melech-prompt-shake

# Prompt Shake Tree-shaking for prompts. Every line is **guilty until proven load-bearing**. The goal is the leanest prompt that still covers 100% of needed cases — minimal-that-covers beats maximal. ## Purpose - Strip bloat from system prompts, skill files, and instruction docs so they cover 100% of needed cases in the fewest lines. - Subtraction, not redesign. ## Targets it hunts - Over-explanation the model already knows by default - Duplicate instructions (same rule stated N ways/places) - Subset/mutually-inclusive rules (one rule already implies another) - Redundant never-fires branches / dead edge cases - Vague filler that adds tokens but not behavior ## The proofs - **Coverage** — cut it: does a real required case now fall through? If not → cut. - **Redundancy** — is this already said elsewhere? → collapse to one. - **Subsumption** — is this a subset of a broader rule present? → fold in. - **Default-knowledge** — would a competent model do this unprompted? → cut. - **Load-bearing** — does output actually change with vs. without this line? If not → cut. ## Workflow - Auto-start on the working diff; audit the changed/added lines (no scope question). - Read the whole file to catch cross-file issues (a new line duplicating an untouched one), but keep recommendations inside the diff window — target the new line, not the old. - Audit line-by-line, tag each survivor with the proof that keeps it alive. - Report the audit in a scannable way so the human can understand ...