Eval First Spec Agent Skill

Turn a validated wedge into the scope you can SCORE — a one-sentence job, 20 pass/fail golden cases drawn from real artefacts, an L0–L4…

Context cost
12.3k tokensestimated from the bundle, loaded when it triggers
Bundle
13 files · 49.1 kBtext throughout, nothing executable
Licence
Apache-2.0the author’s own terms
Last change
—no release on file
Servers it uses
Noneruns standalone

What it does

Turn a validated wedge into the scope you can SCORE — a one-sentence job, 20 pass/fail golden cases drawn from real artefacts, an L0–L4 autonomy level with a failure taxonomy and a derived acceptable failure rate per mode, and a cost-per-outcome budget to the cent. Fires on "spec the build", "define scope", "scope the v1", "write the spec", "how do we know it works".

What this skill changes about the agent has not been set out here as a list. Its SKILL.md, shown below, says it in the author’s own words.

securitytesting

The skill itself

A skill is instructions the model reads, so you can see what you are getting: below is the start of its SKILL.md. The front matter loads with every session, the body loads when the skill triggers, and the whole file comes with the install.

SKILL.md13.8 kB · preview
--- name: eval-first-spec type: generator supersedes: none ---
8## What it does
9
10Converts a validated wedge into a v1 spec that a judge — human or harness — can run and score. It forces four parts, in order: (1) a one-sentence job with the clause that says how a single outcome is judged pass or fail; (2) 20 golden cases, each a real input paired with a binary pass/fail contract, composed to a fixed spread so the number is not gamed on happy paths; (3) one chosen autonomy level L0–L4, its failure taxonomy, and an acceptable failure rate per mode that is *derived* from the cost of one failure, not chosen to look safe; (4) a cost-per-outcome budget to the cent, checked against the value of one outcome. The artefact is the filled template.md. A spec that cannot be scored is not shipped; it is an opinion with a template around it.
11
12## The Icarus reframe
13
14A generic PM spec writes one acceptance criterion per feature and calls it testable, which works for deterministic software and fails for an AI product, where the same input can pass Tuesday and fail Wednesday. So this skill reframes the two disciplines it absorbs from the user-story family: acceptance criteria become a scoreable **golden set** of 20 real-input pass/fail cases spanning the distribution, and vertical slicing becomes **autonomy slicing** — ship the lowest autonomy level L0–L4 that still delivers the job, then earn each level up with a measured pass rate. The number that turns a spec from a wish into a commitment is cost-per-outcome to the cent, checked against value-per-outcome; if cost meets or beats value, no eval score can save it.
15
16## When to use / When NOT
17
18Use once a fellow has a validated wedge (adoption evidence in hand) and needs to define what building it means and what "working" means, before code. Trigger phrases: "spec the build", "define scope", "scope the v1", "write the spec", "how do we know it works".
19
20Do not use when:
21
22| Request | Belongs to |
23|---|---|
24| "How should we architect the AI system / what's the component pipeline / what's the effort split" | compound-system-architecture (sibling, 07). It designs *how* to build; this defines *what working means* and the budget. Route the architecture there. |
25| "What are the pilot terms / how do we price it / what's the commercial success metric" | pilot-six-term-sheet (sibling, 07). Its success metric is the business KPI the customer buys; this skill's golden cases are the engineering pass/fail underneath it. Name the boundary, do not merge them. |
26| "Is this even a wedge / will it get adopted / is it sharp enough" | wedge-five-questions (06). Run that first. This skill assumes the wedge already passed. |
This is a preview of SKILL.md. Download or install the skill to get the whole thing.
In the file
SKILL.md2,317 words
Files13
LicenceApache-2.0
Why you can read it

Nothing in a skill executes. The client loads the text and the model follows it, so a skill can be audited the way a runbook is — by reading it.

What it costs in context

Skills are not billed by the call. They are paid for in context: every token the instructions occupy is a token your code, your diff and your conversation cannot use. Here is what this one takes and when it takes it.

≈170
always loaded
The name and description, so the model knows the skill exists and when to reach for it.
12,105
on trigger
The instruction body and 12 supporting files, read only when the skill fires.
6.1%
of a 200k window
Ten skills this size would take about 61% of the window before you open a file.
050k100k150k200k context window

12.3k tokens, estimated from the bundle at four bytes to the token, held for the rest of the session once it triggers. Heavy. Teams tend to install this one per project rather than globally, and load it only when the job comes up.

Servers bill, skills cost

A server charges by the month. A skill charges once per session, in context, and then keeps charging it for as long as the session lives.

Before and after

The same question, put to the same model twice: once as it comes, and once with these instructions loaded.

No worked example has been published for this skill yet.

The procedure it runs

The procedure has not been set out here step by step. It is in the body of its SKILL.md: the start of it is shown above, and the whole file comes with the install.

Prose, not code

These steps are written for a model to follow, not executed by a runtime. It can still be told to skip one, and it will say so when it does.

