Agent skill

Prose Style

Reusable writing-style contract for agent outputs (reports, ARCH docs, verdicts, threat models).

MITAuto-check passedSecurity

Install Prose Style

skills CLI

$ npx skills add avelikiy/great_cto --skill prose-style -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install avelikiy/great_cto prose-style --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/avelikiy/great_cto.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/prose-style .claude/skills/prose-style && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Paste into Claude Code

Install the "prose-style" agent skill from https://github.com/avelikiy/great_cto/tree/main/skills/prose-style into .claude/skills/prose-style/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "prose-style", then confirm the skill loads.

Claude Code copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

$skill-installer

$skill-installer install https://github.com/avelikiy/great_cto/tree/main/skills/prose-style

Type this inside Codex. $skill-installer <name> installs a curated skill from openai/skills. The installer writes to $CODEX_HOME/skills (default ~/.codex/skills). Restart Codex if the skill does not show up.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add avelikiy/great_cto --skill prose-style -a codex

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.codex/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install avelikiy/great_cto prose-style --agent codex

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/avelikiy/great_cto.git skills-src && mkdir -p .agents/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/prose-style .agents/skills/prose-style && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.agents/skills/ instead of .agents/skills for a personal install.

Codex skills documentation · loads skills from .agents/skills/

Paste into Codex

Install the "prose-style" agent skill from https://github.com/avelikiy/great_cto/tree/main/skills/prose-style into .agents/skills/prose-style/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "prose-style", then confirm the skill loads.

Codex copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add avelikiy/great_cto --skill prose-style -a cursor

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.cursor/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install avelikiy/great_cto prose-style --agent cursor

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/avelikiy/great_cto.git skills-src && mkdir -p .cursor/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/prose-style .cursor/skills/prose-style && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.cursor/skills/ instead of .cursor/skills for a personal install.

Cursor skills documentation · loads skills from .cursor/skills/, .agents/skills/, .claude/skills/, .codex/skills/

Paste into Cursor

Install the "prose-style" agent skill from https://github.com/avelikiy/great_cto/tree/main/skills/prose-style into .cursor/skills/prose-style/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "prose-style", then confirm the skill loads.

Cursor copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

gemini skills install

$ gemini skills install https://github.com/avelikiy/great_cto.git --path skills/prose-style

--scope user (default) or --scope workspace; --path is the subfolder of the repo that holds the skill; --consent skips the security confirmation prompt.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add avelikiy/great_cto --skill prose-style -a gemini-cli

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.gemini/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install avelikiy/great_cto prose-style --agent gemini-cli

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/avelikiy/great_cto.git skills-src && mkdir -p .gemini/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/prose-style .gemini/skills/prose-style && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.gemini/skills/ instead of .gemini/skills for a personal install, then run /skills reload.

Gemini CLI skills documentation · loads skills from .gemini/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into Gemini CLI

Install the "prose-style" agent skill from https://github.com/avelikiy/great_cto/tree/main/skills/prose-style into .gemini/skills/prose-style/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "prose-style", then confirm the skill loads.

Gemini CLI copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install avelikiy/great_cto prose-style

Installs for Copilot at project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Preview a skill first with gh skill preview. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

skills CLI

$ npx skills add avelikiy/great_cto --skill prose-style -a github-copilot

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.copilot/skills/.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/avelikiy/great_cto.git skills-src && mkdir -p .github/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/prose-style .github/skills/prose-style && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.copilot/skills/ instead of .github/skills for a personal install. Commit .github/skills so cloud agent and code review can use it.

GitHub Copilot skills documentation · loads skills from .github/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into GitHub Copilot

Install the "prose-style" agent skill from https://github.com/avelikiy/great_cto/tree/main/skills/prose-style into .github/skills/prose-style/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "prose-style", then confirm the skill loads.

GitHub Copilot copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add avelikiy/great_cto --skill prose-style -a opencode

OpenCode documents no install command of its own. Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.config/opencode/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install avelikiy/great_cto prose-style --agent opencode

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/avelikiy/great_cto.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/prose-style .opencode/skills/prose-style && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.config/opencode/skills/ instead of .opencode/skills for a personal install.

OpenCode skills documentation · loads skills from .opencode/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into OpenCode

Install the "prose-style" agent skill from https://github.com/avelikiy/great_cto/tree/main/skills/prose-style into .opencode/skills/prose-style/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "prose-style", then confirm the skill loads.

