Os Ask Simple

What it does

When your agent uses it

• Asks for your view on a technical choice: whether it is worth doing
• More than the problem needs
• Replaceable by something simpler
• Which option you would take

Example prompts

• “ask simple”
• “ask me simply”
• “ask me in plain words”
• “/os-ask-simple”

Requirements

• Pre-approved tools (allowed-tools): Read(~/.claude/open-steps/**)

Workflow steps

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

1. 1Always weigh doing nothing. "Change nothing" is a real candidate, often
2. 2A recommendation is required. Never lay out options and stop. "It depends"
3. 3Recommend against the user's own idea when the screen says so. Plainly, in
4. 4Never recommend what you have not screened. If the six checks were skipped
5. 5One question at a time. Two questions in one message means the second gets
6. 6Watch your own bias. The most interesting thing to build is not the

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 4fa744b. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

• Tool permissions

  Pre-approves these tools, so the agent can use them without asking each time:

  • Read(~/.claude/open-steps/**)

  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

Os Ask Simple loads about 1.4k tokens when it runs, and up to ~2.1k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 205 tokens; SKILL.md has 705 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it

~205

When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches

~1.4k

With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them

~2.1k

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

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 kharmanskyi/open-steps at commit 4fa744b, republished under its MIT licence (© kharmanskyi). 705 words, ~1,359 tokens.

name

os-ask-simple

description

ALWAYS invoke this skill before asking the user any technical question or offering options, and whenever they ask to be asked in plain words - "ask simple", "ask me simply", "ask me in plain words" - in any language. ALWAYS invoke it too when the user asks for your view on a technical choice: whether it is worth doing, more than the problem needs, or replaceable by something simpler, and which option you would take. Invoke it even when the code makes the answer look obvious: the checks are what make the answer more than a guess. Rewrites the question in plain words and always ends with one marked recommendation. A structural choice first passes six checks, shown as a table: effort now, simpler substitute, extra work later, lock-in, over-engineering, easy to undo. Doing nothing is always weighed.

allowed-tools

Read(~/.claude/open-steps/**)

<The question in one plain sentence. No jargon; if a term is unavoidable, give a
three-to-five word analogy.>

Why it matters: <one line, in terms of the product, not the code>
What changes later: <one line>
Easy to undo: <yes, and how - or no, and why>

© kharmanskyi, 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 1 other file (references) in skills/os-ask-simple of kharmanskyi/open-steps.

• SKILL.md
• references/01-sign-in-now-or-later.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 4fa744b