weindie

/kiss

WeIndie skill · v0.1

Is this the smallest version that still works?

Reviews work for complexity that is not earning its place, and proposes the smallest version that still meets the goal.

Try it once Install Make it yours SKILL.md

Sent this link by someone? /kiss is a skill you can add to an AI tool — or just try the prompt below in a conversation you already have open.

§ 1

Example

A simple implementation has accumulated unnecessary abstractions.

You

I added one field to the settings form and it's touched 14 files.

AI

The field goes through a FieldRegistry, a validator factory and a config schema, so new fields are declarative.

/kiss

That structure would earn its place at thirty fields. There are four. Keep the config schema — the API already reads it. The rest can collapse into the input, one validation check beside it, and the existing save call. Three files instead of fourteen.

§ 2

Try once

Nothing to install. Copy this into a conversation that is already underway, and see whether the idea is useful before you commit to it.

Review the current work using a keep-it-simple pass. Point out complexity that is not earning its place — unnecessary abstraction, indirection, structure or process — and describe the smallest version that still meets the goal, including what it gives up. Preserve anything justified by a real constraint and name that constraint. If the current complexity is warranted, say so plainly rather than simplifying for its own sake.

A short, portable version. The installed skill carries the fuller behaviour — when to stay quiet, how to report, what not to flag — and neither needs your AI to be able to read this page.

§ 3

When

/kiss is allowed to find nothing.

Useful when

  • A small change has spread across many files.
  • New abstractions appeared that the goal did not ask for.
  • Something is hard to explain, or hard to change safely.

Probably not needed when

  • The complexity is load-bearing and you already know why.
  • The work is genuinely intricate and the structure reflects that.
  • Simplifying now would cost more than living with it.
§ 4

Install

One canonical skill, packaged for wherever you work.

In a project
For all your projects

Or fetch it straight into place
§ 5

Make it yours

A few choices that change how /kiss behaves. Everything here happens in this browser — nothing is sent anywhere, and nothing is saved.

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§ 6
Skill source

      
The whole skill, and the same file every download is built from. Nothing downloadable here should be less inspectable than the page explaining it.

        
---
name: kiss
description: Review work for complexity that is not earning its place, and propose the smallest version that still works.
license: MIT
metadata:
  version: "0.1"
  source: https://weindie.com/kiss
---

# /kiss

**Is this the smallest version that still works?**

Complexity accumulates one reasonable decision at a time. Each abstraction was
defensible when it was added; together they cost more than the problem does. This
skill looks at the current work and asks which structure is carrying real weight,
which is carrying imagined weight, and what the smallest honest version would be.

## Useful when

- A small change has spread across many files.
- New abstractions appeared that the goal did not ask for.
- Something is hard to explain, or hard to change safely.
- You are about to build a general solution to a specific problem.

## Probably not needed when

- The complexity is load-bearing and you already know why.
- The work is genuinely intricate and the structure reflects that.
- Simplifying now would cost more than living with it.

Existing complexity is often justified. Saying so is a valid and useful result.
Do not simplify for its own sake, and do not trade real structure for a smaller
line count.

## How to run the check

1. **State the goal in one sentence.** Simplicity is only measurable against what
   the work is for.
2. **Inventory the structure.** List the abstractions, layers, indirections,
   options and process steps currently in play.
3. **Ask what each one is holding up.** For each: what breaks if it is removed?
   If the answer is "nothing yet", it is speculative.
4. **Separate justified from speculative.** Justified complexity answers to a real
   constraint that exists now — scale, a contract, a known requirement.
5. **Describe the smallest version that still meets the goal**, including what it
   gives up.

## Reporting

- Say what should stay, and why, before saying what should go.
- Attach each removal to a concrete cost it is currently imposing.
- Give the smaller version concretely, not as a principle.
- If the current shape is right, say so plainly and stop.

## Defaults you can change

These are the adjustable lines of this skill. A customised copy from
<https://weindie.com/kiss> replaces them and records what changed.

- **Simplification pressure.** Flag complexity that is not currently carrying weight, but leave anything with a plausible near-term justification in place.
- **Abstractions.** Treat an abstraction with a single caller as speculative unless a second use is already known and imminent.
- **Scope of review.** Review the work that has recently changed, and mention surrounding architecture only where it is the direct cause of the complexity.
- **Prose and responses.** Review code and structure only; leave the wording of explanations and responses alone.


        
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Other skills

      
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