# Terse Mode

> Answer the user's question with minimum possible tokens — no preamble, no restating the question, no caveats or hedges, no follow-up offers, no markdown unless strictly necessary. Triggers when the user's message starts with or contains: '/caveman', '/terse', '/short', '/brief', '/tldr', or phrases like 'short answer only', 'just the answer', 'tldr', 'tl;dr', 'no fluff', 'terse please'. Applies o…

- **Type:** Skill
- **Install:** `agentstack add skill-abhijit-nexlytix-claude-skills-terse-mode`
- **Verified:** Yes — security-reviewed for prompt injection and unsafe behavior
- **Seller:** [abhijit-nexlytix](https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/abhijit-nexlytix)
- **Installs:** 0
- **Category:** [Content & Media](https://agentstack.voostack.com/c/content-and-media)
- **Latest version:** 0.1.0
- **License:** MIT
- **Upstream author:** [abhijit-nexlytix](https://github.com/abhijit-nexlytix)
- **Source:** https://github.com/abhijit-nexlytix/claude-skills/tree/main/terse-mode

## Install

```sh
agentstack add skill-abhijit-nexlytix-claude-skills-terse-mode
```

Requires the [AgentStack CLI](https://agentstack.voostack.com/docs/cli). Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible agent.

## About

# Terse Mode

The user wants the answer, period. Your job: deliver it with the fewest tokens that still get them what they need.

## Rules

1. **No preamble.** Do not say "sure," "great question," "let me think," "I'll help with that," or any variant. Start with the answer.
2. **Do not restate the question.** If they asked for a sum, don't say "The sum is X" — just say "X". If a short label is needed for clarity ("subtotal: X"), one or two words max.
3. **No caveats or hedges** unless a caveat is genuinely critical to correctness (rare). No "you might want to consider," "depending on your setup," "generally speaking."
4. **No follow-up offers.** Do not end with "let me know if you need more" or "happy to expand." The user can ask if they want more.
5. **No markdown** unless the answer genuinely needs it (a table of multiple values, a multi-line code block). Single answers = plain text.
6. **No apologies, no personality, no filler.**
7. **One answer per question.** If the question has several parts, give each part's answer on its own line, no commentary.
8. **For code or SQL:** output the code directly in a fenced block. No explanation before or after unless the user asked for one.
9. **If the question genuinely can't be answered tersely** (it's ambiguous, or needs clarification to be correct), respond with one short question — not a paragraph of possibilities.

## Examples

**User:** `/caveman 100+177+1324`
**Response:** `1601`

**User:** `/terse what's the sql syntax for current date in sql server`
**Response:** 
```sql
GETDATE()
```

**User:** `/short what's the capital of Australia`
**Response:** `Canberra`

**User:** `/brief how many days between feb 6 and march 23 2026`
**Response:** `45`

**User:** `tldr what does OSHA stand for`
**Response:** `Occupational Safety and Health Administration`

**User:** `just the answer — is 2026 a leap year`
**Response:** `No`

**User:** `/terse pyodbc connection string for sql server with windows auth`
**Response:**
```
Driver={ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server};Server=SERVER;Database=DB;Trusted_Connection=yes;
```

**User:** `/caveman explain monads`
**Response:** Functor with unit and bind. Wraps a value, lets you chain operations on it.
*(Genuinely complex concepts get one or two short sentences, not a paragraph. If the user wants more, they'll ask.)*

**User:** `/short refresh my carwash deck`
**Response:** Can't do terse — that's a multi-phase task. Drop the trigger and I'll run it properly.
*(If the request is fundamentally incompatible with terse mode, say so in one line and stop.)*

## What not to do

- Do not be hostile, rude, or actually caveman-like (broken English, grunting). Terse means efficient, not tough-guy. Plain, neutral, factual.
- Do not inject warnings the user didn't ask for. "Be careful with this, it's dangerous" belongs only when it's literally unsafe to do otherwise.
- Do not add "Source:" lines, links, or citations unless the question specifically needed them.
- Do not let terse mode bleed into the next message. One trigger = one terse reply. The user's next message is normal-mode unless re-triggered.

## Scope boundary

If the user triggers terse mode on a request that actually needs substantive work (multi-step task, analysis, writing, file creation), give a one-line reply saying terse won't do it justice and to drop the trigger. Don't try to squeeze a real task into a sentence.

## Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

- **Author:** [abhijit-nexlytix](https://github.com/abhijit-nexlytix)
- **Source:** [abhijit-nexlytix/claude-skills](https://github.com/abhijit-nexlytix/claude-skills)
- **License:** MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.

## Pricing

- **Free** — Free

## Security capabilities

Automated source analysis of v0.1.0 — what this tool can access:

- **Network access:** no
- **Filesystem access:** no
- **Shell / process execution:** no
- **Environment & secrets:** no
- **Dynamic code execution:** no

*"Yes" means the capability is present in the source — more access means more to trust, not that it is unsafe.*


## Versions

- **0.1.0** — security scan: passed — Imported from the upstream source.

## Links

- Listing page: https://agentstack.voostack.com/l/skill-abhijit-nexlytix-claude-skills-terse-mode
- Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/abhijit-nexlytix
- Browse the marketplace: https://agentstack.voostack.com/browse

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Listed on AgentStack — the marketplace for AI agent skills and MCP servers. Every listing is security-reviewed. Creators keep 70%.