Agent skill

Nz Business English

by jezweb in jezweb/claude-skills

New Zealand business English writing style for professional communications — warm, inclusive, EN-NZ spelling (colour, organise, centre).

MITAuto-check passedWriting & Content

Install Nz Business English

skills CLI
$ npx skills add jezweb/claude-skills --skill nz-business-english -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install jezweb/claude-skills nz-business-english --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/jezweb/claude-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/plugins/writing/skills/nz-business-english .claude/skills/nz-business-english && 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
nz-business-english
GitHub stars
1.1k
Token cost
~2.4k tokens
SKILL.md length
1,274 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
52
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

New Zealand business English writing style for professional communications — warm, inclusive, EN-NZ spelling (colour, organise, centre).

  • Works in 5 steps: Cheers -- default, works almost everywhere → Nga mihi -- warm, culturally… → Thanks -- when asking for something or… → …
  • The user is writing for a New Zealand audience: emails
  • SKILL.md covers Spelling (EN-NZ), Te Reo Maori in Business, Tone Ladder and Sign-off Ranking, plus 4 more sections
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Nz Business English is an agent skill from jezweb/claude-skills. New Zealand business English writing style for professional communications — warm, inclusive, EN-NZ spelling (colour, organise, centre). Use whenever the user is writing for a New Zealand audience: emails, chat messages, proposals, client communications, blog posts, web copy, or any business writing. Apply to drafting, editing, and tone-checking professional text.

Its SKILL.md is about 2.4k 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 Blog and article writing, Brand voice and tone and Proposals and quotes. The repository describes itself as: Skills for Claude Code CLI such as full stack dev Cloudflare, React, Tailwind v4, and AI integrations. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • The user is writing for a New Zealand audience: emails
  • Client communications
  • Any business writing

Example prompts

  • “/nz-business-english”

Workflow steps

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

  1. Cheers -- default, works almost everywhere
  2. Nga mihi -- warm, culturally appropriate, increasingly standard
  3. Thanks -- when asking for something or appreciating effort
  4. Kind regards -- one step more formal, good for new clients
  5. Regards -- neutral, slightly cooler

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 1260fa7. 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

Nz Business English loads about 2.4k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 97 tokens; SKILL.md has 1,274 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~97
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~2.4k

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 jezweb/claude-skills at commit 1260fa7, republished under its MIT licence (© jezweb). 1,274 words, ~2,385 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/nz-business-english/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
nz-business-english
description
New Zealand business English writing style for professional communications — warm, inclusive, EN-NZ spelling (colour, organise, centre). Use whenever the user is writing for a New Zealand audience: emails, chat messages, proposals, client communications, blog posts, web copy, or any business writing. Apply to drafting, editing, and tone-checking professional text.

NZ Business English

Professional but approachable. Warm without being over-the-top. Inclusive by default. Write like a competent Kiwi professional -- not like an Australian pretending to be from New Zealand, not like someone who just discovered Te Reo, and not like a corporate drone.

NZ English is close to Australian English in spelling and register, but softer in tone, more collaborative in framing, and increasingly incorporates Te Reo Maori in everyday business use.

Spelling (EN-NZ)

EN-NZ follows the same conventions as EN-AU:

PatternNew ZealandNot
-ourcolour, favour, honour, behaviourcolor, favor
-iseorganise, realise, specialise, recogniseorganize, realize
-recentre, fibre, metre, theatrecenter, fiber
-encelicence (noun), defence, offencelicense (noun), defense
Double Ltravelling, cancelling, modellingtraveling, canceling

Noun/verb splits:

NounVerb
licencelicense
practicepractise
adviceadvise

NZ-specific vocabulary:

NZ termAU/US equivalent
diarycalendar / schedule
ringcall / phone
fortnighttwo weeks (uncommon in US)
bach (North Island) / crib (South Island)holiday house
whanaufamily / team (Te Reo, widely understood)

Date format: Day Month Year, no comma -- 15 January 2026. Same as UK/AU convention.

Te Reo Maori in Business

Te Reo greetings and phrases are increasingly standard in NZ business, especially in government, education, and community-facing organisations. Use them naturally, not performatively.

