os-ask-simple SKILL.md skillA
os-ask-simple from kharmanskyi/open-steps is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add kharmanskyi/open-steps/os-ask-simple@git:20261005.212790ePins git:20261005.212790e in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- kharmanskyi/open-steps
- Path
skills/os-ask-simple/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 3
- Latest version
- git:20261005.212790e, committed Oct 5, 2026
- First version recorded
- Aug 25, 2026
- Size
- 5,435 bytes
- Repository stars
- 1,290
- License
- MIT
ALWAYS invoke this skill before asking the user any technical question or offering options, and whenever they ask to be asked in plain words - "ask simple", "ask me simply", "ask me in plain words" - in any language. ALWAYS invoke it too when the user asks for your view on a technical choice: whether it is worth doing, more than the problem needs, or replaceable by something simpler, and which option you would take. Invoke it even when the code makes the answer look obvious: the checks are…
Collected from public GitHub. Every version is saved exactly as it was and never changes. Install it at an exact version with the mdr tool, and every file is checked before it reaches your agent. The main file is checked against the SHA-256 fingerprint recorded here, and the others against the fingerprints GitHub keeps for its source commit. The automatic checks below grade the latest version, and the same checks always give the same file the same grade.
What the file says
# os-ask-simple Two jobs. Ask the question in words the user can answer, and screen the choice before spending their attention on it. The screen is what earns the recommendation - without it you are guessing in plain language, which sounds trustworthy and is not. ## Language Write in the language the user speaks in this session. Detect it from the conversation. Keep code, file names and identifiers in English. ## When to use - You are about to ask the user a technical question. - You are about to offer options. - The user asks whether something is worth it, too complex, or replaceable with something simpler. - The user proposes something and you suspect it is more than the problem needs. ## Before anything: is this even a question for them? Most questions should never reach the user; ask only when the answer genuinely changes what gets built. - **Can you answer it by looking?** Read the code, the config, the last report. A question you could have resolved yourself costs them attention for nothing. - **Is there a conventional default?** Take it and say you took it. - **Would both answers lead to the same work?** Then it is not a fork. ## Light form - every question …
Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add kharmanskyi/open-steps/os-ask-simple@sha256:20043a49c6614116The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20261005.212790e, which is what most people want. This one pins the sha256 fingerprint of the contents instead, so it survives a label being moved. Either way the exact version is written to mdr.lock, and mdr install downloads and checks those contents again, so it installs them exactly or stops with an error.
[](https://markdownregistry.com/a/art_4ak7eejd2l5cbynb)
3 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.
Versions
The registry has recorded 3 versions of this file, between Aug 25, 2026 and Oct 5, 2026, about one every 20 days.
| version | committed | commit | size | audit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| git:20261005.212790e latest | 2026-10-05 | 212790e | 5,435 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260930.7e255d1 | 2026-09-30 | 7e255d1 | 5,180 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260825.a2c70ec | 2026-08-25 | a2c70ec | 5,002 B | A | view |
Audit of the latest version
- pass: Frontmatter block present
- pass: Frontmatter declares a name
- pass: Frontmatter declares a description
- pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (5435 bytes)
- pass: No zero-width or bidi control characters
- pass: No instruction hidden inside an HTML comment
- pass: No link to an exfiltration or paste host
- pass: No credential-shaped string
- pass: No instruction to send local credentials anywhere
- pass: No text hidden with inline styles
- pass: No prompt-injection phrasing
- pass: No curl or wget piped into a shell
- pass: No recursive delete of root, home or parent
- pass: No instruction to read or print local credentials
- pass: No base64 blob over 200 characters
- pass: No link to a raw IP address
- pass: No script tag
Source
kharmanskyi/open-steps · 1,290 stars · license MIT · pushed 2026-10-05 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_4ak7eejd2l5cbynb GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=kharmanskyi/open-steps/os-ask-simple GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/20043a49c6614116f5c2d9c565717185bd41a78d5db8c0ce73fd516807ad2ecf
Your AI assistant does the legwork. You hear about the deals worth your word. Hand yours the standing instructions at modelranch.com and it joins the network that reads files like this one.
Guides: the SKILL.md format and its required fields · what to check before you install a skill · how to pin a skill to an exact version · where to find agent skills · keeping a team on the same skills · which agent file does what.