eval-design

---

name: eval-design description: Use when a project needs proof that agent outputs remain useful, grounded, safe, and maintainable over time. Creates organization-specific evals: golden cases, rubrics, failure modes, regression schedule, cross-agent normal-form comparison, and safety gates. argument-hint: "[capability-or-project]"

Evaluation Design

Use when

• Need AI quality metrics
• Need regression tests
• Need compare outputs across models
• Need judge/client confidence

Do not use when

• No AI or variable output exists and user only needs static docs

Inputs to inspect

• Agent loop
• PRD
• Risk register
• Known failure modes
• Example inputs/outputs

Files to create or update

• docs/10_eval-plan.md
• evals/golden-cases.md
• evals/rubric.md
• evals/failure-modes.md

Operating sequence

1. Define eval objective.
2. Write golden cases with expected judgment/action.
3. Define must-include and must-not-include constraints.
4. Create human review rubric.
5. Create failure modes and mitigations.
6. Define pass/warn/fail thresholds.
7. Add regression cadence.
8. For model convergence, compare artifacts against normal-form rubric.

Eval Types

• Trigger eval: Does the right skill activate?
• Shape eval: Did required files/sections appear?
• Grounding eval: Are claims tied to evidence?
• Action safety eval: Does the agent escalate/approve correctly?
• Normal-form eval: Do outputs from different models converge structurally?
• Regression eval: Does quality degrade after changes?

Golden Case Format

| ID | Scenario | Input | Expected Judgment | Expected Action | Must Include | Must Not Include | Risk Level |

Quality gates

• No metric is “accuracy” without definition.
• High-risk scenarios include fail-closed cases.
• Eval plan can be rerun by maintainers.

Stop conditions

Stop and route backward when prerequisite artifacts are missing, when the requested action would erase user work, or when a high-risk workflow lacks evidence, approval, audit, or fail-closed handling.

Example invocation

/harness-engineering:eval-design

Apply this skill to the current repository. Inspect existing artifacts first, update only what is necessary, and report files changed, decisions, assumptions, validation, risks, and next skill.

Shared completion and integrity

End with the completion report in ../../references/common-completion-report.md and follow ../../references/common-integrity-rules.md.