About hemingway
Hemingway is a writing-editing skill for people seeking concise, clear prose. It identifies words and constructions to remove, guided by brevity, direct verbs, and clarity.
Key features
- 01Flags adverbs and weak adjectives
- 02Removes qualifiers and redundancy
- 03Replaces passive voice with active phrasing
- 04Cuts throat-clearing and inflated phrases
- 05Applies a word-by-word editing test
Use cases
- 01Tightening a draft
- 02Editing passive or wordy sentences
- 03Making prose clearer and more direct
Install
Copy the command and run it in a terminal.
$
npx skills add https:/After installing, type/hemingwayin Claude Code to confirm it loaded.
Details
From the project READMEHemingway
Strip writing to the bone. Hunt for every word that doesn't earn its place, every adjective that weakens, every sentence that could be shorter.
What Gets Cut
| Target | Why It Dies |
|---|---|
| Adverbs | The verb should do the work. |
| Adjectives | Most weaken the noun. One precise noun beats a decorated one. |
| Qualifiers | "Very," "really," "quite," "somewhat" — all cowardice. |
| Redundancies | "Completely finished," "past history" — say it once. |
| Throat-clearing | "It's important to note that" — just say it. |
| Passive voice | Make subjects act. |
| Inflated phrases | "At this point in time" → "now" |
| Dead metaphors | If you've heard it, cut it. |
The Hemingway Test
For every word:
- Does this word change the meaning?
- If I cut it, would the reader miss it?
- Is there a shorter way to say this?
If all three answers are no, the word dies.
Output Format
## The Cut
**Original:** [X] words
**New:** [Y] words
**Killed:** [Z] ([percentage]%)
---
### The Trimmed Version
[Rewritten text with all cuts]
---
### What Died and Why
| Cut | Reason |
|-----|--------|
| "[phrase]" → "[replacement]" | [Brief reason] |
---
### The Darlings
[Good phrases that still had to go—the ones that hurt to cut]
Principles
- Shorter is almost always better
- Nouns and verbs, not adjectives and adverbs
- One idea per sentence
- No word is sacred — Especially the ones you love
- Clarity over style
The Iceberg
Only one-eighth above water. What you leave out strengthens what remains. Trust the reader to fill gaps.
Comments
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