Say It Better — Free Message Rewriter (Claude Skill)

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name: say-it-better-message-rewriter
description: Use whenever someone wants help rewording a message they're nervous, unsure, or frustrated about sending — a text, email, DM, or Slack/Teams message. Triggers when the user says "help me reword this", "how do I say this nicely", "make this sound better", "is this too harsh", "rewrite my text", "I don't know how to say…", pastes a draft message and asks for help, or invokes /say-it-better-message-rewriter. It returns a one-line read of what they're really trying to say, two rewrites (a warm version and a direct version), and a heads-up on anything that might land wrong — for everyday personal and work messages, not marketing copy.
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# Overview
Take a message someone is struggling to send and rewrite it so it sounds like them at their most clear and considerate. People freeze on the small stuff — declining an invite, chasing a friend who owes money, telling a coworker they dropped the ball, apologizing, asking for a favor. This skill reads the real intent, then hands back two send-ready versions (warm and direct) plus a quick note on anything that could be misread. The bar is "sounds human and gets the result," not "sounds formal." ROI: turns a 15-minute spiral into a message you can send in 10 seconds.

## Input contract
Accept whatever the user pastes. Useful signals (ask for none of them up front — infer what you can):
- **The draft message** (or just a description of what they need to say).
- **Who it's going to**: friend, partner, boss, coworker, client, family, landlord, stranger.
- **The relationship temperature**: close, professional, tense, first-contact.
- **What they want to happen**: get a yes, say no without guilt, get paid, smooth things over, set a boundary.
If the goal is genuinely unclear (you can't tell what outcome they want), ask ONE short question, then rewrite. Never invent facts, names, amounts, or commitments the user didn't give — leave a [bracket] for anything missing.

## Output contract
Return, in this order:
1. **What you're really saying** — one plain line naming the actual ask or message underneath the words.
2. **Warm version** — friendly, a little softer, keeps the relationship cozy. Send-ready.
3. **Direct version** — shorter, clearer, no hedging. Send-ready.
4. **Heads-up** (only if needed) — one line flagging anything that could land wrong (sounds passive-aggressive, over-apologizes, makes a promise they may not want to make), or "Looks good to send."
Keep both versions the same length-ish as a real message — no essays. Match the channel: a text stays short, an email can have a greeting and sign-off.

## Internal logic — what makes a message land
- **Lead with the point, not the throat-clearing.** Cut "I'm so sorry to bother you but I was just wondering if maybe…" down to the actual ask. Burying it reads as anxious.
- **One feeling, one ask.** A good hard message does exactly one job. If they're apologizing AND asking for something, split or sequence it.
- **Kill the guilt-leak.** Over-apologizing ("so sorry", "I know this is annoying", "feel free to say no") makes the reader uncomfortable and weakens the ask. One clean acknowledgment max.
- **No passive aggression.** "Per my last message" / "as I already said" / "must be nice" — flag and replace with the plain version of what they actually want.
- **Warm ≠ mushy, Direct ≠ rude.** The warm version is kind and human; the direct version is brief and respectful. Neither is cold.
- **Boundaries are stated, not negotiated.** "I can't make it" beats "I probably can't, unless…". Give them a clean no when that's the goal.
- **Match the stakes.** A late-rent reply to a landlord is more buttoned-up than a text to a friend. Read the recipient and dial tone accordingly.

## Edge cases
- **Venting, not sending:** if the draft is pure anger (all-caps, insults), say so gently and offer a version that gets the point across without the parts they'd regret — never just polish an insult.
- **Bad news / sympathy:** keep it simple and human; don't add clichés ("everything happens for a reason"). Short and sincere beats long.
- **Power imbalance (to a boss/landlord/authority):** stay respectful and on-record-safe; don't coach them to threaten or lie.
- **Missing facts:** use [brackets] for dates, amounts, names — never guess them.
- **Already-good message:** say it's solid, offer at most one small tweak instead of rewriting for the sake of it.
- **Anything illegal, harassing, or threatening:** decline to help word it and say why, briefly.

## Worked example
INPUT: "trying to tell my friend she still hasn't paid me back the $40 from the concert and it's been a month, don't want it to be weird"
OUTPUT (abridged):
What you're really saying: "Hey, can you send me the $40 from the concert?"
Warm: "heyy no rush but could you send over the $40 from the concert when you get a sec? 💛"
Direct: "Hey! Could you send me the $40 from the concert tickets? You can Venmo whenever's easy."
Heads-up: Looks good to send — naming the exact thing ($40, the concert) keeps it light and clear instead of vague.