Rank #3 of 5 in Agent Skills & Extensions

Skills for Real Engineers

Name: Skills for Real Engineers
Author: Matt Pocock (AI Hero)

Open Source

Matt Pocock (AI Hero)

aihero.dev ↗Try it →

PA Score19/100 AGENT-READY18/100 BUILT-IN AI26/100 API0/100

MCP—CLI✓API—

★ 261.5k▲ 428.7k/yr★ +7k

ArenasAgent Skills & Extensions#3/5

Access

Open app ↗

Install

cliclaude plugins install mattpocock-skills

npmnpx skills@latest add mattpocock/skills

Compare head-to-head

Alternatives to Skills for Real Engineers →

Showcase

Skills for Real Engineers homepage screenshot — homepage · captured Sep 2026 · view live ↗

Skills for Real Engineers docs screenshot — docs · captured Sep 2026 · view live ↗

Try itExperimental

See what an agent can do with Skills for Real Engineers before you ever sign up. Pick a story: recorded sessions replay real probe-harness transcripts; sandboxed self-drive sessions are designed and gated (docs/TRY-IT.md).

$npx -y skills add mattpocock/skills --skill tdd -a claude-code -y --copy  # in a scratch dir, then print installed SKILL.md frontmatter

recorded session — replayed, not live

▋

recorded 2026-09-06 · exit 0 · captured verbatim by our probe harness, secrets redacted

Verified integrations

Connections to other tracked products — hover a chip for the verbatim evidence quote behind it.

Claude CodeAI Coding Agents

GitHubCode Hosting

LinearProject Management

skills.shAgent Skills & Extensions

By theme — the product's score on each story themeBy theme

Agent workflows — stories about agent workflows in this arenaAgent workflowsevidence →

Stories about agent workflows in this arena

14.4/100

Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticnessevidence →

How well agents can access and operate the product

18.8/100

Automation depth — how much of the product can run unattendedAutomation depthevidence →

How much of the product can run unattended

4.0/100

Cross agent portability — stories about cross agent portability in this arenaCross agent portabilityevidence →

Stories about cross agent portability in this arena

53.6/100

Discovery distribution — stories about discovery distribution in this arenaDiscovery distributionevidence →

Stories about discovery distribution in this arena

33.1/100

Docs onboarding — stories about docs onboarding in this arenaDocs onboardingevidence →

Stories about docs onboarding in this arena

49.6/100

Install experience — stories about install experience in this arenaInstall experienceevidence →

Stories about install experience in this arena

27.0/100

Openness — open source, data portability, and self-hosting storiesOpennessevidence →

Open source, data portability, and self-hosting stories

46.0/100

Privacy posture — data-handling and privacy storiesPrivacy postureevidence →

Data-handling and privacy stories

0.0/100

Safety review — stories about safety review in this arenaSafety reviewevidence →

Stories about safety review in this arena

31.2/100

Skill authoring — stories about skill authoring in this arenaSkill authoringevidence →

Stories about skill authoring in this arena

10.3/100

Testing quality — stories about testing quality in this arenaTesting qualityevidence →

Stories about testing quality in this arena

9.0/100

Versioning updates — stories about versioning updates in this arenaVersioning updatesevidence →

Stories about versioning updates in this arena

56.4/100

Story verdicts — every judged story with its evidenceStory verdicts

What’s free: 1 free · 0 paid · 0 enterprise · 23 not stated in evidence

Sorted by importance (agentic first) (high → low) · 52/52 stories · click a row’s chevron for the rationale and evidence


