I installed a bunch of agent skills. Then I wrote a tool to audit them.

A developer released skill-audit, a zero-dependency Python 3.9+ command-line tool that checks agent skills folders for duplicate names, non-kebab-case names, missing names or descriptions, missing frontmatter, descriptions with 70% or greater token overlap, descriptions under 20 or over 1024 characters, thin bodies, missing SKILL.md files, and missing version fields. The tool, run as "skill-audit check --path ~/.claude/skills", returns exit code 0 when there are no errors and never fails a run on warnings alone, so it can be used in CI; on the author's examples/messy folder it reported 5 errors and 2 warnings across 5 skills. The author built skill-audit after finding that copied-together skill packs produced duplicate names the agent resolved at random, near-identical descriptions that both triggered on the same prompt, and a skill with no description that the agent never picked.

I installed a bunch of agent skills. Then I wrote a tool to audit them. Every week a new agent skills pack shows up on GitHub Trending. I installed a few. Then a few more. Then I copied skills from three different packs into one folder. That is when things got weird. Two skills had the same name. The agent picked one at random. Two more had almost identical descriptions Every week a new agent skills pack shows up on GitHub Trending. I installed a few. Then a few more. Then I copied skills from three different packs into one folder. That is when things got weird. Two skills had the same name. The agent picked one at random. Two more had almost identical descriptions, so both triggered on the same prompt. One skill had no description at all, so the agent never picked it. I had no idea until I started reading every SKILL.md by hand. So I built a tiny tool to do that reading for me: skill-audit. One command audits a whole skills folder: skill-audit check --path ~/.claude/skills It checks for: Duplicate names — two skills declaring the same name Invalid names — anything that is not kebab-case Missing name / description — the description is how the agent decides when to trigger a skill Missing frontmatter — a SKILL.md with no --- block Duplicate / overlapping descriptions — identical text, or =70% token overlap, so two skills fight over the same prompt Description too short / too long — under 20 chars, or over 1024 Thin body — a header, not a skill Missing SKILL.md — a folder agents will never discover No version — so you can tell whether you have the latest Exit code 0 means no errors. Warnings never fail the run on their own, so you can use it in CI. $ skill-audit check --path examples/messy ERROR duplicate-name: Duplicate skill name 'dup-skill' ERROR invalid-name: 'Bad Name' must be kebab-case ERROR missing-description: no-desc has no 'description' ERROR missing-description: unnamed has no 'description' ERROR missing-name: no-frontmatter/SKILL.md has no 'name' WARN frontmatter-parse: no-frontmatter/SKILL.md missing frontmatter block WARN no-version: unnamed has no 'version' in frontmatter Summary: 5 error s , 2 warning s , 5 skill s . git clone https://github.com/techdevfun/skill-audit.git cd skill-audit PYTHONPATH=src python -m skill audit check --path examples/good PYTHONPATH=src python -m skill audit check --path examples/messy || true Zero dependencies, Python 3.9+ stdlib only. Tests + CI included. Repo: https://github.com/techdevfun/skill-audit Existing skill packs add more skills. This one tells you whether the ones you already have are healthy. If you maintain a pack, running this in CI catches the duplicate-name / missing-description breakage before your users do. Key Takeaways - •Every week a new agent skills pack shows up on GitHub Trending - •This story was reported by Dev.to , covering developments in the dev space. - •AI advancements continue to reshape industries — read the full article on Dev.to for complete coverage. 📖 Continue reading the full article: Read Full Article on Dev.to → https://dev.to/techdevfun/i-installed-a-bunch-of-agent-skills-then-i-wrote-a-tool-to-audit-them-4e2h