Evals Init

evals-init

What this skill does

Initialize the project-level evaluation directory structure following EDD (Eval-Driven Development) principles to prepare for systematic evaluation development. This is completely standalone with zero spec-kit dependencies.

Output:

1. Directory Structure - evals/{system}/ with proper organization (promptfoo | deepeval)
2. Security Baseline - Auto-created graders for PII leakage, prompt injection, hallucination detection, misinformation detection
3. Configuration Files - Standalone config.yml and goldset templates under .adlc/evals/
4. Auto-handoff to /evals-specify to begin error analysis

Key EDD Principles Applied:

• Principle I: Spec-Driven Contracts - Evals validate spec compliance
• Principle II: Binary Pass/Fail - No Likert scales in grader templates
• Principle IV: Evaluation Pyramid - Tier 1 (fast) + Tier 2 (goldset) structure
• Principle IX: Test Data as Code - Version control setup for datasets

When to use

• Starting systematic evaluation: Set up the initial evaluation harness for your application
• EDD Adoption: Converting from traditional testing to evaluation-driven development
• Security-first evaluation: Auto-generate baseline security checks from the start

When NOT to use

• Evals directory already exists: Use /evals-validate to run tests, or /evals-specify to add criteria
• Evaluating team directives: This is for project-level application behavior testing, not directives compliance

Process

User Input

$ARGUMENTS

Parse flags from the arguments first, then treat remaining text as focus areas:

• --system SYSTEM — Choose promptfoo or deepeval. If omitted, choose interactively based on tech stack.
• Remaining text — System description (focus setup)

Execution Steps

Phase 1: Tech Stack Detection

• Scan project manifests (package.json, requirements.txt, Cargo.toml, go.mod, etc.)
• Recommends PromptFoo for mixed/JS stacks; DeepEval for Python-native stacks

Phase 2: Create Directory Structure

Creates:

evals/
├── {system}/                    # promptfoo | deepeval
│   ├── goldset.md              # Published goldset
│   ├── goldset.json            # Auto-generated for system consumption
│   ├── config.yml              # System-specific configuration
│   ├── config.{js,py}          # Generated system config (.js for promptfoo, .py for deepeval)
│   └── graders/                # Binary pass/fail graders
│       ├── check_pii_leakage.py           # Security baseline
│       ├── check_prompt_injection.py     # Security baseline
│       ├── check_hallucination.py        # Security baseline
│       └── check_misinformation.py       # Security baseline
├── results/                    # Git-ignored run outputs
└── .adlc/
    └── drafts/evals/           # Draft eval records (Markdown + YAML)

Phase 3: Configuration Copy

• Create .adlc/evals/ if missing.
• Copy skills/evals/evals-templates/evals-config-template.yml to .adlc/evals/evals-config.yml.

Phase 4: Auto-Handoff

Trigger /evals-specify to begin error analysis.

Verification

• evals/{system}/goldset.md exists (initially empty)
• .adlc/evals/evals-config.yml exists
• Graders directory populated with 4 security baseline python scripts
• Results directory contains .gitignore to prevent versioning traces
• Handover report generated with recommended framework and next steps

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: tikalk
• Source: tikalk/adlc-team-skills
• License: MIT
• Homepage: https://github.com/tikalk/agentic-sdlc-12-factors

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.