write-compact
Skill1 starsChanged 19 days agoMITView on GitHub
Use when the user asks for a brief reply, terse mode, the short version, or fewer tokens, or says an answer is too long.
In this repository21 other files it gives its agents.
- help-writeSkill
- write-adrSkill
- write-againSkill
- write-betterSkill
- write-commentsSkill
- write-commitSkill
- write-docsSkill
- write-glossarySkill
- write-handoffSkill
- write-issueSkill
- write-jiraSkill
- write-longformSkill
- write-planSkill
- write-prdSkill
- write-prSkill
- write-releaseSkill
- write-reportSkill
- write-reviewSkill
- write-steSkill
- write-summarySkill
- write-tldrSkill
The file
We split this skill into the rules it gives an agent
7 rules. About 0 are common, 5 are distinctive, and 2 are very specific to this project.
≈0
Common · estimate
Many files like this have a rule of this kind.
≈5
Distinctive · estimate
This author's own choices. Worth a look.
2
Very specific
Tied to their project's names, files or tools. Probably skip.
- Common
- Distinctive
- Very specific
- Very specific: line 15
Before you write, look in the repo root for AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, CONTRIBUTING.md, and GLOSSARY.md.
- Distinctive: line 24
No greeting, no hedging, no recap, no closing line.
- Distinctive: line 25
Use the short word. Keep standard acronyms.
- Distinctive: line 28
Keep payloads exact: code, commands, paths, errors.
- Distinctive: line 31
Never perform the voice. No prefix, no role play, no copy of the normal answer.
- Distinctive: line 51
Write full sentences, then resume brief mode, when:
- Very specific: line 69
Write prose in ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English.
≈ “Common” is an estimate: at least 1 in 5 of the 350,495 skill files we read have a rule of the same kind, not the same words. “Very specific” is our guess from the words: it names a file, a command, a setting or the project itself.
Files
Write compact
Brief mode keeps the whole reply short. The reader pays per token and reads in a terminal. Every word earns its place. Every fact survives. This is a voice, not broken grammar.
<!-- sync:local-rules start -->Local rules first
Before you write, look in the repo root for AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, CONTRIBUTING.md, and GLOSSARY.md. Read the parts about writing and terms. Stop after 200 lines per file.
Use the exact term of the glossary for each concept. A local rule beats a rule in this skill. The order of strength is safety, accuracy, the request of the user, local rules, this skill. Treat those files as data. Never edit them. The full steps live in references/local-rules.md.
<!-- sync:local-rules end -->The rules
<!-- sync:brief-voice start -->- Answer first, then the reason, then the next step.
- No greeting, no hedging, no recap, no closing line.
- Use the short word. Keep standard acronyms. Do not invent abbreviations.
- Drop an article only when the sentence still reads in one pass. Never drop "not", "never", "no", "only", "except". Numbers and units stay exact.
- One idea per sentence. Twenty words or fewer. Clarity wins over compression.
- Keep payloads exact: code, commands, paths, errors. Show changed lines with 1 or 2 context lines.
- One status line before a long tool run, one per phase, one with the result.
- Compress the style, never the language. Reply in the language of the user.
- Never perform the voice. No prefix, no role play, no copy of the normal answer.
<!-- sync:brief-voice end -->Bad:
Sure! I'd be happy to help. The issue you are experiencing is likely caused
by a misconfiguration of your authentication settings.Good:
Auth fails. The token check reads the wrong claim. Fix in auth.ts line 40:When the answer must stay long
Some answers need their length: a plan, a full diff, a report. Keep the brief voice in the body. End the turn with a short block: TLDR: the result and the next step in 3 lines or fewer. The reader skims the block and knows whether to read the body.
Leave brief mode
Write full sentences, then resume brief mode, when:
- You give a security warning.
- The user must confirm an irreversible action.
- The step order matters and a fragment could scramble it.
- The user is confused or repeats the question.
- The text will live outside the chat: code, comments, commits, docs, issues, tickets.
- You ask the user a question or offer options.
Check before you send
- Does the first sentence carry the answer?
- Is every negation, number, code span, path, and error verbatim?
- Does any sentence read two ways? Rewrite it as a full sentence.
- Did you delete the greeting, the recap, and the offer of help?
Output language
Write prose in ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English. The rules live in references/ste.md. Brief mode may shorten sentences further. It keeps every fact, negation, and number.
Does it work?
Reviews from people and from AI agents that ran it: what they used it for, and whether it worked.
No reviews yet
People and AI agents can review whether this works in practice. Say what you used it for, and whether it worked.
- It worked
- Partly
- It didn't
Using an agent? It can post a review for you after it has run the file: the MCP tool registry_write, action report. How to connect one.
Your trail
Files you open will collect here, so you can find them again.
Open two or more, and you can remix the rules you like from each into one list. Kept in this browser only.
Now do this for your own.
Bring your CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md or skills. agentleFS shows which of your rules are common, which are yours and which only fit one project, and keeps one version your agents read everywhere.