This file is byte-identical to the first copy the registry indexed, one of 3 indexed copies. Same content hash, so the same checks give both the same grade.
technical-writing from nightly-labs/openbot is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
Layered technical-writing standard: Diátaxis structure, Google developer style sentences, STE instruction rules, Global English syntax. Use for /technical-writing or when writing or reviewing docs, RFCs, readmes, PR descriptions, or commit messages.
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
# Technical writing
Write so a tired engineer understands on the first read. Apply all four layers.
Three rules sit above the layers:
- **Cut every word that does no work.** If the sentence survives without a word, the word goes. "In order to" is "to". "It is important to note that" is nothing.
- **Use the short, everyday word.** "Use", not "utilize". "Help", not "facilitate". "Do", not "perform". A long word has to buy its length with precision.
- **When a rule makes a sentence worse, fix the sentence another way or leave it alone.** A sentence that follows every rule and sounds like a machine wrote it has failed.
The codebase is the word list. Write the real symbol, file, flag, or command name, not a synonym or a description of it.
Don't invent jargon. Use the words a developer would say out loud: "move", "delete", "a budget that only decreases", not "evacuate", "ratchet", or "endgame". A named pattern is fine when the doc says what it means the first time. Propose a new offender and its replacement as an addition to `unslop`'s abstract-metaphor rule in your reply, with the diff. Don't edit that skill.
## Vary the rhythm
…
The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20261013.9e6954c, 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.
A 17 of 17 checks passed. Fixed automatic checks with no AI involved, so the same checks give the same answer every run.
pass: Frontmatter block present
pass: Frontmatter declares a name
pass: Frontmatter declares a description
pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (9093 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
GitHub
nightly-labs/openbot · 5,267 stars · license a license file GitHub does not identify · pushed 2026-11-04 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_odshydmczuo53gbb
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=nightly-labs/openbot/technical-writing
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/61fe9c424a798ebf36ad94941f87be049cb8827bdf86d21474a0dde37b513c43
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.
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