OpenCode copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

Facts

Skill name: prose-style
GitHub stars: 102
Token cost: ~1k tokens
SKILL.md length: 326 words
Files: 1
Skills in repo: 27
Repo updated: Oct 9, 2026
First seen: Oct 7, 2026
Licence: MIT

At a glance

Reusable writing-style contract for agent outputs (reports, ARCH docs, verdicts, threat models).

Works in 5 steps: Lead with the conclusion → Concrete evidence, not adjectives → No hedge words → …
Tasks that involve Brand voice and tone
SKILL.md covers Five rules, Templates, Anti-patterns to grep for and Why this matters
Calls kind

What it does

Prose Style is an agent skill from avelikiy/great_cto. Reusable writing-style contract for agent outputs (reports, ARCH docs, verdicts, threat models). Forces direct prose with concrete evidence, no marketing voice, no hedge words. The single most-referenced skill across the pipeline — used by 28 agents.

Its SKILL.md is about 1k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

It sits in Security, covering Brand voice and tone and Threat modeling. The repository describes itself as: You already have the agent. This is everything around it. greatcto runs Claude Code as a pipeline of 70 specialist agents — an independent model checks each stage before the next… The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

Tasks that involve Brand voice and tone
Tasks that involve Threat modeling

Example prompts

“/prose-style”

Requirements

Pre-approved tools (allowed-tools): Read, Write

Workflow steps

5 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.

Lead with the conclusion
Concrete evidence, not adjectives
No hedge words
No filler openings
Verdict line on the last line

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 97dd037. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

Tool permissions
Pre-approves these tools, so the agent can use them without asking each time:
- Read
- Write
From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.
Runs code
Shell commands in SKILL.md call:
- kind
From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.
Network
No URLs in SKILL.md.
From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.
Credentials
Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.
From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Prose Style loads about 1k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 66 tokens; SKILL.md has 326 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it: ~66
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches: ~1k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from avelikiy/great_cto at commit 97dd037, republished under its MIT licence (© avelikiy). 326 words, ~1,036 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/prose-style/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).

name: prose-style
description: Reusable writing-style contract for agent outputs (reports, ARCH docs, verdicts, threat models). Forces direct prose with concrete evidence, no marketing voice, no hedge words. The single most-referenced skill across the pipeline — used by 28 agents.
allowed-tools: Read, Write
when_to_use: Apply to every agent that writes a human-readable artefact: - architect ARCH-*.md, ADR-*.md - pm PLAN-*.md - qa-engineer QA-*.md reports - security-officer…
effort: low
paths: docs/**, .great_cto/verdicts/**

Prose style — writing contract for agent reports

great_cto reports are read by busy CTOs at 3pm on a Tuesday. They scan for facts, decisions, and what needs their attention. Marketing voice and hedge words waste their time.

Five rules

1. Lead with the conclusion

Bad:

After reviewing the architecture document and considering various trade-offs, including but not limited to scalability, security, and maintainability, we believe that the proposed approach is generally acceptable but has some areas that could potentially be improved.

Good:

Approved with 2 changes required: (a) move PII encryption to KMS, (b) add idempotency key on webhook handler. Details below.

2. Concrete evidence, not adjectives

Bad: "Performance is acceptable." Good: "p99 latency 142ms over 50K requests (k6 run 2026-05-12 14:00 UTC, tests/load/<your-scenario>.js). SLO is 200ms."

Bad: "Security looks good." Good: "No findings at Critical or High. 2 Medium: hardcoded log level in src/logger.ts:14, missing CORS header in src/middleware/cors.ts:8."

3. No hedge words

Banned: generally, somewhat, fairly, mostly, kind of, sort of, more or less, in some cases, often, sometimes, occasionally, possibly, perhaps, maybe, could potentially, might want to consider.

Replace with specifics or omit. If you genuinely don't know, say "uncertain because <reason>" — that's information.

4. No filler openings

Banned:

"In this document, we will discuss..."
"It's important to note that..."
"First and foremost..."
"At the end of the day..."
"It goes without saying..."

If a sentence can be deleted without losing information, delete it.

5. Verdict line on the last line

Every terminal report ends with one of:

VERDICT: APPROVED — <one-line summary>
VERDICT: DONE — <one-line summary>
VERDICT: BLOCKED reason="<specific blocker>"
VERDICT: FAIL reason="<specific failure>"

This is parsed by the board's readVerdicts() function. Format is machine-readable — no flourishes.

