The Elements of Style plugin
Strunk's 1918 writing rules for an agent: the skill applies them to documentation, commit messages and error text
- 627 ★ on the repository
- Last commit
Minimal access
Why this level
- The plugin is a skill plus a reference that runs nothing and calls nothing
- The reference takes about 12,000 tokens of context
Install
- Works in
In your terminal, with SkillFoxx CLI
npx skillfoxx add plugins/the-elements-of-styleDetects the agents on your machine, shows the access level and pins the version.
Other ways to install
Access and checks
How we reviewMinimal accessThe tool runs nothing and makes no network calls.
- The plugin is a skill plus a reference that runs nothing and calls nothing
- The reference takes about 12,000 tokens of context
This is third-party code. Review the repository files before installing.
What it does
The plugin packages William Strunk Jr.'s «The Elements of Style» (1918) for coding agents. When the agent writes prose for people, it calls the writing-clearly-and-concisely skill: documentation, commit messages, error text, explanations, reports and interface strings. The skill lists every rule at a glance and warns that the full reference takes about 12,000 tokens, so elements-of-style.md opens only while writing or editing. When context runs short, the skill suggests handing the draft to a subagent. The reference has three parts: seven rules of usage (grammar and punctuation), eleven principles of composition and an alphabetical list of commonly misused words and expressions.
Who it is for. Developers who write documentation, commit messages and error text in English and want it shorter and clearer.
Good fit when
- The agent's commit messages are long and vague and need tightening into a dense style
- An English README or user guide is being rewritten without padding
- Error text and interface hints should be understood on the first read
- A report draft gets a final edit against the classic composition rules
Not a fit when
- The text is in Russian or another language: the rules were written for English in 1918
- You need to remove AI-generation tells: the catalog has dedicated skills for that
- The agent's context is nearly used up: the reference takes about 12,000 tokens
Example request
Rewrite the pull request description using Strunk's rules: cut needless words and put the action up frontLimitations
Strunk's rules apply to early twentieth-century English and do not suit Russian text. The full reference costs about 12,000 tokens of context. Installation for each agent is described in separate docs/install files, and the README only points to them. The manifest files are generated by the everyharness tool and must not be edited by hand. The skill applies when the agent writes prose for people and does not affect code or configuration.
How to disable. In Claude Code run `/plugin uninstall elements-of-style@elements-of-style-dev` and the skill stops loading.
FAQ
How do I install The Elements of Style in Claude Code?
Run `/plugin marketplace add obra/elements-of-style`, then `/plugin install elements-of-style@elements-of-style-dev`. For other agents the README points to docs/install files: Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI, OpenCode and more.
Where does the reference text come from?
It is the 1918 edition from Project Gutenberg (number 37134) converted to markdown. The text is in the public domain.
Why does the skill not read the whole reference every time?
The reference takes about 12,000 tokens, so the skill loads it only while writing or editing. The rules are listed concisely in the SKILL.md itself.
Which agents have install instructions?
Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Devin CLI, Kimi Code, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, Pi, Hermes Agent, Agent Plugins 1.0 clients and the Factory Droid, Grok and Copilot marketplaces.
When does the agent call this skill?
When it writes documentation, commit messages, error text or other prose for people. Code and configuration tasks do not need it.
Discussion
No questions or reviews yet.
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Comparison with similar tools
Cards that share the main search query, and how they differ.
| Tool | Official | Repository stars | Main difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Elements of Style (this card) | no | 627 | |
| Stop Slop | no | 18,896 | scrubs AI boilerplate by checklist, while this applies classic clear-writing rules |
| Economist Style Guide Plugin | no | 129 | edits English text to The Economist style, while this uses Strunk's 1918 rules |
README in short
The README explains that the plugin hands the agent Strunk's rules whenever it writes prose for people, shows an install table for eleven harnesses and says the manifests are generated by everyharness from everyharness.yaml. It ends by naming the text source and its public domain status.
README badge
Original SKILL.md
--- name: writing-clearly-and-concisely description: Apply Strunk's timeless writing rules to ANY prose humans will read—documentation, commit messages, error messages, explanations, reports, or UI text. Makes your writing clearer, stronger, and more professional. --- # Writing Clearly and Concisely ## Overview William Strunk Jr.'s *The Elements of Style* (1918) teaches you to write clearly and cut ruthlessly. **WARNING:** `elements-of-style.md` consumes ~12,000 tokens. Read it only when writing or editing prose. ## When to Use This Skill Use this skill whenever you write prose for humans: - Documentation, README files, technical explanations - Commit messages, pull request descriptions - Error messages, UI copy, help text, comments - Reports, summaries, or any explanation - Editing to improve clarity **If you're writing sentences for a human to read, use this skill.** ## Limited Context Strategy When context is tight: 1. Write your draft using judgment 2. Dispatch a subagent with your draft and `elements-of-style.md` 3. Have the subagent copyedit and return the revision ## All Rules ### Elementary Rules of Usage (Grammar/Punctuation) 1. Form possessive singular by adding 's 2. Use comma after each term in series except last 3. Enclose parenthetic expressions between commas 4. Comma before conjunction introducing co-ordinate clause 5. Don't join independent clauses by comma 6. Don't break sentences in two 7. Participial phrase at beginning refers to grammatical subject ### Elementary Principles of Composition 8. One paragraph per topic