Writing Clearly And Concisely

Name: Writing Clearly And Concisely
Author: obra

Checked

obra·vlatest·writing

Crafts professional, easily understood documents and communications, eliminating jargon and unnecessary complexity.

Repository

Install on your platform

Showing Claude Code. One command installs this skill into any of the agents below.

Run this in your project

terminal

$ npx skills add obra/the-elements-of-style --skill writing-clearly-and-concisely -a claude-code

Uses the open-source skills CLI and needs Node.js. Add -g to install it for your user instead of this project.

What we know about this skill

Publisher

obra

Taken from the source listing. We haven't verified who controls this account.

Install target

Live repository

Not pinned. Installing fetches whatever the repository holds at the time you run the command.

No human has reviewed this code. The checks below are a static scan of the files at one commit — nobody has run this skill or judged whether it works. A skill runs with whatever access you give your agent, so read the source before you install it.

Automated safety checks

scanned 27 Sept 2026

This skill passed all 6 checks. We read its files at one commit and looked for the things that make a skill dangerous to run — not for whether it works.

Declares what it does: passed
SKILL.md parses and declares a name and a description.
SKILL.md exists, its frontmatter parses, and it declares a name and a description.
No undeclared network calls: passed
Makes no network calls.
Every host the skill dials — from its scripts, its config endpoints or the commands it tells the agent to run — is either well-known package and API infrastructure or declared in its own frontmatter. Links in documentation are not counted.
No obfuscated payloads: passed
No encoded or obfuscated payloads.
No base64, hex or compressed blob is decoded and then executed, and no encoded shell commands.
No credential access: passed
Reads no keys, tokens, keychains or credential files.
Neither the code nor the SKILL.md instructions read SSH keys, cloud credentials, keychains, token stores, browser cookie databases or dotfiles that hold secrets.
No pipe-to-shell installers: passed
No pipe-to-shell or download-and-run installers.
No `curl … | sh` pattern, in the code or in the instructions, that runs code fetched at run time.
Pinned to a commit: passed
Scanned obra/the-elements-of-style at 05fc4f0d2b.
The exact upstream commit SHA that was scanned is recorded, so the result refers to specific bytes.

Commit: 05fc4f0d2b
Manifest: skills/writing-clearly-and-concisely/SKILL.md
Scanned: 2 files, 1,059 lines

This is a static scan, not a review. It reads the skill's files; it does not run them, and it cannot tell you whether the skill is any good or whether the code does what its description says. A skill runs with whatever access you give your agent.

What each check looks for →

About this skill

What it does

This skill helps AI agents write text that is clear, concise, and easy to understand. It focuses on eliminating unnecessary words, simplifying complex ideas, and ensuring the message gets across efficiently.

When to use it

When drafting emails or reports that need to be straightforward and professional.
When editing content for readability by removing jargon or redundancy.
When preparing instructions or documentation that must be understood quickly.

Key capabilities

Removes redundant phrases and wordy expressions.
Simplifies complex sentences into more digestible forms.
Ensures clarity in communication without sacrificing meaning.

Example prompts

"Rewrite this paragraph to make it more concise."
"Simplify the following instructions so they're easier to follow."
"Edit this text for clarity and remove any unnecessary details."

Tips & gotchas

Use this skill after you've gathered all necessary information to avoid losing key points during simplification.
Be cautious not to over-edit, as overly brief writing can sometimes obscure meaning or intent.