Templates

Reviewer report

markdown

# REVIEW-<feature> — <reviewer name>

Reviewed: <commit-sha or file paths>
Standard: <regulation / framework you applied>

## Findings
- [Critical|High|Med|Low] <one-sentence finding>
  - location: <path:line>
  - rationale: <why this matters in this domain>
  - remediation: <specific fix>

## Verdict
VERDICT: APPROVED|BLOCKED reason="<short>"

Architecture / ADR

markdown

# ARCH-<feature> | ADR-<NNN>

Date: <ISO>
Status: proposed | accepted | superseded

## Context
2-4 sentences. What problem, what constraint.

## Decision
Imperative single sentence: "Use X for Y."

## Consequences
- Positive: <bullets>
- Negative: <bullets>
- Reversible? yes/no — if no, document migration cost

## Alternatives considered
<bullets with one-line dismissal reason each>

Anti-patterns to grep for

Before writing the verdict line, search your draft for:

\b(generally|somewhat|fairly|mostly|kind of|sort of|possibly|perhaps|maybe)\b

If a hit is in a non-quoted sentence, rewrite it to be concrete or delete it.

Why this matters

The board's readVerdicts() parses every report. Marketing voice breaks the parser. Hedge-word reports waste the reader's time. Specifics let the CTO trust the agent's judgment.

Files

Just SKILL.md in skills/prose-style of avelikiy/great_cto.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 97dd037

Compare with similar skills

Prose Style next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Prose Style compared with similar skills
Skill	Stars	Used in	Tokens	Auto-check	Licence	Repo updated
Prose Style this skillavelikiy/great_cto	102	—	~1k	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	yesterday
Ccs Writing Stylebrycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills	1.2k	—	~918	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	14 days ago
Ieeesp Writing Stylebrycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills	1.2k	—	~1.2k	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	14 days ago
Issta Writing Stylebrycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills	1.2k	—	~1.1k	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	14 days ago
Usenixsec Writing Stylebrycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills	1.2k	—	~1.3k	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	14 days ago
Fabricynulihao/AgentSkillOS	618	1 repos	~3.4k	Automated safety check: Pass	None	7 mo ago

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Questions about Prose Style

What does Prose Style do?

Reusable writing-style contract for agent outputs (reports, ARCH docs, verdicts, threat models). Prose Style is an agent skill from avelikiy/great_cto. Reusable writing-style contract for agent outputs (reports, ARCH docs, verdicts, threat models).

When should I use Prose Style?

Prose Style fits situations like: tasks that involve Brand voice and tone; tasks that involve Threat modeling.

How do I install Prose Style in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add avelikiy/great_cto --skill prose-style -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/prose-style in avelikiy/great_cto) into .claude/skills/prose-style in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Prose Style in Codex?

Run `npx skills add avelikiy/great_cto --skill prose-style -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/prose-style in avelikiy/great_cto) into .agents/skills/prose-style in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Prose Style in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add avelikiy/great_cto --skill prose-style -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/prose-style, .gemini/skills/prose-style, .github/skills/prose-style and .opencode/skills/prose-style in your project.

What does Prose Style need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Prose Style needs the command-line tools its instructions call (kind). Its frontmatter pre-approves these tools: Read, Write.

Does Prose Style access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Prose Style safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Prose Style use?

Prose Style is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Prose Style use?

About 1k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 4.1k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Prose Style?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Prose Style: Ccs Writing Style (brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills, 1.2k stars), Ieeesp Writing Style (brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills, 1.2k stars), Issta Writing Style (brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills, 1.2k stars) and Usenixsec Writing Style (brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills, 1.2k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Prose Style?

avelikiy (a GitHub user) maintains it in avelikiy/great_cto, which has 102 GitHub stars. The repository holds 27 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 9, 2026.

Source: avelikiy/great_cto on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.

Install Prose Style

Facts

At a glance

What it does

When your agent uses it

Example prompts

Requirements

Workflow steps

What it can do on your machine

Tool permissions

Runs code

Network

Credentials

Context cost

Safety

SKILL.md

Prose style — writing contract for agent reports

Five rules

1. Lead with the conclusion

2. Concrete evidence, not adjectives

3. No hedge words

4. No filler openings

5. Verdict line on the last line

Templates

Reviewer report

Architecture / ADR

Anti-patterns to grep for

Why this matters

Files

Compare with similar skills

Similar skills

More from avelikiy/great_cto

Related

Questions about Prose Style