pstack is a collection of plain Agent Skills and engineering principles that guide AI-assisted software development across coding agents such as Claude Code, Codex, Pi, Cursor, and OpenCode. It is for developers who want reusable practices for tasks including testing, technical writing, debugging, review, and coordinating agent work. The catalogue entries are the project's skills, agents, and plugin.
Getting it into your agent
One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.
npx skills add backnotprop/pstack --skill technical-writinggit clone --depth 1 https://github.com/backnotprop/pstackWrote 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.
[](https://agentmods.dev/skills/backnotprop/pstack/technical-writing)<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/backnotprop/pstack/technical-writing"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/backnotprop/pstack/technical-writing/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.
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/backnotprop/pstack/technical-writing"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/backnotprop/pstack/technical-writing.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>- Socket pass
- Snyk pass
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 | $0.00052 | $0.02077 |
| Opus 5.5 | $0.00021 | $0.00831 |
| Sonnet 5.5 | $0.00010 | $0.00415 |
| Haiku 4.5 | $0.00005 | $0.00208 |
Grade A, and why
technical-writing 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 9d 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.
This is a copy
97% identical to technical-writing — 1 line differ, which has more behind it and is treated as the original. This page carries a canonical link to it rather than competing with it.
How it starts
The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 107 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.
Technical writing
Write so a tired engineer understands on the first read. Apply all four layers.
Three rules sit above the layers:
- Cut every word that does no work. If the sentence survives without a word, the word goes. "In order to" is "to". "It is important to note that" is nothing.
- Use the short, everyday word. "Use", not "utilize". "Help", not "facilitate". "Do", not "perform". A long word has to buy its length with precision.
- When a rule makes a sentence worse, fix the sentence another way or leave it alone. A sentence that follows every rule and sounds like a machine wrote it has failed.
The codebase is the word list. Write the real symbol, file, flag, or command name, not a synonym or a description of it.
Don't invent jargon. Use the words a developer would say out loud: "move", "delete", "a budget that only decreases", not "evacuate", "ratchet", or "endgame". A named pattern is fine when the doc says what it means the first time. Propose a new offender and its replacement as an addition to unslop's abstract-metaphor rule in your reply, with the diff. Don't edit that skill.
Vary the rhythm
A doc can obey every layer and still read machine-written: every sentence clipped short, no view anywhere, nothing specific.
- Mix sentence lengths on purpose. Short sentences land a point. Longer ones carry a fact with its condition or consequence.
- One thought per sentence does not mean one length per sentence. Split the sentence that carries two thoughts. Keep the long sentence that carries one.
- Have a view where the mode allows it. Explanation weighs trade-offs, so say what you make of them instead of listing pros and cons. Reference stays dry.
- Be specific over sterile. Not "schema changes can cause issues" but "a column rename fails the build".
Pick the mode first (Diátaxis)
One document, one mode. Two questions pick it: does the content inform action (doing) or understanding (thinking), and does it serve learning or work?
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.
- 9d ago Changed 61fe9c424a79
- 17d ago Changed · -21 lines f5c512ffeec7
- 1mo ago Changed · -3 lines 6d6d9e625ae4
- 1mo ago First seen · 131 lines · 52 tokens per session scan A bd0cb21034f4
technical-writing is a skill published in the GitHub repository backnotprop/pstack (2,498 stars, last pushed yesterday), licensed MIT. It adds 52 tokens to every session and 2,077 once invoked, about $0.0002 per session on Opus 5.5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. It is 97% identical to technical-writing, differing in 1 line, and is treated as a copy.
Other skills, from other repositories
catalog-collection
Catalog and classify materials using standard library systems. Covers descriptive cataloging, subject headings, call number assignment using Dewey Decimal and Library of Congress Classification, MARC record basics, shelf organization, and authority control for consistent access points. Use when organizing a personal…
build-parameterized-report
Create parameterized Quarto or R Markdown reports that can be rendered with different inputs to generate multiple variations. Covers parameter definitions, programmatic rendering, and batch generation. Use when generating the same report for different departments, regions, or time periods; creating client-specific…
create-quarto-report
Create a Quarto document for reproducible reports, presentations, or websites. Covers YAML configuration, code chunk options, output formats, cross-references, and rendering. Use when creating a reproducible analysis report, building a presentation with embedded code, generating HTML, PDF, or Word documents from code…
file-processing
Process and analyze CSV, JSON, and text files with data transformation, cleaning, analysis, and visualization capabilities.
design-system
Captures the user's brand identity once via a 10-question onboarding wizard (primary/accent HEX + heading + body Google Fonts + design style editorial/technical/minimal/playful + default output directory + syntax theme + TOC behavior + optional logo/company), validates body-text and link contrast against WCAG 2.2 AA…
board-deck-builder
Assembles comprehensive board and investor update decks by pulling perspectives from all C-suite roles. Use when preparing board meetings, investor updates, quarterly business reviews, or fundraising narratives. Covers structure, narrative framework, bad news delivery, and common mistakes.