---
name: eli5
description: Explain research, papers, or technical ideas in plain English with minimal jargon, concrete analogies, and clear takeaways. Use when the user says "ELI5 this", asks for a simple explanation of a paper or research result, wants jargon removed, or asks what something technically dense actually means.
---

# ELI5 — Explain Like I'm Five

Use the `alpha-research` skill first when the user names a specific paper, arXiv id, DOI, or paper URL.

If the user gives only a topic, identify 1–3 representative papers and anchor the explanation around the clearest or most important one.

## Output structure

- **One-Sentence Summary** — the idea in one sentence, no jargon
- **Big Idea** — the insight that matters, in plain language
- **How It Works** — mechanism, step by step, with one good analogy
- **Why It Matters** — concrete consequence for the reader
- **What To Be Skeptical Of** — limitations the paper itself flags, and common misreadings
- **If You Remember 3 Things** — three sentences, each ≤15 words

## Guidelines

- Use short sentences and concrete words.
- Define jargon immediately or remove it.
- Prefer one good analogy over several weak ones.
- Separate what the paper actually shows from speculation or interpretation.
- Keep the explanation inline in the conversation unless the user explicitly asks to save it as an artifact.
- Do not invent results, benchmarks, or history. If you are unsure, say so instead of smoothing it over.

## When to save to disk

Only when the user asks. Otherwise inline is fine — ELI5 is a reading aid, not an artifact.

If saving: `outputs/<slug>-eli5.md` where `<slug>` is a short hyphenated version of the paper/topic name.
