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Agent skill

Clarify

by instructa in instructa/agent-skills

Turn complex, technical, ambiguous, or verbose material into clear language without losing important detail.

MITAuto-check passed

Install Clarify

skills CLI
$ npx skills add instructa/agent-skills --skill clarify -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install instructa/agent-skills clarify --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/instructa/agent-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/engineering/clarify .claude/skills/clarify && 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
clarify
GitHub stars
139
Token cost
~532 tokens
SKILL.md length
242 words
Files
3
Skills in repo
17
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Turn complex, technical, ambiguous, or verbose material into clear language without losing important detail.

  • Works in 6 steps: Identify whether the user needs to… → Lead with the answer or practical meaning. → Explain unavoidable technical terms the… → …
  • The user asks to simplify an answer
  • SKILL.md covers Method, Writing rules, When rewriting existing material and Suggested shape
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Clarify is an agent skill from instructa/agent-skills. Turn complex, technical, ambiguous, or verbose material into clear language without losing important detail. Use when the user asks to simplify an answer, identify what matters, compare options, recommend an action, or make the next step explicit.

Its SKILL.md is about 530 tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 2 other files (for example `README.md`).

The repository describes itself as: A curated collection of agent-skills. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • The user asks to simplify an answer
  • Identify what matters
  • Compare options
  • Recommend an action

Example prompts

  • “/clarify”

Workflow steps

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

  1. Identify whether the user needs to understand, decide, or act.
  2. Lead with the answer or practical meaning.
  3. Explain unavoidable technical terms the first time they appear.
  4. Keep details only when they affect understanding, confidence, risk, or action.
  5. If there is a decision, recommend one default and name the main tradeoff.
  6. End with a concrete next step when the user needs to act.

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit d49c149. 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 (its code samples are markdown).

    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

Clarify loads about 532 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 64 tokens; SKILL.md has 242 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~64
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~532

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 instructa/agent-skills at commit d49c149, republished under its MIT licence (© instructa). 242 words, ~532 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/clarify/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 2 other files; get the full folder from GitHub.
name
clarify
description
Turn complex, technical, ambiguous, or verbose material into clear language without losing important detail. Use when the user asks to simplify an answer, identify what matters, compare options, recommend an action, or make the next step explicit.

Clarify

Make difficult material easy for a capable human to understand and use. Preserve the facts, constraints, and uncertainty that matter; remove jargon, repetition, and detail that does not change the conclusion.

Method

  1. Identify whether the user needs to understand, decide, or act.
  2. Lead with the answer or practical meaning.
  3. Explain unavoidable technical terms the first time they appear.
  4. Keep details only when they affect understanding, confidence, risk, or action.
  5. If there is a decision, recommend one default and name the main tradeoff.
  6. End with a concrete next step when the user needs to act.

Writing rules

  • Match the user's language and level of technical detail.
  • Prefer concrete words, active voice, short paragraphs, and one idea per sentence.
  • Preserve important numbers, citations, constraints, and caveats.
  • Separate verified facts from assumptions and unknowns when the distinction matters.
  • State what would change the recommendation when useful.
  • Use headings or a small table only when they make the answer faster to understand.
  • Do not bury the answer in background or present weak alternatives as equal choices.

When rewriting existing material

  • Preserve supported facts and meaningful uncertainty.
  • Combine repeated or scattered points.
  • Flag contradictions instead of silently resolving them.
  • Translate system or agent terminology into consequences for the user.
  • Return the improved answer, not a critique of the original writing.

Suggested shape

Use only the parts the task needs:

markdown
**Bottom line:** [Direct answer or recommendation.]

**Why:** [The few reasons that change the conclusion.]

**Risk or unknown:** [Only if material.]

**Next step:** [One concrete action, if needed.]

Do not force this template when a short paragraph is clearer.

© instructa, 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 2 other files in skills/engineering/clarify of instructa/agent-skills.

  • SKILL.md
  • LICENSE.txt
  • README.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit d49c149

Compare with similar skills

Clarify 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.

Clarify compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Clarify this skillinstructa/agent-skills139—~532Automated safety check: PassMIT
Clarify Ambiguous Requestsaiming-lab/MetaClaw3.5k—~216Automated safety check: PassMIT
Investor Materialsaffaan-m/ECC275k3 repos~268Automated safety check: PassMIT
Material Designsickn33/agentic-awesome-skills47k1 repos~2.6kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Materialbergside/awesome-design-skills3.1k1 repos~919Automated safety check: PassMIT
Complexity Cutssickn33/agentic-awesome-skills47k1 repos~3.8kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0

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  • Clarify Ambiguous Requests

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Questions about Clarify

What does Clarify do?

Turn complex, technical, ambiguous, or verbose material into clear language without losing important detail. Clarify is an agent skill from instructa/agent-skills. Turn complex, technical, ambiguous, or verbose material into clear language without losing important detail.

When should I use Clarify?

Clarify fits situations like: the user asks to simplify an answer; identify what matters; compare options; recommend an action.

How do I install Clarify in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add instructa/agent-skills --skill clarify -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/engineering/clarify in instructa/agent-skills) into .claude/skills/clarify in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Clarify in Codex?

Run `npx skills add instructa/agent-skills --skill clarify -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/engineering/clarify in instructa/agent-skills) into .agents/skills/clarify in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Clarify 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 instructa/agent-skills --skill clarify -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/clarify, .gemini/skills/clarify, .github/skills/clarify and .opencode/skills/clarify in your project.

What does Clarify need to run?

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

Does Clarify 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 Clarify 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 Clarify use?

Clarify is published under the MIT licence (from the LICENSE file in the skill folder). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Clarify use?

About 532 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 2.1k 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 Clarify?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Clarify: Clarify Ambiguous Requests (aiming-lab/MetaClaw, 3.5k stars), Investor Materials (affaan-m/ECC, 275k stars), Material Design (sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills, 47k stars) and Material (bergside/awesome-design-skills, 3.1k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Clarify?

instructa (a GitHub organization) maintains it in instructa/agent-skills, which has 139 GitHub stars. The repository holds 17 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on September 28, 2026.

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