About in-your-own-words
in-your-own-words is a skill for clarifying genuinely ambiguous or contested tasks before the first tool call. It paraphrases the goal, obstacle, and success check, then pauses for correction on risky work while allowing reversible work to proceed.
Key features
- 01Paraphrase the goal and constraints
- 02State assumptions explicitly
- 03Define a success check
- 04Pause for correction on risky work
- 05Proceed with reversible work
Use cases
- 01Clarifying a vague project brief
- 02Surfacing disagreement before execution
- 03Checking assumptions before a risky task
Install
Copy the command and run it in a terminal.
npx skills add https:/After installing, type/in-your-own-wordsin Claude Code to confirm it loaded.
Details
From the project READMEIn Your Own Words
Before the first tool call on genuinely ambiguous work — a brief that is vague, contested, or leaves real forks open — say back what you understood — in your words, not the user's phrasing echoed. Misunderstanding caught now costs a sentence; caught after execution it costs the work. A well-specified brief needs no playback: start, and report what you did.
The playback
Three parts, plain language:
- The goal: what the user will have when this is done.
- The problem (if any): what stands in the way, as you understand it.
- The success check: how we will know it worked.
Then one line: "Right? Correct me where I drifted." — and stop for the
answer on risky work; proceed-and-report on clearly reversible work
(principles skill, Never block on the human).
Rules
- Playback is a paraphrase, not a copy: if you can only repeat the brief, you have not understood it yet.
- Name your assumptions inline ("I am assuming staging, not production").
- Disagreement between your playback and the brief is the point — surface it, do not smooth it.