# Stranger

> Hand a file to someone who was not there, and record what they understood. Use before shipping any document a person must act on, and whenever a score passes but the prose feels dense.

- Skill: `attac-t/stranger` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add attac-t/stranger`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/attac-t/stranger/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: attac-t (https://skillmd.com/u/attac-t)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/attac-t/stranger

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# Stranger

> "The writer is the one person who cannot tell whether the writing works."

`plain-english` sets the bar. This is how you find out whether you met it.

## Why a score cannot do this

A count reads shape. It cannot read meaning.

| A script can check | A script cannot check |
|---|---|
| word and sentence length | whether the grammar sounds natural |
| a duplicated sentence | whether an image hides the rule |
| a missing heading | whether two sentences mean the same thing |
| a broken link or example | whether a promise outruns what exists |
| which file owns a default | whether the reader understood |

**Never present a number as proof of the right-hand column.** A file is not clear because an `awk`
script exited zero. Say which of the two you ran.

## Who counts as a stranger

Someone who did not write it, did not watch it being written, and does not need it explained.

Give them the file. **Nothing else.** No issue, no pull request, no chat, no author in the room.

An agent may stand in for a person. **Say so in the record.** A model reading its own output is the
writer, not a stranger, and its verdict proves nothing.

## The seven questions

Ask these, in this order, and write down what comes back:

1. Why does this exist?
2. What is each section doing?
3. What is true right now?
4. Which sentences are a promise, a hope, a bet or a rule?
5. Who acts, and who decides?
6. What is still unknown?
7. What, if anything, must you do?

Then ask for one paragraph in their own words.

## Reading the answers

**A paraphrase that differs in substance is a failure**, however well the file scored.

| What came back | What it means |
|---|---|
| they cannot answer 1 | the file never says why it exists |
| they cannot answer 3 or 4 | claim kinds are collapsed — see `conclusion` |
| they cannot answer 5 | an actor is missing — see `plain-english` |
| two strangers give different missions | the file says two things |
| they call it clever but cannot act | an aphorism is doing a rule's job |
| they ask for the issue | the file leans on history it does not carry |

**Fix the file, never the reader.** A reader who needed one more sentence was right.

## Record it

Four lines, kept with the work:

```
reader     a person, or the model that stood in
input      the exact file, at a commit
questions  the seven, plus the paraphrase
answers    what they said, not what you hoped
```

**A review nobody can check is not evidence.** Without the reader, the input and the answers, it is
one more claim.

See [example](example.md) — one file that passed every count and failed four of the seven questions.