/** * SKL Scanner — Skill-listing token budget * * Claude Code shows the model a listing of every active skill's `description` * so it can decide which skill to invoke. That listing is budgeted: each * description is capped, and anything past the cap is silently truncated * (Claude Code raised the per-description cap 250 → 1,536 chars in v2.1.105, * changelog L1502, and added a startup/`/doctor` notice when truncation * happens). A description past the cap loses its tail from what the model * actually sees — the very trigger phrases meant to route invocation. * * Detection: * CA-SKL-001 active skill description > 1,536 chars → truncated (medium) * CA-SKL-002 sum of active descriptions exceeds the listing budget (low) * * The aggregate listing budget (changelog L2860, CC 2.1.32) allots the skill * listing the model reads ~2% of the context window. We do NOT know the user's * context window, so CA-SKL-002 anchors on a conservative 200k window and says * so loudly: it leads with the measured sum (a fact) and carries a calibration * note explaining the budget scales 5x on a 1M-context model. Severity is low * (an estimate) versus medium for the verified per-description cap. Each * description is counted only up to the 1,536-char cap, because that is all * Claude Code loads into the listing — the tail past the cap is dropped and is * already flagged by CA-SKL-001 (so the aggregate does not double-count it). * * Two-lens note vs TOK pattern F: TOK pattern F flags *project-local* skills * with descriptions > 500 chars as a structural per-turn "bloat" heuristic. * SKL is a different lens — it scans ALL active skills (user + plugin) against * the *verified* 1,536-char hard truncation cap, not a bloat heuristic. The * two are intentionally distinct, not duplicates. * * Zero external dependencies. */ import { finding, scannerResult } from './lib/output.mjs'; import { SEVERITY } from './lib/severity.mjs'; import { enumeratePlugins, enumerateSkills, estimateTokens } from './lib/active-config-reader.mjs'; import { readTextFile } from './lib/file-discovery.mjs'; import { parseFrontmatter } from './lib/yaml-parser.mjs'; const SCANNER = 'SKL'; // Verified per-description skill-listing cap (CC 2.1.105, changelog L1502). // Descriptions longer than this are truncated in the listing the model sees. const DESCRIPTION_CAP = 1536; // Aggregate listing budget (CC 2.1.32, changelog L2860): the skill listing the // model reads is allotted ~2% of the context window. The context window is // unknown, so we anchor on a conservative 200k window — the smallest common // size, which fires earliest — and disclose the assumption in the evidence. const BUDGET_FRACTION = 0.02; const CONTEXT_WINDOW_ANCHOR = 200_000; const AGGREGATE_BUDGET_TOKENS = Math.round(BUDGET_FRACTION * CONTEXT_WINDOW_ANCHOR); // 4000 const LARGE_CONTEXT_WINDOW = 1_000_000; const LARGE_CONTEXT_BUDGET_TOKENS = Math.round(BUDGET_FRACTION * LARGE_CONTEXT_WINDOW); // 20000 // Dependency-free thousands separator (repo invariant: zero external deps). const withCommas = (n) => String(n).replace(/\B(?=(\d{3})+(?!\d))/g, ','); // Appended to CA-SKL-002 evidence — the honest framing required because the // budget depends on a context window we cannot observe (jf. TOK CALIBRATION_NOTE). const BUDGET_CALIBRATION_NOTE = 'the budget scales with the context window - this anchors on a conservative 200k ' + `window; at ${withCommas(LARGE_CONTEXT_WINDOW)} context the budget is ~${withCommas(LARGE_CONTEXT_BUDGET_TOKENS)} ` + 'tok and you are likely within it. this is an estimate, not measured telemetry'; /** * Main scanner entry point. * * @param {string} _targetPath unused (skill listing is HOME-scoped) * @param {object} _discovery unused (ignores project discovery) */ export async function scan(_targetPath, _discovery) { const start = Date.now(); const findings = []; const plugins = await enumeratePlugins(); const allSkills = await enumerateSkills(plugins); let scanned = 0; let aggregateChars = 0; for (const skill of allSkills) { if (!skill || typeof skill.path !== 'string') continue; const content = await readTextFile(skill.path); if (!content) continue; scanned++; const fm = parseFrontmatter(content)?.frontmatter || null; const desc = (fm && typeof fm.description === 'string') ? fm.description : ''; // Aggregate budget counts only what loads in the listing: each description // up to the cap (the tail past the cap is dropped, and CA-SKL-001 flags it). aggregateChars += Math.min(desc.length, DESCRIPTION_CAP); if (desc.length <= DESCRIPTION_CAP) continue; const sourceLabel = skill.source === 'plugin' ? `plugin:${skill.pluginName}` : 'user'; findings.push(finding({ scanner: SCANNER, severity: SEVERITY.medium, title: 'Skill description exceeds the listing cap (Claude Code truncates it)', description: `Skill "${skill.name}" (${sourceLabel}) has a description of ${desc.length} ` + `characters (>${DESCRIPTION_CAP}). Claude Code caps each skill description in ` + 'the listing the model reads to choose a skill, so everything past ' + `${DESCRIPTION_CAP} characters is silently dropped — including any trigger ` + 'phrases at the tail meant to route invocation.', file: skill.path, evidence: `description_chars=${desc.length}; cap=${DESCRIPTION_CAP}; ` + `skill="${skill.name}"; source=${sourceLabel}`, recommendation: `Trim the description below ${DESCRIPTION_CAP} characters, leading with the ` + 'trigger phrases. To reclaim listing budget more broadly: set ' + '`disableBundledSkills: true` to drop bundled skills you do not use from the ' + 'listing entirely, or use `skillOverrides` (`name-only` collapses a ' + 'description, `off` removes a skill) on the heaviest entries.', category: 'token-efficiency', })); } // CA-SKL-002 (aggregate). Emitted after the per-skill findings so the common // "one oversized skill + aggregate" case reads 001=cap, 002=aggregate. const aggregateTokens = estimateTokens(aggregateChars, 'markdown'); if (aggregateTokens > AGGREGATE_BUDGET_TOKENS) { findings.push(finding({ scanner: SCANNER, severity: SEVERITY.low, title: 'Aggregate skill descriptions may exceed the listing budget', description: `The ${scanned} active skills carry about ${aggregateTokens} tokens of description text ` + `(each description counted up to the ${DESCRIPTION_CAP}-char listing cap), above the ` + `${AGGREGATE_BUDGET_TOKENS}-token budget Claude Code allots the skill listing on a 200k ` + 'context window (about 2% of context, CC 2.1.32). When the listing overflows that budget ' + 'Claude Code drops descriptions, so the model may stop seeing some skills entirely. This ' + 'is an estimate — the budget scales with your actual context window (see evidence).', evidence: `active_skills_scanned=${scanned}; description_chars=${aggregateChars} (each capped at ` + `${DESCRIPTION_CAP}); description_tokens~${aggregateTokens}; budget@200k=` + `${AGGREGATE_BUDGET_TOKENS} tok (skill listing ~2% of context, CC 2.1.32); over_by~` + `${aggregateTokens - AGGREGATE_BUDGET_TOKENS} tok - ${BUDGET_CALIBRATION_NOTE}`, recommendation: 'Reclaim skill-listing budget: set `disableBundledSkills: true` to drop bundled skills you ' + 'do not use from the listing, use `skillOverrides` (`name-only` collapses a description, ' + '`off` removes a skill) on the heaviest entries, and trim long descriptions toward their ' + 'trigger phrases.', category: 'token-efficiency', })); } return scannerResult(SCANNER, 'ok', findings, scanned, Date.now() - start); }