Concept Explainer
aipoch/medical-research-skills
Uses analogies to explain complex medical concepts in accessible terms.
Explain any topic, code, concept, or error tailored to a specific audience's level of understanding.
MITAuto-check passed
Install Eli5
$ npx skills add DreambigOu/ELI5 --skill eli5 -a claude-codeProject install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.
$ gh skill install DreambigOu/ELI5 eli5 --agent claude-codeProject scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/DreambigOu/ELI5.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/eli5 .claude/skills/eli5 && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.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/
Install the "eli5" agent skill from https://github.com/DreambigOu/ELI5/tree/main/skills/eli5 into .claude/skills/eli5/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "eli5", 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 install https://github.com/DreambigOu/ELI5/tree/main/skills/eli5Type 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.
$ npx skills add DreambigOu/ELI5 --skill eli5 -a codexProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.codex/skills/.
$ gh skill install DreambigOu/ELI5 eli5 --agent codexProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/DreambigOu/ELI5.git skills-src && mkdir -p .agents/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/eli5 .agents/skills/eli5 && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.agents/skills/ instead of .agents/skills for a personal install.
Codex skills documentation · loads skills from .agents/skills/
Install the "eli5" agent skill from https://github.com/DreambigOu/ELI5/tree/main/skills/eli5 into .agents/skills/eli5/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "eli5", 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.
$ npx skills add DreambigOu/ELI5 --skill eli5 -a cursorProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.cursor/skills/.
$ gh skill install DreambigOu/ELI5 eli5 --agent cursorProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/DreambigOu/ELI5.git skills-src && mkdir -p .cursor/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/eli5 .cursor/skills/eli5 && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.cursor/skills/ instead of .cursor/skills for a personal install.
Cursor skills documentation · loads skills from .cursor/skills/, .agents/skills/, .claude/skills/, .codex/skills/
Install the "eli5" agent skill from https://github.com/DreambigOu/ELI5/tree/main/skills/eli5 into .cursor/skills/eli5/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "eli5", 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 https://github.com/DreambigOu/ELI5.git --path skills/eli5--scope user (default) or --scope workspace; --path is the subfolder of the repo that holds the skill; --consent skips the security confirmation prompt.
$ npx skills add DreambigOu/ELI5 --skill eli5 -a gemini-cliProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.gemini/skills/.
$ gh skill install DreambigOu/ELI5 eli5 --agent gemini-cliProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/DreambigOu/ELI5.git skills-src && mkdir -p .gemini/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/eli5 .gemini/skills/eli5 && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.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/
Install the "eli5" agent skill from https://github.com/DreambigOu/ELI5/tree/main/skills/eli5 into .gemini/skills/eli5/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "eli5", 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.
$ gh skill install DreambigOu/ELI5 eli5Installs 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).
$ npx skills add DreambigOu/ELI5 --skill eli5 -a github-copilotProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.copilot/skills/.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/DreambigOu/ELI5.git skills-src && mkdir -p .github/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/eli5 .github/skills/eli5 && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.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/
Install the "eli5" agent skill from https://github.com/DreambigOu/ELI5/tree/main/skills/eli5 into .github/skills/eli5/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "eli5", 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.
$ npx skills add DreambigOu/ELI5 --skill eli5 -a opencodeOpenCode documents no install command of its own. Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.config/opencode/skills/.
$ gh skill install DreambigOu/ELI5 eli5 --agent opencodeProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/DreambigOu/ELI5.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/eli5 .opencode/skills/eli5 && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.config/opencode/skills/ instead of .opencode/skills for a personal install.
OpenCode skills documentation · loads skills from .opencode/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "eli5" agent skill from https://github.com/DreambigOu/ELI5/tree/main/skills/eli5 into .opencode/skills/eli5/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "eli5", 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
eli5- GitHub stars
- 1.7k
- Token cost
- ~2k tokens
- SKILL.md length
- 992 words
- Files
- 1
- Skills in repo
- 1
- Repo updated
- First seen
- Licence
- MIT
At a glance
Explain any topic, code, concept, or error tailored to a specific audience's level of understanding.
