bats-testing-patterns

I took a look at your bats-testing-patterns skill and wanted to share some thoughts.

Links:

• GitHub
• Your skill in the SkillzWave marketplace

The TL;DR

You're at 60/100, which puts you in D territory (needs work). This is based on Anthropic's best practices for skill design. Your strongest area is Spec Compliance (12/15) – the metadata and structure are solid. The real drag is Progressive Disclosure Architecture (12/30) – that's where you're leaving the most points on the table.

What's Working Well

• Solid triggers – "unit tests," "shell scripts," "TDD," and "CI/CD" clearly signal when to use this. That's good discoverability.
• Comprehensive pattern coverage – You're addressing a real gap here. Assertions, mocking, fixtures, and CI integration all deserve their place.
• Useful test_helper.sh template – That helper pattern is production-ready and shows someone actually built this, not just theorized about it.
• Good spec compliance – Your frontmatter is clean, hyphen-case naming is correct, and the structure follows the rules.

The Big One: Monolithic File Structure

Here's the thing: 631 lines in a single SKILL.md is killing your PDA score (and that's -10 points you're leaving on the table). When a file gets that long, it becomes a reference manual, not a skill guide. Developers have to scroll through installation details, basic patterns, and advanced CI integration all at once.

The fix is straightforward: Split this into a primary guide + reference files:

SKILL.md (100-150 lines) - Overview, quick start, when to use
references/
  ├── installation.md
  ├── assertion-patterns.md
  ├── mocking-and-stubs.md
  ├── fixtures.md
  └── ci-integration.md

This keeps your main file focused on getting someone started, while letting them dive into references when they need depth. That restructure alone gets you +10 points.

Other Things Worth Fixing

1. Add an explicit table of contents – For files over 100 lines, link to your sections at the top. Makes navigation way better, costs almost nothing.

2. Add a quick-start workflow – Right now you list "when to use" scenarios but no numbered steps. Something like: "1. Install Bats, 2. Create first test file, 3. Write an assertion, 4. Run bats test.bats" gets people moving immediately. That's +3 points in Ease of Use.

3. Surface that test_helper.sh earlier – It's buried 500 lines down. Move it to a references file or mention it in your quick start. Makes it discoverable.

4. Trim marketing language – "Comprehensive guidance for writing comprehensive unit tests" and "production-grade" read a bit salesy. Stick with "Guidance for writing unit tests using Bats, including test patterns, fixtures, and CI/CD integration."

Quick Wins

• Biggest impact: Restructure into SKILL.md + references/ (+10 points)
• Second: Add quick-start workflow with numbered steps (+3 points)
• Third: Add TOC with anchor links at the top (+2 points)
• Quick polish: Remove marketing language, surface test_helper earlier (+2 points total)

That's realistically +17 points if you nail these – gets you to 77/100, which is solid C territory.

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