Free skill audit
This one is for people who write their own skills. If you want finished documents rather than a way to grade skill files, start with the free action items list or Document Ops.
Point it at a SKILL.md and it grades the file against seven gates, tells you exactly what is missing on each failure, and returns an exit code you can put in a script. It is free, its source is public, and it applies the same floor every paid skill here has to clear.
What a run looks like
Output captured verbatim from a run of skill_audit.py 2.0.0 against its own skill file on 2026-10-27; the path shown is the argument, so you pass your own. NOT CHECKABLE means the file gives that gate nothing to test; it does not count toward the verdict. exit 0 = pass · exit 2 = review · exit 1 = fail · exit 3 = refused, an input it will not grade (nothing gradable at that path, or a SKILL.md it cannot read as written) · exit 4 = usage, a wrong command line or Python older than 3.8. Put it in a pre-commit hook or a CI step; the code is the interface.
What a failure looks like.
Install
Which file do you need?
The download is two files. Both hold the same skill and the same checker. Get the one for where you use Claude.
skill-audit.zip is for Claude Code. The full package: the skill, the checker, the worked examples, the tests and the plugin manifest. Unzip it and drop the whole skill-audit folder into your skills directory, each skill in its own folder:
~/.claude/skills/skill-audit/<project>/.claude/skills/skill-audit/skill-audit-upload.zip is for claude.ai and the desktop app. Six files: SKILL.md, skill_audit.py, README, SETUP, CHANGELOG, LICENSE. Upload it to your claude.ai account as it came, at claude.ai/customize/skills/new/upload. Do not unzip it.
Why two: claude.ai’s skill upload refuses a zip that holds a plugin manifest or more than one SKILL.md, and the full package has both (each worked example carries its own SKILL.md). Upload skill-audit.zip there and it is refused. The upload file is the same skill with those parts left out.
No dependencies to install. If you have Python 3.8 or newer, you can run this.
Install location differs by surface, and the two do not sync. A folder you drop into ~/.claude/skills/ or .claude/skills/ is local to Claude Code on that machine. Skills added to your claude.ai account are the ones that reach the web app, the desktop app, cloud sessions and routines. Installing one place does not install the other, so put it wherever you actually work. Use Claude Code and claude.ai both? Get both files.
Three ways to get it
skill-audit.zip for Claude Code, skill-audit-upload.zip for claude.ai and the desktop app. Install, on this page, says which you need and why.Get the download by email
Subscribe and the download link comes with the first issue. Roughly monthly after that; unsubscribe from any issue.
What the paid audit adds
- Scope-boundary analysis across a whole skill directory, not one file.
- Trigger collision detection — which of your skills will fire on each other's inputs.
- Session-hygiene scoring.