96 added, 61 removed. Audit A to A.
---
name: condense
- description: Whole-document condensation. Removes every passage that is unnecessary or already stated elsewhere: claims and numbers repeated across sections, zero-information paragraphs, dead definitions and uncited figures, verbose constructions. Executes SCIPAPER_STANDARD §5.3 (condense, do not accumulate): the default direction of every edit is shorter — delete > compress in place > same-length rewrite, with growth last and only under a recorded justification. Each fact keeps exactly one canonical home; the copies are deleted or replaced by a cross-reference. Fidelity invariants (§6) are protected throughout, and the mechanical length gate closes the loop. Use when: "condense" / "trim" / "too long" / "repetitive" / "cut the padding" / 精简 / 太长了 / 重复 / 废话太多 / 去冗余, or when a paper-review dimension-I redundancy finding needs to be executed.
+ description: Whole-document condensation. Removes every passage that is unnecessary or already stated elsewhere: claims and numbers repeated across sections, zero-information paragraphs, dead definitions and uncited figures, verbose constructions. Executes SCIPAPER_STANDARD §5.3 (condense, do not accumulate): the default direction of every edit is shorter — delete > compress in place > same-length rewrite, with growth last and only under a recorded justification. Each fact keeps exactly one canonical home; the copies are deleted or replaced by a cross-reference. The removal map is machine-built (condense_map.py), every entry is dispositioned, and the length gate proves the shrink against the map's target. Fidelity invariants (§6) are protected throughout. Use when: "condense" / "trim" / "too long" / "repetitive" / "cut the padding" / 精简 / 太长了 / 重复 / 废话太多 / 去冗余, or when a paper-review dimension-I redundancy finding needs to be executed.
disable-model-invocation: false
- argument-hint: "<file_path> [--section <name>] [--max-iter N] [--report-only] [--field <name>]"
+ argument-hint: "<file_path> [--section <name>] [--max-iter N] [--report-only] [--field <name>] [--target <words|N%>]"
---
> **Normative authority:** `docs/SCIPAPER_STANDARD.md`. §5.3 (condense, do not
> accumulate) is the policy this skill executes; the policy text lives ONLY in
> the standard — this skill implements it and never restates a competing
> version. §6 rewrite eligibility defines the fidelity invariants every
> deletion and compression must preserve.
# condense — 精简：one canonical home per fact
## 0. What this skill does
A whole-document sweep that removes **all** content which is unnecessary or
already stated elsewhere in the document, then proves the result with the
mechanical length gate. It is the plugin's redundancy/length action surface:
`paper-review` dimension I *detects* redundancy as findings; condense
- *executes* the removal. `--report-only` stops after §1: the ranked redundancy
- map is returned with no deletion applied.
+ *executes* the removal. `--report-only` stops after §1: the removal map is
+ returned with no deletion applied.
+ The map is not built by reading. `tools/condense_map.py` enumerates every
+ removable entry with the words it would free, and the pass is judged against
+ that count: a pass that dispositions every entry and meets the map's target
+ has condensed; a pass that reads the paper and trims a phrase here and there
+ has not. That failure mode — a sweep that removes a few percent by hand while
+ the map lists ten — is the reason the tool exists.
+
**Boundary with `/sci-paper:de-ai` (canonical home: de-ai SKILL.md §0;
mirrored here verbatim):**
de-ai removes the *authorship fingerprint* (L0-L4 signals, structural tells,
voice; its Pass-3 length cap only guards its own rewrites against growth).
condense removes *redundancy and length* (cross-document deduplication under
one-canonical-home-per-fact). At the overlap (verbose AI-isms such as
rule-of-three padding or connective stacking), de-ai DETECTS the tell; when
the right fix is deletion rather than rewrite, the deletion EXECUTES under
condense's ranked sweep.
## 0.1 Non-negotiable rules
1. **Preference order: delete > condense-in-place > same-length rewrite.**
Growth is forbidden; the only exceptions are §5.3's own (author-requested
new content, or a source-verified scientific necessity), each with a
recorded justification.