- Works in 3 steps: Identify the Audience → Read the Source Material → Craft the Explanation
- The user says explain like I am
- SKILL.md covers Step 1: Identify the Audience, Step 2: Read the Source Material, Step 3: Craft the Explanation and Examples, plus 1 more section
- Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md
What it does
Eli5 is an agent skill from DreambigOu/ELI5. Explain any topic, code, concept, or error tailored to a specific audience's level of understanding. Use this skill whenever the user says 'explain like I am', 'ELI5', 'explain this to my', 'break this down for', 'dumb it down', 'simplify this for', or asks you to explain something to a specific person or audience type (e.g., 'explain this to a manager', 'how would I explain this to my mom', 'make this understandable for a 5th grader'). Also trigger when the user mentions wanting to understand something at a…
Its SKILL.md is about 2k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.
The repository describes itself as: ELI5 — A Claude Code skill that explains anything to anyone: kids, managers, engineers, parents. Adapts tone, vocabulary, and analogies to match the audience. The licence is MIT.
When your agent uses it
- The user says explain like I am
- Explain this to my
- Break this down for
- Simplify this for
Example prompts
- “s level of understanding. Use this skill whenever the user says”
- “explain this to my”
- “break this down for”
- “/eli5”
Workflow steps
3 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.
What it can do on your machine
Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit a766623. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.
Tool permissions
Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.
From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.
Runs code
No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md.
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
Eli5 loads about 2k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 173 tokens; SKILL.md has 992 words of instructions outside code blocks.
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 DreambigOu/ELI5 at commit a766623, republished under its MIT licence (© DreambigOu). 992 words, ~1,987 tokens.
Download SKILL.mdSave it as
.claude/skills/eli5/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).- name
- eli5
- description
- Explain any topic, code, concept, or error tailored to a specific audience's level of understanding. Use this skill whenever the user says 'explain like I am', 'ELI5', 'explain this to my', 'break this down for', 'dumb it down', 'simplify this for', or asks you to explain something to a specific person or audience type (e.g., 'explain this to a manager', 'how would I explain this to my mom', 'make this understandable for a 5th grader'). Also trigger when the user mentions wanting to understand something at a particular level, or asks for an explanation targeting a non-technical audience. Even partial matches like 'explain to my wife' or 'tell my boss' should trigger this skill.
Explain Like I Am... (ELI5)
You are an expert at taking complex topics and making them accessible to any audience. Your job is to explain the given topic in a way that perfectly matches the audience's background, vocabulary, and interests.
Step 1: Identify the Audience
Parse the user's request to determine who the explanation is for. The audience falls into one of these categories:
Ages
| Audience | Style |
|---|---|
| Age 5 | Super simple words. Use fun analogies with toys, animals, candy, playground. Short sentences. "Imagine you have a box of crayons..." |
| Age 10 | Elementary school level. Can handle basic cause-and-effect. Use school, sports, video game analogies. |
| Age 15 | Teenager. Can handle some abstraction. Use social media, phone, gaming references. Be slightly casual. |
| Age 20-30 | Young adult. Clear and direct. Real-world analogies from daily life, work, money. |
| Age 40+ | Mature adult. Respectful tone. Analogies from home ownership, career, family management. |
Grade / Education Levels
| Audience | Style |
|---|---|
| 5th grade | Simple vocabulary, concrete examples, avoid jargon entirely. "Think of it like..." |
| Middle school | Can introduce basic terminology with definitions. Step-by-step logic. |
| Senior High | Can handle moderate complexity. Introduce proper terms but explain them. SAT-level vocabulary OK. |
| College Student | Academic framing. Can use technical terms with brief context. Theory + practical application. |
| Graduate school | Assume strong foundational knowledge. Focus on nuance, trade-offs, edge cases, and deeper implications. Be precise. |
Job Roles
| Audience | They care about... | Frame explanations around... |
|---|---|---|
| Manager | Impact, timeline, risk, cost | Business outcomes, team implications, what decisions need to be made |
| Engineer | How it works, architecture, trade-offs | Technical details, implementation, performance, maintainability |
| Designer | User experience, visual impact, flow | How it affects the user, interaction patterns, accessibility |
| Director | Strategy, ROI, competitive advantage | Big picture, market position, resource allocation |
| Colleague | Practical context, shared work | How it affects their work, what they need to know to collaborate |
| Product Manager | User value, priorities, scope | Feature impact, user stories, what to build vs. skip |
Relationships
| Audience | Tone | Analogy style |
|---|---|---|
| Wife / Husband / Partner | Warm, conversational, patient | Household tasks, shared experiences, daily routines |
| Father / Mother / Parents | Respectful, clear, no condescension | Familiar technology they use, home analogies, generational bridges |
| Kids / Children | Playful, encouraging, short | Games, cartoons, school, animals |
| Friend | Casual, maybe humorous | Pop culture, shared interests, "you know how..." |
If the audience isn't explicitly stated, default to "Age 5" (classic ELI5).
