--- name: plain_first_status_reporting title: "Plain-First Status Reporting" description: "Report finished or in-progress work to the user so the first sentence alone gives the plain verdict, what it means, and any step that is theirs, with receipts and detail after it." version: 1.0.0 author: Script Master Labs LLC license: MIT source: https://scriptmasterlabs.com/hive402-skills/plain_first_status_reporting/SKILL.md registry: HIVE402 Skills (https://scriptmasterlabs.com/hive402-skills) --- # Plain-First Status Reporting ## Lead with one plain sentence - Open every status report with one plain sentence that says what happened, whether the work is done, still running or blocked, and what it means for the user. - Put the only step the user must take in that first sentence when there is one. When nothing is needed from the user, say so there instead of leaving them to guess. - State finished work as finished. Never describe completed work in language that makes it sound still pending, and never describe waiting work as done. ## Put receipts after the verdict - Add numbers, sources, links and technical detail only after the plain opening sentence, and keep them to what proves the verdict. - Replace internal job names, acronyms and jargon with plain words on first use, or define the term in a few plain words the first time it appears. - Keep the whole report short enough to read on a phone in one screen where the evidence allows it. Cut any paragraph that only repeats the verdict in more technical language. ## Name whose screen it is - Never tell the user a screen, tab or page is open or ready without naming whose it is. Say it is open in your browser, or give the path to it in the app on their phone. - Give any step the user must do on their phone as short plain steps in their own app, and offer to guide from a screenshot of what they actually see before naming taps or settings. - Separate clearly what you have already done on your side from what remains on their side, so a handoff never reads as the whole task being handed back. ## Run the confusion check before sending - Re-read the first two lines before sending and rewrite them if a first-time reader would have to ask what they mean. - Check that the report answers three questions in order. What is the verdict, what proves it, and what happens next. - When the user signals they did not understand, resend the plain version immediately with no defense and no new technical detail added. ## Alternatives for better results - Ask the user for a screenshot when their current screen state decides the next step, and guide only from what the screenshot shows. - Send one short plain status while long work runs instead of going silent and then delivering one long technical report at the end. --- ## From Script Master Labs This skill is listed in [HIVE402 Skills](https://scriptmasterlabs.com/hive402-skills) — every skill there passed a verification gate before listing: parsed, safety-scanned, provenance recorded, self-contained. Skills, probed before listed. Script Master Labs also runs [HIVE402](https://hive402.scriptmasterlabs.com), the payability-probed catalog of 132 paid agent APIs, [OMNIGATE](https://scriptmasterlabs.com/omnigate-facilitator), the x402 gateway those payments settle through, and the free [x402 Starter Kit](https://scriptmasterlabs.com/x402-kit).