# Show HN: 1pager: Fixing the AI verbosity problem

> Source: <https://github.com/cfitzgerald-pd/1pager/tree/main>
> Published: 2026-06-18 18:19:18+00:00

A skill that condenses any long document, directory, or chat into a strict
**one-page** summary — bullet-first, least verbosity possible — humanizes it, and
exports a `.md`

plus a `.docx`

(opens in Word and Google Docs).

LLMs are verbose by default. Left unedited, their output is long, padded, and full of tells (rule-of-three, "delve", em-dash sprees, generic upbeat closers).

The cost lands on the reader. As Camille Fournier argues in
[Guidelines for respectful use of AI](https://skamille.medium.com/guidelines-for-respectful-use-of-ai-affcc85d7072),
shipping unreviewed, bloated AI output creates a **validation tax**: colleagues
have to read and verify text the author never bothered to trim. Long PRs, wall-
of-text messages, and bloated docs are, in her words, "frankly, just rude."
Brevity is a form of respect — shorter is better because it protects the
reader's time.

This skill exists to do the trimming the author should have done: cut the output down to only what the reader needs to understand or decide, on a single page.

**Strips to essentials**— keeps the point, the decision/ask, the few supporting facts, real risks, and concrete next steps. Drops everything else.**Drafts a strict 1-pager**— bottom line first, then bullets. One page, hard ceiling (~350 words).** Humanizes**— removes AI-writing tells. Invokes the installed`humanizer`

skill if present; otherwise falls back to the bundled`references/humanizer.md`

.**Exports two files**—`<name>-1pager.md`

and`<name>-1pager.docx`

.

```
1pager/
├── SKILL.md                     # the skill: condense → humanize → export
├── README.md                    # this file
├── scripts/
│   └── md_to_docx.py            # pure-stdlib Markdown → .docx (no dependencies)
└── references/
    └── humanizer.md             # bundled humanizer rules (fallback)
```

In Claude Code, the skill triggers when you ask to condense, shorten, or make a 1-pager out of something:

"Condense this design doc into a one-pager." "This thread is way too long — give me a tl;dr I can share." "Boil the docs/ folder down to a single page."

Point it at a **directory** and it combines the relevant files into one page by
default (one page per file if you ask for that instead).

You can also run the converter directly:

```
python3 scripts/md_to_docx.py my-1pager.md my-1pager.docx
```

`md_to_docx.py`

supports the small Markdown subset a 1-pager needs: `#`

–`####`

headings, `-`

/`*`

bullets (two-space indent = sub-bullet), `**bold**`

, and
``code``

(rendered monospace). It has no external dependencies — a `.docx`

is
just a zip of XML, built with the Python standard library.