Step 2: Read the Source Material
Before explaining, make sure you fully understand what needs to be explained. This could be:
- Code: Read the relevant code files. Understand what the code does at a high level before translating.
- A concept: Break it into its core components.
- An error message: Understand the root cause, not just the surface text.
- A technical document: Extract the key points that matter.
- Anything else: Identify the essential "what" and "why."
Step 3: Craft the Explanation
Follow these principles, scaled to the audience:
Structure
- Start with the "what" — one sentence that captures the essence
- Use an analogy — connect to something the audience already knows
- Fill in details — add layers only as appropriate for the audience level
- End with the "so what" — why does this matter to them specifically?
Language Calibration
For simple audiences (young ages, non-technical roles, family):
- No jargon. Zero. If a technical term is essential, define it immediately.
- One idea per sentence.
- Concrete over abstract. "The server is like a waiter at a restaurant" beats "the server handles client-server communication."
- Use "you" and "your" — make it personal.
For technical audiences (engineers, grad students):
- Use proper terminology — they'll feel patronized without it.
- Focus on the interesting parts: trade-offs, edge cases, design decisions.
- Compare to things they already know: "It's like a hash map but with X difference."
- Be concise — respect their existing knowledge.
For business audiences (managers, directors):
- Lead with impact and outcomes.
- Quantify where possible.
- Skip implementation details unless asked.
- Frame in terms of decisions: "This means we should..."
Show full SKILL.md (356 more words)Show less
Tone Matching
- Ages 5-10: Enthusiastic, like a favorite teacher. "Oh, this is a cool one!"
- Teenagers: Slightly casual but not cringey. No "fellow kids" energy.
- Professionals: Confident and clear. Respect their intelligence while bridging knowledge gaps.
- Family: Patient, warm, conversational. Like explaining over dinner.
Examples
User says: "ELI5 what a database index is" Audience: Age 5 (default) Response style: "Imagine you have a huuuge book with thousands of pages. Now, if I asked you to find the page about dinosaurs, you could flip through every single page... or you could look at the table of contents at the front! A database index is like that table of contents. It helps the computer find things really fast without looking through everything."
User says: "Explain this API rate limiting to my manager" Audience: Manager Response style: "The API has a speed limit — we can only make 100 requests per minute. Right now we're hitting that limit during peak hours, which means some user requests are failing. We have two options: optimize our code to make fewer calls (1-2 days of work), or pay for a higher tier ($X/month). I'd recommend..."
User says: "Break down this React useEffect hook for a college student" Audience: College Student Response style: "useEffect is React's way of handling side effects — things that happen outside the normal render cycle, like API calls, subscriptions, or DOM manipulation. Think of it as a lifecycle hook (if you've seen class components) that combines componentDidMount, componentDidUpdate, and componentWillUnmount. The dependency array controls when it re-runs..."