Servers it uses

None. This skill calls no MCP servers at all.

Everything it needs is in the instructions, so it works in a project with nothing connected — the model reads the file and changes how it works with what it can already reach.

Its SKILL.md does not declare which tools it asks the agent for, so what it touches is whatever the instructions themselves ask for — read them before you install it.

What it asks for
Writes filesnot declared
Network accessnot declared

This SKILL.md carries no allowed-tools line, so neither is declared. A skill grants no permissions of its own — it can only ask for tools your client already has.

What it will not do

Every skill is narrow, and the useful ones say where they stop. These are the jobs this one is the wrong tool for.

What this skill is not for has not been published here. Nothing is implied by that: it is a section the author has not filled in.

What is in the bundle

13 files, 49.1 kB on disk. A bundle is text throughout: the instructions the model reads, plus the templates it fills in.

  • SKILL.md13.8 kB
  • template.md4.4 kB
  • examples/sample.md9.6 kB
  • tests/RESULTS.md6.3 kB
  • tests/rubric.json1.1 kB
  • tests/adversarial/01.md1.0 kB
  • tests/adversarial/02.md1.4 kB
  • tests/adversarial/03.md1.3 kB
  • tests/golden/01.md1.8 kB
  • tests/golden/02.md2.2 kB
  • tests/golden/03.md2.2 kB
  • tests/golden/04.md2.0 kB
  • tests/golden/05.md2.0 kB
What is not in it

No dependencies and nothing executable: a skill is text the agent reads, so the bundle is 13 files you can review in full before installing. The Apache-2.0 licence covers the templates and examples as well as the instructions.

Install

Installing copies the bundle into your project. Nothing runs at install time — the files sit on disk until the model reads them.

# Eval First Spec · 12.3k tokens when loaded · macOS, Linux mkdir -p .claude/skills && t=$(mktemp -d) && curl -fsSL -o "$t/bundle.tar.gz" https://mcprush.com/api/skills/eval-first-spec/bundle.tar.gz && tar -xzf "$t/bundle.tar.gz" -C "$t" && [ -d "$t/eval-first-spec" ] && { [ ! -e .claude/skills/eval-first-spec ] || { mv .claude/skills/eval-first-spec "$t/.previous" && echo "Previous copy moved to $t/.previous"; }; } && mv "$t/eval-first-spec" .claude/skills/ && echo "Installed .claude/skills/eval-first-spec"
On Windows, or any OS with Node 20+
npx mcprush@latest skill add the-utopia-studio/eval-first-spec

Windows PowerShell says 'running scripts is disabled on this system'? Run Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope CurrentUser RemoteSigned once, or type npx.cmd instead of npx (codex.cmd, gemini.cmd, grok.cmd likewise). PowerShell 7 needs neither. Writes to .claude/skills/eval-first-spec/ in the current project. For every project instead, run mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && t=$(mktemp -d) && curl -fsSL -o "$t/bundle.tar.gz" https://mcprush.com/api/skills/eval-first-spec/bundle.tar.gz && tar -xzf "$t/bundle.tar.gz" -C "$t" && [ -d "$t/eval-first-spec" ] && { [ ! -e ~/.claude/skills/eval-first-spec ] || { mv ~/.claude/skills/eval-first-spec "$t/.previous" && echo "Previous copy moved to $t/.previous"; }; } && mv "$t/eval-first-spec" ~/.claude/skills/ && echo "Installed ~/.claude/skills/eval-first-spec" (macOS, Linux) — or add --global to the npx line. The curl line replaces .claude/skills/eval-first-spec/ only after the download succeeds, so files left there by another skill of the same name, or by an older release, do not mix in. A copy already there is moved aside, not deleted, and the line prints where.

Which clients pick it up on their own

A skill is a folder of text. Most of these read a skills folder and pick it up without being told; the rest take the same folder another way — an upload in the app, a parameter on an API call — and then choose it by its description just the same.

Claude Code.claude/skills/
Claude DesktopCustomize › Skills
ChatGPTSkills › Create › Upload
Cursor.cursor/skills/
VS Code.github/skills/
Codex CLI.agents/skills/
Gemini CLI.gemini/skills/
Grok Build.grok/skills/
Microsoft CopilotSkills › Upload a skill
PerplexityComputer › Skills › Upload a skill
DeepSeek Harness.dsh/skills/
Zed.agents/skills/
Devin Desktop.devin/skills/
Windsurf (legacy).windsurf/skills/
OpenAI Agents SDKInstructions or sandbox Skills
HTTP / APIa request parameter
This release
Versionnot versioned
Publishedno release date on file
PriceFree
Referencethe-utopia-studio/eval-first-spec

Versions

Its author publishes no version number, so there is nothing here to pin to: what you install is the folder as it stands today. Instructions change more often than APIs do — a skill can be rewritten entirely without anything it depends on moving.

Pinning

Nothing to pin to: this skill carries no version number of its own. What you install is what the folder holds on the day you install it.

Reviews

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