skill-stocktake
affaan-m/ecc
Audit Claude skills and commands for quality, overlap, and currency using AI judgment.
What is skill-stocktake?
A slash command that evaluates all Claude skills (global and project-level) against a quality checklist covering overlap, freshness, usage, and actionability. Offers Quick Scan mode for recently changed skills (5–10 min) or Full Stocktake for complete review (20–30 min), with sequential subagent batch evaluation and detailed consolidation recommendations.
- Scans global (~/.claude/skills/) and project-level (.claude/skills/) skill directories with inventory and metadata extraction
- Quick Scan mode re-evaluates only changed skills since last run by comparing against cached results.json
- Full Stocktake mode performs complete Phase 1 inventory, Phase 2 AI-driven quality evaluation, Phase 3 summary table, and Phase 4 consolidation with detailed justifications
- Evaluates skills holistically against actionability, scope fit, uniqueness, and currency dimensions
- Detects and resumes in-progress evaluations; processes ~20 skills per subagent invocation to manage context
- Generates per-skill verdicts (Keep, Improve, Update, Retire, Merge) with self-contained, decision-enabling reasons
How to install skill-stocktake
npx skills add null --skill skill-stocktake- Bash environment with access to ~/.claude/skills/ directory
- Subagent tool (general-purpose agent) available for Phase 2 evaluation
- WebSearch tool (optional, for verifying technical references)
- Existing skill files in SKILL.md format with frontmatter
How to use skill-stocktake
- 1.Run `/skill-stocktake` from your project root (or any directory) to start Quick Scan if results.json exists, or Full Stocktake if absent
- 2.For a complete re-evaluation, run `/skill-stocktake full` to bypass cache and scan all skills
- 3.Review the Phase 1 inventory table showing which paths were scanned and skill metadata
- 4.Wait for Phase 2 subagent evaluation to complete (batched in ~20-skill chunks with resume capability)
- 5.Review Phase 3 summary table with verdicts and reasons for each skill
- 6.Confirm or decline Phase 4 consolidation actions (retire, merge, improve) with detailed justifications before any files are modified
Use cases
- Audit a growing skill library for overlap and stale technical references before adding new skills
- Identify low-usage or redundant skills to retire or merge, reducing maintenance burden
- Verify that project-level skills don't duplicate global skills or MEMORY.md/CLAUDE.md content
- Spot outdated CLI flags, API references, or tool names in existing skills using WebSearch verification
- Consolidate similar skills with clear merge targets and integration guidance
- Claude Code and Cursor users managing large skill libraries
- Teams maintaining shared skill repositories (ECC or internal)
- Developers auditing skill quality before deployment or major refactors
- Anyone needing structured, AI-assisted skill inventory reviews
skill-stocktake FAQ
Quick Scan (5–10 min) re-evaluates only skills changed since the last run by comparing mtimes against results.json; Full Stocktake (20–30 min) evaluates all skills from scratch. Use Quick Scan for incremental audits; use Full Stocktake after major skill additions or to verify the entire library.
It auto-detects {cwd}/.claude/skills/ relative to where you invoke the command. Run from your project root to include project-level skills; if the directory doesn't exist, only global skills are evaluated.
The command saves intermediate results to results.json with status: 'in_progress' after each batch (~20 skills). On next run, it detects this and resumes from the first unevaluated skill, avoiding duplicate work.
Very detailed: for Retire verdicts, the reason states the specific defect and what alternative covers the need; for Merge, it names the target and describes what content to integrate; for Improve, it specifies the section, action, and target size.
The command always scans both (if they exist). To focus on one, manually run the underlying scripts (scan.sh, quick-diff.sh) with explicit paths, or delete results.json to force a fresh Full Stocktake.
Full instructions (SKILL.md)
Source of truth, from affaan-m/ecc.
name: skill-stocktake description: "Use when auditing Claude skills and commands for quality. Supports Quick Scan (changed skills only) and Full Stocktake modes with sequential subagent batch evaluation." metadata: origin: ECC
skill-stocktake
Slash command (/skill-stocktake) that audits all Claude skills and commands using a quality checklist + AI holistic judgment. Supports two modes: Quick Scan for recently changed skills, and Full Stocktake for a complete review.
Scope
The command targets the following paths relative to the directory where it is invoked:
| Path | Description |
|---|---|
~/.claude/skills/ | Global skills (all projects) |
{cwd}/.claude/skills/ | Project-level skills (if the directory exists) |
At the start of Phase 1, the command explicitly lists which paths were found and scanned.
Targeting a specific project
To include project-level skills, run from that project's root directory:
cd ~/path/to/my-project
/skill-stocktake
If the project has no .claude/skills/ directory, only global skills and commands are evaluated.
Modes
| Mode | Trigger | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Quick Scan | results.json exists (default) | 5–10 min |
| Full Stocktake | results.json absent, or /skill-stocktake full | 20–30 min |
Results cache: ~/.claude/skills/skill-stocktake/results.json
Quick Scan Flow
Re-evaluate only skills that have changed since the last run (5–10 min).
