Prune No-ops

Delete every sentence in a target skill that doesn't change behavior. The verdict for each sentence is the deletion test: would an agent running the skill on its trigger cases behave identically with the sentence and without it? A sentence whose deletion changes nothing is a no-op - delete it whole. A sentence that survives keeps every word.

Apply the cuts. When the user asks for analysis only, stop after step 2 and report the verdicts.

Process

1. Read the target

Read the target SKILL.md and every file it references. The body prose is the scope; leave frontmatter untouched - the description's wording does invocation work, and the deletion test does not grade it. Done when every in-scope file is read.

2. Classify every sentence

Run the deletion test on each sentence and record a verdict: survives, or one no-op class:

<!-- vale Skills.WeakVerbs = NO --> <!-- The bullets quote weak phrasing as the smells they name; "fixing" a quoted example would erase the smell it demonstrates. -->

• Aside - "by the way", "note that", "keep in mind" framing around an instruction that binds on its own.
• Justification - the why behind an instruction ("this ensures...", "because...") when the instruction binds without it. Reasoning survives only when it gates a decision: it tells the agent when the rule applies or how to trade it off.
• Default restatement - an instruction the model already obeys unprompted ("be careful", "make sure to read the file first").
• Emphasis - "this is important", "always remember", "critically".
• Duplicate - a meaning another sentence in the file already states. The clearer statement survives. The other is the no-op.

<!-- vale Skills.WeakVerbs = YES --> <!-- vale Skills.HedgeWords = NO --> <!-- "A maybe" below is the verdict as a noun, not a hedge. -->

Deletion demands certainty: mark a sentence no-op only when the behavior is identical either way. A maybe survives. Done when every sentence in scope carries a verdict.

<!-- vale Skills.HedgeWords = YES -->

3. Apply the cuts

Delete each no-op sentence whole. Then reread the pruned file: every surviving sentence must still bind - repair any reference a cut orphaned ("this", "it", a dangling "instead"). Done when the file holds only surviving sentences and each one reads standalone.

4. Report

Quote each cut with its no-op class, then the totals: sentences read, cut, and surviving.