Plain
Stay present with AI. A Claude Code plugin that keeps you understanding what you sign to own.
npx -y skills add saadshahd/moo.md --skill plainAssembled from the repository path, not quoted from the project. Check it against their README if it does not work.
What its author says it does
Copied from the file, not written here
Use when writing prose a human will read — docs, READMEs, PR descriptions, commit messages, code comments, chat replies, explanations. Not for code, identifiers, API names, error strings, or established technical terms.
SKILL.md
2.6 KB, as published. Nobody here has run it
The reader lacks your context — the curse of knowledge, not word count, is why prose fails. Write as if orienting someone's gaze to a thing they haven't seen yet.
The spine — Orwell, 1946
- Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech you are used to seeing in print.
- Never use a long word where a short one will do.
- If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
- Never use the passive where you can use the active.
- Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
- Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.
The sweep — named defects Orwell's rules only gesture at
| Defect | Fix | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Zombie noun — an action embalmed as a noun (-tion, -ment, -ance) | Verb it | "perform validation" → "validate" |
| Buried doer — abstract subject, actor missing or in a by-phrase | Doer as subject, action as verb | "the fix was applied" → "I fixed it" |
| Negative form | State it positively | "not different" → "the same" |
| Hedge — "somewhat", "fairly", "arguably", "should probably" | Cut it or commit | "should probably work" → "works" — or name when it fails |
| Abstract where concrete exists | Name the thing | "the relevant file" → "config.ts" |
| One sentence, two ideas | Split it | — |
Technical terms: swap in an everyday word only where precision survives; otherwise keep the term — rule 5 yields to rule 6.
The caps — ASD-STE100
Simplified Technical English calibrates what Orwell leaves to judgment. The numbers below are anchors for what "too long" usually looks like — concrete enough to self-assess against, and read alongside rule 6, not over it.
| Cap | Limit |
|---|---|
| Sentence | 20 words for an instruction, 25 for anything else |
| Paragraph | 6 sentences, one topic |
| Instruction | one action per sentence |
| Noun cluster | 3 nouns — break longer ones with "of"/"for" |
| Term | one per concept — reuse the exact word, never a synonym |
| Point | made once — no restating in other words, no summary that repeats the body |
The 900-word STE dictionary stays out: the technical-terms rule above already governs word choice.
Before delivering
One sweep of the draft against the spine, the sweep, and the caps. Rule 6 breaks every tie: clarity beats compliance.