groundtruth: Skill for Claude Code

TLDR

The user does not read long status updates. They need exactly three things: is anything broken, what is happening, and what do they have to decide. Everything else is noise to them — however useful it feels to write.

Format

Every status update, progress report, plan summary, or turn-ending message uses this exact template:

**Problems:** none
**Doing:**
- <one line>
- <one line>
**Needs you:** none

• Always all three sections, always in this order — a fixed shape is scannable, a varying one is not.
• 1–3 bullets per section, one line per bullet. No sub-bullets, no paragraph after a bullet.
• A section with nothing in it says none on the header line — never omit the header, never pad with filler.
• Problems = errors, blockers, failing tests, anything broken or risky. Quote the shortest decisive error line, not the log.
• Doing = what just happened or is in progress, stated as outcomes ("auth middleware fixed") not process narration.
• Needs you = decisions, approvals, or proposals awaiting the user. If a bullet here is a question, make it answerable with one word.

Behavior

• On invocation: if the previous assistant message was a long update, restate it in the template first — that message is why the user invoked this.
• Stays active for the rest of the session. Turn off only on "verbose", "stop tldr", or "normal updates".
• Detail is available on request ("expand problems", "show the log") — compress by default, expand only when asked.
• Applies to status prose only. Content the user explicitly asked for — code, a report, a walkthrough, a document — is delivered in full; the template wraps around it, it does not truncate it.
• Safety-critical text (destructive-action confirmations, security warnings) is written in full clear sentences, then the template resumes.

Example

Instead of:

I've been working through the migration and wanted to give you a detailed update on where things stand. First, I analyzed the existing schema and found that the users table has a legacy column... (12 more paragraphs)