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Agent skill

Explanation Guidance

by testdouble in testdouble/han

Surfaces Han's shared standard for explaining technical work to a reader who will not implement it into the calling skill's own context, so the caller writes its escalations, confirmation turns, and…

MITAuto-check passedWriting & Content

Install Explanation Guidance

skills CLI
$ npx skills add testdouble/han --skill explanation-guidance -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install testdouble/han explanation-guidance --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/testdouble/han.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/han-communication/skills/explanation-guidance .claude/skills/explanation-guidance && 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
explanation-guidance
GitHub stars
279
Token cost
~949 tokens
SKILL.md length
448 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
54
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Surfaces Han's shared standard for explaining technical work to a reader who will not implement it into the calling skill's own context, so the caller writes its escalations, confirmation turns, and…

  • Works in 3 steps: Read the standard → Hold the reader while you write the turn → Write the turn, then continue
  • A skill is about to ask a person a question
  • SKILL.md covers Project Context, When this standard applies, Step 1: Read the standard and Step 2: Hold the reader while…, plus 1 more section
  • Calls bash

What it does

Explanation Guidance is an agent skill from testdouble/han. Surfaces Han's shared standard for explaining technical work to a reader who will not implement it into the calling skill's own context, so the caller writes its escalations, confirmation turns, and stops as a concrete outcome the reader could observe rather than as a mechanism. Use when a skill is about to ask a person a question, stop for an input, or explain a technical consequence to someone who will not open the code. Governs what a run says to a person in a turn, where readability-guidance governs the shape…

Its SKILL.md is about 950 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 and Verification before completion. The repository describes itself as: Han: AI skills and agents for "Solo" product engineers and small teams. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • A skill is about to ask a person a question
  • Stop for an input
  • Explain a technical consequence to someone who will not open the code

Example prompts

  • “Use the explanation-guidance skill to surface Han's shared standard for explaining technical work to a reader who will not implement it into the…”
  • “/explanation-guidance”

Requirements

  • Pre-approved tools (allowed-tools): Read, Bash(bash "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/han-config-dir.sh")

Workflow steps

3 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.

  1. Read the standard
  2. Hold the reader while you write the turn
  3. Write the turn, then continue

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit abba73a. 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
    • Bash(bash "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/han-config-dir.sh")

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

    • bash

    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

Explanation Guidance loads about 949 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 193 tokens; SKILL.md has 448 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~193
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~949

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 testdouble/han at commit abba73a, republished under its MIT licence (© testdouble). 448 words, ~949 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/explanation-guidance/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
explanation-guidance
description
Surfaces Han's shared standard for explaining technical work to a reader who will not implement it into the calling skill's own context, so the caller writes its escalations, confirmation turns, and stops as a concrete outcome the reader could observe rather than as a mechanism. Use when a skill is about to ask a person a question, stop for an input, or explain a technical consequence to someone who will not open the code. Governs what a run says to a person in a turn, where readability-guidance governs the shape of a written deliverable. Runs in the caller's context and hands control straight back; it does not produce a deliverable of its own, rewrite anything, or judge the caller's work. Carries guidance only and adds no self-check step.
allowed-tools
Read, Bash(bash "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/han-config-dir.sh")

Project Context

  • personal config directory: !bash "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/han-config-dir.sh" 2>/dev/null || echo "$HOME/.claude"
  • project .han/config.md: !cat .han/config.md 2>/dev/null || echo ""

As your first action, use the Read tool on .han/config.md inside the personal config directory path above. A read that returns no file is no personal configuration: continue silently. When that file or the project .han/config.md probe supplies content, apply it per config-rule.md, which governs precedence between the two files, relative-path resolution, and what to do with a file that reads but cannot be used.

Explanation Guidance

You have invoked explanation-guidance to source the shared explanation standard before you talk to a person. This skill surfaces the standard into your own context and hands control back. It is a means to writing your turn, not the turn itself: apply what it surfaces, then RETURN to the workflow that called you and finish it.

