simplify SKILL.md skillA
simplify from ahgraber/skills is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add ahgraber/skills/simplify@git:20261020.6d30bf1Pins git:20261020.6d30bf1 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- ahgraber/skills
- Path
skills/simplify/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 7
- Latest version
- git:20261020.6d30bf1, committed Oct 20, 2026
- First version recorded
- Aug 8, 2026
- Size
- 17,430 bytes
- Repository stars
- 6
- License
- CC0-1.0
Use to cut slop out of working code: duplication, dead code, needless indirection, comment noise, defensive padding. Point it at the current changes, a file, a directory, or the whole repo. Triggers: 'simplify this', 'clean this up', 'de-slop this code', 'strip the cruft', 'tighten this diff', 'this code is bloated', 'audit this for slop'. Not for judging correctness or merge readiness (use code-review), and not for structural change that needs a plan and approval (use refactor).
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
# Simplify: Remove Slop from Working Code ## Overview Simplify assumes the code is correct and asks whether it is as simple as it could be. It exists because models drift additively: left alone, agent-written code accumulates verbosity and structural padding that prompting alone does not prevent. This skill is the recurring corrective pass. Ask the user which mode to use: - **audit** mode to report findings but make no changes. - **fix** mode audit, then apply safe edits and preserve behavior exactly. Scope is configurable: the default is the current change set, but a file, a directory, or the whole repo are equally valid targets when the user names one. Every pass ends with a report persisted to a dated file: a path given for this run, else a location set by project instructions, else the first existing `.review/`, `._scratch/`, or `.scratch/` at the repo root, else `$TMPDIR` (see `references/edit-ledger.md`). The file matters most for deletions, because a diff shows what was removed but cannot carry why removing it was safe. Anything a configured linter or formatter already flags is out of scope. Run the tool instead, and review only what those tools cannot check. …
Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add ahgraber/skills/simplify@sha256:5a1ab0ab73f1fe1dThe line at the top of this page pins the label git:20261020.6d30bf1, 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_lfdwkiprlucb3qmo)
3 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.
Versions
The registry has recorded 7 versions of this file, between Aug 8, 2026 and Oct 20, 2026, about one every 12 days.
| version | committed | commit | size | audit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| git:20261020.6d30bf1 latest | 2026-10-20 | 6d30bf1 | 17,430 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20261016.2a78d5b | 2026-10-16 | 2a78d5b | 17,259 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260904.70c249b | 2026-09-04 | 70c249b | 16,849 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260823.b50461c | 2026-08-23 | b50461c | 16,423 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260819.209d97b | 2026-08-19 | 209d97b | 15,377 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260816.2905688 | 2026-08-16 | 2905688 | 15,173 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260808.eb5c83b | 2026-08-08 | eb5c83b | 14,709 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 (17430 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
ahgraber/skills · 6 stars · license CC0-1.0 · pushed 2026-10-29 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_lfdwkiprlucb3qmo GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=ahgraber/skills/simplify GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/5a1ab0ab73f1fe1d656a4d6cd24c38a1112b6566df6fb7ef67846a98f491e932
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.