How do I install the Tighten skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add shihyuho/tighten in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Tighten safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Tighten?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Tighten free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free. This skill is licensed under MIT.

Who published Tighten?

shihyuho (@shihyuho) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Tighten by shihyuho — Agent Skill

Name: Tighten
Author: shihyuho

Tighten

Rewrite a piece of verbose text so it conveys exactly the same meaning in fewer words — every point in the original survives, and the result replaces the text rather than summarising it. Use when the user explicitly asks to tighten, shorten, condense, or compress a passage, document, message, or draft they point to, including text just produced in the conversation, and wants nothing dropped. Do not trigger as unprompted cleanup of text the user has not asked to change; when the user is willing to drop peripheral content to reach a core message, use the distil skill instead.

shihyuho Updated Sep 17, 2026

File contents

tighten

Re-examine a passage and rewrite it to carry the same meaning in fewer words. Nothing is dropped — tightening is lossless.

What to tighten

The user identifies the target — pasted text, a file path, or a passage in this conversation. If they invoke the skill without naming one, tighten the last substantial passage you wrote; needing your own output tightened is the usual reason this skill is used. Ask only if the target is genuinely ambiguous.

Approach

A verbose passage does not get tighter by editing in place. Each editing pass tends to add a caveat or a transition and remove nothing, so length compounds. Do not patch the existing wording. Work out what the passage actually says, then re-express that from scratch in the fewest words that still land it.

Preserve

Every point. Tightening is lossless: each distinct claim, fact, and qualification the original made must survive — only wording and structure change. If a point cannot stay without bloat, that is a sign the user wants the distil skill instead; say so rather than dropping it silently.
Meaning. Assert nothing the original did not.
Register and tone. Formal stays formal, casual stays casual; only the padding goes.
Code, quotes, numbers, names, technical terms. Reproduce verbatim.

Do not chase a percentage. "As tight as it can be" is the target; a fixed ratio just trades padding for over-cutting.

When the rewrite is done, read the original once more and confirm no point was lost or altered. Adjust if it was.

Output

Give the rewritten text, then a short report of what kinds of filler were cut — it lets the reader confirm that only padding went, nothing of substance.

---name: tightendescription: Rewrite a piece of verbose text so it conveys exactly the same meaning in fewer words — every point in the original survives, and the result replaces the text rather than summarising it. Use when the user explicitly asks to tighten, shorten, condense, or compress a passage, document, message, or draft they point to, including text just produced in the conversation, and wants nothing dropped. Do not trigger as unprompted cleanup of text the user has not asked to change; when the user is willing to drop peripheral content to reach a core message, use the distil skill instead.license: MIT---# tightenRe-examine a passage and rewrite it to carry the same meaning in fewer words. Nothing is dropped — tightening is lossless.## What to tightenThe user identifies the target — pasted text, a file path, or a passage in this conversation. If they invoke the skill without naming one, tighten the last substantial passage you wrote; needing your own output tightened is the usual reason this skill is used. Ask only if the target is genuinely ambiguous.## ApproachA verbose passage does not get tighter by editing in place. Each editing pass tends to add a caveat or a transition and remove nothing, so length compounds. Do not patch the existing wording. Work out what the passage actually says, then re-express that from scratch in the fewest words that still land it.## Preserve- **Every point.** Tightening is lossless: each distinct claim, fact, and qualification the original made must survive — only wording and structure change. If a point cannot stay without bloat, that is a sign the user wants the distil skill instead; say so rather than dropping it silently.- **Meaning.** Assert nothing the original did not.- **Register and tone.** Formal stays formal, casual stays casual; only the padding goes.- **Code, quotes, numbers, names, technical terms.** Reproduce verbatim.Do not chase a percentage. "As tight as it can be" is the target; a fixed ratio just trades padding for over-cutting.When the rewrite is done, read the original once more and confirm no point was lost or altered. Adjust if it was.## OutputGive the rewritten text, then a short report of what kinds of filler were cut — it lets the reader confirm that only padding went, nothing of substance.

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