skill-health-check

Skill Health Check

Purpose: Cheap structural lint for skill files. Not a runtime diagnostic.

Wrong skill? Runtime skill issues → superpowers-doctor. Writing new skills → skill-authoring. Skill prose quality → writing-skills.

Announce at start: "I'm running the skill-health-check structural lint."

Companion Skills

• superpowers-doctor: Full runtime diagnostics (heavier than this lint)

• skill-authoring: Writing new skill files

• superpowers-help: Skill discovery (lighter)

• writing-skills: Skill file format reference

• evolution-loop: Self-improvement cycle

When to Use

• After creating or modifying skills
• After bulk skill changes (marathons, domain redesigns)
• Before committing any changes under skills/ — catches formatting errors early

What It Checks

Check	Severity	What it validates
YAML frontmatter	ERROR	name, source, triggers, description fields present
Line count	ERROR	No skill.md exceeds 250 lines
Coordination metadata	ERROR	coordination: block present with required keys: group, order, internal
Failure modes section	WARN	## Failure Modes heading present (presence only)

What it does NOT check: coordination semantic validity (correct group names, valid order numbers), cross-reference accuracy, runtime behavior, install state. Those are superpowers-doctor territory. Structural lint validates that required keys exist; doctor validates they are correct.

Running the Check

# Quick check (skill count + line limits)
bash tools/harsh-review.sh

# Full ecosystem health (checks 1-4, uses Ruby YAML parser)
ruby -ryaml -e '
  errors = []; warnings = []
  Dir.glob("skills/**/skill.md").each do |path|
    content = File.read(path)
    parts = content.split("---", 3)
    if parts.length < 3
      errors << "#{path}: No YAML frontmatter"; next
    end
    data = YAML.safe_load(parts[1]) rescue (errors << "#{path}: Invalid YAML"; next)
    %w[name source triggers description].each do |f|
      errors << "#{path}: Missing #{f}" unless data&.key?(f)
    end
    unless data&.key?("coordination")
      errors << "#{path}: Missing coordination block"
    else
      coord = data["coordination"]
      %w[group order internal].each do |k|
        errors << "#{path}: coordination missing '#{k}'" unless coord&.key?(k)
      end
    end
    warnings << "#{path}: Missing Failure Modes" unless content.include?("## Failure Modes")
    lines = content.count("\n")
    errors << "#{path}: #{lines} lines (max 250)" if lines > 250
  end
  errors.each { |e| puts "ERROR: #{e}" }
  warnings.each { |w| puts "WARN:  #{w}" }
  puts "\n#{errors.length} errors, #{warnings.length} warnings"
'

Failure Modes

Failure	Fix
New skill created without running health check	Run after every skill creation — catches missing fields immediately
README count drifted	Update README counts when adding/removing skills
Cross-reference points to renamed/deleted skill	Search for old skill name across all skill.md files