Text Summarizer

Text Summarizer

Why this skill exists

Not all summaries are equal. A research paper needs a different summary than a legal contract or a news article. This skill matches the summary format and depth to the content type and the user's actual goal.

When to use

• User provides long text, a document, or a URL and wants it condensed
• User asks for key points, highlights, or a brief version
• User wants a summary for a specific audience (executive, technical, layman)

Step-by-step procedure

Step 1 — Identify content type and user goal

Before summarizing, determine:

| Content Type | Best Summary Style | |---|---| | News article | 3-sentence inverted pyramid (who, what, why it matters) | | Research paper | Abstract + methodology + findings + limitations | | Legal document | Parties, obligations, key clauses, risks | | Meeting transcript | Decisions made, action items, owners, deadlines | | Book chapter | Main argument + supporting points + key examples | | Technical doc | Purpose + prerequisites + main steps + gotchas | | Email thread | Context + current status + what's needed from reader | | Long report | Executive summary + section-by-section highlights |

Ask if unclear: "Who is this summary for — yourself, a colleague, an exec? Any specific aspect to focus on?"

Step 2 — Choose summary depth

| User says | Summary length | |-----------|---------------| | "TL;DR" | 1–3 sentences | | "Key points" | 5–8 bullet points | | "Summarize" | 15–25% of original length | | "Brief summary" | 10% of original length | | "Detailed summary" | 30–40% with structure preserved | | "Executive summary" | 1 paragraph + 3–5 bullets |

Step 3 — Summarize by content type

News / Article:

[WHAT HAPPENED — 1 sentence]
[KEY DETAILS — 2–3 sentences]
[WHY IT MATTERS — 1 sentence]

Research Paper:

RESEARCH QUESTION: [one sentence]
METHOD: [how they studied it]
KEY FINDINGS: [bullet list of results]
CONCLUSION: [what it means]
LIMITATIONS: [what they acknowledge as gaps]

Meeting / Transcript:

DATE: [date]
ATTENDEES: [names/roles]

DECISIONS MADE:
- [decision 1]
- [decision 2]

ACTION ITEMS:
- [ ] [task] — [owner] — [deadline]
- [ ] [task] — [owner] — [deadline]

OPEN QUESTIONS:
- [unresolved item]

Legal Document:

DOCUMENT TYPE: [contract/NDA/ToS/etc.]
PARTIES: [who is involved]
EFFECTIVE DATE: [date]

KEY OBLIGATIONS:
- [Party A must...]
- [Party B must...]

IMPORTANT CLAUSES:
- [clause: plain English explanation]

FLAGS TO REVIEW:
🔴 [high-risk clause]
🟡 [clause needing attention]

Long Report / Document:

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
[2–3 sentence overview]

KEY FINDINGS
• [Finding 1]
• [Finding 2]
• [Finding 3]

SECTION HIGHLIGHTS
[Section name]: [1–2 sentence summary]
[Section name]: [1–2 sentence summary]

BOTTOM LINE / RECOMMENDATION
[What action the document implies or recommends]

Step 4 — Quality check before responding

Before outputting, verify:

• [ ] Did I capture the main argument/finding, not just surface details?
• [ ] Did I preserve any numbers, dates, or proper nouns that matter?
• [ ] Is the summary self-contained — can someone understand it without reading the original?
• [ ] Did I match the requested length?
• [ ] Did I avoid introducing anything not in the original?

Edge cases

| Situation | Fix | |-----------|-----| | Text is too long for context | Summarize in chunks, then summarize the summaries | | Multiple documents | Summarize each, then write a cross-document synthesis | | Content is in another language | Summarize in the original language unless user specifies English | | User wants summary + action items | Add a separate "Next Steps" section | | Contradictory content | Flag it: "Note: the document contains conflicting statements on X" | | Highly technical content | Ask user's background level before choosing vocabulary |

Output format

Always end with:

• Word count of original vs summary
• Optional: offer to adjust length or focus area

Source & license

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

• Author: prasad-nimbalkar
• Source: prasad-nimbalkar/claude-agent-skills
• License: MIT

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