Brief

Paste a messy prompt. Get the brief GPT-6 Astra actually wants.

Personas, “think step by step”, “don’t mention you’re an AI”, hedging, giant skill files that contradict the user — all of that is dead type. Astra is more capable and more literal. A brief beats a novel.

What you get

Surface	Job
The dump	Paste the crap. Kind and reasoning effort, or leave both on Auto.
Set type	Model compositor (Grok 4.5) rewrites it into the Astra form. Local fallback if the model is offline.
The brief	Goal, Inputs, Constraints, Output, Done when, plus effort and an autonomy stanza. Copy it.
Killed type	The phrases that got cut, and why.
Signal	Debullshit the viral Astra tweets. What actually changed.

History lives in localStorage. Nothing is sent until you press Set type.

The form

Five parts, then stop writing:

Goal
Fix the React button that does nothing on click.

Inputs
The request below is the sole source. Infer routine details.

Constraints
Don't invent a design system. Don't add comments that narrate the code.

Reasoning effort: medium

Output
The changed files and a short note on how to verify. No extra markdown theater.

Done when
Clicking the button performs the stated action. Existing tests that should still pass, pass.

Infer intent. Bias toward action. Treat this as authorization. User instructions beat skill files.

Full spec: docs/format.md.

Install the skill only

If you just want an agent to write briefs this way:

git clone https://github.com/anwhelan01/brief.git
cp -R brief/skills/brief .claude/skills/brief

Host	Path
Claude Code	.claude/skills/brief/
Codex	.agents/skills/brief/
Cursor	.cursor/skills/brief/
Windsurf	.windsurf/skills/brief/

Start a new agent task, then:

Use $brief to rewrite this prompt for GPT-6 Astra. Kill the theater. Keep the intent.

Install notes: docs/install-skill.md.

Run the press

Needs Node 22.

git clone https://github.com/anwhelan01/brief.git
cd brief
npm install
cp .env.example .env   # add XAI_API_KEY if you want the model compositor
npm run dev

Open the URL Vite prints. ⌘ Enter sets type.

Without a key, Set type still works. The compositor falls back to a local heuristic that strips personas, chain-of-thought theater, and hedging, then fills the five-part form.

npm run typecheck
npm run build

What the compositor kills

Dead type	Why
“You are a senior X with 20 years…”	Persona theater. Astra already knows how to do the job.
“Think step by step”	Set reasoning effort instead.
“Don’t mention you’re an AI”	Useless. Astra is not roleplaying a human.
“Take a deep breath”	Dead ritual from older models.
“This is extremely important”	If it matters, it belongs in Constraints.
“Can you please maybe…”	Hedging. Treat the request as an instruction.

The dump is capped at 8,000 characters. The model is only called when you press the button.

Astra’s five drifts

Open Signal in the app, or read them here:

Behavior	Drift	Fix
Initiative	Asks, then stalls.	Infer. Persist. Approve a finished artifact, not a plan.
Instructions	Obeys skills too hard.	User brief beats AGENTS.md.
Prose	Bullets everything.	Demand paragraphs. Ban slop words.
Subagents	Under-delegates.	Say when to parallelize.
Tests	Test suites for typos.	Calibrate verification to blast radius.

Doctrine lives in src/lib/doctrine.ts.

How a brief is born

1. src/lib/compose.ts — local compositor. Regex cuts plus kind/effort guesses.
2. src/lib/refine.functions.ts — server function. Model grok-4.5, JSON only, one retry, 40s cap.
3. src/lib/doctrine.ts — Signal copy. Not sent to the model; it is already in the system prompt.
4. skills/brief/ — the file you drop into an agent host.

See docs/architecture.md and CONTRIBUTING.md.

License

MIT. Independent of OpenAI. Not a prompting course. Not affiliation.

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Hermes Bot Mode

This press is a named Hermes Bot — own model slot, memory, skills, routines, and @mentions.

# once
curl -fsSL https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/install.sh | bash

# this repo
./scripts/install-hermes-bot.sh
hermes -p brief chat

In Hermes Desktop the Bot lands under Bots. Type @brief from any chat; group it with the rest of the k3ss roster (desks).

File	Role
AGENTS.md	Project harness Hermes loads at session start
.hermes/SOUL.md	Bot personality
.hermes/bot.yaml	Roster, skills, groups
.hermes/skills/brief/SKILL.md	Portable skill

Docs: Bot Mode · Context files · Skills