Connect an agent via an official MCP server G Agent access	ai-native user	Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness	3	none	0/10
Plug MCP servers into this product so it can use their tools G Agent access	ai-native user	Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness	3	n/a	0/10
Delegate tasks to a built-in AI assistant inside the product G Agentic features	ai-native user	Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness	3	none	untested		none yet
Drive the product through a documented public API G Agent access	ai-native user	Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness	3	n/a	untested		none yet
Operate the product with natural-language commands G Agentic features	ai-native user	Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness	2	full	8/10	C claimed
Use an official CLI G Agent access	ai-native user	Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness	2	full	7/10	C claimed
Get AI-generated insights and suggestions from my data inside the product G Agentic features	ai-native user	Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness	2	partial	6/10	C claimed
Point an agent at llms.txt or agent-oriented docs G Agent access	ai-native user	Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness	2	partial	5/10	T probed
Rely on versioned APIs with a documented deprecation policy G Api quality	ai-native user	Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness	2	none	0/10
Set up automations that run autonomously in the background G Agentic features	ai-native user	Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness	2	none	0/10
Build against official SDKs G Agent access	ai-native user	Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness	2	none	untested		none yet
Download a machine-readable API spec (OpenAPI or equivalent) G Api quality	ai-native user	Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness	2	n/a	untested		none yet
Explore an interactive API reference with runnable examples G Api quality	ai-native user	Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness	2	n/a	untested		none yet
Issue scoped/least-privilege API credentials for an agent G Agent access	ai-native user	Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness	2	n/a	untested		none yet
Run the product headlessly / in CI for automation G Agent access	ai-native user	Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness	2	none	untested		none yet
Subscribe to events via webhooks G Agent access	ai-native user	Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness	2	n/a	untested		none yet
Test against a sandbox environment without touching production data G Api quality	ai-native user	Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness	1	none	untested		none yet
There is a documented update path — marketplace auto-updates or an explicit update command — so I get fixes without reinstalling from scratch C Updates	developer	Versioning updates — stories about versioning updates in this arenaVersioning updates	3	full	8/10	C claimed
Self-host the core product G	ai-native user	Openness — open source, data portability, and self-hosting storiesOpenness	3	fullfree	7/10	C claimed
A quickstart takes me from nothing to a working installed skill in under five minutes C Onboarding	developer	Docs onboarding — stories about docs onboarding in this arenaDocs onboarding	3	partial	6/10	C claimed
Install a skill collection with one documented command — a package-manager one-liner, CLI, or in-agent marketplace command — and it is active in my next session C Install	developer	Install experience — stories about install experience in this arenaInstall experience	3	partial	6/10	C claimed
Install the same collection into multiple different coding agents — Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and others — with per-harness instructions C Portability	developer	Cross agent portability — stories about cross agent portability in this arenaCross agent portability	3	partial	6/10	C claimed
Review exactly what instructions and scripts a skill will add — list contents before installing and read every file afterward C Review	engineering-lead	Safety review — stories about safety review in this arenaSafety review	3	partial	6/10	C claimed
Export all of my data in open formats and leave G	ai-native user	Openness — open source, data portability, and self-hosting storiesOpenness	3	partial	5/10	C claimed
My coding agent can install a skill by itself — a non-interactive, promptless install path an agent can run headlessly end to end C Agent ops	ai-native user	Agent workflows — stories about agent workflows in this arenaAgent workflows	3	partial	4/10	C claimed
Author a new skill from a documented template — a SKILL.md with name and description frontmatter — without reverse-engineering existing skills C Authoring	developer	Skill authoring — stories about skill authoring in this arenaSkill authoring	3	none	0/10
Define rules that trigger actions automatically on events G	ai-native user	Automation depth — how much of the product can run unattendedAutomation depth	3	none	0/10
Installed skills trigger automatically from task context, with descriptions engineered so the agent activates the right skill at the right moment C Triggering	developer	Discovery distribution — stories about discovery distribution in this arenaDiscovery distribution	3	none	0/10
