SKILL.md

os-ask-simple

ALWAYS invoke this skill before asking the user any technical question or offering options, and whenever they ask to be asked in plain words - "ask simple", "ask me simply", "ask me in plain words" - in any language. ALWAYS invoke it too when the user asks for your view on a technical choice: whether it is worth doing, more than the problem needs, or replaceable by something simpler, and which option you would take. Invoke it even when the code makes the answer look obvious: the checks are what make the answer more than a guess. Rewrites the question in plain words and always ends with one marked recommendation. A structural choice first passes six checks, shown as a table: effort now, simpler substitute, extra work later, lock-in, over-engineering, easy to undo. Doing nothing is always weighed.

install os-ask-simple

# install the open-steps pack with the skills CLI

npx skills add kharmanskyi/open-steps

# or add only this skill to Claude Code: copy the folder

skills/os-ask-simple/

# into

~/.claude/skills/os-ask-simple/ (all projects)

.claude/skills/os-ask-simple/ (one project)

skills/os-ask-simple/SKILL.md

MITFull file

1# os-ask-simple
2 
3Two jobs. Ask the question in words the user can answer, and screen the choice
4before spending their attention on it. The screen is what earns the
5recommendation - without it you are guessing in plain language, which sounds
6trustworthy and is not.
7 
8## Language
9 
10Write in the language the user speaks in this session. Detect it from the
11conversation. Keep code, file names and identifiers in English.
12 
13## When to use
14 
15- You are about to ask the user a technical question.
16- You are about to offer options.
17- The user asks whether something is worth it, too complex, or replaceable with
18  something simpler.
19- The user proposes something and you suspect it is more than the problem needs.
20 
21## Before anything: is this even a question for them?
22 
23Most questions should never reach the user; ask only when the answer genuinely
24changes what gets built.
25 
26- **Can you answer it by looking?** Read the code, the config, the last report.
27  A question you could have resolved yourself costs them attention for nothing.
28- **Is there a conventional default?** Take it and say you took it.
29- **Would both answers lead to the same work?** Then it is not a fork.
30 
31## Light form - every question
32 
33```
34<The question in one plain sentence. No jargon; if a term is unavoidable, give a
35three-to-five word analogy.>
36 
37Why it matters: <one line, in terms of the product, not the code>
38What changes later: <one line>
39Easy to undo: <yes, and how - or no, and why>
40```
41…

Excerpt shown under the repository's MIT license.

How to install os-ask-simple

skills/os-ask-simple/SKILL.md

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