This skill is inline — it runs in your context, not an isolated one, so the standard it surfaces stays available to you after it returns. Do not treat anything here as a stopping point or a final answer.

When this standard applies

It applies to what you say to a person in a turn: an escalation, an opening confirmation turn, a stop for a missing input, or any explanation of a technical consequence to someone who will not implement the work.

It does not apply to the written deliverable you are producing. That is governed by the readability standard, which you source through han-communication:readability-guidance. A run often needs both, at different moments.

Show full SKILL.md (197 more words)Show less

Step 1: Read the standard

Read ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/references/explanation-rule.md so its full content enters your context. It carries the concrete-outcome requirement, the four-part form for a question shaped like data entry, the unintroduced-term test, and the rule that the consequence comes before the technical detail.

Do not paraphrase or summarize the file in place of reading it. The surfaced content is the point.

Step 2: Hold the reader while you write the turn

Write for a reader who knows the product and will not open the code. Name something they could observe. Put paths, identifiers, and line numbers below the question, or leave them out.

Before you use a term, check whether it appears in the work item or in this conversation. If it appears in neither, it is unintroduced: replace it with a concrete outcome rather than defining it mid-turn.

Step 3: Write the turn, then continue

The standard carries guidance only. There is no self-check to run and no verification step to add, so apply it as you write rather than as a pass afterward.

The standard is now in your context. Proceed to the next step of the skill that invoked you and finish its workflow.

© testdouble, 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 han-communication/skills/explanation-guidance of testdouble/han.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit abba73a

Compare with similar skills

Explanation Guidance 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.

Explanation Guidance compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Explanation Guidance this skilltestdouble/han279—~949Automated safety check: PassMIT
Skill ReviewQoderAI/better-harness2.4k—~802Automated safety check: PassMIT
Blueprint Style Rulesreceptron/mulmoterminal236—~1.4kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Kkirikkirifivetaku/gptaku-plugins-codex128—~12kAutomated 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

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Categories

Questions about Explanation Guidance

What does Explanation Guidance do?

Surfaces Han's shared standard for explaining technical work to a reader who will not implement it into the calling skill's own context, so the caller writes its escalations, confirmation turns, and…. Explanation Guidance is an agent skill from testdouble/han. Surfaces Han's shared standard for explaining technical work to a reader who will not implement it into the calling skill's own context, so the caller writes its escalations, confirmation turns, and stops as a concrete outcome the reader could observe rather than as a mechanism.

When should I use Explanation Guidance?

Explanation Guidance fits situations like: A skill is about to ask a person a question; stop for an input; explain a technical consequence to someone who will not open the code.

How do I install Explanation Guidance in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add testdouble/han --skill explanation-guidance -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (han-communication/skills/explanation-guidance in testdouble/han) into .claude/skills/explanation-guidance in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Explanation Guidance in Codex?

Run `npx skills add testdouble/han --skill explanation-guidance -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (han-communication/skills/explanation-guidance in testdouble/han) into .agents/skills/explanation-guidance in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Explanation Guidance 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 testdouble/han --skill explanation-guidance -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/explanation-guidance, .gemini/skills/explanation-guidance, .github/skills/explanation-guidance and .opencode/skills/explanation-guidance in your project.

What does Explanation Guidance need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Explanation Guidance needs the command-line tools its instructions call (bash). Its frontmatter pre-approves these tools: Read, Bash(bash "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/han-config-dir.sh").

Does Explanation Guidance 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 Explanation Guidance 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 Explanation Guidance use?

Explanation Guidance 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 Explanation Guidance use?

About 949 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 3.8k 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 Explanation Guidance?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Explanation Guidance: Skill Review (QoderAI/better-harness, 2.4k stars), Blueprint Style Rules (receptron/mulmoterminal, 236 stars), Kkirikkiri (fivetaku/gptaku-plugins-codex, 128 stars) and Asd Ste100 (danyuchn/asd-ste100-skill, 4k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Explanation Guidance?

testdouble (a GitHub organization) maintains it in testdouble/han, which has 279 GitHub stars. The repository holds 54 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 1, 2026.

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