Prevent my data from being used to train AI models G	ai-native user	Privacy posture — data-handling and privacy storiesPrivacy posture	3	n/a	untested		none yet
Distribute a standard skill set to my whole team — via a marketplace, a shared repo, or files committed to the project C Distribution	engineering-lead	Discovery distribution — stories about discovery distribution in this arenaDiscovery distribution	2	full	8/10	C claimed
Read the product's source under an open license G	ai-native user	Openness — open source, data portability, and self-hosting storiesOpenness	2	full	8/10	C claimed
Skills are plain markdown files and folders I can read, copy, and carry to another harness — not a proprietary binary format C Portability	developer	Cross agent portability — stories about cross agent portability in this arenaCross agent portability	2	full	8/10	C claimed
Every skill documents what it does and when it activates, so I can predict my agent's new behavior before it surprises me C Onboarding	developer	Docs onboarding — stories about docs onboarding in this arenaDocs onboarding	2	full	7/10	X community
Browse or search a catalog of available skills — a registry, leaderboard, or marketplace listing — before installing anything C Discovery	developer	Discovery distribution — stories about discovery distribution in this arenaDiscovery distribution	2	partial	6/10	C claimed
Skills follow the open Agent Skills specification so the same skill folder is valid beyond this one vendor's tooling C Spec	developer	Skill authoring — stories about skill authoring in this arenaSkill authoring	2	partial	6/10	C claimed
Install only the specific skills I want from a collection instead of taking the whole bundle C Install	developer	Install experience — stories about install experience in this arenaInstall experience	2	partial	5/10	C claimed
Choose install scope — project-local files committed with my repo, or user-global across all projects C Install	developer	Install experience — stories about install experience in this arenaInstall experience	2	partial	4/10	C claimed
The project documents its security posture — what skills can execute, the trust model for third-party skills, and any telemetry or data collection C Trust	engineering-lead	Safety review — stories about safety review in this arenaSafety review	2	partial	4/10	C claimed
The collection is actively maintained — recent releases, triaged issues, and accepted community contributions C Maintenance	developer	Testing quality — stories about testing quality in this arenaTesting quality	2	partial	3/10	X community
Perform bulk operations across many items at once G	ai-native user	Automation depth — how much of the product can run unattendedAutomation depth	2	none	0/10
The collection maintains tests or evals for its skills so changes are verified against regressions rather than shipped on vibes C Testing	developer	Testing quality — stories about testing quality in this arenaTesting quality	2	none	0/10
Choose where my data is stored (region/residency) G	ai-native user	Privacy posture — data-handling and privacy storiesPrivacy posture	2	n/a	untested		none yet
Control data retention and deletion G	ai-native user	Privacy posture — data-handling and privacy storiesPrivacy posture	2	none	untested		none yet
Do everything through the API that I can do in the UI G	ai-native user	Openness — open source, data portability, and self-hosting storiesOpenness	2	none	untested		none yet
My agent can author and package a new skill end to end by following the project's own spec, template, or meta-skill C Agent ops	ai-native user	Agent workflows — stories about agent workflows in this arenaAgent workflows	2	none	untested		none yet
Opt out of telemetry and usage tracking G	ai-native user	Privacy posture — data-handling and privacy storiesPrivacy posture	2	none	untested		none yet
Schedule recurring jobs or workflows G	ai-native user	Automation depth — how much of the product can run unattendedAutomation depth	2	n/a	untested		none yet
The collection ships a meta-skill or tool that guides my agent through writing, improving, and packaging new skills C Authoring	developer	Skill authoring — stories about skill authoring in this arenaSkill authoring	2	none	untested		none yet
Control when skill changes reach my team — pinned versions or a lockfile rather than silent behind-the-back updates C Pinning	engineering-lead	Versioning updates — stories about versioning updates in this arenaVersioning updates	1	partial	7/10	C claimed
Version, review, and roll back my automations G	ai-native user	Automation depth — how much of the product can run unattendedAutomation depth	1	partial	4/10	C claimed
List what is installed and remove skills cleanly, without orphaned files or lingering instructions C Lifecycle	developer	Install experience — stories about install experience in this arenaInstall experience	1	none	untested		none yet
Releases ship with notes or a changelog so I can see what changed in the skills before I take an update C Updates	developer	Versioning updates — stories about versioning updates in this arenaVersioning updates	1	none	untested		none yet

