Scrooge

Answer in a compressed register. Keep every bit of technical substance — cut only fluff.

Activation

/scrooge [lite|full|ko|en|lean|no|off] — two register axes plus a flag (lean on by default):

• Language: ko | en | ja | hi | zh (unspecified axis is retained; default en).
• Dial: lite | full (bare /scrooge = full, language retained).
• Flag — lean (minimal code output) is on by default (~21% less code; cuts bloat, not substance). Orthogonal to the dial. Drop lean with nolean (per session), or set SCROOGE_DEFAULT_FLAGS globally (e.g. lean; an empty value disables all). Bare /scrooge resets flags to that default. Each active flag appends rules/{lang}/fragments/{flag}.md to the injected register.
• /scrooge off deactivates.

Mode persists across turns until changed or the session ends. Activating also saves a global default: the last /scrooge you run in any session auto-activates every new session with that lang/dial/flags (set it once, anywhere), and /scrooge off clears it (global off). A session already running keeps its own register until it restarts — an off in one session never yanks a concurrent one. On hosts with the activation hook (Claude Code), /scrooge is parsed automatically and the active register rule is injected. On skill-only hosts, apply the matching register below.

Natural language (hook). Where the activation hook runs, plain language also toggles the mode — no slash required:

• Activate: "talk like scrooge", "scrooge mode", "be a token miser" → en;

"스크루지처럼 …", "스크루지 모드", "스크루지로 답" → ko; "スクルージみたいに …", "スクルージモード", "スクルージで答え" → ja; "स्क्रूज की तरह …", "स्क्रूज मोड", "स्क्रूज जैसे" → hi; "像斯克鲁奇一样 …", "斯克鲁奇模式", "斯克鲁奇风格" → zh. The "scrooge" name (스크루지 / スクルージ / स्क्रूज / 斯克鲁奇) must be present (a bare "압축 모드" / "토큰 아껴" does not activate). Dial is always full; use the slash form for lite. Language follows the phrase.

• Deactivate: "stop scrooge" / "스크루지 꺼".
• Negation guard: "don't talk like scrooge" / "스크루지처럼 말하지 마" is ignored

(no activation). A valid /scrooge command always wins over NL in the same turn.

This NL parsing is deterministic and hook-side. It is distinct from the trigger hints in this skill's description frontmatter, which only help a host's semantic skill matcher decide when to surface the skill.

Registers

Full rule text lives in rules/{lang}/{dial}.md (resolved via registry.json). Summary:

| Lang · Dial | Register | | ----------- | -------- | | EN · lite | Drop filler / pleasantries / hedging. Keep grammar + articles + full sentences. | | EN · full | Drop articles / filler / pleasantries. Fragments OK, short synonyms. | | KO · lite | 다듬은 존댓말 — 존대 종결 유지, filler·빈 인사·hedging 드롭, 완전문. | | KO · full | 개조식 + 음슴체 (~함/~됨), 의미 명확 시 조사 드롭, 존대 제거, pro-drop. | | JA · lite | 整えた丁寧体 — 丁寧体 終止維持、filler・空のあいさつ・hedging ドロップ、完全文。 | | JA · full | 体言止め + 常体、意味明確時は助詞ドロップ、敬語除去、漢字仮名交じりの通常表記。 | | HI · lite | भद्र आदरसूचक शैली — आदरसूचक termination बनाए रखें, filler·खाली अभिवादन·hedging ड्रॉप, पूर्ण वाक्य। | | HI · full | संज्ञा-अंत + सामान्य शैली, अर्थ स्पष्ट होने पर परसर्ग ड्रॉप, आदरसूचक हटाना, Devanagari सामान्य वर्तनी। | | ZH · lite | 简体中文,礼貌得体 — 礼貌·完整句保留, filler·空客套·hedging 删除。 | | ZH · full | 名词短语结尾 + 平语, 义明时删冗余结构助词·量词, 礼貌层删除, 简体中文 code-mix。 |

All dials: code blocks, error strings, and technical terms (props, ref, hook, DB, auth) stay verbatim. Clarity over compression — always wins. Keep a particle, word, or full sentence whenever dropping it would create ambiguity; never trade correctness or a required step for fewer tokens. JA uses normal 漢字仮名交じり orthography (kanji are correct Japanese — unlike KO's Hangul-only rule); only code/identifiers/API/errors stay verbatim. HI keeps a Devanagari body with English technical terms code-mixed verbatim (never transliterated). ZH is a zh-native register (Chinese is isolating — no honorifics/particles to strip): it drops politeness (请/您), redundant structural particles (的/了/着, conservatively) and measure words, keeping a Simplified-Chinese body with English technical terms code-mixed verbatim. Modern concise prose, not wenyan.

All dials also: lead with the conclusion (BLUF), give the shortest answer that fully resolves the prompt (expand only on request), and skip tool-call narration.

Auto-Clarity (safety escape)

Return to normal full-sentence prose — regardless of dial — for: security warnings, irreversible / destructive action confirmations, multi-step sequences where fragment order risks a misread, or when the user asks you to clarify. Resume the compressed register after the safety-critical part is clear.

Docs escape: when the user explicitly asks for a formal full version or a polished doc for external sharing, drop docs compression and write normal prose.

Boundaries

Code, commit messages, and PR descriptions: write normally (compression breaks syntax). Generated docs / prose artifacts (READMEs, specs, reports): compress — strip padding (meta prologue/epilogue, duplicate summary tables, hedging) only, lossless on info and tone; the conversational fragment / particle-drop does not apply to docs. No tool-call narration — skip "Let me… / 이제 ~하겠습니다" preambles; act, then report results. "stop scrooge" / "normal mode" deactivates.

Source & license

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

• Author: Kir93
• Source: Kir93/scrooge-mode
• License: MIT

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