PhraseUse
Kia oraGeneral greeting -- equivalent to "Hi". Safe default for any context.
Kia ora [Name]Personal greeting. Widely used in emails.
Nga mihi"With thanks / regards" -- common sign-off
Nga mihi nui"With great thanks" -- warmer, for appreciative contexts
Morena"Good morning" -- informal, internal comms
Ka pai"Good / well done" -- informal acknowledgement

When to use: Match the organisation's culture. Government and iwi organisations expect it. Corporate clients may or may not use it -- follow their lead. When in doubt, "Kia ora" as a greeting is universally appropriate in NZ.

When not to use: Don't sprinkle random Te Reo words through otherwise English text for decoration. Use complete phrases that you understand the meaning of.

Tone Ladder

Match formality to context. Default to "warm professional" -- a touch softer and more collaborative than Australian.

ContextFormalityGreetingSign-off
Slack/Teams (internal)Casual"Hey" / "Kia ora"None needed
Email to existing clientWarm professional"Kia ora [Name]" / "Hi [Name]""Cheers" / "Nga mihi"
Email to new clientProfessional"Kia ora [Name]" / "Hi [Name]""Kind regards" / "Nga mihi"
Proposal or quoteProfessional"Kia ora [Name]""Kind regards" / "Nga mihi"
Follow-up after meetingWarm professional"Hi [Name]""Cheers" / "Thanks"
Cold outreachWarm professional"Kia ora [Name]" / "Hi [Name]""Kind regards"
Formal letter or legalFormal"Dear [Name]""Yours sincerely" / "Nga mihi"

Never use: "Dear Sir/Madam" (unless legal/unknown), "Warmest regards", "Respectfully yours".

Sign-off Ranking

From most to least common in NZ SME context:

  1. Cheers -- default, works almost everywhere
  2. Nga mihi -- warm, culturally appropriate, increasingly standard
  3. Thanks -- when asking for something or appreciating effort
  4. Kind regards -- one step more formal, good for new clients
  5. Regards -- neutral, slightly cooler

Avoid: "Best" (reads as American), "Warm regards" (overdone), "Ta" (too casual for written comms).

Avoid List

Foreign Corporate-isms

Replace these reflexively:

Instead ofWrite
"reach out""get in touch" / "contact"
"circle back""follow up" / "come back to"
"touch base""check in" / "catch up"
"leverage" (verb)"use" / "make the most of"
"moving forward""from here" / "going forward" (or drop it)
"actionable insights""useful information" / "what we found"
"deep dive""closer look" / "detailed review"
"bandwidth" (for time)"time" / "capacity"
"deliverables""what we'll provide" / "the work"
"align on""agree on" / "sort out"
Forced Kiwi-isms

Avoid in written professional comms:

  • "Sweet as", "choice", "mean as" -- spoken slang, not business writing
  • "Bro" / "cuz" -- casual spoken, inappropriate in professional writing
  • "She'll be right" -- fine spoken, dismissive in writing about real issues
  • "Chur" -- very informal, not for business emails
  • Overuse of Te Reo for decoration -- use phrases you understand, not random words
  • "No worries" for serious issues -- fine for acknowledgements, wrong for "Your site has been offline for two days"
Australian-isms That Don't Apply
  • "Arvo", "brekkie", "barbie" -- Australian slang, not NZ
  • "G'day" -- distinctly Australian, not Kiwi
  • "Fair dinkum" -- Australian, not used in NZ

Writing Principles

  1. Lead with the point. First sentence answers the question or states the purpose. Context comes after, not before.

  2. Short paragraphs. Two to three sentences max. One idea per paragraph. White space is your friend.

  3. Natural contractions. "We've", "I'll", "that's", "won't" -- reads human. Ease off in proposals, but emails should sound like a person wrote them.

  4. Active voice. "We'll send the report Monday" not "The report will be sent on Monday."

  5. Collaborative framing. NZ business culture skews collaborative. "We could look at this together" rather than "I'll handle this". "What do you think?" is a natural closer.

  6. One ask per email. Multiple requests? Number them. Don't bury the second ask in paragraph four.

  7. Match their energy. Short email from client? Short reply. Detailed brief? Detailed response. Don't write five paragraphs when two lines will do.

Show full SKILL.md (464 more words)Show less

Examples

Status update to existing client

Too corporate:

Dear Mr Thompson, I am writing to provide you with an update regarding the progress of your website redesign project. Please find below a summary of the deliverables completed to date and the anticipated timeline for remaining action items.

Right tone:

Kia ora David,

Quick update on the website -- we've finished the homepage and the three main service pages. Looking good so far.

Next up is the contact form and booking system, which we'll have sorted by end of next week. I'll send through a preview link once it's live on the staging site.

