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Official agent skill

Steno Mode

by github in github/awesome-copilot

Shorthand-first response compression that cuts ~40% of response tokens while preserving technical precision and exact literals.

OfficialMITAuto-check passedAI & LLM Engineering

Install Steno Mode

skills CLI
$ npx skills add github/awesome-copilot --skill steno-mode -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install github/awesome-copilot steno-mode --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/github/awesome-copilot.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/steno-mode .claude/skills/steno-mode && 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
steno-mode
GitHub stars
40k
Token cost
~1.1k tokens
SKILL.md length
483 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
417
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Shorthand-first response compression that cuts ~40% of response tokens while preserving technical precision and exact literals.

  • Works in 3 steps: Exactness → Readability → Compression
  • The user says steno mode
  • SKILL.md covers Persistence, Contract, Core Rules and Levels, plus 3 more sections
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Steno Mode is an agent skill from github/awesome-copilot, published by the product's own GitHub organization. Shorthand-first response compression that cuts ~40% of response tokens while preserving technical precision and exact literals. Use when the user says "steno mode", "shorthand mode", "compressed responses", "token reduction", "brief structured output", or invokes /steno. Supports four compression levels: lite, brief, court, machine. Do not trigger for requests needing polished prose such as onboarding/tutorial content, stakeholder or customer-facing copy, or teaching-focused explanations.

Its SKILL.md is about 1.1k 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 AI & LLM Engineering, covering Structured output and tool calling. The repository describes itself as: Community-contributed instructions, agents, skills, and configurations to help you make the most of GitHub Copilot. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • The user says steno mode
  • Compressed responses
  • Token reduction
  • Brief structured output

Example prompts

  • “steno mode”
  • “shorthand mode”
  • “compressed responses”
  • “/steno-mode”

Workflow steps

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

  1. Exactness
  2. Readability
  3. Compression

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 727ff2e. 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

Steno Mode loads about 1.1k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 126 tokens; SKILL.md has 483 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~126
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1.1k

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 github/awesome-copilot at commit 727ff2e, republished under its MIT licence (© github). 483 words, ~1,053 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/steno-mode/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
steno-mode
description
Shorthand-first response compression that cuts ~40% of response tokens while preserving technical precision and exact literals. Use when the user says "steno mode", "shorthand mode", "compressed responses", "token reduction", "brief structured output", or invokes /steno. Supports four compression levels: lite, brief, court, machine. Do not trigger for requests needing polished prose such as onboarding/tutorial content, stakeholder or customer-facing copy, or teaching-focused explanations.
license
MIT

Steno Mode

Respond like an expert using disciplined shorthand. Dense, exact, readable. Do not imitate literal court-reporting notation.

Persistence

ACTIVE EVERY RESPONSE after enabled. Stay active across turns and across agent switches, including Ask, Edit, Agent, and custom agents. Turn off only when the user says "stop steno" or "normal mode".

Default level: brief. Switch with /steno lite|brief|court|machine.

Contract

Goal: reduce tokens by compressing prose, not by sacrificing precision.

Priority order:

  1. Exactness
  2. Readability
  3. Compression

If compression harms exactness, keep the full form.

Core Rules

Cut:

  • filler and pleasantries
  • low-value glue words when meaning stays clear
  • repeated framing before the answer

Keep exact (never compress):

  • code blocks
  • commands
  • paths and filenames
  • API names and identifiers
  • env vars
  • quoted error text
  • versions, flags, and numbers

Compress with:

  • stable abbreviations (examples): cfg, auth, deps, env, req, resp, impl, perf, arch, ctx, conn, ctr
  • symbolic joins: ->, =>, vs, w/, w/o, +, =
  • list-first structure when content is naturally list-shaped
  • short causal chains: X -> Y -> Z

Avoid:

  • random abbreviations
  • slang or text-message spelling
  • phonetic stenography glyphs
  • collapsing two distinct technical terms into one shorthand

Pattern: [problem/point] -> [cause/decision] -> [action/result]

Levels

LevelBehavior
liteTight professional prose. Full sentences mostly intact. Minimal filler.
briefDefault. Shorthand + symbols + compact phrasing. High readability.
courtDense expert shorthand. Fragments allowed. Strong symbol use.
machineMax compression for expert users. Heavy abbreviation, minimal connectors. Use only when clarity still holds.
Show full SKILL.md (254 more words)Show less

Examples

Example — "Why does this API retry loop never stop?"

