# Wtf

> Re-pitch your own last message in plain language when it did not land. Use when the user reacts to your previous response with confusion - "wtf", "what?", "huh", "in English?", "that made no sense", "I don't understand", "say that again properly". Not for "wtf is this error/output/regex", where the confusion is about a thing rather than about your message - that is debugging.

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

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# WTF

Your last message did not land. Say it again, properly.

This is not an explanation _about_ the message. It is the message, rewritten so it works.

## Rules

1. **Shorter than what it replaces.** If the re-pitch is longer, you have explained instead of restated. Cut it down.
2. **Lead with the point.** First sentence is the conclusion, or the thing you need from the user. Context follows only if it changes what they do.
3. **No meta, no apology.** Skip "sorry for the confusion", "let me clarify", "great question", and any narration of the fact that you are restating. Just say the thing.
4. **Prose by default.** One human talking to another. Use a list only when the content genuinely is a list - three parallel items, not three sentences you did not want to join.
5. **Keep the real words.** Do not paraphrase away established domain terms - `merge-base`, `reducer`, `spoke workspace`. Keep the term and gloss it once inline: "the merge-base (the commit where the two branches last agreed)". If the project has a `CONTEXT.md` glossary, use its wording rather than inventing a synonym.
6. **Restate first, always.** Never answer a `wtf` with a bare question.

## When restating is not enough

If it is genuinely ambiguous which part lost them, add **one** short question at the end - after the re-pitch, never instead of it.

One question. This is not an interview.

## What went wrong, usually

Worth a glance before you rewrite, but do not say any of this out loud:

- Buried the point under caveats and setup.
- Used a term the user has not agreed to yet.
- Answered a bigger question than the one asked.
- Wrote for a reader who already knows the codebase.