Principle Subtract Before You Add Agent Skill

Apply when sequencing an addition, refactor, or rewrite. Remove dead code, redundant validators, and stub references first, then build on the simpler base.

227 tokens

context cost

SKILL.md, read when the skill is used

files

instructions only

copies elsewhere

how many repositories repackaged it

2 793

stars on the repo

on the repository, not the skill itself

Install

one command, takes just this skill from the repository

npx skills add https://github.com/backnotprop/pstack --skill principle-subtract-before-you-add

The instruction itself

1 sections, as written by the author

Subtract Before You Add

When evolving a system, remove complexity first, then build. Default to subtraction.

Make simplification a continual investment. Leave the design slightly simpler and more capable behind the same or smaller surface than you found it.

Sequence removal before construction
Cut before you polish (get to the minimum before investing in quality)
Design for observed usage, not speculative edge cases
No speculative validators, parsers, or guards beyond what the spec demands
Simplify prompts (remove redundant instructions, excessive templates)
When a reference has no novel content, delete it rather than leaving a stub

How to use it

Copy the folder

Take backnotprop/principle-subtract-before-you-add from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.

Check the name does not clash

The agent identifies a skill by the name field in its header. Two skills with the same name cannot sit side by side — one of them will be ignored.