README

Plain writing skill

This skill makes an AI agent write in a plain style. The full rules are in SKILL.md.

The rules are plain text, so any agent can use them.

The skill also checks its own writing. It removes anything that does not add something, then applies the revised text directly. The user can ask for review mode to see the changes before they are applied, either inline in chat or as an HTML file that shows what changed.

What is in here

• SKILL.md: the skill, with the rules and the steps.
• assets/revision_template.html: the template for the change view. The skill fills it in with the edits it made.

How to use it

SKILL.md is a plain markdown file with the rules. Any agent that can read a file can follow it. The simplest way is to give SKILL.md to the agent as instructions, in a rules file or the system prompt.

Some tools have a set place for skills:

• Claude Code reads skills from ~/.claude/skills. Clone the repo into a folder named plain-writing:

git clone https://github.com/shreyashankar/plain-writing-skill ~/.claude/skills/plain-writing

• Other agents, e.g., Codex or pi, can use the rules too. Paste the rules from SKILL.md into whatever instructions that agent reads.

Then ask the agent to write or revise some text. It applies the rules on its own.

By default the agent applies revisions directly. If the user asks for review mode, the agent presents the changes before applying them. The user can review inline in chat or as an HTML file in /tmp. The HTML file has three tabs:

• First draft
• Second draft
• Diff

In the Diff tab the removed text is red and the rewritten text is green. The reason for each change appears when you hover the colored text.