- Read
~/.claude/skills/skill-stocktake/results.json - Run:
bash ~/.claude/skills/skill-stocktake/scripts/quick-diff.sh \ ~/.claude/skills/skill-stocktake/results.json(Project dir is auto-detected from$PWD/.claude/skills; pass it explicitly only if needed) - If output is
[]: report "No changes since last run." and stop - Re-evaluate only those changed files using the same Phase 2 criteria
- Carry forward unchanged skills from previous results
- Output only the diff
- Run:
bash ~/.claude/skills/skill-stocktake/scripts/save-results.sh \ ~/.claude/skills/skill-stocktake/results.json <<< "$EVAL_RESULTS"
Full Stocktake Flow
Phase 1 — Inventory
Run: bash ~/.claude/skills/skill-stocktake/scripts/scan.sh
The script enumerates skill files, extracts frontmatter, and collects UTC mtimes.
Project dir is auto-detected from $PWD/.claude/skills; pass it explicitly only if needed.
Present the scan summary and inventory table from the script output:
Scanning:
✓ ~/.claude/skills/ (17 files)
✗ {cwd}/.claude/skills/ (not found — global skills only)
| Skill | 7d use | 30d use | Description |
|---|
Phase 2 — Quality Evaluation
Launch an Agent tool subagent (general-purpose agent) with the full inventory and checklist:
Agent(
subagent_type="general-purpose",
prompt="
Evaluate the following skill inventory against the checklist.
[INVENTORY]
[CHECKLIST]
Return JSON for each skill:
{ \"verdict\": \"Keep\"|\"Improve\"|\"Update\"|\"Retire\"|\"Merge into [X]\", \"reason\": \"...\" }
"
)
The subagent reads each skill, applies the checklist, and returns per-skill JSON:
{ "verdict": "Keep"|"Improve"|"Update"|"Retire"|"Merge into [X]", "reason": "..." }
Chunk guidance: Process ~20 skills per subagent invocation to keep context manageable. Save intermediate results to results.json (status: "in_progress") after each chunk.
After all skills are evaluated: set status: "completed", proceed to Phase 3.
Resume detection: If status: "in_progress" is found on startup, resume from the first unevaluated skill.
Each skill is evaluated against this checklist:
- [ ] Content overlap with other skills checked
- [ ] Overlap with MEMORY.md / CLAUDE.md checked
- [ ] Freshness of technical references verified (use WebSearch if tool names / CLI flags / APIs are present)
- [ ] Usage frequency considered
Verdict criteria:
| Verdict | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Keep | Useful and current |
| Improve | Worth keeping, but specific improvements needed |
| Update | Referenced technology is outdated (verify with WebSearch) |
| Retire | Low quality, stale, or cost-asymmetric |
| Merge into [X] | Substantial overlap with another skill; name the merge target |
Evaluation is holistic AI judgment — not a numeric rubric. Guiding dimensions:
- Actionability: code examples, commands, or steps that let you act immediately
- Scope fit: name, trigger, and content are aligned; not too broad or narrow
- Uniqueness: value not replaceable by MEMORY.md / CLAUDE.md / another skill
- Currency: technical references work in the current environment
Reason quality requirements — the reason field must be self-contained and decision-enabling:
- Do NOT write "unchanged" alone — always restate the core evidence
- For Retire: state (1) what specific defect was found, (2) what covers the same need instead
- Bad:
"Superseded" - Good:
"disable-model-invocation: true already set; superseded by continuous-learning-v2 which covers all the same patterns plus confidence scoring. No unique content remains."
- Bad:
- For Merge: name the target and describe what content to integrate
- Bad:
"Overlaps with X" - Good:
"42-line thin content; Step 4 of chatlog-to-article already covers the same workflow. Integrate the 'article angle' tip as a note in that skill."
- Bad:
- For Improve: describe the specific change needed (what section, what action, target size if relevant)
- Bad:
"Too long" - Good:
"276 lines; Section 'Framework Comparison' (L80–140) duplicates ai-era-architecture-principles; delete it to reach ~150 lines."
- Bad:
- For Keep (mtime-only change in Quick Scan): restate the original verdict rationale, do not write "unchanged"
- Bad:
"Unchanged" - Good:
"mtime updated but content unchanged. Unique Python reference explicitly imported by rules/python/; no overlap found."
- Bad:
Phase 3 — Summary Table
| Skill | 7d use | Verdict | Reason |
|---|
Phase 4 — Consolidation
- Retire / Merge: present detailed justification per file before confirming with user:
- What specific problem was found (overlap, staleness, broken references, etc.)
- What alternative covers the same functionality (for Retire: which existing skill/rule; for Merge: the target file and what content to integrate)
- Impact of removal (any dependent skills, MEMORY.md references, or workflows affected)
- Improve: present specific improvement suggestions with rationale:
- What to change and why (e.g., "trim 430→200 lines because sections X/Y duplicate python-patterns")
- User decides whether to act
- Update: present updated content with sources checked
- Check MEMORY.md line count; propose compression if >100 lines
Results File Schema
~/.claude/skills/skill-stocktake/results.json:
evaluated_at: Must be set to the actual UTC time of evaluation completion.
Obtain via Bash: date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ. Never use a date-only approximation like T00:00:00Z.
{
"evaluated_at": "2026-02-21T10:00:00Z",
"mode": "full",
"batch_progress": {
"total": 80,
"evaluated": 80,
"status": "completed"
},
"skills": {
"skill-name": {
"path": "~/.claude/skills/skill-name/SKILL.md",
"verdict": "Keep",
"reason": "Concrete, actionable, unique value for X workflow",
"mtime": "2026-01-15T08:30:00Z"
}
}
}
Notes
- Evaluation is blind: the same checklist applies to all skills regardless of origin (ECC, self-authored, auto-extracted)
- Archive / delete operations always require explicit user confirmation
- No verdict branching by skill origin
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