Cut the sentences that say nothing.

Model prose fails quietly. It frames a claim, pads it, hedges it, then closes with a summary of the paragraph above. noobvious is a skill that teaches an agent twelve tells to catch that in its own draft, plus three tests to decide what stays.

npm i @qexle/noobvious && npx skills experimental_sync
              -y

12tells the agent reads
3tests per sentence
38rules the checker runs

specimen.md marked by the skill

Version.

the label names its own field

qany is at v0.3.0.

says it twice

The CLI and MCP interfaces may change before 1.0.

would sit in any README

after the cut

Version 0.3.0. Command and tool names can change until 1.0.

keep this

red pen: the tell blue pencil: what survived

The tells

Twelve shapes. The agent reads its own draft against them.

labelA label that names its own field, like "Version." above a version number. Let the value carry it.
pasteA sentence that would fit in any other project. Name the specific fact, or cut it.
headingA section that opens by restating its heading. Start at the second sentence.
twiceThe same claim in the intro and again in the body. Keep the copy that carries the numbers.
restatementA question answered by restating it. Answer with the fact the reader asked for.
hedge"may" or "can potentially" on something you measured. Give the number.
definitionA definition that agrees with its noun. Say what it produces.
paddingThree bullets where one carries the point. Cut the other two.
sign-offA closing line that asks for nothing. Delete it.
pointerA reference to output the reader can already see. Cut it.
qualifier"very", "quite", "significantly", "essentially". Cut the word, then check the sentence still means the same thing.
modestyPraise in front of a real result. Lead with the result.

three tests, one sentence at a time

What did the reader learn from this sentence?
Could this sentence sit in someone else's README?
Does the label say anything the value does not already say?

A sentence that fails any of them goes. A tutorial, a safety notice, and an API reference keep the repeats they need.

The mechanical pass

Thirty-eight rules with a fixed shape. The checker runs offline, on your machine, with no model in the loop.

family	shape	fix
frame	a wrapper around a clause that already carries the claim	cut the frame, keep the clause: `it is important to note that`
opener	throat-clearing before the content starts	start with the content: `let's dive into`
closing	a summary marker that repeats the text above it	delete the marker: `in conclusion`
claim	a claim nobody sourced	name the source: `it is widely believed that`
redundant	a word group that says less than the plain version	use the short form: `in order to`, `due to the fact that`
hedge	stacked qualifiers on one verb	keep one: `could possibly`
repeat	two sentences or phrases carrying the same content	say it once: a list item that restates the list above it

A run

Six of the twelve findings from a real run.

sample.md

3:19 error frame.important_note Cut the frame and keep the clause.

7:1 warning opener.lets_dive Start with the content.

9:1 error claim.widely_believed Name the source, or state it as fact if it is one.

11:1 warning redundant.in_order_to Replace with "to".

13:27 error repeat.adjacent_sentence Delete one of the two sentences.

17:1 error closing.conclusion_marker Delete the marker, or delete the sentence when it repeats.

6 errors, 6 warnings in 1 file (98 words)

Exit code 1 when a file has an error, so the check drops into a pipeline. --json gives the same findings as data, and --strict fails the run on warnings too.

Install

Node 20.10 or newer. Bun works the same way.

install the skill

npm i @qexle/noobvious

npx skills experimental_sync -y

The sync command finds the bundled skill in node_modules and installs it into the agents on the machine. The skill ends by shelling out to the checker, so install the package globally too: npm install -g @qexle/noobvious.

run the checker

npx @qexle/noobvious README.md

Add --stdin to read a draft from a pipe, or point it at a folder of markdown. The checker catches the phrase-level tells on its own and cannot judge meaning.

run it as a server

{
  "mcp": {
    "servers": {
      "noobvious": {
        "command": "npx",
        "args": ["-y", "@qexle/noobvious", "mcp"]
      }
    }
  }
}

What it cannot do

It cannot tell whether a sentence is true. It reads form, not meaning.
It does not know your audience. Some repetition earns its place in a tutorial or a contract.
It reads markdown, mdx, and plain text. Code blocks and inline code are skipped.
The rules are English only.
Every hit can be silenced. Put  above a line, or wrap a block between ignore start and ignore end.