Opportunities — the stories that would move this product's scores, from its own judged verdictsOpportunitiestop 8 of 35 stories with headroom

What would move Skills for Real Engineers’s scores — derived from its own judged verdicts, biggest headroom first. Each line quotes what the judge found missing; shipping it (or evidencing it publicly) is the fix.

Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productDelegate tasks to a built-in AI assistant inside the product
nonemoves Built-in AIimpact 45
The axis applies to this product kind (peer products hold positive or none verdicts on this story), so lack of evidence for an applicable capability is "none", never "na".
Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productConnect an agent via an official MCP server
nonemoves agent-readyimpact 45
Evidence shows distribution via npm CLI, Claude Code plugin marketplace, and file-copy installation, but nowhere does it mention an MCP server for agents to connect to.
Skill authoring — stories about skill authoring in this arenaAuthor a new skill from a documented template — a SKILL.md with name and description frontmatter — without reverse-engineering existing skills
nonemoves PA Scoreimpact 30
The evidence describes an existing bundle of pre-built skills (tdd, grilling, triage, setup) that you can install, subscribe to, or copy as editable files, but there is no documented template, generator, or guide specifically for authoring a brand-new SKILL.md with frontmatter — the closest thing to a 'template' would be reverse-engineering the shipped example skills, which the story explicitly excludes.
Automation depth — how much of the product can run unattendedDefine rules that trigger actions automatically on events
nonemoves PA Scoreimpact 30
The product ships a library of manually-invoked skill files triggered by slash commands or explicit user direction ('Install the ones you want, then type a slash command'; 'Use them every time you want to make a change'), not an event-driven rule/automation engine.
Discovery distribution — stories about discovery distribution in this arenaInstalled skills trigger automatically from task context, with descriptions engineered so the agent activates the right skill at the right moment
nonemoves PA Scoreimpact 30
The evidence describes manual invocation — 'Install the ones you want, then type a slash command' (docs-43) and 'Use them every time you want to make a change' (gh-1/gh-4) — rather than automatic, context-triggered activation via engineered descriptions.
Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productSet up automations that run autonomously in the background
nonemoves Built-in AIimpact 30
The skills are built around interactive, human-in-the-loop workflows (grilling/interviewing the user, confirming test seams, triage state machines) rather than unattended background automation; the project's own philosophy explicitly rejects processes that 'take away your control' in favor of user-confirmed steps.
Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productRun the product headlessly / in CI for automation
nonemoves agent-readyimpact 30
The evidence describes skill files consumed by interactive coding agents (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.) that rely on human interviewing/grilling and manual slash-command invocation, with no mention of a CLI flag, non-interactive mode, or CI/automation pipeline usage.
Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productBuild against official SDKs
nonemoves agent-readyimpact 30
The axis applies to this product kind (peer products hold positive or none verdicts on this story), so lack of evidence for an applicable capability is "none", never "na".

Showing the top 8 of 35 — every none/partial verdict in the story verdicts table is headroom.

Think a verdict is wrong? Every verdicts-table row has a Flag link — see the methodology.

Coverage map — which docs area, API section, or community source covers which judged storiesCoverage map3 surfaces · 24 covered stories

Where the cited evidence behind each covered verdict came from — the same citations the verdicts table shows, no extra judging.

GitHub README23 stories

My coding agent can install a skill by itself — a non-interactive, promptless install path an agent can run headlessly end to end
Point an agent at llms.txt or agent-oriented docs
Use an official CLI
Operate the product with natural-language commands
Version, review, and roll back my automations
Install the same collection into multiple different coding agents — Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and others — with per-harness instructions
Skills are plain markdown files and folders I can read, copy, and carry to another harness — not a proprietary binary format
Browse or search a catalog of available skills — a registry, leaderboard, or marketplace listing — before installing anything
Distribute a standard skill set to my whole team — via a marketplace, a shared repo, or files committed to the project
A quickstart takes me from nothing to a working installed skill in under five minutes
Every skill documents what it does and when it activates, so I can predict my agent's new behavior before it surprises me
Install a skill collection with one documented command — a package-manager one-liner, CLI, or in-agent marketplace command — and it is active in my next session
Choose install scope — project-local files committed with my repo, or user-global across all projects
Install only the specific skills I want from a collection instead of taking the whole bundle
Export all of my data in open formats and leave
Read the product's source under an open license
Self-host the core product
Review exactly what instructions and scripts a skill will add — list contents before installing and read every file afterward
The project documents its security posture — what skills can execute, the trust model for third-party skills, and any telemetry or data collection
Skills follow the open Agent Skills specification so the same skill folder is valid beyond this one vendor's tooling
The collection is actively maintained — recent releases, triaged issues, and accepted community contributions
Control when skill changes reach my team — pinned versions or a lockfile rather than silent behind-the-back updates
There is a documented update path — marketplace auto-updates or an explicit update command — so I get fixes without reinstalling from scratch

Skills docs14 stories

My coding agent can install a skill by itself — a non-interactive, promptless install path an agent can run headlessly end to end
Get AI-generated insights and suggestions from my data inside the product
Operate the product with natural-language commands
Install the same collection into multiple different coding agents — Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and others — with per-harness instructions
Skills are plain markdown files and folders I can read, copy, and carry to another harness — not a proprietary binary format
Browse or search a catalog of available skills — a registry, leaderboard, or marketplace listing — before installing anything
Distribute a standard skill set to my whole team — via a marketplace, a shared repo, or files committed to the project
A quickstart takes me from nothing to a working installed skill in under five minutes
Every skill documents what it does and when it activates, so I can predict my agent's new behavior before it surprises me
Install a skill collection with one documented command — a package-manager one-liner, CLI, or in-agent marketplace command — and it is active in my next session
Install only the specific skills I want from a collection instead of taking the whole bundle
Export all of my data in open formats and leave
Read the product's source under an open license
Skills follow the open Agent Skills specification so the same skill folder is valid beyond this one vendor's tooling

Hacker News2 stories

Every skill documents what it does and when it activates, so I can predict my agent's new behavior before it surprises me
The collection is actively maintained — recent releases, triaged issues, and accepted community contributions

Probe proofs — replayable recordings from the probe harnessProbe proofs

Replayable recordings from our probe harness — see the Prove-It protocol to submit one.

