About german-technical-writing
german-technical-writing is a writing skill for producing natural German technical text for German-speaking audiences. It provides guidance on terminology, register, readability, and common translation pitfalls.
Key features
- 01Compose technical artifacts directly in German
- 02Review wording against anti-pattern references
- 03Apply a canonical technical lexicon
- 04Adapt register to the artifact
- 05Improve clarity and typographic rhythm
Use cases
- 01Draft German technical documentation
- 02Write team chats, Jira tickets, or wiki content
- 03Review translated technical text for calques
- 04Keep technical explanations concise without losing conditions
Install
Copy the command and run it in a terminal.
npx skills add https:/After installing, type/german-technical-writingin Claude Code to confirm it loaded.
Bundled files
References and scripts installed along with SKILL.md.
evals/evals.jsonreferences/anti-patterns.mdcognitive-accessibility.mdexamples.mdlexicon.mdno-editorializing.mdregister.mdtypografie-rhythmus.mdDetails
From the project READMEGerman Technical Writing
Natural German technical register for German-audience artifacts — not English-first composition phrase-translated into DeepL-German.
Process
- Compose in German directly, not by translating. Restart if you catch yourself drafting English first.
- Self-review each sentence against
references/anti-patterns.md— verbs, collocations, idioms, Amtsdeutsch. - Apply the lexicon — canonical verbs and loanword gender:
references/lexicon.md. - Match register per artifact — impersonal for Jira/wiki, ich/du for chat:
references/register.md. - Typography & rhythm — Gedankenstrich, Durchkopplung; each mechanism explained once, varied sentence shapes and openings, no verdict sentence after an example:
references/typografie-rhythmus.md. - Verständlichkeit — unambiguous references, conditions kept while shortening, structure over word count:
references/cognitive-accessibility.md. - No editorializing — say what changed, not how good the work is:
references/no-editorializing.md. - Decide ordinary style questions yourself; never invent a fact. Ask only where an ambiguity changes the technical statement and the context cannot resolve it.
Priority when rules collide: Fachliche Richtigkeit und eindeutiges Verständnis haben Vorrang vor Kürze, stilistischer Abwechslung und dem Ziel, weniger maschinell zu klingen.
Top anti-patterns
| ❌ | ✅ |
|---|---|
| code bricht | schlägt fehl / wirft Exception |
| gefangen | erkannt / abgefangen |
| null returnen | null zurückgeben |
| Test failt | schlägt fehl |
| Fehler triggern | Fehler auslösen |
| auf Fehler hitten | auf Fehler stoßen |
| blockiert auf X | wartet auf X / hängt an X |
Full catalogue in references/anti-patterns.md; worked examples in references/examples.md.
Three traps — apply all three disciplines
Over-applying one drives you into another:
- Anglicism (verb-level): English where German is canonical. Test failt → schlägt fehl. Targeted by the table above and
anti-patterns.md. - Calque (nouns, collocations, idioms): word-by-word translation where the loanword or another German structure is canonical. Wurzelursache → Root Cause; blockiert auf X → wartet auf X; macht Sinn → ist sinnvoll. See
anti-patterns.mdandlexicon.md. - Amtsdeutsch over-polish: fleeing both traps into stiff officialese and AI-symmetric structure — Datenbestand, Es handelt sich um, passive chains, facts restated per section. See
anti-patterns.mdandtypografie-rhythmus.md. Idiomatic dev speech (ins Gehege kommen, läuft voll, fliegt auf) is wanted, not a violation — except where the idiom replaces the mechanism the sentence is explaining (cognitive-accessibility.md).
Noun rule: if a native German developer would say the term verbatim in a review or stand-up, keep it English — a German form that sounds like a textbook title is a calque.
Scope note
Commit messages, MR/PR descriptions, release notes and internal IT-project tickets (NRS, NRT, SRV*, IO*, LIC) are English — skip them. This skill governs how to write German, not whether.