2. **Fidelity invariants (§6).** Every surviving passage preserves claims,
numbers, units, uncertainties, citations, named entities, comparison
direction, negation, causal direction, scope, stance, qualifiers, and
logical dependencies. **Never delete a fact's sole support**: dedup keeps
exactly one canonical home; the copies are deleted or replaced by a
cross-reference — the fact itself never vanishes.
3. **One canonical home per fact.** A number, definition, or claim stated in
two places is a defect with one exception (rule 4). The canonical home is
where the reader needs it — normally the most detailed, first-consumed
occurrence.
4. **Genre carve-out.** The abstract's summary of key results and the
conclusion's restatement of the take-home message are scholarly
- convention, NOT duplication. Everything else that has a home elsewhere
- goes.
+ convention, NOT duplication. The map reports these entries with
+ `genre_carve_out: true` and leaves them out of the default target.
5. **Forward narrative.** Removal never leaves a scar ("as discussed above,
we omit..."); the text reads as if written short from the start.
- 6. **Deletions are evidence-backed.** A "dead" symbol, figure, table, or
+ 6. **Every map entry is dispositioned.** Deleted, merged, or kept — and
+ `kept` carries a reason a reader could check (the survivor is the sole
+ support; the repeat is the carve-out; the "dead" label is consumed by an
+ include the map cannot see). An entry without a disposition is an entry
+ the pass skipped.
+ 7. **Deletions are evidence-backed.** A "dead" symbol, figure, table, or
definition is deleted only after a whole-document grep proves nothing
- consumes it; the grep evidence goes in the report.
+ consumes it; the map's `condense-dead:*` entries carry that grep, and any
+ deletion outside the map records its own.
- ## 1. Measure — build the redundancy map
+ ## 1. Measure — build the removal map
1. Read the target file completely. Resolve `--field` as in
`/sci-paper:de-ai` §1 (shared style-profile convention).
2. **Snapshot the length baseline** before any edit:
`cp <file> <scratch>/length-baseline.tex` (or record the clean git ref).
Without an honest baseline the closing gate is meaningless.
- 3. Build the redundancy map, four sweeps:
- - **(a) Cross-section duplicates.** Grep every number/macro and scan each
- section pair for the same claim, definition, or figure description
- stated twice. Record: content, all locations, proposed canonical home.
- - **(b) Zero-information-gain text.** Paragraphs or sentences that add no
- claim, definition, evidence, qualification, or necessary link —
- assurance refrains, restated setup, roadmap prose the structure already
- carries.
- - **(c) Dead artifacts.** Defined-but-unused symbols, `\label`s never
- `\ref`'d, figures/tables never cited, definitions never consumed — each
- with the grep output that proves deadness.
- - **(d) Verbose constructions.** Multi-sentence spans whose content
- survives in fewer words (nominalization chains, redundant qualifiers,
- repeated glosses of the same symbol).
- 4. Rank the map by removable mass (largest duplication first).
+ 3. Build the map:
+ `python tools/condense_map.py <file> --format json --output <scratch>/condense-map.json`.
+ Six scans, each entry with `removable_words`:
+ - `condense-restatement` — a sentence whose content words are ≥ 80 %
+ covered by an earlier sentence in another section (or ≥ 60 % by one
+ sentence): canonical home named, copy listed.
+ - `condense-zero-gain` — roadmap sentences ("In this section we..."),
+ assurance refrains, `Note that` / `It is worth noting` openers.
+ - `condense-dead:{figure,table,label,macro,acronym}` — defined or placed,
+ never consumed; the grep is the finding.
+ - `condense-verbose` — `in order to`, `due to the fact that`, hedge stacks
+ (`may possibly`), each with the words its replacement saves.
+ - `condense-regloss` — the same symbol glossed twice.
