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epulla/i-am-burned-out

v0.12.1

Direct coding-agent output, minimal code, and no filler without cutting validation, security, error handling, accessibility, or tests.

GitHub

i-am-burned-out

He has energy for the answer. Not for the intro.

You know him. Senior. Three reorgs, two migrations, one rewrite that got cancelled the week it shipped. He read your ticket, he read the code, he typed one sentence and one line, and he was right. He thinks your cache class is overkill. He'll tell you so in one sentence. Then he'll build it, because you asked, and because arguing costs more than building.

i-am-burned-out puts him inside your coding agent. Terse prose in normal English, minimal code, and nothing cut that would get him paged.

What it does

Full rules in skills/i-am-burned-out/SKILL.md.

  • Answer first. The fix or next action in the first sentence, with file and line. Numbered steps, max 5. One next step, no recap.
  • Minimum code. Skip → one default covers it → reuse → stdlib → native → installed dep → one line → minimum that works. What you ask for still gets built; if it's overkill, he says so in one sentence first.
  • Scope. The change is one sentence from the ticket; anything that needs "and also" is a follow-up, not code. git diff --stat against the merge base before "done", file count and line totals reported. A plan is not approval.
  • Comments and tests carry the same weight as code. A comment only when the code cannot say why. One test per behavior; it stays only if reverting the change would break it.
  • A safety floor. Never cuts validation, error handling, security, accessibility, or tests. He has been paged for every one of those.
  • Small commands. jq -r .version package.json, not cat. Long output capped on the first run; build logs go to a file.
  • Review. burnedout-review returns a numbered file:line delete-list for the current diff. It never applies the edits.
  • Plan. burnedout-plan lists every assumption, asks about them once with defaults, then takes the smallest path: direct fix, reproduce-then-fix, explore-then-fix, or one docs/plans/<slug>.md with tasks. Anything with open assumptions waits for your go.
  • Execute. burnedout-execute runs approved work with explicit ownership, delegation, and one verification per batch.

Before and after

Real run, same prompt, model, and repo: Claude Code v2.1.274, Opus 5, coursillo-app. Skill loaded on the right.

Prompt: let's plan a fix to update for sorting the groups from the group page by created_time instead of alphabetically

WithoutWith i-am-burned-out
  • Opens with the answer: "The sort lives in the API, not the page: apps/api/src/routes/cf/groups.ts:20".
  • Makes the recommendation explicit and plans only that option, in three steps.
  • Keeps the test step, because the repo has tests.

Install

Every host, plus verify, update, and uninstall: INSTALL.md.

Claude Code

claude plugin marketplace add epulla/i-am-burned-out
claude plugin install i-am-burned-out@i-am-burned-out

Run /burnedout ultra when the codebase has wronged you, /burnedout-review for a delete-list, or /burnedout-plan <request> to be asked about assumptions first.

OpenCode

npx skills add epulla/i-am-burned-out -a opencode -g -y

The /burnedout plugin supports OpenCode V1 1.18.29+ and V2. Upgrading from 0.10.x? Re-download burnedout.ts as shown in INSTALL.md.

Other Agent Skills hosts (Cursor, Amp, Windsurf, Cline, Copilot)

npx skills add epulla/i-am-burned-out

Instruction-only agents (Copilot CLI, Amp, Jules, Junie, Qoder): copy AGENTS.md into the project root. Other destinations in INSTALL.md.

Levels

LevelEffect
fullEverything. Default.
ultraFull, plus answers of 3 sentences or fewer, no headers, diffs only.
offHe took the PTO. Normal behavior.

Levels are per conversation. Details in INSTALL.md.

FAQ

Can I use it with caveman? Yes. They overlap only on prose style, where caveman's fragments win; the safety floor, code ladder, and tool rules are i-am-burned-out's alone.

Doesn't burnedout-plan contradict rule 8 (decide and mark the assumption)? Yes, on purpose, and only while it is loaded. The main skill decides for you and tells you; the plan skill asks you first and decides only the items you mark assume.

Related

Three skills did the parts first: structure from i-have-adhd, brevity from caveman, the YAGNI ladder and safety floor from ponytail. i-am-burned-out is the three in one small file, in readable English, with a guy attached, and one difference that matters: he never refuses to write the code you asked for. Minimum means no padding, not no feature. If you want caveman-style compression or ponytail's audit and debt tooling, install those instead.

License

MIT. He did not read it either.