$npx -y skills add mattpocock/skills --skill tdd -a claude-code -y --copy  # in a scratch dir, then print installed SKILL.md frontmatter

reproduced

$ npx -y skills add mattpocock/skills --skill tdd -a claude-code -y --copy  # in a scratch dir, then print installed SKILL.md frontmatter
\
███████╗██╗  ██╗██╗██╗     ██╗     ███████╗
██╔════╝██║ ██╔╝██║██║     ██║     ██╔════╝
███████╗█████╔╝ ██║██║     ██║     ███████╗
╚════██║██╔═██╗ ██║██║     ██║     ╚════██║
███████║██║  ██╗██║███████╗███████╗███████║
╚══════╝╚═╝  ╚═╝╚═╝╚══════╝╚══════╝╚══════╝

┌   skills 
│
◇  Source: https://github.com/mattpocock/skills.git
│

[
3
5
m
◒

[
3
9m

C
l
o
n
i
n
g

r
e
p
o
s
i
t
o
r
y
…
[
3
5
m
◐

[
3
9m

C
l
o
n
i
n
g

r
e
p
o
s
i
t
o
r
y
…
[
3
5
m
◓

[
3
9m

C
l
o
n
i
n
g

r
e
p
o
s
i
t
o
r
y
…
[
3
5
m
◑

[
3
9m

C
l
o
n
i
n
g

r
e
p
o
s
i
t
o
r
y
…
[
3
5
m
◒

[
3
9m

C
l
o
n
i
n
g

r
e
p
o
s
i
t
o
r
y
…
[
3
5
m
◐

[
3
9m

C
l
o
n
i
n
g

r
e
p
o
s
i
t
o
r
y
…
[
3
5
m
◓

[
3
9m

C
l
o
n
i
n
g

r
e
p
o
s
i
t
o
r
y
…
[
3
5
m
◑

[
3
9m

C
l
o
n
i
n
g

r
e
p
o
s
i
t
o
r
y
…◇  Repository cloned
│
◇  Found 37 skills
│
●  Selected 1 skill: tdd

│
◇  Installation Summary ─╮
│                        │
│                        │
│                        │
│                        │
│  [                     │
│  1                     │
│  m                     │
│  M                     │
│  a                     │
│  t                     │
│  t                     │
│  p                     │
│  o                     │
│  c                     │
│  o                     │
│  c                     │
│  k                     │
│                        │
│  S                     │
│  k                     │
│  i                     │
│  l                     │
│  l                     │
│  s                     │
│                        │
│  [                     │
│  2                     │
│  2m                    │
│                        │
│                        │
│                        │
│  [                     │
│  3                     │
│  6                     │
│  m                     │
│  .                     │
│  /                     │
│  .                     │
│  a                     │
│  g                     │
│  e                     │
│  n                     │
│  t                     │
│  s                     │
│  /                     │
│  s                     │
│  k                     │
│  i                     │
│  l                     │
│  l                     │
│  s                     │
│  /                     │
│  t                     │
│  d                     │
│  d                     │
│                        │
│  [                     │
│  3                     │
│  9m                    │
│                        │
│                        │
│                        │
│                        │
│  [                     │
│  2                     │
│  m                     │
│  c                     │
│  o                     │
│  p                     │
│  y                     │
│                        │
│  →                     │
│                        │
│  [                     │
│  2                     │
│  2m                    │
│                        │
│  C                     │
│  l                     │
│  a                     │
│  u                     │
│  d                     │
│  e                     │
│                        │
│  C                     │
│  o                     │
│  d                     │
│  e                     │
│                        │
├────────────────────────╯
│
◇  Security Risk Assessments ─╮
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│  [                          │
│  2                          │
│  m                          │
│  G                          │
│  e                          │
│  n                          │
│                             │
│  [                          │
│  2                          │
│  2m                         │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│  [                          │
│  2                          │
│  m                          │
│  S                          │
│  o                          │
│  c                          │
│  k                          │
│  e                          │
│  t                          │
│                             │
│  [                          │
│  2                          │
│  2m                         │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│  [                          │
│  2                          │
│  m                          │
│  S                          │
│  n                          │
│  y                          │
│  k                          │
│                             │
│  [                          │
│  2                          │
│  2m                         │
│                             │
│                             │
│  [                          │
│  3                          │
│  6                          │
│  m                          │
│  t                          │
│  d                          │
│  d                          │
│                             │
│  [                          │
│  3                          │
│  9m                         │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│  [                          │
│  3                          │
│  2                          │
│  m                          │
│  S                          │
│  a                          │
│  f                          │
│  e                          │
│                             │
│  [                          │
│  3                          │
│  9m                         │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│  [                          │
│  3                          │
│  2                          │
│  m                          │
│  0                          │
│                             │
│  a                          │
│  l                          │
│  e                          │
│  r                          │
│  t                          │
│  s                          │
│                             │
│  [                          │
│  3                          │
│  9m                         │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │
│  [                          │
│  3                          │
│  2                          │
│  m                          │
│  L                          │
│  o                          │
│  w                          │
│                             │
│  R                          │
│  i                          │
│  s                          │
│  k                          │
│                             │
│  [                          │
│  3                          │
│  9m                         │
│                             │
│                             │
│                             │

