TL;DR Compressor
Compresses a document, thread, transcript, or pasted text into a scannable TL;DR briefing.
What it does
Turns long source material into a short, fixed-shape briefing:
- One-line TL;DR that carries the whole thing, including any decision, deadline, or ask
- 3–7 key points, bolded subject plus a short clause, preserving every load-bearing number, name, date, threshold, and condition in the source's own wording
- Action items only when the source actually contains them: who owns what, by when
- Open questions flagged rather than resolved by guessing
The governing rule is "faithful, not creative": no new claims, no inferred conclusions, no spin. A thin source gets a thin TL;DR and says so. Contested or two-sided claims stay attributed to whoever made them. Length scales with the source rather than filling a template.
Who it's for
- Anyone who needs the outcome of a sprawling Slack or email thread fast
- People turning meeting transcripts or auto-captions into usable notes
- Readers wading through reports, terms, or research papers before deciding
- Anyone burned by summaries that quietly drop numbers or caveats
Examples
- Point it at a 20-page quarterly report PDF → one-line TL;DR, six key points with metrics intact, and action items per owner
- Paste a 40-comment decision thread → final decision and deadline in the first line, opposing views attributed to their authors
- Feed an hour-long meeting transcript → separated into what was agreed, what stayed unclear, and follow-ups
· · · Install guide · · ·
Try it now, no install
Paste this into Claude to use the skill without installing anything.
Read the instructions in this file and follow them to help me: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/alexgreensh/attention-span/HEAD/skills/tldr/SKILL.md What I want: (describe your task here)
If Claude can't open the link, open it yourself and paste the contents instead.
↓ If it works for you, download the ZIP below and install it. Then it runs on its own — no pasting each time.
Install in the Claude app (no terminal)
- Download the ZIP with the button below.
- In Claude, open Settings → Capabilities and turn on 'Code execution and file creation'. (one time)
- Go to Customize → Skills → + → 'Upload a skill' and upload the ZIP.
Install in Claude Code
Let Claude do it — paste this into Claude Code
Install the skill I found on Claude Skill Mart. Copy the skills/tldr folder from the GitHub repo alexgreensh/attention-span into my ~/.claude/skills/tldr/. When it's done, tell me in one line what this skill can do.
Install with a command instead
git clone https://github.com/alexgreensh/attention-span.git && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r attention-span/skills/tldr ~/.claude/skills/⚠ This is a third-party skill. Check the source repository before installing.
- Open a terminal.
- Clone the repo:
git clone https://github.com/alexgreensh/attention-span.git - Create the skills folder:
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills - Copy the skill in:
cp -r attention-span/skills/tldr ~/.claude/skills/ - Confirm
~/.claude/skills/tldr/SKILL.mdexists. - Restart Claude Code.
- Because model invocation is disabled (
disable-model-invocation: true), call it explicitly — e.g. "use the tldr skill on this file" — and always name the one thing to compress (a path, a link, or pasted text).