i-have-adhd: the skill that cuts coding-agent preamble
Ten rules, around 31,100 stars: ayghri's repository rewrites how coding agents answer — action first, no closing pleasantries.
Symbolic image: a hand at a developer workstation while the monitor shows a single highlighted block sitting above rows of dimmed ones.
i-have-adhd is a copy-and-fork skill file that uses ten output rules to push coding agents into putting the actual answer in the first line instead of at the end of an explanation.
At a glance
- Repository ayghri/i-have-adhd: MIT license, around 31,100 stars, 1,900 forks, 104 watchers, 194 commits when loaded.
- The whole skill is one file: skills/i-have-adhd/SKILL.md, holding ten rules about answer format.
- Rules one and ten: open with the next action; no preamble, no recap, no closing line.
- Lists are capped at five items, and time estimates are supposed to be in minutes rather than vague.
- Separate drop-in locations for Claude Code, Cursor, Gemini, Codex and OpenCode; customizing means forking.
The short version: i-have-adhd leaves the model alone and rewrites only the shape of what it says — the instruction goes on line one and the throat-clearing goes away. The MIT-licensed repository by ayghri showed around 31,100 stars, 1,900 forks, 104 watchers and 194 commits when we loaded the page.
Ten rules in one file
Everything lives in skills/i-have-adhd/SKILL.md. The rules govern format, not substance: open with the next action, number the steps when there is more than one, and close on a single concrete thing to do next.
- Cut tangents, and restate where the work stands on every turn.
- Give time estimates in minutes rather than vague reassurance.
- Keep wins visible, and report errors flatly instead of apologetically.
- Never let a list run past five items.
- Rule ten, verbatim: “No preamble. No recap. No closers.”
The behavior it targets
The before-and-after example in the README uses an authentication task. The rejected version explains why auth flows are complicated; the accepted one names the install command plus the file and line to edit, then numbers the steps. The trade-off is stated rather than hidden: the context an agent adds to cover itself is also the context a reader has to wade through.
The project is deliberate about its own name. Its tagline says outright that no ADHD diagnosis is required to use it.
Installing and forking
Claude Code gets a plugin install command, and the repository carries separate drop-in locations for Cursor, Gemini, Codex and OpenCode. Because the payload is a Markdown file, forking and editing the rules is the documented route to a custom version — this is a writing convention shipped as a repository, not software.
What we could not check
Only the GitHub project page was available for this report. Star and fork counts are the platform's own rounded figures and move constantly, and we have no independent second source on how widely the skill is actually used. Whether the rules measurably improve answers is untested here; the repository offers examples, not measurements.
FAQ
What does the i-have-adhd skill do?
It hands a coding agent ten formatting rules — action first, numbered steps, lists capped at five items, no preamble and no closing line — packaged as a single Markdown file.
Do I need an ADHD diagnosis to use i-have-adhd?
No. The project states plainly that no diagnosis is needed; the rules are simply about shorter, directly actionable answers for any user.
Which coding agents does i-have-adhd support?
The repository lists Claude Code, Cursor, Gemini, Codex and OpenCode, each with its own install path, and the MIT license lets you fork and rewrite the rules.