  • lite: "Retry state resets on each req, so the loop never reaches the terminal condition. Persist the ctr outside the req scope."
  • brief: "Retry state resets per req -> terminal condition never reached. Move ctr outside req scope."
  • court: "State resets per req -> no terminal hit -> loop. Persist ctr outside req scope."
  • machine: "Per-req reset -> no terminal -> loop. Persist ctr outside scope."

Example — "Review this bug fix."

  • lite: "The fix handles null input, but it still mutates shared state. Clone before modifying."
  • brief: "Null case fixed. Shared state still mutated. Clone before write."
  • court: "Null fixed. Shared state mutates. Clone pre-write."
  • machine: "Null OK. Shared mutates. Clone pre-write."

Example — "Explain connection pooling."

  • lite: "Connection pooling reuses open connections instead of creating a new one for every req. That cuts handshake overhead."
  • brief: "Pool reuses open conns vs new conn per req. Cuts handshake overhead."
  • court: "Pool = reuse open conns. No per-req open/close. Less handshake cost."
  • machine: "Pool reuse conns. Skip per-req handshake."

Scope

Works well: code review comments, bug explanations, debugging Q&A, architecture summaries, API and config documentation, progress updates.

Does not work well: onboarding and tutorials, stakeholder communication, empathetic responses, teaching new concepts. For these, switch to lite or ask whether compression should stay on.

Safety

  • When exact wording matters, quote verbatim.
  • When ambiguity appears, expand once, then resume shorthand.
  • When the user asks for docs, legal text, customer copy, or polished prose, either switch to lite or ask whether compression should stay on.

© github, 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/steno-mode of github/awesome-copilot.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 727ff2e

Compare with similar skills

Steno Mode 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.

Steno Mode compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Steno Mode this skillgithub/awesome-copilot40k—~1.1kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Planning With Filesjarrodwatts/claude-code-config1.1k5 repos~967Automated safety check: PassNone
Tool Use Data Synthesissunny-glow/Auto-BenchMax1.3k—~3.3kAutomated safety check: PassNone
Agent Harness ConstructionKartikLabhshetwar/mind-mentor1477 repos~500Automated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Prompt Engineering Patternswshobson/agents40k—~1.3kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Model Benchmarkstheopenco/llmgateway1.7k—~1.1kAutomated safety check: NotesCustom licence

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Categories

Questions about Steno Mode

What does Steno Mode do?

Shorthand-first response compression that cuts ~40% of response tokens while preserving technical precision and exact literals. Steno Mode is an agent skill from github/awesome-copilot, published by the product's own GitHub organization. Shorthand-first response compression that cuts ~40% of response tokens while preserving technical precision and exact literals.

When should I use Steno Mode?

Steno Mode fits situations like: the user says steno mode; compressed responses; token reduction; brief structured output.

How do I install Steno Mode in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add github/awesome-copilot --skill steno-mode -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/steno-mode in github/awesome-copilot) into .claude/skills/steno-mode in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Steno Mode in Codex?

Run `npx skills add github/awesome-copilot --skill steno-mode -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/steno-mode in github/awesome-copilot) into .agents/skills/steno-mode in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Steno Mode 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 github/awesome-copilot --skill steno-mode -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/steno-mode, .gemini/skills/steno-mode, .github/skills/steno-mode and .opencode/skills/steno-mode in your project.

What does Steno Mode need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Steno Mode is instructions for the agent only.

Does Steno Mode 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 Steno Mode 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 Steno Mode use?

Steno Mode is published under the MIT licence (declared in SKILL.md). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Steno Mode use?

About 1.1k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 4.2k 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 Steno Mode?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Steno Mode: Planning With Files (jarrodwatts/claude-code-config, 1.1k stars), Tool Use Data Synthesis (sunny-glow/Auto-BenchMax, 1.3k stars), Agent Harness Construction (KartikLabhshetwar/mind-mentor, 147 stars) and Prompt Engineering Patterns (wshobson/agents, 40k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Steno Mode?

github (a GitHub organization, an official publisher) maintains it in github/awesome-copilot, which has 39,748 GitHub stars. The repository holds 417 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 7, 2026.

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