schliff 7.1.1

Deterministic quality scorer for AI agent instruction files. Multi-format (SKILL.md, CLAUDE.md, .cursorrules, AGENTS.md), 8-dimension scoring with security, anti-gaming detection, zero dependencies.

Schliff

Your AI instructions are silently degrading. Schliff catches it.

Deterministic quality scoring for CLAUDE.md, SKILL.md, .cursorrules, AGENTS.md, and system prompts. No LLM, no API key — same input, same score. Python 3.9+, zero core dependencies (optional schliff[evolve] adds litellm for the evolution loop).

pip install schliff
schliff score path/to/SKILL.md

$ schliff score demo/bad-skill/SKILL.md
schliff v7.1.1

  structure      ███████░░░   70/100  fair
  efficiency     ████░░░░░░   35/100  poor
  composability  ███░░░░░░░   30/100  poor
  clarity        █████████░   90/100  great

  Structural Score  ███████████░░░░░░░░░  53.8/100  [D]
  ⚠ 4/8 dimensions measured (weight coverage: 40%). Unmeasured: triggers, quality, edges
  → 13 deterministic fixes available. Run `/schliff:auto` in Claude Code to apply.

  Tokens: 378 / 1,000 (ok)

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A real optimization

@wan-huiyan ran schliff on the 1,331-line SKILL.md for agent-review-panel, a multi-agent code-review skill. Two optimization rounds later: 340 lines, 75% fewer tokens, structure 65 → 100, composability 56 → 91. A/B tested on a 1,132-line document — identical review quality with a quarter of the tokens.

Skill	Score	Rounds	Author
agent-review-panel	75 [C] → 85.6 [A]	2	@wan-huiyan
shieldclaw (OpenClaw)	68 [C] → 94.6 [A]	1	@Zandereins
demo bad-skill	54 [D] → 98.3 [S]	18 auto	@Zandereins

Score yours: schliff score path/to/SKILL.md — share what you find

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Seen in the wild

A root CLAUDE.md written for modelcontextprotocol/servers (Anthropic's official MCP reference repo) merged to main on April 17th, 2026. Running schliff on it returned 59.2/100 at 40% weight coverage — a useful measurement of where the file actually needed work and where the scorer was structurally unfair for a project-root document. Full walkthrough →

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What the data says

We scored 120 public instruction files across 60 source repos. Mean grade: D. 59% below C. Adding one companion eval suite lifts the mean +22 points.

• Composability is the real weak spot — mean 30.4/100. Files tell agents what to do, rarely where to stop or hand off
• No companion eval suite in the corpus — verified 0/60 source repos ship an eval-suite.json, evals/, or any test artifact. Three dimensions stay unmeasured, locking 45% of the score
• Hedging dilutes intent — efficiency averages 52.8/100. "You might want to consider" is noise
• Format alone doesn't save you — AGENTS.md averages 64.8, SKILL.md 55.4. Skipping frontmatter costs ~15 points regardless of format

Read the full report → · Reproduce it

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What Schliff Catches

Dimension	Weight	What it catches
structure	15%	Missing frontmatter, empty headers, no examples, dead content
triggers	20%	Eval-suite trigger accuracy, false positives, missed activations
quality	20%	Thin assertions, missing feature coverage, low coherence
edges	15%	No edge cases defined, missing categories (invalid, scale, unicode)
efficiency	10%	Hedging, filler words, repetition, low signal-to-noise
composability	10%	Missing scope boundaries, no error behavior, no handoff points
clarity	5%	Contradictions, vague references, ambiguous instructions
security	5%	(opt-in) Hardcoded secrets, unsafe commands, exposed credentials

Grades: S (≥95) · A (≥85) · B (≥75) · C (≥65) · D (≥50) · E (≥35) · F (<35). Full methodology: docs/SCORING.md

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Quick Start

schliff score path/to/SKILL.md          # score any instruction file
schliff score --url https://github.com/user/repo/blob/main/SKILL.md
schliff suggest path/to/SKILL.md         # ranked fixes with impact estimates
schliff compare skill-v1.md skill-v2.md  # side-by-side comparison
schliff doctor                           # scan all installed skills

schliff suggest returns the top fixes with their estimated point impact:

$ schliff suggest demo/bad-skill/SKILL.md
TOP FIXES (estimated impact):
 1. [ ~25] Create eval-suite.json with trigger test cases (should_trigger: true/false prompts)
 2. [  ~8] Create eval-suite.json with 3+ test cases, each with typed assertions
 3. [  +2] Add 'description: <what this skill does and when to use it>' to frontmatter
 4. [  +2] Add handoff points: 'Then use X skill for...', 'If Y, instead use Z skill'
 5. [  +2] Add 'Use this skill when...' + 'Do NOT use for...' scope sections

Current: 53.8 [D]  →  Estimated after fixes: ~91.8 [A]

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Evolution Engine

Close the loop: score → patch → re-score → stop at plateau. One command.

pip install schliff[evolve]
schliff evolve path/to/SKILL.md

  structure         70 → 100     Frontmatter, examples, concrete commands
  triggers           0 → 100     Description keywords, negative boundaries
  quality            0 →  95     Eval suite generated, assertions added
  edges              0 → 100     Edge cases synthesized
  efficiency        35 →  93     Hedging removed, information density up
  composability     30 →  90     Scope boundaries, error behavior, deps
  clarity           90 → 100     Vague references resolved

  Composite         54 [D] → 98 [S]    18 iterations, 12 kept / 6 reverted

The engine applies deterministic patches first (free, no LLM), then uses an LLM for what rules can't fix — structural reorganization, example generation, edge case synthesis. Only improvements that pass all dimension guards are kept; rejects are reverted automatically.

