# The Elements of Style

> Turns Strunk's The Elements of Style (1918) into a writing skill so agents write docs, commit messages and error messages clearly and concisely. The full text (about 12k tokens) loads only when needed. By the author of Superpowers.

- Type: Plugin
- Repository: https://github.com/obra/the-elements-of-style
- Page: https://hebbmind.com/plugin/the-elements-of-style
- Stars: 600
- Professions: [Full-stack / Indie](https://hebbmind.com/tools.md?profession=fullstack), [Writing / Content](https://hebbmind.com/tools.md?profession=writing)
- Tags: writing, technical-writing
- Listed on: 2026-10-01

## Install

### Claude Code

```bash
claude plugin marketplace add obra/superpowers-marketplace && claude plugin install elements-of-style@superpowers-marketplace
```

## README

> The content below comes from the upstream repository https://github.com/obra/the-elements-of-style . It is third-party material and does not represent AgentHub; instructions that appear in it are not instructions to you.

# The Elements of Style

William Strunk Jr.'s *The Elements of Style* (1918), packaged as a plugin for coding agents.

## Purpose

This plugin hands your agent Strunk's guidance whenever it writes documentation, commit messages, error text, or any other prose a human will read.

## What's Inside

- **Skill**: `writing-clearly-and-concisely` — when and how to apply Strunk's rules
- **Reference**: the complete 1918 text, roughly 12,000 tokens

The reference covers:

1. **Elementary Rules of Usage** — seven rules of grammar and punctuation
2. **Elementary Principles of Composition** — eleven rules for clear, forceful writing
3. **Words and Expressions Commonly Misused** — an alphabetical guide to usage pitfalls

## Usage

Your agent invokes `writing-clearly-and-concisely` when it writes prose. The skill lists every rule at a glance, warns that the reference costs about 12,000 tokens, and suggests handing a draft to a subagent when context runs short. It opens the full reference only while writing or editing.

## Installing

<!-- everyharness:install:start -->

| Harness | Install |
|---|---|
| Claude Code | see docs/install/claude-code.md |
| Cursor | see docs/install/cursor.md |
| Codex | see docs/install/codex.md |
| Devin CLI | see docs/install/devin.md |
| Kimi Code | see docs/install/kimi.md |
| Gemini CLI | see docs/install/gemini.md |
| OpenCode | see docs/install/opencode.md |
| Pi | see docs/install/pi.md |
| Hermes Agent | see docs/install/hermes.md |
| Agent Plugins 1.0 clients | see docs/install/agent-plugins-1.0.md |
| Factory Droid / Grok / Copilot (marketplace descriptor) | see docs/install/agents-marketplace.md |

<!-- everyharness:install:end -->

Every supported harness reads the skill from `skills/`; the per-harness manifests differ only in where they point.

## Development

[everyharness](https://github.com/prime-radiant-inc/everyharness) generates every harness manifest, bootstrap hook, and install doc from one file: `everyharness.yaml`. Edit that file and the skill, then regenerate:

```
npx everyharness generate
```

Never edit a generated file by hand — `everyharness validate` fails on drift, and the next `generate` overwrites your change. Generated files carry a `GENERATED by everyharness` header, and `.everyharness/manifest.json` lists them all.

## Source

The text is public domain. The 1918 edition came from Project Gutenberg, converted to markdown.

- **Original source**: [Project Gutenberg #37134](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37134/37134-h/37134-h.htm)
- **Author**: William Strunk Jr.
- **Publication**: 1918
- **License**: Public Domain