vbw:compress

VBW Compress: $ARGUMENTS

Guard

• No $ARGUMENTS: STOP "Usage: /vbw:compress path/to/file.{md|txt} (or extensionless file)"

Steps

1. Validate input file:

TARGET="$ARGUMENTS"
if [ ! -f "$TARGET" ]; then echo "ERROR: File not found: $TARGET"; exit 1; fi
SIZE=$(wc -c < "$TARGET" | tr -d ' ')
if [ "$SIZE" -gt 512000 ]; then echo "ERROR: File too large (${SIZE} bytes, max 500KB)"; exit 1; fi
BASENAME="${TARGET##*/}"
case "$BASENAME" in
  *.*) EXT="${BASENAME##*.}" ;;
  *)   EXT="" ;;
esac
case "$EXT" in md|txt|"") ;; *) echo "ERROR: Only .md, .txt, or extensionless files supported"; exit 1;; esac
echo "OK: $TARGET ($SIZE bytes)"

If the guard fails, STOP with the error message.

1. Create backup:

case "$TARGET" in
  *.*) BACKUP="${TARGET%.*}.original.${TARGET##*.}";;
  *)   BACKUP="${TARGET}.original";;
esac
if [ -e "$BACKUP" ]; then
  _i=1; while [ -e "${BACKUP%.*}.${_i}.${BACKUP##*.}" ] 2>/dev/null; do _i=$((_i+1)); done
  case "$BACKUP" in *.*) BACKUP="${BACKUP%.*}.${_i}.${BACKUP##*.}";; *) BACKUP="${BACKUP}.${_i}";; esac
fi
cp "$TARGET" "$BACKUP"
echo "Backup: $BACKUP"

1. Read the original file in full. Then compress it following these rules:

Remove

• Articles: a, an, the
• Filler: just, really, basically, actually, simply, essentially, generally
• Pleasantries: "sure", "certainly", "of course", "happy to", "I'd recommend"
• Hedging: "it might be worth", "you could consider", "it would be good to"
• Redundant phrasing: "in order to" → "to", "make sure to" → "ensure", "the reason is because" → "because"
• Connective fluff: "however", "furthermore", "additionally", "in addition"

Preserve EXACTLY (never modify)

• Code blocks (fenced ``` and indented) — copy byte-for-byte, including comments and spacing
• Inline code (backtick content)
• URLs and links
• File paths and commands
• Technical terms, proper nouns, dates, version numbers
• Environment variables

Preserve structure

• All markdown headings (exact heading text, compress body)
• Bullet/number hierarchy and nesting
• Tables (compress cell text, keep structure)
• Frontmatter/YAML headers