Readability Fixer

What it does

Scans a draft for long sentences, nested clauses, and jargon, then rewrites only the flagged passages to hit a target reading grade level (default 8th grade, adjustable). It preserves the original structure, terminology the audience needs, and the author's tone, rather than producing generic simplified text.

Install

This skill isn't packaged in an installable registry. It's a plain SKILL.md file you can copy directly. Copy it from the SKILL.md tab and save it at the path for your assistant:

Use it in your AI assistant

Claude Code

.claude/skills/readability-fixer/ (or ~/.claude/skills/readability-fixer/ for all projects)

GitHub Copilot (VS Code)

.github/skills/readability-fixer/

OpenAI Codex

.codex/skills/readability-fixer/

Cursor

.cursor/skills/readability-fixer/ (or ~/.cursor/skills/readability-fixer/ globally)

Compatibility

Any WordPress site. No special plugin required; pairs well with a readability-scoring plugin if one is installed, but works without it.

The complete SKILL.md for this skill:

---
name: readability-fixer
description: Use when a user asks to simplify a post, lower its reading level, or make dense paragraphs easier to read. Triggers on "make this easier to read", "simplify this paragraph", or "this reads too dense".
---

# Readability Fixer

## When to use
A draft or published post has passages that are hard to scan, long sentences, nested clauses, or unexplained jargon, and the user wants it more accessible without losing meaning or voice.

## Procedure
1. Read the full draft and identify the target reading level (default to 8th grade if the user does not specify one).
2. Flag specific paragraphs or sentences that exceed the target, citing the reason (sentence length, passive voice, unexplained term) rather than rewriting the whole post.
3. Rewrite only the flagged passages, splitting long sentences, replacing jargon with plain terms or a short inline explanation, and keeping any terminology the audience genuinely needs.
4. Preserve the author's original tone and any deliberate stylistic choices (rhetorical questions, humor, direct address) rather than defaulting to generic simplified phrasing.
5. Present a before/after diff of only the changed passages so the user can approve each change individually.

## Guardrails
- Do not rewrite passages that already meet the target level; touching text that isn't broken risks introducing errors or diluting voice for no benefit.
- Do not strip out technical terms the audience is expected to know; simplify the sentence around them or add a brief gloss instead of deleting the term.