Important Reminders
- Never talk down to anyone. A 5-year-old explanation should feel delightful, not dumbing-down. A manager explanation should feel empowering, not dismissive of their intelligence.
- When explaining code, always explain the purpose first, then the mechanism. Nobody cares about syntax until they know why it exists.
- If the topic is genuinely complex and the audience is very non-technical, it's OK to simplify ruthlessly. Getting the core idea across at 80% accuracy is better than a 100% accurate explanation that loses the audience.
- Match the length to the audience: short and sweet for young kids, more detailed for technical audiences who want depth.
© DreambigOu, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file
Files
Just SKILL.md in skills/eli5 of DreambigOu/ELI5.
Open the folder on GitHubat commit a766623
Compare with similar skills
Eli5 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.
| Skill | Stars | Used in | Tokens | Auto-check | Licence | Repo updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eli5 this skillDreambigOu/ELI5 | 1.7k | — | ~2k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Concept Explaineraipoch/medical-research-skills | 2k | — | ~1.9k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Plain-Language Concept Explainerlijigang/ljg-skills | 7.5k | — | ~632 | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Faceless Explainer Videoheygen-com/hyperframes | 59k | 3 repos | ~7.7k | Automated safety check: Notes | Apache-2.0 | |
| Concept Explainerchmonitor/chmonitor | 299 | — | ~2.1k | Automated safety check: Pass | GPL-3.0 | |
| Explain Like Socratessickn33/agentic-awesome-skills | 47k | 2 repos | ~1.2k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT |
Similar skills
Plain-Language Concept Explainer
lijigang/ljg-skills
Explains a concept, formula or mechanism in plain Chinese so the reader can recognize it, follow the reasoning, adjust it when conditions change and apply it to new cases.
Faceless Explainer Video
heygen-com/hyperframes
Turns an article, notes or a topic brief into an explainer video whose visuals are invented per scene, built frame by frame in HyperFrames with no footage.
Concept Explainer
chmonitor/chmonitor
Explains core ClickHouse concepts with accurate mental models — MergeTree, indexes, replication, sharding, and special engines.
Explain Like Socrates
sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills
Explains concepts using Socratic-style dialogue. An agent skill from sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills.
Explain Usage
asgeirtj/system_prompts_leaks
Explain where this session's tokens went, with one simple chart in plain language.
Questions about Eli5
What does Eli5 do?
Explain any topic, code, concept, or error tailored to a specific audience's level of understanding. Eli5 is an agent skill from DreambigOu/ELI5. Explain any topic, code, concept, or error tailored to a specific audience's level of understanding.
When should I use Eli5?
Eli5 fits situations like: the user says explain like I am; explain this to my; break this down for; simplify this for.
How do I install Eli5 in Claude Code?
Run `npx skills add DreambigOu/ELI5 --skill eli5 -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/eli5 in DreambigOu/ELI5) into .claude/skills/eli5 in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.
How do I install Eli5 in Codex?
Run `npx skills add DreambigOu/ELI5 --skill eli5 -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/eli5 in DreambigOu/ELI5) into .agents/skills/eli5 in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.
Can I use Eli5 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 DreambigOu/ELI5 --skill eli5 -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/eli5, .gemini/skills/eli5, .github/skills/eli5 and .opencode/skills/eli5 in your project.
What does Eli5 need to run?
SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Eli5 is instructions for the agent only.
Does Eli5 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 Eli5 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 Eli5 use?
Eli5 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 Eli5 use?
About 2k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 7.9k 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 Eli5?
Skills that share tags, products or a category with Eli5: Concept Explainer (aipoch/medical-research-skills, 2k stars), Plain-Language Concept Explainer (lijigang/ljg-skills, 7.5k stars), Faceless Explainer Video (heygen-com/hyperframes, 59k stars) and Concept Explainer (chmonitor/chmonitor, 299 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.
Who maintains Eli5?
DreambigOu (a GitHub user) maintains it in DreambigOu/ELI5, which has 1,674 GitHub stars. The repository was last updated on March 18, 2026.
Source: DreambigOu/ELI5 on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.