outer fence |

## Relative Paths Linter

Scan markdown files for `../` path references that should use `${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}`:

```bash
bun plugins/fieldguides/scripts/lint-relative-paths.ts ${ARGUMENTS:-plugins/}
```

### What it catches

- **Markdown links**: `[text](../other-skill/SKILL.md)` with relative targets
- **Bare paths**: `../SECURITY.md` references in prose

### Fix patterns

| Issue                             | Fix                                                        |
| --------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- |
| `[link](../skill-name/SKILL.md)`  | `[link](${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/skill-name/SKILL.md)` |
| `[link](../patterns/handler.md)`  | `[link](${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/shared/patterns/handler.md)` |
| `../EXTERNAL.md` (outside plugin) | Remove link or reference by name                           |