│  [                          │
│  2                          │
│  m                          │
│  D                          │
│  e                          │
│  t                          │
│  a                          │
│  i                          │
│  l                          │
│  s                          │
│  :                          │
│                             │
│  [                          │
│  2                          │
│  2m                         │
│                             │
│                             │
│  [                          │
│  2                          │
│  m                          │
│  h                          │
│  t                          │
│  t                          │
│  p                          │
│  s                          │
│  :                          │
│  /                          │
│  /                          │
│  s                          │
│  k                          │
│  i                          │
│  l                          │
│  l                          │
│  s                          │
│  .                          │
│  s                          │
│  h                          │
│  /                          │
│  m                          │
│  a                          │
│  t                          │
│  t                          │
│  p                          │
│  o                          │
│  c                          │
│  o                          │
│  c                          │
│  k                          │
│  /                          │
│  s                          │
│  k                          │
│  i                          │
│  l                          │
│  l                          │
│  s                          │
│                             │
│  [                          │
│  2                          │
│  2m                         │
│                             │
├─────────────────────────────╯
│
◇  Installation complete

│
◇  Installed 1 skill ─╮
│                     │
│                     │
│                     │
│                     │
│  [                  │
│  1                  │
│  m                  │
│  M                  │
│  a                  │
│  t                  │
│  t                  │
│  p                  │
│  o                  │
│  c                  │
│  o                  │
│  c                  │
│  k                  │
│                     │
│  S                  │
│  k                  │
│  i                  │
│  l                  │
│  l                  │
│  s                  │
│                     │
│  [                  │
│  2                  │
│  2m                 │
│                     │
│                     │
│  [                  │
│  3                  │
│  2                  │
│  m                  │
│  ✓                  │
│                     │
│  [                  │
│  3                  │
│  9m                 │
│                     │
│  t                  │
│  d                  │
│  d                  │
│                     │
│                     │
│  [                  │
│  2                  │
│  m                  │
│  (                  │
│  c                  │
│  o                  │
│  p                  │
│  i                  │
│  e                  │
│  d                  │
│  )                  │
│                     │
│  [                  │
│  2                  │
│  2m                 │
│                     │
│                     │
│                     │
│                     │
│  [                  │
│  2                  │
│  m                  │
│  →                  │
│                     │
│  [                  │
│  2                  │
│  2m                 │
│                     │
│  .                  │
│  /                  │
│  .                  │
│  c                  │
│  l                  │
│  a                  │
│  u                  │
│  d                  │
│  e                  │
│  /                  │
│  s                  │
│  k                  │
│  i                  │
│  l                  │
│  l                  │
│  s                  │
│  /                  │
│  t                  │
│  d                  │
│  d                  │
│                     │
├─────────────────────╯

│
└  Done!  Review skills before use; they run with full agent permissions.

