A writing and explanation guide for articles, essays, posts, talks, and other drafted content. It combines a structured approach to making ideas clear with writing that uses questions to develop the subject.

Use it to draft or revise long-form writing, explain a difficult topic, prepare a talk, or shape a post, article, essay, or narrative.

It helps turn complicated thoughts into explanations with a clear purpose, useful context, and only the necessary detail. It is aimed at general writing rather than code documentation or commit messages.

How marciopuga/cog configures Claude Code

Reuse

Borrowing it

Nothing to install: this file belongs to marciopuga/cog. Take a copy, put it at the same path in your own repository, and replace the rules that are about this project with yours.

Copy the file

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/marciopuga/cog/main/.claude/commands/explainer.md

Clone the repo

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/marciopuga/cog

Made for: Claude Code.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

README.md

[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/commands/marciopuga/cog/explainer/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/commands/marciopuga/cog/explainer)

Your own site

<a href="https://agentmods.dev/commands/marciopuga/cog/explainer"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/commands/marciopuga/cog/explainer/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

Your own site · 80×15

<a href="https://agentmods.dev/commands/marciopuga/cog/explainer"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/commands/marciopuga/cog/explainer.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>

Per session 55 Only the description is in the session, so the agent can decide to use it. The body loads when it is invoked.

When invoked 1,032 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.

Security scan A 0 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.

Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.

Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

Model	Per session	Once invoked
Fable 5.1	$0.00055	$0.01032
Opus 5.5	$0.00022	$0.00413
Sonnet 5.5	$0.00011	$0.00206
Haiku 4.5	$0.00006	$0.00103

Measured 2mo ago against content hash bb6a6585fdf6, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-10-07, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

explainer scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 2mo ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

.claude/commands/explainer.md · 100 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 100 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Use this skill when the user wants to write, explain, draft, or craft content. Trigger if the conversation involves:

Writing articles, essays, posts, or explanations
Drafting long-form pieces
Explaining a complex topic clearly
Crafting talks, presentations, or narratives
"Help me write about...", "explain this", "draft a post on..."
Review or editing of written content Do NOT trigger for code documentation, commit messages, or technical dev-log entries.

Domain

Writing and explanation — blending Ros Atkins' systematic clarity with Montaigne's spirit of writing-as-discovery.

Philosophy

Atkins: Clarity comes from process, not talent. Structure turns complexity into understanding.
Montaigne: Writing is a trial, an experiment of thought. Questions matter more than conclusions.
Fusion: Explanation is a clear inquiry — rigorous enough to orient the reader, alive enough to surprise both writer and reader.

The 10 Attributes of Good Explanation (Atkins)

Simplicity
Essential detail
Handling complexity
Efficiency
Precision
Context
No distractions
Engaging
Useful
Clarity of purpose

The Montaignean Dimensions

Inquiry, not declaration — Every explanation begins with a live question.
Essay as attempt — Explanations are provisional, open-ended, exploratory.
Self as lens — Anecdote, reflection, personal observation may enter if they illuminate.
Digression with return — Curiosity is allowed; wanderings return to the main thread.
Dialogue with the reader — Thinking-with, not speaking-at.
Acceptance of uncertainty — Clear explanations can still acknowledge ambiguity.
Exploration of living questions — Explanations don't just inform, they invite further thought.

Method

For controlled pieces (articles, talks, posts)

Set-Up: Define audience, purpose, and a question to explore (not only a point to deliver).
Find Information: Gather widely — facts (Atkins) and lived/reflective material (Montaigne). Search memory files for relevant source material.
Distil: Essential vs. interesting (Atkins), but allow space for curiosity-driven digressions (Montaigne).
Organize the Strands: 5–10 strands, structured clearly but open to moments of surprise.
Link: Build narrative flow with a conversational, reflective tone.
Tighten with Wonder: Ruthlessly edit clutter, but preserve moments of human thought or unresolved insight.
Deliver: Present with clarity and curiosity, as if sharing a question-in-progress.

Read the full file on GitHub · 100 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

2mo ago First seen · 100 lines · 55 tokens per session scan A bb6a6585fdf6

Subscribe to this mod's changes

explainer is a command published in the GitHub repository marciopuga/cog (377 stars, last pushed 2mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 55 tokens to every session and 1,032 once invoked, about $0.0002 per session on Opus 5.5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.

Writing and docs

explainer next to 6 commands from other repositories
Mod	Type	Stars	Last push	Licence	Scan	Tokens	Works with
explainermarciopuga/cog	Command	377	2mo ago	MIT	A	55	Claude Code
checklistgithub/spec-kit	Command	148k	yesterday	MIT	A	13	Claude Code
clarifygithub/spec-kit	Command	148k	yesterday	MIT	A	27	Claude Code
specifygithub/spec-kit	Command	148k	yesterday	MIT	A	13	Claude Code
analyzegithub/spec-kit	Command	148k	yesterday	MIT	A	26	Claude Code
convergegithub/spec-kit	Command	148k	yesterday	MIT	A	35	Claude Code
implementgithub/spec-kit	Command	148k	yesterday	MIT	A	14	Claude Code

cog: Command for Claude Code