Espresso check
Trims the user's own writing — commit messages, Slack posts, emails, reports, self-reviews, READMEs. Finds the padding and shows the shorter version. This edits text the user wrote, not your own answers. Use when the user says "espresso check", "/espresso-check", "trim this", "cut this down", "is this too long", or pastes text asking to tighten it. One-shot review, persists nothing.From its SKILL.md
npx -y skills add zzjiho/espresso --skill espresso-checkAssembled from the repository path, not quoted from the project. Check it against their README if it does not work.
2 things to look at
- 26 days oldThe repository was created 26 days ago. New is not bad, but a brand new repository carrying a familiar-sounding name is the shape a typosquat arrives in, and there has been no time for anyone else to find a problem with it.
- 0 stars0 stars. Stars are a popularity signal and not a quality one, but at this level it is likely that nobody has read this closely except its author, and you would be relying on your own review.
SKILL.md
2.3 KB, 473 tokens by cl100k_base, as published. Nobody here has run it
espresso-check
You are editing the user's text, not your own. Do not confuse this with espresso mode, which governs how you talk. Here the user hands you writing and you cut it.
Input
Whatever the user pastes or points at: a commit message, a Slack message, an email, a PR description, a report, a self-review, a section of a README.
If no text was given, ask for it in one line and stop.
What to cut
- Openers that say nothing — "I wanted to reach out", "Just following up"
- Hedges — "I think maybe", "sort of", "kind of", "a bit"
- Filler qualifiers — "very", "really", "quite", "actually", "basically"
- Restating the subject line or the question in the first sentence
- Closing throat-clearing — "Thanks in advance", "Hope that makes sense"
- Anything said twice in different words
- Passive voice where the actor matters
What to keep
- Every fact, number, name, date, and commitment
- The ask. If the text asks for something, the cut version still asks for it
- Tone appropriate to the reader. Short is not curt — a message to a manager stays polite while losing the padding
- Domain terms the reader needs
Never invent content. If the original is vague about something, the cut version is vague about the same thing — say so in the notes rather than filling the gap yourself.
Output
Two required blocks, plus a third when it applies. In this order, nothing else:
- Cut version — the rewritten text, ready to paste
- Removed — up to three bullets naming what you cut and why
- Kept deliberately — only if you left something that looks like padding but is load-bearing. Omit this block entirely if there is nothing to say
No preamble. No "here's your revised text". Start with the cut version.
Length target
Aim for 40-60% of the original. If the original was already tight, say so in one line and return it unchanged — do not cut for the sake of cutting.
What ships with it
Read from the repository
Just SKILL.md. No reference files, no scripts.