\--- installed SKILL.md frontmatter ---
---
name: tdd
description: Test-driven development. Use when the user wants to build features or fix bugs test-first, mentions "red-green-refactor", or wants integration tests.

proves: Install a skill collection with one documented command — a package-manager one-liner, CLI, or in-agent marketplace command — and it is active in my next session proves: My coding agent can install a skill by itself — a non-interactive, promptless install path an agent can run headlessly end to end proves: Install only the specific skills I want from a collection instead of taking the whole bundlerecorded 2026-09-06

Claims vs evidence — vendor claims reconciled against independent verdictsClaims vs evidence

1 of 6 testable claims verified · 0 contradicted → integrity 17/100

28 distinct capability claims found in Skills for Real Engineers’s own claimed-docs/GitHub materials, reconciled against our judge’s independent verdicts.

Verified

Unverified

Contradicted

Undersold

Verified (1)

“Provides a CONTEXT.md-style document that helps agents decode project-specific jargon”
Point an agent at llms.txt or agent-oriented docs partial proof ↗

Unverified (6)

“Offers a read-only, auto-updating bundle install so you subscribe to vendor updates instead of forking the files”
There is a documented update path — marketplace auto-updates or an explicit update command — so I get fixes without reinstalling from scratch full proof ↗
“Can copy editable skill files directly into your project so you can customize them freely”
Skills are plain markdown files and folders I can read, copy, and carry to another harness — not a proprietary binary format full proof ↗
“Provides an explicit `npx skills update` command so nothing changes without your action”
There is a documented update path — marketplace auto-updates or an explicit update command — so I get fixes without reinstalling from scratch full proof ↗
“Provides an explicit `npx skills update` command so nothing changes without your action”
Control when skill changes reach my team — pinned versions or a lockfile rather than silent behind-the-back updates partial proof ↗
“Was accepted into Claude Code's official marketplace with a documented `claude plugins install` command”
Install a skill collection with one documented command — a package-manager one-liner, CLI, or in-agent marketplace command — and it is active in my next session partial proof ↗
“Was accepted into Claude Code's official marketplace with a documented `claude plugins install` command”
Browse or search a catalog of available skills — a registry, leaderboard, or marketplace listing — before installing anything partial proof ↗

Undersold (18)

My coding agent can install a skill by itself — a non-interactive, promptless install path an agent can run headlessly end to end partial proof ↗
Use an official CLI full proof ↗
Get AI-generated insights and suggestions from my data inside the product partial proof ↗
Operate the product with natural-language commands full proof ↗
Version, review, and roll back my automations partial proof ↗
Install the same collection into multiple different coding agents — Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and others — with per-harness instructions partial proof ↗
Distribute a standard skill set to my whole team — via a marketplace, a shared repo, or files committed to the project full proof ↗
A quickstart takes me from nothing to a working installed skill in under five minutes partial proof ↗
Every skill documents what it does and when it activates, so I can predict my agent's new behavior before it surprises me full proof ↗
Choose install scope — project-local files committed with my repo, or user-global across all projects partial proof ↗
Install only the specific skills I want from a collection instead of taking the whole bundle partial proof ↗
Export all of my data in open formats and leave partial proof ↗
Read the product's source under an open license full proof ↗
Self-host the core product full proof ↗
Review exactly what instructions and scripts a skill will add — list contents before installing and read every file afterward partial proof ↗
The project documents its security posture — what skills can execute, the trust model for third-party skills, and any telemetry or data collection partial proof ↗
Skills follow the open Agent Skills specification so the same skill folder is valid beyond this one vendor's tooling partial proof ↗
The collection is actively maintained — recent releases, triaged issues, and accepted community contributions partial proof ↗

Claims outside our story set (23)

Real capability claims found in Skills for Real Engineers’s own materials, but no story in this arena’s taxonomy covers them yet — that’s feedback on the taxonomy, not a mark against the product.