Cheers, [Your name]

Delivering a quote

Too stiff:

Dear Client, Please find attached our formal quotation for the proposed scope of work as discussed. We trust this meets your requirements and look forward to your favourable response at your earliest convenience.

Right tone:

Kia ora Sarah,

Thanks for the chat yesterday -- good to get a clear picture of what you need.

I've put together a quote based on what we discussed. The short version: $4,500 for the full site, including the booking system. That covers design, development, and getting it live on your domain.

Happy to jump on a call if you've got any questions.

Nga mihi, [Your name]

Saying no to a request

Too blunt:

We can't do that.

Too soft:

While we certainly appreciate your suggestion and would love to explore this further, unfortunately at this current juncture it may not be feasible for us to accommodate this particular request.

Right tone:

Kia ora Mark,

Thanks for thinking of us for this. Unfortunately it's not something we can take on right now -- we're at capacity through March.

If timing works, we'd be happy to look at it in April. Otherwise, I can put you in touch with a couple of people who might be able to help sooner.

Cheers, [Your name]

Context Rules

Corporate clients: Match their formality up one notch but keep the warmth. "Kind regards" instead of "Cheers", but still "Kia ora [Name]" or "Hi [Name]" not "Dear Mr Smith". Never mirror their jargon back.

Delivering bad news: Be direct but kind. State the issue, explain why briefly, offer the path forward. No waffle, no excessive apologies. One "sorry" is enough.

Quoting prices: Direct and confident. "The cost for this is $X" not "We would like to propose a fee of $X for your consideration." Include what's covered. State GST position (inclusive/exclusive) explicitly -- NZ GST is 15%.

Saying no: Respectful and brief. Give the reason (one sentence), offer an alternative if possible. Don't over-explain or apologise excessively. "Put you in touch with" is more Kiwi than "recommend".

Following up: Casual but purposeful. "Just checking in on this" is fine. "I trust this email finds you well" is not.

© jezweb, 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 plugins/writing/skills/nz-business-english of jezweb/claude-skills.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 1260fa7

Compare with similar skills

Nz Business English 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.

Nz Business English compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Nz Business English this skilljezweb/claude-skills1.1k—~2.4kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Khazix WeChat Article WriterKKKKhazix/khazix-skills21k1 repos~2.9kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Brand Voice Content Creatordavila7/claude-code-templates33k3 repos~1.9kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Voice Buildercharlie947/social-media-skills3.8k—~3.3kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Xe Writing StyleXe/x337—~2.2kAutomated safety check: PassCC0-1.0
Agent Styleyzhao062/agent-style709—~1.2kAutomated safety check: PassNone

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Questions about Nz Business English

What does Nz Business English do?

New Zealand business English writing style for professional communications — warm, inclusive, EN-NZ spelling (colour, organise, centre). Nz Business English is an agent skill from jezweb/claude-skills. New Zealand business English writing style for professional communications — warm, inclusive, EN-NZ spelling (colour, organise, centre).

When should I use Nz Business English?

Nz Business English fits situations like: the user is writing for a New Zealand audience: emails; client communications; any business writing.

How do I install Nz Business English in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add jezweb/claude-skills --skill nz-business-english -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (plugins/writing/skills/nz-business-english in jezweb/claude-skills) into .claude/skills/nz-business-english in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Nz Business English in Codex?

Run `npx skills add jezweb/claude-skills --skill nz-business-english -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (plugins/writing/skills/nz-business-english in jezweb/claude-skills) into .agents/skills/nz-business-english in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Nz Business English 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 jezweb/claude-skills --skill nz-business-english -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/nz-business-english, .gemini/skills/nz-business-english, .github/skills/nz-business-english and .opencode/skills/nz-business-english in your project.

What does Nz Business English need to run?

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

Does Nz Business English 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 Nz Business English 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 Nz Business English use?

Nz Business English 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 Nz Business English use?

About 2.4k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 9.5k 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 Nz Business English?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Nz Business English: Khazix WeChat Article Writer (KKKKhazix/khazix-skills, 21k stars), Brand Voice Content Creator (davila7/claude-code-templates, 33k stars), Voice Builder (charlie947/social-media-skills, 3.8k stars) and Xe Writing Style (Xe/x, 337 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Nz Business English?

jezweb (a GitHub user) maintains it in jezweb/claude-skills, which has 1,055 GitHub stars. The repository holds 52 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 9, 2026.

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