+ - `condense-duplicate` — a paragraph repeated across sections (Jaccard
+ ≥ 0.60 over ≥ 30 content words).
+ `condense_budget` totals them: `removable_total`, `removable_by_rule`, and
+ `default_target_words` = restatement + zero-gain outside the carve-out.
+ The map is exhaustive for what it scans and blind to what it does not
+ (a claim restated in three sentences, a paragraph that only repeats a
+ figure caption); add those by reading, with the same fields.
+ 4. Rank the map by removable mass (largest first). The default shrink
+ target is `default_target_words`; `--target` overrides it and is recorded.
- ## 2. Act — ranked removal
+ ## 2. Act — ranked removal, one disposition per entry
- For each map entry, in rank order:
+ For each map entry, in rank order, record `deleted` / `merged` / `kept:<reason>`:
- 1. **Duplicates (a):** choose the canonical location; delete the copies, or
- where the distant reader genuinely needs the pointer, replace with a
- cross-reference (`Section~\ref{...}`); re-read both sites in context.
- 2. **Zero-gain text (b):** delete. If a fragment carries one load-bearing
- clause, fold that clause into the neighboring sentence — do not keep the
- paragraph for one clause.
- 3. **Dead artifacts (c):** delete the artifact and every orphaned mention;
- re-run the deadness grep afterward to confirm nothing dangles.
- 4. **Verbose spans (d):** rewrite shorter. Gate every shortened rewrite with
- `python tools/rewrite_reward.py --field <field> --reference <claim-record>
- --original <span> --candidates ...` — a candidate that drops a protected
- invariant is ineligible regardless of its brevity; among eligible
- candidates the shorter wins. `--field` is required by the tool (it exits 2
- without one); resolve it as in §1 step 1.
+ 1. **Restatements and duplicates:** choose the canonical location; delete the
+ copies, or where the distant reader genuinely needs the pointer, replace
+ with a cross-reference (`Section~\ref{...}`); re-read both sites in context.
+ 2. **Zero-gain text:** delete. If a fragment carries one load-bearing clause,
+ fold that clause into the neighbouring sentence — do not keep the paragraph
+ for one clause.
+ 3. **Dead artifacts:** delete the artifact and every orphaned mention; re-run
+ the map afterward to confirm nothing dangles.
+ 4. **Verbose spans and repeated glosses:** rewrite shorter. Gate every
+ shortened rewrite with `python tools/rewrite_reward.py --field <field>
+ --reference <claim-record> --original <span> --candidates ...` — a
+ candidate that drops a protected invariant is ineligible regardless of its
+ brevity; among eligible candidates the shorter wins. `--field` is required
+ by the tool (it exits 2 without one); resolve it as in §1 step 1.
Apply each change with a minimal Edit and re-read the affected region plus
every cross-reference into it.
## 3. Verify — prove the shrink
- 1. **Length gate:** `python tools/length_gate.py <file> --before
- <scratch>/length-baseline.tex`. Required outcome: exit 0 with a
- zero-or-negative net delta for a pure condensation pass. Any
- `length-growth:<section>` finding must be dispositioned (condense back, or
- record the §5.3 justification) before the pass may close.
- 2. **No orphans:** rebuild/compile the document if it is LaTeX (0 errors,
- 0 undefined references, no newly-missing labels); grep every deleted label
- and symbol to confirm zero remaining consumers.
- 3. **Fidelity:** re-check the §6 invariants over every edited span against
+ 1. **Length gate against the target:**
+ `python tools/length_gate.py <file> --before <scratch>/length-baseline.tex
+ --require-shrink <default_target_words>` (a percentage such as `8%` or a
+ fraction is also accepted). Exit 0 requires both no unjustified growth and
+ a net cut of at least the target; a cut short of it is a strong
+ `length-shrink-short` finding with exit 1, and the pass may not close on
+ it — either remove more, or record which kept entries account for the gap.
