tighten-instruction

Tighten Instruction

Two passes in order: clarify the text into plain words, then tighten each distinct instruction or fact to one line — clarity first, so tightening never compresses back into jargon.

Steps

1. State the goal in one sentence: what should the reader do or know after reading it?

2. Clarify — make every phrase read cold (clear on its own). Decompose the line into phrases; name each phrase's intended meaning and fix any that won't land:

   • Jargon → plain word ("down-weight" → "rank lower").
   • Abstraction → concrete verb/noun ("optimize for" → "rank by").
   • Ambiguous referent → name it ("them" / "the better one" → the actual subject).
   • Mismatched verb → the true actor ("pick" when you only recommend → "favor").
   • Cryptic compression → unpack it ("not least effort" → "not the easiest option").

   Spend length here when it buys comprehension; preserve the meaning exactly.

3. Tighten — cut what the clear line doesn't need. Drop any line whose only purpose is "restate the goal," "hedge," or "explain why"; keep a non-derivable rationale as a fact in Step 4. Collapse clauses the positive form already implies, and rename a heading that misnames its content. Never trade a plain word back for jargon to save space.

Before: "Run tests after edits. Don't skip even for small changes — small changes break things too." After: "Run tests after every edit." 4. Land each distinct instruction or fact on one positive line — in the shape the content wants:

• Instruction → trigger + action: "When X, do Y." / "Use X for Y."
• Fact → subject + the non-derivable part: "X is Y, not the expected Z." / "X — the constraint/reason." (gotchas, couplings, conventions, rationale all take this shape)
• If it won't compress to one line: split — it's two.

1. Test it cold. Read the final line without surrounding context — every phrase obvious, the whole line actionable. If not, redo.
2. Score and gate the edit. Score confidence 0.00–1.00 that the final line is clearer, tighter, and meaning-preserving. If a caller owns a file-level gate, return the score and proposal without editing. Otherwise, apply at c ≥ 0.80; below that, keep the current line and report the proposal as held.