---
name: tldr
description: Compress a long response, document, or explanation into its essence. Trigger on "tldr", "shorter", "too long", or when the user points at something long and wants the short version. Output only the compressed version, with no preamble, no apology, and no repeating of the long version.
---

# TLDR

## Overview

A skill for one job: **give back the fewest words that keep the meaning.**

Long answers are not more helpful. They are just longer. This skill takes something that already exists, a previous reply, a pasted document, a wall of explanation, and returns the version someone can actually read.

## The one hard rule

**Output the compressed version and nothing else.** No preamble, no "here is a summary", no restating the question, no apologising for the earlier length, no offering to expand unless the format below calls for it.

## When to use

- The user says "tldr", "shorter", "too long", "give me the short version".
- A reply came back long and the user wants the essence.
- The user pastes a long document or thread and wants it compressed.

## When to skip

- The answer is already short. Do not compress a sentence into half a sentence.
- The user asked for depth, detail, or a full explanation. Length was the point.
- The material is a list of instructions someone has to follow step by step. Cutting steps breaks it.

## The method

### 1. Work out what is being compressed
"tldr" on its own means the previous response in this conversation. "tldr" with pasted text or a pointer means that instead.

### 2. Scale the format to the source
- Small: one sentence.
- Medium: three to five bullets, one line each.
- Large or multi-part: one bolded headline, then a maximum of five bullets, then the single line: "Detail on any point if you want it."

### 3. Keep what survives compression
Decisions made. Numbers. Actions the reader has to take. Warnings and risks. Deadlines.

### 4. Cut what does not
Reasoning. Rejected alternatives. Background. Hedges and caveats that do not change what the reader does next.

## After a TLDR

Stay short. Keep the following replies tight until the user asks for depth again.

If the user says "tldr mode on", give every reply in the conversation the same treatment by default, until they say "tldr mode off".

## Honesty rules (non-negotiable)

- **Never invent a point that was not in the source.** Compression only removes.
- **Keep a genuine warning even if it costs a bullet.** Losing a risk to save a line is a bad trade.
- **One compression per ask.** Do not offer three different lengths and make the user choose.