Skill Simplify

What it does

Example prompts

• “simplify skill”
• “optimize skill”
• “skill-simplify”
• “/skill-simplify”

Requirements

• Pre-approved tools (allowed-tools): AskUserQuestion, Read, Write, Edit, Bash, Glob, Grep

Workflow steps

8 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

1. 1Preserve ALL functional elements: Code blocks with logic, agent calls, data structures, routing, error handling, input/output specs
2. 2Only reduce descriptive content: Flowcharts, verbose comments, duplicate sections, examples that repeat logic
3. 3Never summarize algorithm logic: If-else branches, function bodies, schemas must remain verbatim
4. 4Classify code blocks: Distinguish functional (logic, routing, schemas) from descriptive (ASCII art, examples, display templates) — only…
5. 5Merge equivalent variants: Single/multi-perspective templates differing only by a parameter → one template with variant comment
6. 6Fix format issues: Nested backtick template literals in code fences → convert to prose; hardcoded option lists → flag for dynamic…
7. 7Validate pseudo-code: Check bracket matching, variable consistency, structural completeness
8. 8Quantitative verification: Phase 3 counts must match Phase 1 counts for functional categories; descriptive block decreases are expected

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 07491b0. 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:

  • AskUserQuestion
  • Read
  • Write
  • Edit
  • Bash
  • Glob
  • Grep

  From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

• Runs code

  No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md (its code samples are javascript).

  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

Skill Simplify loads about 733 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 53 tokens; SKILL.md has 236 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it

~53

When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches

~733

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

• NotePre-approves every shell command (allowed-tools: Bash)SKILL.md

  allowed-tools: AskUserQuestion, Read, Write, Edit, Bash, Glob, Grep

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 catlog22/Claude-Code-Workflow at commit 07491b0, republished under its MIT licence (© catlog22). 236 words, ~733 tokens.

name

skill-simplify

description

SKILL.md simplification with functional integrity verification. Analyze redundancy, optimize content, check no functionality lost. Triggers on "simplify skill", "optimize skill", "skill-simplify".

allowed-tools

AskUserQuestion, Read, Write, Edit, Bash, Glob, Grep

const targetPath = input.trim()
const targetFile = targetPath.endsWith('.md') ? targetPath : `${targetPath}/SKILL.md`
const originalContent = Read(targetFile)
const originalLineCount = originalContent.split('\n').length

TodoWrite({ todos: [
  { content: `Phase 1: Analyzing ${targetFile}`, status: "in_progress", activeForm: "Extracting functional inventory" },
  { content: "Phase 2: Optimize", status: "pending" },
  { content: "Phase 3: Integrity Check", status: "pending" }
]})

© catlog22, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 3 other files in .claude/skills/skill-simplify of catlog22/Claude-Code-Workflow.

• SKILL.md
• phases/01-analysis.md
• phases/02-optimize.md
• phases/03-check.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 07491b0

Used in 1 other repository

We found 2 copies of this SKILL.md (exact, near-identical or edited) in other folders. This page covers the copy in catlog22/Claude-Code-Workflow, which our catalogue first saw on October 7, 2026.

• catlog22/maestro-flow.codex/skills/skill-simplify.claude/skills/skill-simplify