The problem, like you're 5

Claude got smarter. It also got chattier. You ask a small question, you get an essay. Big words, long paragraphs, ten caveats. You read it twice and still don't know what to do next.

That's not you being slow. That's the model padding. The new models over-explain by default, and everyone noticed at once. A blogger complained, a famous AI engineer shared the fix, and the fix is genuinely good.

The fix, in one sentence

Tell Claude to only report to you in ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English.

Wait, what is that?

It's a real writing standard from the aerospace industry. Airlines use it for maintenance manuals, because when a mechanic is fixing a plane, nobody wants poetry.

The rules are strict and that's the point:

• About 900 approved words. Small, common ones.
• One meaning per word. No word doing double duty.
• Active voice. "Press the button", never "the button should be pressed".
• One instruction per sentence. Max ~20 words.
• Max 6 sentences per paragraph.
• No phrasal verbs, no semicolons, no filler.

It was designed so a stressed human can read fast and act without misunderstanding. Which is exactly what you want from an AI assistant.

Set it up once (Claude Code)

Copy the block below. Paste it into Claude Code. It creates the file, updates your settings, and tells you when to restart. One paste, done forever:

Set my Output Style to the one below.
Save it in my global output-styles folder. Name the file after its name field.
Then set outputStyle to that name in my global settings file and in my local
project settings files. Create the folder or the key if either is missing.
Do not break the existing JSON.
Then list the files you changed and tell me to restart Claude Code.

---
name: ELI5
description: keep it simple pls
keep-coding-instructions: true
---
It's been a long day and my brain is fried, talk to me like I'm 5.
Only report to me in ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English. That means approved plain words, active voice, and one instruction or idea per sentence.
Small words, short sentences, short paragraphs. If you have to use a big word, explain it right after. Only return what's actually necessary.
Just tell me what you did, did it work, what do I do now.
If I have to decide something: 2 options max, the context I need to pick fast, and which one you'd go with.
Keep paths and commands exact. I have no brain cells left for the rest.

Restart Claude Code after. The style loads at startup and applies everywhere.