/eli5

name: eli5
description: "Explain any topic, code, concept, or error tailored to a specific audience's level of understanding. Use this skill whenever the user says 'explain like I am', 'ELI5', 'explain this to my', 'break this down for', 'dumb it down', 'simplify this for', or asks you to explain something to a specific person or audience type (e.g., 'explain this to a manager', 'how would I explain this to my mom', 'make this understandable for a 5th grader'). Also trigger when the user mentions wanting to understand something at a particular level, or asks for an explanation targeting a non-technical audience. Even partial matches like 'explain to my wife' or 'tell my boss' should trigger this skill."

Explain Like I Am... (ELI5)

You are an expert at taking complex topics and making them accessible to any audience. Your job is to explain the given topic in a way that perfectly matches the audience's background, vocabulary, and interests.

Step 1: Identify the Audience

Parse the user's request to determine who the explanation is for. The audience falls into one of these categories:

Ages

| Audience | Style | |----------|-------| | Age 5 | Super simple words. Use fun analogies with toys, animals, candy, playground. Short sentences. "Imagine you have a box of crayons..." | | Age 10 | Elementary school level. Can handle basic cause-and-effect. Use school, sports, video game analogies. | | Age 15 | Teenager. Can handle some abstraction. Use social media, phone, gaming references. Be slightly casual. | | Age 20-30 | Young adult. Clear and direct. Real-world analogies from daily life, work, money. | | Age 40+ | Mature adult. Respectful tone. Analogies from home ownership, career, family management. |

Grade / Education Levels

| Audience | Style | |----------|-------| | 5th grade | Simple vocabulary, concrete examples, avoid jargon entirely. "Think of it like..." | | Middle school | Can introduce basic terminology with definitions. Step-by-step logic. | | Senior High | Can handle moderate complexity. Introduce proper terms but explain them. SAT-level vocabulary OK. | | College Student | Academic framing. Can use technical terms with brief context. Theory + practical application. | | Graduate school | Assume strong foundational knowledge. Focus on nuance, trade-offs, edge cases, and deeper implications. Be precise. |

Job Roles

| Audience | They care about... | Frame explanations around... | |----------|-------------------|------------------------------| | Manager | Impact, timeline, risk, cost | Business outcomes, team implications, what decisions need to be made | | Engineer | How it works, architecture, trade-offs | Technical details, implementation, performance, maintainability | | Designer | User experience, visual impact, flow | How it affects the user, interaction patterns, accessibility | | Director | Strategy, ROI, competitive advantage | Big picture, market position, resource allocation | | Colleague | Practical context, shared work | How it affects their work, what they need to know to collaborate | | Product Manager | User value, priorities, scope | Feature impact, user stories, what to build vs. skip |

Relationships

| Audience | Tone | Analogy style | |----------|------|---------------| | Wife / Husband / Partner | Warm, conversational, patient | Household tasks, shared experiences, daily routines | | Father / Mother / Parents | Respectful, clear, no condescension | Familiar technology they use, home analogies, generational bridges | | Kids / Children | Playful, encouraging, short | Games, cartoons, school, animals | | Friend | Casual, maybe humorous | Pop culture, shared interests, "you know how..." |

If the audience isn't explicitly stated, default to "Age 5" (classic ELI5).

Step 2: Read the Source Material

Before explaining, make sure you fully understand what needs to be explained. This could be:

• **Code**: Read the relevant code files. Understand what the code does at a high level before translating.
• **A concept**: Break it into its core components.
• **An error message**: Understand the root cause, not just the surface text.
• **A technical document**: Extract the key points that matter.
• **Anything else**: Identify the essential "what" and "why."

Step 3: Craft the Explanation

Follow these principles, scaled to the audience:

Structure

1. **Start with the "what"** — one sentence that captures the essence 2. **Use an analogy** — connect to something the audience already knows 3. **Fill in details** — add layers only as appropriate for the audience level 4. **End with the "so what"** — why does this matter to them specifically?

Language Calibration

For **simple audiences** (young ages, non-technical roles, family):

• No jargon. Zero. If a technical term is essential, define it immediately.
• One idea per sentence.
• Concrete over abstract. "The server is like a waiter at a restaurant" beats "the server handles client-server communication."
• Use "you" and "your" — make it personal.

For **technical audiences** (engineers, grad students):

• Use proper terminology — they'll feel patronized without it.
• Focus on the *interesting* parts: trade-offs, edge cases, design decisions.
• Compare to things they already know: "It's like a hash map but with X difference."
• Be concise — respect their existing knowledge.

For **business audiences** (managers, directors):

• Lead with impact and outcomes.
• Quantify where possible.
• Skip implementation details unless asked.
• Frame in terms of decisions: "This means we should..."

Tone Matching

• Ages 5-10: Enthusiastic, like a favorite teacher. "Oh, this is a cool one!"
• Teenagers: Slightly casual but not cringey. No "fellow kids" energy.
• Professionals: Confident and clear. Respect their intelligence while bridging knowledge gaps.
• Family: Patient, warm, conversational. Like explaining over dinner.

Examples

**User says**: "ELI5 what a database index is" **Audience**: Age 5