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Agent skill

Eli5

by dzhng in dzhng/skills

Explain a technical spec or proposed change in plain language: what problem it solves, how the solution works, and every schema change.

MITAuto-check passedWriting & Content

Install Eli5

skills CLI
$ npx skills add dzhng/skills --skill eli5 -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install dzhng/skills eli5 --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/dzhng/skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/engineering/eli5 .claude/skills/eli5 && 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/

Facts

Skill name
eli5
GitHub stars
1k
Token cost
~808 tokens
SKILL.md length
454 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
27
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Explain a technical spec or proposed change in plain language: what problem it solves, how the solution works, and every schema change.

  • Works in 4 steps: Read the complete referenced artifact… → Explain the problem through its user or… → Explain the solution as one simple… → …
  • Tasks that involve Plain language and style rules
  • SKILL.md covers The Register, Workflow, Output and Rules
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Eli5 is an agent skill from dzhng/skills. Explain a technical spec or proposed change in plain language: what problem it solves, how the solution works, and every schema change.

Its SKILL.md is about 810 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 Writing & Content, covering Plain language and style rules. The repository describes itself as: Reusable AI agent skills for software factories: explore ideas, write specs, implement, review, and run autonomous research. Works with Claude Code, Codex, and other… The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • Tasks that involve Plain language and style rules

Example prompts

  • “/eli5”

Workflow steps

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

  1. Read the complete referenced artifact and inspect current owners when the
  2. Explain the problem through its user or operational consequence, including
  3. Explain the solution as one simple before/after data flow. Introduce each
  4. Inventory schema and durable-contract changes exhaustively: added, changed,

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit d513228. 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 808 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 35 tokens; SKILL.md has 454 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~35
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~808

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 dzhng/skills at commit d513228, republished under its MIT licence (© dzhng). 454 words, ~808 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/eli5/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
eli5
description
Explain a technical spec or proposed change in plain language: what problem it solves, how the solution works, and every schema change.
disable-model-invocation
true

ELI5

Turn the referenced spec or change into an accurate mental model for a technical reader who does not live in the code. Plain language, full precision: simplify the telling, never the claims.

The Register

Other skills point here when their output must be readable by someone who didn't live the work. The reader is technical — pseudocode and precise claims land fine — but they have read none of the code and none of the session's messages: no diff, no transcript, no labels the work invented along the way. Writing ELI5 means:

  • Walk one concrete scenario end to end — the triggering event, what happens today, what the change (or the unbuilt alternative) would do — instead of describing properties in the abstract.
  • Define every term of art at first use; never lean on labels the spec, code, or session invented.
  • Use small concrete examples without replacing precise claims with analogies.
  • Reach for pseudocode when explaining control flow, ordering, or timing. Prose describing when-something-fires reads as plausible and hides the gap; five lines of pseudocode make the gate visible and let the reader see the case you missed. Write it at the level of the decision, not the implementation — the conditions and their order, not real function signatures. The tell that you needed it: your prose contains "only when", "before", "unless", or "as soon as" and the reader still cannot say what happens on the second call.
  • The test: the text stands alone, without the diff, the spec, or the transcript. If the reader must ask "explain this part", it failed.
Show full SKILL.md (196 more words)Show less

Workflow

  1. Read the complete referenced artifact and inspect current owners when the spec alone cannot establish behavior. When no artifact is named, explain the session's current change (working tree or branch diff). Separate what exists today from what is only proposed.
  2. Explain the problem through its user or operational consequence, including why the current design produces it.
  3. Explain the solution as one simple before/after data flow. Introduce each component by responsibility, not by filename or internal symbol.
  4. Inventory schema and durable-contract changes exhaustively: added, changed, removed, reset, and deliberately unchanged. Include cursor or wire-format cutovers when they affect stored data or readers. Say explicitly when there are no schema changes.

Output

Use these headings in order:

  1. Problem
  2. Solution
  3. Schema changes

End with one short sentence stating what users should notice after the change.

Rules

  • Lead with behavior and boundaries; mention implementation names only when they clarify ownership or a contract.
  • Distinguish canonical records from derived indexes, caches, summaries, and presentation grouping.
  • Call out destructive resets, migration requirements, compatibility behavior, eventual consistency, and intentional data loss directly.
  • Do not omit a schema change because it is operational rather than user-visible.

© dzhng, 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/engineering/eli5 of dzhng/skills.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit d513228

Used in 1 other repository

We found 1 copy of this SKILL.md (exact, near-identical or edited) in other folders. This page covers the copy in dzhng/skills, which our catalogue first saw on October 7, 2026.

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.

Eli5 compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Eli5 this skilldzhng/skills1k—~808Automated safety check: PassMIT
Asd Ste100danyuchn/asd-ste100-skill4k—~4.1kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Simple Issue Descriptionevery-app/open-seo23k1 repos~1.2kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Ponytail AuditDietrichGebert/ponytail158k—~1.3kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Technical Writing Standardcursor/plugins10k10 repos~2.4kAutomated safety check: PassNone
Natural Japanese Business Writingcoji/natural-japanese1.9k—~2.1kAutomated safety check: PassMIT

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Categories

Questions about Eli5

What does Eli5 do?

Explain a technical spec or proposed change in plain language: what problem it solves, how the solution works, and every schema change. Eli5 is an agent skill from dzhng/skills. Explain a technical spec or proposed change in plain language: what problem it solves, how the solution works, and every schema change.

When should I use Eli5?

Eli5 fits situations like: tasks that involve Plain language and style rules.

How do I install Eli5 in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add dzhng/skills --skill eli5 -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/engineering/eli5 in dzhng/skills) 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 dzhng/skills --skill eli5 -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/engineering/eli5 in dzhng/skills) 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 dzhng/skills --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 808 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 3.2k 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: Asd Ste100 (danyuchn/asd-ste100-skill, 4k stars), Simple Issue Description (every-app/open-seo, 23k stars), Ponytail Audit (DietrichGebert/ponytail, 158k stars) and Technical Writing Standard (cursor/plugins, 10k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Eli5?

dzhng (a GitHub user) maintains it in dzhng/skills, which has 1,016 GitHub stars. The repository holds 27 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 5, 2026.

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