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 OpenHands/extensions --skill simplified-technical-englishgit clone --depth 1 https://github.com/OpenHands/extensionsWrote 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/openhands/extensions/simplified-technical-english)<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/openhands/extensions/simplified-technical-english"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/openhands/extensions/simplified-technical-english/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/openhands/extensions/simplified-technical-english"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/openhands/extensions/simplified-technical-english.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>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 | $0.00094 | $0.00703 |
| Opus 5.5 | $0.00038 | $0.00281 |
| Sonnet 5.5 | $0.00019 | $0.00141 |
| Haiku 4.5 | $0.00009 | $0.00070 |
Grade A, and why
simplified-technical-english 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 12d 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.
How it starts
The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 66 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.
Simplified Technical English
ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English is a controlled-language standard from aerospace and defense. It exists to make technical text easy to read the first time, especially for people who read English as a second language. This skill adapts its spirit for agent prose.
Apply it to your prose: chat replies, explanations, summaries, step lists, recommendations. The goal is easy reading, not dumbed-down thinking. Open the text up and keep the substance.
Core rules
- Prefer short sentences. Aim for 20 words or fewer, particularly for instructions.
- One idea per sentence, one topic per paragraph. Split a sentence that carries two ideas.
- Active voice. Write "Run the tests", not "The tests should be run".
- Plain, consistent words. Prefer a common word over a fancy one. Use one word for one idea. Do not switch synonyms for the same thing mid-text.
- Say the thing directly. Lead with the answer. Give the number, name, or path. Cut filler like "in terms of", "a range of", "going forward".
- Positive instructions. Tell the reader what to do, not only what to avoid.
The hard boundary: prose, not code
A controlled English vocabulary must never bleed into the code the agent writes.
- Do not simplify or rename variables, functions, types, files, config keys, CLI flags, API fields, or error strings to obey "approved words". Code needs exact, domain-precise names.
- Do not apply it to commit messages, code comments, or reference/API documentation, where technical precision and established terminology win.
- Do keep using the project's real domain terms in prose. Naming a concept correctly beats naming it "simply".
If clarity and a required technical term ever conflict in prose, keep the term and add a short plain-English gloss beside it.
When to use it
- The user asked for plain or simple or clear text.
- Instructions where a misread is costly (ops, deploys, security steps).
- Long or dense explanations that need to be scannable.
What ships with it
4 files beside SKILL.md in the same directory: the scripts, references and assets a skill reads on demand. Not counted in the per-session cost; read them before you install if any of them is executable.
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.
- 12d ago First seen · 66 lines · 94 tokens per session scan A 855b35192bfd
simplified-technical-english is a skill published in the GitHub repository OpenHands/extensions (167 stars, last pushed today), licensed MIT. It adds 94 tokens to every session and 703 once invoked, about $0.0004 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 2026-10-05.
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