debloatinglisted

# Debloating ## What counts as bloat **Bloat is text that changes nothing for its reader.** The reader is usually the agent, but not always — Step 0 confirms who. Text fails it when: the reader already knows it, it is filler or ceremony, it repeats something already said. This is judged against the artefact's intent. Without an agreed intent, signal and noise are indistinguishable. ## Scope - The unit is one file. Read related assets (another skill, a rule, the agent that preloads this skill) only when a specific cut needs that context — for example, to confirm a passage is duplicated elsewhere or already known to the reader. Most files need none of this. - Tuned for skills; works on any prose artefact. - Frontmatter descriptions are in scope — they are often bloated. Debloat them too, but preserve the trigger keywords and discoverability that let the skill be found; do not cut past the point where routing still works. - Flag, do not fix, anything that is not a cut: contradictions, overlap with another skill, aged assumptions, "should this exist at all". Raise it and let the user decide. ## Workflow ### Step 0 — Agree the intent (always first) Read the whole artefact. State back, and confirm with the user, three things: **why it exists** (its intent), **who the reader is** (usually the agent, sometimes a human), and **what matters to that reader**. These are the measuring stick for every judgement that follows — cut nothing before they are agreed. ### Step 1 — Classi