Apply when reviewing or shaping code that's hard to trace. Count layers between question and answer, and hidden state in the reader's head; collapse one-caller wrappers and shrink mutable scope.
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
# Minimize Reader Load
Maintainability is the work a reader must do to understand code. Track two axes:
1. **Layers to trace.** How many indirections sit between the question and the answer.
2. **State to hold.** How much hidden or mutable context the reader must keep in their head.
**Why:** Code is read far more than it is written. LOC, cyclomatic complexity, and "clean architecture" are proxies. Reader load is the thing that matters. The two axes are independent. A flat file with 50 globals can be as hard to reason about as a 6-layer adapter stack. Guard both. This is the human analog of [Guard the Context Window](../principle-guard-the-context-window/SKILL.md): working memory is finite for readers too.
**The pattern:**
- **Collapse layers** that do not earn their keep: wrappers with one caller, adapters with no second implementation, indirection introduced for a future that never came. Inline them.
- **Make adjacent layers change the abstraction.** A layer that repeats the same methods and arguments adds reader load without compression. Collapse pass-through layers.
…
The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20260827.f7b391a, 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 (2099 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
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Source
GitHub
shiwenbin1617/pstack · 4 stars · license a license file GitHub does not identify · pushed 2026-09-07 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_zlc5if6zojxrgpg6
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=shiwenbin1617/pstack/principle-minimize-reader-load
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/480f4ddec29e7e3058a8f17eb97c0cec4a2c8b4b33ba6401e960167c1fc95a81
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.
shiwenbin1617/pstack · adapters/claude-code/overrides/setup-pstack/SKILL.md · Configure which Claude Code models pstack uses per role. Use for /setup-pstack or requests to change pstack model…
shiwenbin1617/pstack · adapters/codex/overrides/setup-pstack/SKILL.md · Configure optional per-role model preferences for pstack on Codex. Use for $setup-pstack or requests to change pstack…
shiwenbin1617/pstack · automations/benny/skills/reproduce-and-fix-issues/SKILL.md · Reproduce triaged Slack bugs through a configured app-control adapter, verify existing fixes, and open a bounded draft…
shiwenbin1617/pstack · automations/benny/skills/setup-benny/SKILL.md · Configure Benny and prepare its triage and repro automations. Use when installing Benny or changing its Slack, tracker…
shiwenbin1617/pstack · skills/architect/SKILL.md · Design types, interfaces, and module ownership for a requested architectural change or an unresolved design choice.
shiwenbin1617/pstack · skills/arena/SKILL.md · Spawn N parallel candidates at the same task, pick a base, graft the strongest parts of the losers into it. Use for…
shiwenbin1617/pstack · skills/automate-me/SKILL.md · Use for "automate me", "create/update/refresh my -mode skill", "turn/capture my preferences or working style into a…
shiwenbin1617/pstack · skills/blast-radius/SKILL.md · Find what a change could break somewhere else before it ships, beyond the diff, and prove the one fact it's safe…
shiwenbin1617/pstack · skills/create-verification-skill/SKILL.md · Generate a project-local verification skill that drives your app the way a user does — any language, framework, or…
cursor/plugins · pstack/skills/principle-minimize-reader-load/SKILL.md · Apply when reviewing or shaping code that's hard to trace. Count layers between question and answer, and hidden state…
cursor/plugins · harness/pstack/claude-code/skills/principle-minimize-reader-load/SKILL.md · Apply when reviewing or shaping code that's hard to trace. Count layers between question and answer, and hidden state…
nightly-labs/openbot · marketplace/production-catalog/bundles/pstack/skills/principle-minimize-reader-load/SKILL.md · Apply when reviewing or shaping code that's hard to trace. Count layers between question and answer, and hidden state…
michael-denyer/pstack-claude · plugins/pstack/skills/principle-minimize-reader-load/SKILL.md · Apply when reviewing or shaping code that's hard to trace. Count layers between question and answer, and hidden state…
backnotprop/pstack · skills/principle-minimize-reader-load/SKILL.md · Apply when reviewing or shaping code that's hard to trace. Count layers between question and answer, and hidden state…
iap/pstack-hermes · skills/principle-minimize-reader-load/SKILL.md · Apply when reviewing or shaping code that's hard to trace. Count layers between question and answer, and hidden state…
j-star-films-studios/vibecode-protocol-suite · assets/.agent/skills/engineering-principles/minimize-reader-load/SKILL.md · Apply when reviewing or shaping code that's hard to trace. Count layers between question and answer, and hidden state…
barbieri/local-openfinance · .agents/skills/principle-minimize-reader-load/SKILL.md · Apply when reviewing or shaping code that's hard to trace. Count layers between question and answer, and hidden state…