+ 2. **Residue:** `python tools/deai_residue.py <file> --before
+ <scratch>/length-baseline.tex`. A condensation must not leave a heading or
+ caption promising what the body no longer says; exit 1 blocks closing.
+ 3. **No orphans:** rebuild/compile the document if it is LaTeX (0 errors,
+ 0 undefined references, no newly-missing labels); re-run the map and grep
+ every deleted label and symbol to confirm zero remaining consumers.
+ 4. **Fidelity:** re-check the §6 invariants over every edited span against
the snapshot; every number, citation, and claim in the final text traces
to the same source as before.
## 4. Loop until dry
- Repeat §1-§3 over the whole document until **two consecutive full sweeps
- find nothing removable**. A single clean sweep is not convergence; simple
- counters miss the tail that the first removal round exposes.
+ Repeat §1-§3 over the whole document until **two consecutive maps list no
+ entry outside the carve-out with a disposition other than `kept`**. A single
+ clean sweep is not convergence; the first removal round exposes restatements
+ the map could not see while the copies stood.
## 5. Report
```markdown
# condense — Report
Target: <file> | Baseline: <snapshot/ref> | Sweeps: K (last 2 dry)
- Net length delta: <words, per section and total — zero or negative>
+ Map: <n entries>, removable <words> (<by rule>); target <words> (<default|--target>)
+ Net length delta: <words, per section and total>; length_gate --require-shrink: exit <0|1>
- ## Removed duplicates
- - <content> : canonical home <loc>; copies removed <locs>
+ ## Dispositions (every map entry)
+ - <rule> L<line>: <excerpt> — deleted | merged into <loc> | kept: <reason>
- ## Deleted (zero-gain / dead artifacts)
- - <item> : deadness evidence <grep summary>
+ ## Removed outside the map
+ - <content> : canonical home <loc>; copies removed <locs>; evidence <grep>
## Compressed spans
- <loc>: <before-words> -> <after-words>; eligibility PASS
- ## Dispositions
- - <any length-growth findings and their recorded justifications>
+ ## Gate findings
+ - <length-growth / length-shrink-short / residue findings and their recorded justifications>
No number, citation, claim, or sole-support fact was deleted.
```
## 6. Anti-patterns
- Appending an explanation instead of deleting the redundancy (the §5.3
explanatory patch — the exact disease this skill exists to cure).
+ - Removing less than half of the map's restatement mass without a per-entry
+ `kept:` reason — the scraping pass that trims phrases and leaves the
+ repeated claims standing.
- Deleting a fact's only occurrence because it "felt repeated" — dedup
requires proving the survivor exists.
- Gutting the abstract or conclusion under the dedup rule (genre carve-out).
- Trimming hedges, uncertainties, or qualifiers to save words — those are
protected invariants, not padding.
- - Declaring convergence after one clean sweep.
+ - Declaring convergence after one clean sweep, or closing on a
+ `length-shrink-short` finding without naming the entries that account for
+ the shortfall.
- Leaving removal scars or drafting-history narration in the text.
- Doing de-ai's job: structural-tell rewriting (voice, templates, L0 words)
belongs to `/sci-paper:de-ai`; condense only deletes and compresses.
## 7. Interfaces
- `docs/SCIPAPER_STANDARD.md` — §5.3 (the policy this skill executes), §6
(fidelity invariants), §0 (consequence classes and dispositions).
- - `tools/length_gate.py` — the mechanical closing gate (exit 0/1/2).
+ - `tools/condense_map.py` — the removal map and its budget (exit 0/2).
+ - `tools/length_gate.py` — the mechanical closing gate; `--require-shrink`
+ turns the map's target into an exit code.
+ - `tools/deai_residue.py` — the residue gate over the before/after pair.
- `tools/rewrite_reward.py` — eligibility + condensation ranking for
shortened rewrites.
- `/sci-paper:paper-review` — dimension I findings are this skill's input
queue.
- `/sci-paper:de-ai` — the authorship-fingerprint surface (boundary in §0).