How does it improve AI-generated text?

It actively identifies and removes common 'AI-isms'—such as overused adjectives and filler words—while enforcing the use of active voice and concrete language.

Does it consume a lot of context tokens?

No, it uses a limited context strategy where you can load specific sections of editorial rules as needed, rather than the entire style guide at once, saving up to 4,500 tokens per call.

What is the Writing Clearly and Concisely skill?

It is a specialized capability for Claude Code that applies classic editorial rules to ensure technical writing is professional, forceful, and easy for humans to read.

Can this skill help with Git commit messages?

Yes, it is specifically designed to handle commit messages, pull request descriptions, and other developer-centric communications to make them more concise and informative.

What is the primary source for these writing rules?

The skill is based on the 1918 edition of William Strunk Jr.'s 'The Elements of Style,' supplemented by modern Wikipedia guidelines for detecting AI-generated content.

Writing Clearly & Concisely

Name: Writing Clearly & Concisely
Author: joshuadavidthomas

byjoshuadavidthomas

•

Learning & Documentation

Refines prose, documentation, and technical communication by applying classic editorial principles while eliminating generic AI writing patterns.

This skill empowers Claude to produce high-quality, human-centric text by implementing William Strunk Jr.’s The Elements of Style. It helps developers and technical writers craft professional documentation, commit messages, and UI copy that is forceful, clear, and free of the flowery puffery often associated with LLMs. By focusing on active voice, concrete language, and the omission of needless words, this skill ensures that technical communications are both authoritative and accessible. It includes a modular context strategy to save tokens by allowing the agent to load specific editorial sections only when needed for copyediting tasks.

Key Features

01Enforces active voice and positive form to create stronger technical narratives.

02Applies Strunk’s classic Elements of Style for professional-grade grammar and composition.

03Utilizes a modular reference system to minimize token usage during large editing tasks.

04Actively eliminates common AI writing tropes like 'pivotal', 'delve', and 'tapestry'.

05Standardizes UI text, commit messages, and README files for consistent quality.

064 GitHub stars

Use Cases

01Drafting concise, professional git commit messages and pull request descriptions.

02Auditing and rewriting AI-generated content to remove hallmarks of 'puffy' machine prose.

03Polishing technical documentation and README files for maximum clarity and impact.

What are Skills?·How to Install

Install with 🐟 Skill.Fish

npx skillfish add joshuadavidthomas/agent-skills writing-clearly-and-concisely

For use in Claude.ai and ChatGPT

Download Skill