--- name: glyphdown-mode description: | Activate a two-register prompting convention: dense ASCII form for the model's internal reasoning, normal human-readable prose for user-visible output. Triggers on phrases like "use glyphdown", "compact thinking", "dense reasoning", "glyphdown mode", "think compact". The plugin does NOT measure its own impact; see the README for how to instrument an A/B if you want validated numbers. triggers: - use glyphdown - glyphdown mode - glyphdown thinking - compact thinking - dense reasoning - think compact - reasoning in glyphdown - internal glyphdown --- # Glyphdown Dual-Register Convention **Dense ASCII form for INTERNAL reasoning. Plain prose for USER-VISIBLE output.** ## What this skill does Declares a convention. The model is asked to split its output into two registers: 1. **Internal register** (chain-of-thought, scratchpads, tool-call reasoning, intermediate plans, error analysis): dense ASCII form. Symbols, key=val, abbreviations, pipe-separated lists. 2. **External register** (the final message the human reads): normal human-readable language. Full sentences. No symbols unless they improve clarity (tables, code blocks, file paths). ## When in doubt about register | Content type | Register | |---|---| | Planning ("first I'll X, then Y") | INTERNAL | | Step-by-step debugging logs | INTERNAL | | Tool-call argument reasoning | INTERNAL | | Self-critique / verification | INTERNAL | | Direct answer to the user | EXTERNAL | | Explanation of what you did | EXTERNAL | | Code blocks | EXTERNAL (the code itself is unchanged) | | File paths, commands | EXTERNAL | | Tables presented to user | EXTERNAL | | Error messages quoted to user | EXTERNAL | | Commit messages | EXTERNAL | ## Vocabulary (single-source register-variants table) The vocabulary below is a SINGLE-SOURCE table. Each row carries a `level` column. The SessionStart hook reads `~/.ultracos/active-level` and prunes rows whose `level` exceeds the active intensity. Levels are cumulative: `lite` is a subset of `full`, which is a subset of `ultra`. With `active-level=lite` only `lite` rows are kept; `full` keeps `lite + full`; `ultra` keeps all three. `off` suppresses skill injection entirely. This replaces the three duplicated vocab blocks (one per level) that previously lived here; drift between them was the bug internal-ref fixed. | field | level | value | |---|---|---| | arrows | lite | `->` `|` `=` `@` | | arrows | full | `->` `:` `-` `@` `#` `=` `|` (avoid 3-tok unicode like triangle, identical, forall, exists, checkmark) | | arrows | ultra | `->` `:` `-` `@` `#` `=` `|` (3-tok unicode such as triangle/identical/forall/exists/checkmark explicitly BANNED) | | state | lite | `ok` `~` `x` `?` | | state | full | `ok` healthy / `~` degraded / `x` failed / `?` not-known | | state | ultra | `ok|~|x|?` (healthy|degraded|failed|not-known) | | prefixes | lite | `V=verify` `A=analyze` `I=impl` `R=read` `W=write` `F=fix` `E=error` | | prefixes | full | `V=verify A=analyze I=impl R=read W=write F=fix E=error` | | prefixes | ultra | `V=verify A=analyze I=impl R=read W=write F=fix E=error` | | abbreviations | full | `env=environment cfg=config var=variable max=maximum min=minimum` | | abbreviations | ultra | `env cfg var max min loc fn arg ret err st sts` (definitions dropped; assumed) | | grammar | full | `-> chain a->b->c` / `state name(ok|~|x)` / `subj: action` / `k=v lines` / `@subj scope` | | grammar | ultra | `-> (chain: a->b->c) | name(state) | subj:action | k=v | @scope | #tag` | A second dialect tuned for the Opus 4.7 tokenizer exists separately and is not bundled in this plugin. ## Examples **Internal reasoning, prose form:** > "I need to first read the file to understand the context, then I'll > identify the relevant function, and after that I'll modify it to > handle the edge case the user mentioned." **Internal reasoning, dense form:** > R:file -> locate:fn -> I:patch edge_case @user_req Both express the same plan. The dense form is shorter; how much shorter in TOKENS depends on the tokenizer and the specific substitutions, which is why this plugin does not claim a fixed percentage. **External output, dense form (BAD — confuses the user):** > "I:patched fn `foo` @line:42 ok" **External output, prose (GOOD):** > "Patched `foo` at line 42. The edge case now returns `None` > instead of panicking." ## How to use this skill Type one of the trigger phrases listed above in a normal prompt. The companion `UserPromptSubmit` hook injects the dual-register directive into the model's context for the rest of the turn. To deactivate: say `stop glyphdown`. ## What this skill does NOT do - Does not measure token consumption or billed cost. - Does not verify the model is adhering to the directive. - Does not include A/B instrumentation. See the plugin README for how to instrument your own measurement across `input_tokens`, `cache_creation_input_tokens`, `cache_read_input_tokens`, and `output_tokens` if you want validated numbers on your traffic. ## Companion components - `UserPromptSubmit/glyphdown-mode-detector.py` — detects trigger phrases per turn; injects the dual-register directive. - `PreCompact/glyphdown-compact-instructions.py` — adds a dense-form mandate to the compaction summary template, with rules to preserve restart-critical literals (file paths, IDs, commands, error strings, decisions). - `PostToolUse/glyphdown_codec.py` — lossless tool-result codec (ANSI strip, JSON minify, blank-line collapse, trailing-marker truncation, JSON/YAML/TOML data-shape short-circuit, schema-tag prefix, break-even guard). ## Compaction tag schema (read this — affects model behavior) When a tool_result starts with a line shaped like: ``` [glyphdown:compact-v1 shape= ratio= applied=] ``` it means the payload below was compacted by `glyphdown_codec.py` **losslessly**. The transforms listed in `applied=` are deterministic and information-preserving for the declared `shape`: - `ansi-strip` — terminal escape sequences removed - `json-minify` — JSON whitespace removed (round-trip equal) - `blank-collapse` — 3+ consecutive blank lines collapsed - `truncate` — payload exceeded `GLYPHDOWN_TRUNCATE_BYTES`; a single trailing `[truncated: N lines / M bytes hidden]` marker indicates the cut. The visible portion is still byte-identical to the original prefix. `ratio` is `compact_tokens / original_tokens`. Values close to 1.0 indicate the codec found little to compact. ### Critical instruction for the model **Do NOT compensate by being more verbose in your reply.** The compaction is lossless on the listed dimensions; no information was rephrased, paraphrased, or summarized. Verbose compensation (observed in similar tools — see rtk issue #582) inflates output tokens by ~50% with zero quality gain. Treat tagged payloads as equivalent to their pre-compaction form. If you need byte-exact original output (e.g. for a reproducible artifact like a checksum), ask the user to re-run the command with `GLYPHDOWN_DISABLE=1`. ## Schema-tag format (canonical reference) The compaction marker emitted by `glyphdown_codec.py` is referred to elsewhere in the codebase (hooks, tests, A/B harness) as the **schema-tag**. It is a single line at the very start of a `tool_result` payload with this exact shape: ``` [glyphdown:compact-v1 shape= ratio= applied=] ``` Field semantics: - `glyphdown:compact-v1` — fixed namespace + version. If the version bumps (e.g. `compact-v2`), the transform list semantics may change; the model should re-read this section. - `shape` — declared data shape of the payload. `text` is the default for unstructured output; `json`/`yaml`/`toml` mean the payload round-trips through the corresponding parser unchanged. - `ratio` — `compact_tokens / original_tokens`. Lower = more compaction achieved. `~1.0` means the codec found little to strip. - `applied` — comma-separated list of the lossless transforms that ran (subset of `ansi-strip`, `json-minify`, `blank-collapse`, `truncate`). Order is informational, not load-bearing. The tag prefix is configurable via `GLYPHDOWN_TAG_PREFIX` (default `[glyphdown:compact-v1`); the closing `]` and the fields above are fixed by the codec. ### What the model should do when it sees the schema-tag 1. **Trust the lossless claim.** Every transform in `applied=` is information-preserving for the declared `shape`. Do not ask the user to re-run "to see the full output" unless they need byte- exact bytes (checksum, diff artifact) — in which case suggest `GLYPHDOWN_DISABLE=1`. 2. **Do not echo or paraphrase the tag** in user-visible output. The tag is metadata for the model, not for the human. 3. **Do not inflate the reply** to compensate for the compacted input. See "Critical instruction for the model" above — verbose compensation is the failure mode this tag is designed to prevent. 4. **If `applied=` contains `truncate`,** the payload was cut at `GLYPHDOWN_TRUNCATE_BYTES`. The visible prefix is byte-identical to the original; only the tail is missing. If the user's task needs the tail, ask before re-running. 5. **If the tag is absent,** the payload was passed through unchanged (e.g. below break-even, or codec disabled). No special handling required.