Authoring & Improving Grafana Skills

Critical rules (always)

1. Description is the primary trigger — third-person, ≤1024 chars, must include explicit "Use when..." phrasing AND list concrete trigger terms users naturally say. See references/descriptions.md for the pushy-description pattern that combats undertriggering.
2. Body under 500 lines — split into

   references/*.md

   if approaching the limit. SKILL.md is the routing layer, not the entire knowledge base.
3. One level of nesting for references — link from SKILL.md directly, never

   SKILL.md → a.md → b.md

   . Claude may use

   head -100

   previews on nested chains and miss content.
4. Imperative voice — "Run X" not "You should run X" not "It is important to run X". Explain why over heavy-handed

   MUST

   markers.
5. Concrete examples beat prose — copy-paste-ready commands, real config snippets. Tessl's

   actionability

   dimension scores this directly.
6. No reserved words in

   name

   —

   anthropic

   and

   claude

   are forbidden in skill names.
7. No time-sensitive language in the body — "after August 2025…" rots. Use an

   <details>

   "Old patterns" section for legacy info instead.
8. Validate before committing —

   ./scripts/lint-skills.sh skills/<plugin>/<your-skill>

   clean + Tessl score ≥75 (run

   tessl skill review --json <dir>

   ).

The rubric

Score variance

Decision tree for a new skill

1. What product / domain does this skill belong to? Pick the right plugin folder:

   grafana-core/

   ,

   grafana-cloud/

   ,

   grafana-lgtm/

   ,

   grafana-app-sdk/

   ,

   grafana-k6/

   ,

   grafana-plugins/

   . If none fits cleanly, ask the user before creating a new plugin group (a new group requires updating three

   marketplace.json

   files).
2. Estimate body length.
   • <200 lines of substance → single

     SKILL.md

     , no bundle
   • 200-500 lines →

     SKILL.md

     +

     references/<topic>.md

     for the long-form material

   • 500 lines → mandatory bundle split; see references/anatomy.md § Splitting strategies

3. Write a "pushy" description first. The description is the only thing always loaded into context. If agents don't trigger the skill, nothing else matters. See references/descriptions.md for the pattern.
4. Draft body with the four-dimension rubric in mind.
   • Cut every sentence Claude already knows (Conciseness)
   • Replace prose explanations with code blocks (Actionability)
   • Number every multi-step procedure + add a validation step at the end (Workflow clarity)
   • If you reach for

     <details>

     , consider whether that content belongs in

     references/

     instead (Progressive disclosure)
5. Register in marketplace manifests. Add the skill path to the

   skills

   array in all three:

   • .claude-plugin/marketplace.json

   • .cursor-plugin/marketplace.json

   • .agents-plugin/marketplace.json

6. Validate locally.
   bash

   # 1. Lint clean (0 errors)
   ./scripts/lint-skills.sh skills/<plugin>/<your-skill>
   
   # 2. Tessl reviewScore ≥75 (the CI gate)
   tessl skill review --json skills/<plugin>/<your-skill> | jq '.review.reviewScore'
   
   # 3. If below 75 or you want ≥85: run --optimize (requires auth)
   tessl skill review --optimize --yes --max-iterations 3 skills/<plugin>/<your-skill>

   If the run fails: read the lint error / Tessl suggestion, fix, re-run. Don't open the PR until both checks pass cleanly. The feedback-loop pattern beats one-shot writing.

Fixing a low-scoring existing skill

1. Read the judge's verbatim Suggestions text (non-JSON output):
   bash

   tessl skill review skills/<plugin>/<name>

   The

   Suggestions:

   block under each dimension names the exact sentences/sections to cut. Copy the suggestion — don't guess. Then verify the lowest dimension matches your read.
2. Apply the fix pattern from references/rubric.md:
   • Conciseness 1-2 → cut intros, definitions, multi-line tables that mostly point to refs
   • Actionability 1-2 → replace prose with code blocks and CLI commands
   • Workflow clarity 1-2 → add numbered steps + validation checkpoints
   • Progressive disclosure 1-2 → split into

     references/*.md

3. If the skill is intentionally a routing document (like

   grafana-k6/k6-docs

   ), don't let

   --optimize

   inline the bundle back into SKILL.md. Hand-craft a minimal copy-paste "validation loop" inline so SKILL.md is independently actionable, while preserving the bundle.
4. Re-score five times locally. Don't stop until all five runs hit 100 — see "Score variance" above for why.

Anti-patterns

References

• references/descriptions.md

  — the pushy-description pattern + trigger-term checklist

• references/rubric.md

  — per-dimension scoring with Anthropic-doc citations and concrete fix patterns

• references/anatomy.md

  — three-level progressive disclosure, bundle layout, splitting strategies

• references/anti-patterns.md

  — what NOT to do, with examples
• Anthropic — Agent Skills best practices
• anthropics/skills — skill-creator SKILL.md
• The Complete Guide to Building Skills for Claude (PDF)