name: condense-skill description: Condenses verbose skills into concentrated, actionable guidance while preserving all essential knowledge. Like condensed milk - removes the water, keeps the nutrition. Use when skills are too long, have redundant content, or need streamlining. link: not

Condensing Skills

Triggering Criteria

Users can trigger this skill by saying:

"Condense this skill"
"This skill is too long"
"Streamline this skill"
"Make this skill more concise"
Or using: /condense-skill

The Condensed Milk Analogy

Aspect	Milk → Condensed Milk	Skill → Condensed Skill
Remove	Water (60% of volume)	Redundancy, verbose examples, repeated concepts
Keep	All nutrition, flavor, essence	Core workflow, key concepts, intent, essential knowledge
Result	Concentrated, shelf-stable	Concentrated, scannable, actionable
Usage	Dilute when needed	Reference guides/ for details

Key insight: Condensation ≠ deletion. You're concentrating, not removing nutrition.

When to Condense

Too long - SKILL.md >200 lines
Redundant - Same concept in multiple places
Verbose examples - Could be in guides/
Duplicate files - Multiple files, same content
Hard to scan - Can't grasp workflow in 30 seconds

Condensation Process

Phase 1: Analyze

Count lines in all skill files
Identify the intent - what does this skill help users do?
Map essential knowledge - what MUST be preserved?
Find redundancy - duplicates, verbose explanations, inline examples

Phase 2: Extract Before Condensing

Document what MUST stay vs what CAN move to guides:

MUST Preserve in SKILL.md	CAN Move to guides/
Core intent/purpose	Step-by-step details
Key concepts (as tables)	Verbose examples
Decision frameworks	Edge cases
Essential workflow/checklist	Templates
Critical warnings	Boilerplate

Phase 3: Restructure SKILL.md

Target structure (100-200 lines):

---
name/description/link (frontmatter)
---
# Title
## Triggering Criteria     ← HOW users invoke it
## Key Concepts            ← Tables > paragraphs (5-10 lines)
## When to Use             ← Checklist (3-5 items)
## Workflow                ← Core process (10-20 lines)
## Key Principles          ← Numbered list (3-7 items)
## Detailed Guides         ← Links to guides/

Phase 4: Move Details to Guides

Create guides/[topic].md for detailed reference material.

Phase 5: Validate

Intent preserved? Still conveys what skill does?
Knowledge preserved? Essential concepts accessible?
Scannable? Grasp workflow in 30 seconds?
Actionable? Can use skill with just SKILL.md?

Condensation Techniques

Technique	Example
Tables > Paragraphs	3 paragraphs → 1 table
Checklists > Prose	"First... then..." → `- [ ] Step`
Links > Inline	Full examples → "See guides/"
Delete duplicates	SKILL.md + prompt.md → Just SKILL.md

What NOT to Remove

Never condense away:

Core intent/purpose of the skill
Key decision frameworks (when to use what)
Critical warnings or gotchas
Essential workflow/checklist
Triggering criteria and frontmatter

Test: If removing requires users to "just know" it, keep it.

Target Metrics

Component	Lines	Purpose
SKILL.md	100-200	Core workflow, scannable
Each guide	200-800	Detailed reference
Total	<2,000	Comprehensive but focused

Key Principles

Concentrate, don't delete - Nutrition stays, water goes
Tables > paragraphs - Visual scanning beats reading
Checklists > prose - Actionable beats descriptive
Single source of truth - No duplicate explanations
Preserve intent & knowledge - The "why" and key concepts must survive
Frontmatter matters - name, description, triggering criteria are essential

Name	condense-skill
Description	Condenses verbose skills into concentrated, actionable guidance while preserving all essential knowledge. Like condensed milk - removes the water, keeps the nutrition. Use when skills are too long, have redundant content, or need streamlining.