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CI Integration

schliff verify path/to/SKILL.md --min-score 75 --regression

# .pre-commit-config.yaml
repos:
  - repo: https://github.com/Zandereins/schliff
    rev: v7.1.1
    hooks:
      - id: schliff-verify
        args: ['--min-score', '75']

--regression fails the check if the score dropped versus the last successful run (history file in .schliff/history.jsonl). Pair with GitHub Actions to gate PRs on instruction-file quality the same way you gate on test coverage.

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Anti-Gaming

Schliff detects score inflation. The benchmark suite catches 6 gaming patterns:

Gaming attempt	How caught
Empty headers	Content check — empty sections penalized
Keyword stuffing	Dedup + frequency cap
Copy-paste examples	Repeated-line detection (94 → 43)
Contradictions	"always X" vs "never X" finder
Bloated preamble	Signal-to-noise via sqrt density curve
Missing scope	10 composability sub-checks

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How it compares to other AI-instruction linters

	agnix	AgentLinter	Schliff
Approach	399 rules across 9 tools	8-dim scoring + secret scan	7-dim 0–100 composite + evolution loop
Stack	Rust (npm/cargo/brew)	Node.js (npx)	Python 3.9+ stdlib
Core dependencies	Rust toolchain	npm/node	None (core)
Output	Pass/fail rule violations	Score + diagnostics	Composite grade + ranked fixes + auto-improve
Evolution loop	—	—	✅ schliff evolve (54→98 in 18 iter)
Anti-gaming detection	—	—	✅ 6 detectors
CI gate (regression)	via action	via CLI exit	✅ --min-score + --regression

agnix is great if you want immediate rule-based validation with zero scoring nuance. AgentLinter adds scoring but no evolution. Schliff is the only tool that gives you a deterministic composite you can gate PRs on, plus an evolution engine that closes the loop.

How it differs from autoresearch

Inspired by Karpathy's autoresearch — but Schliff is a linter, not a research loop. schliff score runs in CI without touching the improvement loop.

	autoresearch	Schliff
Target	ML training scripts	AI instruction files
Patches	100% LLM	60-70% deterministic, 30-40% LLM
Scoring	1 metric	7 dimensions + optional runtime
Anti-gaming	None	6 detection vectors
Dependencies	ML frameworks	Python 3.9+ stdlib only (core)

All commands

Command	Purpose
schliff demo	See schliff in action instantly
schliff score <path>	Score any instruction file
schliff score --url <url>	Score a remote file (HTTPS-only)
schliff score --tokens	Section-by-section token breakdown
schliff suggest <path>	Ranked fixes with estimated impact
schliff compare <a> <b>	Side-by-side comparison with deltas
schliff diff <path>	Score delta vs. previous commit
schliff verify <path>	CI gate — exit 0/1, --min-score, --regression
schliff doctor	Scan all installed skills
schliff badge <path>	Generate markdown badge
schliff report <path>	Markdown quality report
schliff evolve <path>	Autonomous improvement loop

Claude Code skills (require bash install.sh):

Command	Purpose
/schliff:auto	Autonomous improvement with EMA-based stopping
/schliff:init <path>	Bootstrap eval suite + baseline
/schliff:analyze	One-shot gap analysis
/schliff:mesh	Detect trigger conflicts across skills
/schliff:report	Generate shareable report with badge

Architecture

flowchart TB
    subgraph Scoring ["Scoring Engine (deterministic, no LLM)"]
        SKILL[SKILL.md + eval-suite.json] --> PARSE[Parse & Extract]
        PARSE --> S1[Structure]
        PARSE --> S2[Triggers]
        PARSE --> S3[Quality]
        PARSE --> S4[Edges]
        PARSE --> S5[Efficiency]
        PARSE --> S6[Composability]
        PARSE --> S7[Clarity]
        PARSE --> S8[Security]
        S1 & S2 & S3 & S4 & S5 & S6 & S7 & S8 --> COMPOSITE[Weighted Composite + Grade]
    end

    subgraph Loop ["Evolution Engine (optional, LLM-powered)"]
        COMPOSITE --> GRADIENT[Identify Weakest Dimension]
        GRADIENT --> PATCH[Generate Patch]
        PATCH --> APPLY[Apply + Re-score]
        APPLY -->|improved| KEEP[Keep]
        APPLY -->|worse| REVERT[Revert]
        KEEP & REVERT --> PLATEAU{Plateau?}
        PLATEAU -->|no| GRADIENT
        PLATEAU -->|yes| DONE[Done]
    end

60-70% of patches follow deterministic rules. The LLM handles structural reorganization, example generation, edge case synthesis.

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When Schliff isn't the right tool

• LLM-based semantic understanding — Schliff is pattern-based. If you need a model to reason about whether two paragraphs are semantically contradictory (vs. structurally), a scorer like AgentLinter will catch cases schliff misses
• Creative-writing prompts — the weights and dimensions are opinionated for coding-agent instructions. Applied to persona prompts or creative-writing system prompts, the composite number will be misleading
• You don't want to write an eval suite — 45% of the score stays unmeasured without one. The remaining 55% (structure, efficiency, composability, clarity) still gives useful signal, but the A/S grades are out of reach

Limitations

The structural score measures file organization, not runtime effectiveness. A skill scoring 95/100 can still produce wrong output — use --runtime scoring for that.

The trigger scorer uses TF-IDF heuristics. Skills with generic domain vocabulary may hit a precision ceiling around 75-80.

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Badge

schliff badge path/to/SKILL.md

Contributing

Found a scoring bug? Add a test case and open an issue. Want to improve scoring logic? Edit scoring/*.py, run the tests, PR the diff.

License

MIT

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schliff (German) — the finishing cut. "Den letzten Schliff geben" = to give something its final polish.