nicobailon/skill-diet

What is it?

Key features

• 01Rewrites a skill to cut the tokens loaded per task while keeping test results.
• 02Checks skills that teach a tool for commands that no longer work.
• 03Compares the old skill, new skill and no skill on the same tasks before keeping a change.
• 04Sets rules for later updates so skills stay lean.
• 05Includes skill-model-gap for diagnosing and fixing failures on specific models.

Use cases

• Shrinking a long internal skill that is slowing down every agent session.
• Checking whether a skill that documents a CLI still matches the installed version.
• Keeping a skill maintained over time without it growing with every added lesson.
• Finding why a skill works on one model but fails on a cheaper one.

Quick start

1. 1

   Install with Pi (npm package)

   pi install npm:skill-diet
2. 2

   Or install for Codex, Cursor and other agents

   npx skills add nicobailon/skill-diet -g --skill '*'
3. 3

   In Claude Code, install the plugin from the marketplace

   /plugin install skill-diet --marketplace nicobailon/skill-diet
4. 4

   Ask your agent to put a skill on a diet, for example: put the deploy skill on a diet

Things to know

• !The before/after test runs real agent sessions, so it costs time and tokens.
• !The checks cover only the eval tasks and what the old skill said, so cases outside them may not be tested.
• !The call logger wraps command-line tools only; native tools, MCP servers, APIs and SDKs are read from session logs instead.

In collections

Topics

FAQ

What is skill-diet?

An agent skill that trims bloated skill files to save tokens, fixes mismatches with the tool they teach, and tests that slimmer versions still work. Agents read a skill's full SKILL.md every time they use it, and most skills carry far more than a given task needs. skill-diet is a skill that rewrites other skills to be shorter and correct: it moves each fact to the lowest level that still reaches the agent in time, cuts what the model already knows, and checks skills that teach a CLI, API or SDK against the tool's current behavior.

Is skill-diet free to use? What license does it have?

skill-diet is open source under the MIT license. Check the license terms before using it in commercial products.

Is skill-diet still maintained?

Actively maintained. The last commit to skill-diet was on Nov 6, 2026.

What can I use skill-diet for?

Shrinking a long internal skill that is slowing down every agent session. Checking whether a skill that documents a CLI still matches the installed version. Keeping a skill maintained over time without it growing with every added lesson. Finding why a skill works on one model but fails on a cheaper one.

How do I install skill-diet?

Install with Pi (npm package): pi install npm:skill-diet Or install for Codex, Cursor and other agents: npx skills add nicobailon/skill-diet -g --skill '*' In Claude Code, install the plugin from the marketplace: /plugin install skill-diet --marketplace nicobailon/skill-diet Ask your agent to put a skill on a diet, for example: put the deploy skill on a diet

Where can I get skill-diet?

The source code and installation instructions are on GitHub: https://github.com/nicobailon/skill-diet