Proven skills / Compare

Two design skills · both proven

improve-codebase-architecture vs mcp-builder

Both skills were run through Claude twice: once on a fixed brief without the skill, once with it. The briefs differ because each is written for the job the skill claims to do, so compare each skill against its own baseline, then decide which difference matters for your work.

improve-codebase-architecture

Scan a codebase for deepening opportunities, present them as a visual HTML report, then grill through whichever one you pick.

Category
Design
Source
mattpocock/skills
License
MIT
Proof model
claude-opus-5-5
Brief
“Here is the orders module of a small Express app. ```js // orders.js const db = require("./db"); const stripe = require("stripe")(process.env.STRIPE_KEY); const mailer = require("./mailer"); async function createOrder(req, res) { const { items, couponCode } = req.body; if (!req.user) return res.status(401).end(); let total = 0; for (const i of items) { const p = await db.query("select price, stock from products where id = $1", [i.id]); if (p.rows[0].stock < i.qty) return res.status(409).json({ error: "out of stock" }); total += p.rows[0].price * i.qty; } if (couponCode) { const c = await db.query("select pct, expires from coupons where code = $1", [couponCode]); if (c.rows[0] && new Date(c.rows[0].expires) > new Date()) total = total * (1 - c.rows[0].pct / 100); } const charge = await stripe.paymentIntents.create({ amount: Math.round(total * 100), currency: "usd", customer: req.user.stripeId, confirm: true }); const o = await db.query("insert into orders (user_id, total, status) values ($1, $2, $3) returning id", [req.user.id, total, charge.status]); for (const i of items) await db.query("update products set stock = stock - $1 where id = $2", [i.qty, i.id]); await mailer.send(req.user.email, "Order " + o.rows[0].id, "Thanks! Total: $" + total.toFixed(2)); res.json({ id: o.rows[0].id, total }); } module.exports = { createOrder }; ``` The team keeps breaking checkout when they change coupons or stock rules, and the code is hard to test. Review the architecture and present your findings as a single HTML report: the problems you see, the changes you recommend in order of value, and what the code would look like after the most important change.”
Skill commit
5beb35b
Without the skillWith improve-codebase-architecture
⇆
Without, runWith improve-codebase-architecture, run3 independent runs per side, none selected by hand.

Download the with-skill page

mcp-builder

Guide for creating high-quality MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers that enable LLMs to interact with external services through well-designed tools. Use when building MCP servers to integrate external APIs or services, whether in Python (FastMCP) or Node/TypeScript (MCP SDK).

Category
Design
Source
anthropics/skills
License
Not stated
Proof model
claude-opus-5-5
Brief
“Build an MCP server in TypeScript that gives an agent read access to a team's Linear-style issue tracker through a REST API: tools to search issues, get one issue with comments, and list a project's open issues by priority. Present it as a single HTML page with the full source of each file, the tool schemas, how errors and pagination are handled, and how to run and connect it.”
Skill commit
dbd4588
Without the skillWith mcp-builder
⇆
Without, runWith mcp-builder, run3 independent runs per side, none selected by hand.

Download the with-skill page

We don’t pick a winner for you: the pages are the evidence. Both proofs can be repeated with the brief, model and commit shown above. See alternatives to improve-codebase-architecture or alternatives to mcp-builder.