AminBlg/SimpleEnglish

Agent skill: make LLMs write docs in ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical

Summary

SimpleEnglish is a Python repository that packages an Agent Skill for guiding LLM-generated technical writing toward ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English. It provides a default Plain mode for clear, direct writing and a stricter vocabulary mode for requests that explicitly mention STE, ASD-STE100, or compliance.

What it is useful for

The skill is useful when engineers want AI-assisted writing to follow specific, testable rules instead of vague requests such as “write clearly.” Documented use cases include READMEs, runbooks, incident reports, error messages, and release notes. It also changes ordinary chat replies by putting the answer in the first sentence and removing decoration such as headers, bullets, bold text, and em-dashes.

Its document rules include a maximum of 20 words per instruction and 25 per description, putting conditions before commands, preferring active voice and simple tenses, and using one word for one meaning. Strict mode adds controlled-vocabulary rules.

For example, the README contrasts a generic paragraph about synchronizing PostgreSQL tables to S3 with a simpler version that states directly that sqlpipe copies PostgreSQL tables to S3, requires one configuration file, and needs correct AWS credentials.

The project has important limits. It does not produce STE-certified writing because ASD does not certify tools. The official dictionary content is not included; engineers must build word lists from their own copy of the Issue 9 PDF. The README also suggests keeping a personal voice for blog posts rather than applying the document rules everywhere.

How engineers can use it

Install the skill into an agent that supports the Agent Skills standard:

npx skills add AminBlg/SimpleEnglish

This installs only the skill. It does not install the session hook or output style.

For Claude Code, install the plugin components with:

claude plugin marketplace add AminBlg/SimpleEnglish && claude plugin install simple-english@simple-english

Then select simple-english:simple-english through /config, or add this to ~/.claude/settings.json:

{"outputStyle": "simple-english:simple-english"}

Codex also has documented plugin commands:

codex plugin marketplace add AminBlg/SimpleEnglish
codex plugin add simple-english@simple-english

Codex asks engineers to trust the hook before its first run, and its hooks require Node.js.

If the agent does not support skills, paste the rule block from prompts/system-prompt.md into the system prompt, AGENTS.md, or .cursorrules. After setup, request technical writing or use the documented prompt: “rewrite this with simple-english.”