Minimal-Change Coding Guidelines skill for Claude and Codex

Minimal-Change Coding Guidelines as an AI skill. It asks for Task, Relevant files, Existing conventions and 2 more, then does the rest. Free to install in…

Install it once and Claude or Codex runs it for you. When your request matches, your AI loads the skill, asks for anything it is missing, and works through the template itself. Prefer to fill it in by hand? See the full prompt template.

Download the skill (.zip) · View SKILL.md

When it is used

Use when an agent or contributor tends to over-engineer, and a bug fix or small feature should land as a minimal, reviewable diff. Do not use for large refactors or deliberate redesigns of a module. Related topics: coding, technical.

What it will ask you for

• Task (longer free text)
• Relevant files (longer free text)
• Existing conventions (longer free text)
• Tests available (choose one: Unit tests exist, Only manual checks, No tests)
• Change budget (choose one: A few lines, One function, One file, Several files if needed)

How it works

1. State in one sentence the behaviour that must change and the behaviour that must stay the same.
2. Read the surrounding code and note its conventions, so the edit matches them.
3. Edit at the root cause, adding no new abstractions, options, dependencies or impossible-case handling.
4. Add or adjust a test that fails before and passes after, then run the existing checks and record the result.
5. Summarise the touched files and risks, and list unrelated problems noticed but left unchanged.

What you get

The code change as a minimal diff, followed by a summary of files touched, the reason for each change, checks run, risks, and a list of noticed-but-untouched issues.

What it watches out for

• Reformatting a file while fixing one line, which buries the real change in whitespace noise.
• Adding a helper or option for a future need, which becomes code someone must maintain with no user.
• Fixing where the error appears instead of where it starts, so the same bug returns elsewhere.

How to install

Claude.ai and the Claude desktop app

1. Download the skill .zip.
2. Open Settings, then Capabilities, and find Skills.
3. Choose Upload skill and select the .zip.
4. Ask Claude for help with the task. It loads the skill when your request matches.

Claude Code

1. Download the skill .zip.
2. Unzip it into ~/.claude/skills/ (or .claude/skills/ inside a project).
3. Start a new session. Claude Code loads the skill when your request matches.

Codex

1. Download the skill .zip.
2. Unzip it into ~/.agents/skills/ (or .agents/skills/ inside a project).
3. Codex picks it up on its own. Type $ and the skill name to use it, or just ask for the task.

Cursor

1. Download the Cursor rule (.mdc).
2. Save it in .cursor/rules/ inside your project.
3. Cursor's agent applies the rule when your request matches its description.

AGENTS.md (Codex, Cursor, and other coding agents)

1. Copy the AGENTS.md section.
2. Paste it into AGENTS.md at the root of your repository, creating the file if needed.
3. Coding agents that read AGENTS.md follow it when your request fits.