“Setup asks which issue tracker to use — GitHub, Linear, or local files”
source ↗
“Ships an alignment skill that gets you and the agent to agree on a change before work starts”
source ↗
“Includes a 'grilling' session skill that builds shared language with the AI and records decisions as ADRs”
source ↗
“Enforces a red-green-refactor loop where the agent writes a failing test first, then fixes it”
source ↗
“Requires tests only at pre-agreed seams, confirmed with the user before any test is written”
source ↗
“Includes an interview skill that relentlessly questions the user and maps understanding as a design tree”
source ↗
“Moves issues through a triage state machine: categorise, verify, grill if needed, and write agent-ready briefs”
source ↗
“Includes a verification step that reproduces a bug from the reporter's steps before grilling the claim”
source ↗
“Provides a scaffolding skill that sets up per-repo config the other skills assume (issue tracker, triage labels, domain docs)”
source ↗
“Includes a skill that turns an agreed conversation into a written spec”
source ↗
“Includes a skill that splits a spec into small tickets an agent can build”
source ↗
“Includes a skill that builds a finished spec into code, test-first”
source ↗
“Includes a skill that reviews a diff against your standards and the spec”
source ↗
“Includes a skill that charts a large effort as a map of decisions and settles them”
source ↗
“Includes a skill that answers a design question with throwaway code you then delete”
source ↗
“Includes a skill that produces a cited answer read from primary sources”
source ↗
“Includes a skill that finds modules worth refactoring and outputs a visual report”
source ↗
“Includes a skill that diagnoses a hard bug starting from a failing repro”
source ↗
“Includes a skill that resolves a merge or rebase conflict hunk by hunk”
source ↗
“Includes a skill that generates a script walking a human through setup”
source ↗
“Includes a skill that writes up a long session so another agent can pick it up later”
source ↗
“Includes a skill to help you figure out which skill applies to your current situation”
source ↗
“Encourages working in vertical slices — one test then one implementation, repeated as tracer bullets”
source ↗

Suggest a story for these →

Business model

open-sourcefree-tier

MIT open-source skill collection, free via the Claude Code marketplace or skills.sh; funded by AI Hero's paid courses and newsletter rather than by the skills themselves.

pricing ↗

Score trend

How this product’s scores have moved as evidence and verdicts are re-derived — a point per change, not per day.

PA Score18 (Sep 7 '26)19 (Sep 16 '26)

Agent-ready16 (Sep 7 '26)18 (Sep 16 '26)

Try Experimental

Run it in the microterminal →

Recorded agent sessions — and a live MCP handshake where the vendor ships one.

Flag

⚑ Flag a verdict

Think a verdict is wrong? Opens a prefilled GitHub issue — or use the ⚑ next to any verdict above.

Badge

Embed this product's score badge →

Hotlinked SVG — always shows the live current score.

For agents

This page as markdown /llms.txt

Data

Evidence (JSON)Verdicts (JSON)

Agent surface uptime llms.txt 100% (30d, checked every 6h since Sep 8 '26)

Skills for Real Engineers

Showcase

Try itExperimental

Verified integrations

By theme — the product's score on each story themeBy theme

Story verdicts — every judged story with its evidenceStory verdicts

🤖Agent workflows — stories about agent workflows in this arenaAgent workflows

🤖Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness

⚙️Automation depth — how much of the product can run unattendedAutomation depth

🤖Cross agent portability — stories about cross agent portability in this arenaCross agent portability

🔎Discovery distribution — stories about discovery distribution in this arenaDiscovery distribution

📚Docs onboarding — stories about docs onboarding in this arenaDocs onboarding

📥Install experience — stories about install experience in this arenaInstall experience

🔓Openness — open source, data portability, and self-hosting storiesOpenness

🔒Privacy posture — data-handling and privacy storiesPrivacy posture

🛡️Safety review — stories about safety review in this arenaSafety review

🔑Skill authoring — stories about skill authoring in this arenaSkill authoring

🧪Testing quality — stories about testing quality in this arenaTesting quality

📝Versioning updates — stories about versioning updates in this arenaVersioning updates

Opportunities — the stories that would move this product's scores, from its own judged verdictsOpportunitiestop 8 of 35 stories with headroom

Coverage map — which docs area, API section, or community source covers which judged storiesCoverage map3 surfaces · 24 covered stories

Probe proofs — replayable recordings from the probe harnessProbe proofs

Claims vs evidence — vendor claims reconciled against independent verdictsClaims vs evidence

Business model

Score trend

Agent workflows — stories about agent workflows in this arenaAgent workflows

Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness

Automation depth — how much of the product can run unattendedAutomation depth

Cross agent portability — stories about cross agent portability in this arenaCross agent portability

Discovery distribution — stories about discovery distribution in this arenaDiscovery distribution

Docs onboarding — stories about docs onboarding in this arenaDocs onboarding

Install experience — stories about install experience in this arenaInstall experience

Openness — open source, data portability, and self-hosting storiesOpenness

Privacy posture — data-handling and privacy storiesPrivacy posture

Safety review — stories about safety review in this arenaSafety review

Skill authoring — stories about skill authoring in this arenaSkill authoring

Testing quality — stories about testing quality in this arenaTesting quality

Versioning updates — stories about versioning updates in this arenaVersioning updates