FREE SKILL FOR CLAUDE · BY RYAN MICHIE
Big ideas.
Short sentences.
Give Claude a simple set of writing rules. Get explanations and rewrites with short sentences, active voice, and less filler.
Two Markdown files. No packaged scripts or dependencies. MIT license.
Understand a topic
Make a complex explanation easier to follow.
Untangle a paragraph
Turn dense English prose into clear sentences.
Write practical steps
Give each instruction its own sentence.
RYAN'S TESTS
Shorter sentences.
Clearer structure.
Plain Claude was already readable in these tests. The skill mainly reduced long sentences. Dense source paragraphs showed larger gains in formula-based readability.
Fewer long sentences
Explanations and procedures · 12 outputs per condition
Sentences over 25 words: 3.4% → 0%
Dense prose, easier structure
Seven dense paragraphs · one rewrite each
Mean sentence length: 29.3 → 11.5 words
Figures supplied by Ryan from his analysis of existing outputs. Readability formulas are not comprehension tests.
A REAL REWRITE
From a dense paragraph to clear steps.
A selected README illustration: the best of eight inputs, each run once.
ORIGINAL · 93 WORDS · 3 SENTENCES
In the event that intermittent connectivity issues are being experienced, it is recommended that the router be power-cycled by disconnecting it from the electrical outlet for a minimum of 30 seconds prior to reconnection, as this allows any residual charge to dissipate and the device's memory to be cleared. Following reconnection, a period of approximately two minutes should be allowed for the router to complete its startup sequence, during which time the indicator lights may flash. Should the issue persist after this procedure has been performed twice, the support line should be contacted.
WITH THE SKILL · UNEDITED OUTPUT
If you have intermittent connection problems, power-cycle the router:
- Disconnect the router from the electrical outlet.
- Wait a minimum of 30 seconds. This lets the remaining charge drain and clears the device's memory.
- Connect the router to the outlet again.
- Wait about two minutes for the router to start. The indicator lights can flash during this time.
If the problem continues after you do this procedure two times, call the support line.
Shorter sentences, one step per line, and active voice did most of the work; the vertical list replaced the long chain of clauses.
Only three of the eight rewrites kept every fact and qualifier. Review the result. Read the example and selection context
How the tests were measured
These are Ryan's analyses of existing outputs, not tests independently reproduced for this page. Sentence lengths use the repository linter's splitter, with Markdown removed and each list item counted as a sentence. Reading ease and grade level use textstat 0.7.13.
| Measure | Explanations / procedures Plain Claude → With skill | Dense paragraphs Original → With-skill rewrite |
|---|---|---|
| Mean sentence length | 12.1 → 11.0 words | 29.3 → 11.5 words |
| Mean longest sentence | 31.2 → 18.2 words | 45.0 → 18.7 words |
| Sentences over 25 words | 3.4% → 0% | 46% → 0% |
| Words per answer / paragraph | 624 → 418 | 91 → 78 |
| Flesch Reading Ease | 79.1 → 81.7 | 33.6 → 67.3 |
| Flesch–Kincaid grade level | 5.2 → 4.6 | 15.9 → 6.7 |
The first comparison covers four non-rewrite cases with three outputs per condition: 12 without the skill and 12 with it. They come from different batches (October 2 and October 4), so these differences do not establish cause and effect.
The dense-paragraph comparison covers seven inputs on October 5, with one with-skill rewrite per input. It compares source paragraphs to rewrites, not plain Claude to the skill. Closing notes are excluded above. Including them gives a mean sentence length of 13.1 words, reading ease of 68.0, grade level 7.0, and 6.9% of sentences over 25 words; those long sentences were notes.
A separate paragraph-rewrite comparison used three plain-Claude runs and six with-skill runs. Mean sentence length was 15.6 → 13.3 words; mean longest sentence was 23.7 → 19.8. Reading ease was 36.7 → 39.1, while rewrite-only word count rose from 99 to 130. About 150 words of plain-Claude commentary were excluded. Checks found softened certainty in both sets, using different grading methods. Neither approach guarantees that meaning is preserved.
The selected router example illustrates the format. It is not evidence for the seven-paragraph averages or a typical-output claim. Repository evaluation notes · Sentence-counting code
GET STARTED
Download.
Install.
Ask plainly.
ste-explain is free and open source. Choose where you use Claude, then add the skill. Claude plan and usage costs are separate.
Read the skill before installingFor claude.ai
Download the ZIP
Get ste-explain.zip. Keep it zipped.
Turn on the required capability
In Settings → Capabilities, enable Code execution and file creation.
Upload the skill
Open Customize → Skills. Select + → Create skill → Upload a skill, then choose the ZIP.
Claude supports skill uploads. This route was not tested in the repository's evaluations. Claude's guide
TESTED IN REPO Plugin install
Run these commands in your terminal
claude plugin marketplace add ryanjmichie-git/ste-explain claude plugin install ste-explain@ste-explainStart a new Claude Code session
Use the example prompt below, or ask your question with “STE” in the prompt.
Prefer a manual install?
Unzip the release ZIP into ~/.claude/skills/ for all projects, or .claude/skills/ for one project. Keep the ste-explain folder and its references subfolder together. This route was also tested in the repo.
THEN TRY THIS
80% STE please: how does a heat pump work?
Use “STE” in your prompt to help Claude select the skill.
Using the API? See the repository instructions. API installation was not tested in the repo.
THE IDEA BEHIND IT
A good prompt.
Made reusable.
In an October 2026 post, Andrej Karpathy suggested asking an LLM to explain things in ASD-STE100, sometimes softened to “80% of the way.” Ryan built ste-explain to make that approach reusable in Claude.
Read Karpathy's postAn independent project. No affiliation or endorsement by Karpathy, Anthropic, or ASD.
YOUR NEXT EXPLANATION