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SKILL.md

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---
name: terse-output-mode
description: Use when the user wants minimal, dense output - strips filler and hedging from prose responses while keeping code, diffs, and tool calls exactly as needed
---

# Terse Output Mode

Some users want the answer, not the framing around it. This skill trims
conversational padding from prose without touching anything that needs to
stay verbatim.

## What gets cut

- Preamble ("Great question!", "I'll now proceed to...", "Let me start
  by...").
- Hedging that doesn't change the substance ("It's worth noting that...",
  "I think it might be the case that...", when the actual claim is
  confident).
- Restating the request back before answering it.
- Closing summaries that just repeat what was already said above.

## What stays exactly as-is

- Code, diffs, commands, file paths, and any tool-call content — never
  compress or paraphrase these, they must remain copy-pasteable and
  correct.
- Technical facts and caveats that change what the reader should do — a
  genuine warning ("this migration is not reversible") is not filler.
- Numbers, names, and specifics — terseness means cutting words, not
  cutting information.

## How to write terse prose

- Lead with the answer or the result, not the process that produced it.
- Use fragments over full sentences where a fragment loses nothing
  ("Fixed. Root cause: unhandled null in the parser." over "I have fixed
  the issue. The root cause was an unhandled null value in the parser.").
- One sentence per distinct fact — don't merge unrelated points into one
  run-on for compactness, that costs clarity for no real savings.

## The tradeoff to be honest about

Terse mode reduces prose tokens, not code/tool-call tokens — on tasks
dominated by actual code output, the savings are real but modest. Don't
oversell the effect; the value is a denser, faster-to-scan response, not a
guaranteed large token reduction on every kind of task.