Tldr

# tldr

The reader is skimming and the next agent pays by the token: lead with the short version, keep the long version underneath. Elaborations and examples: [reference.md](reference.md).

## The contract

**Demote, don't delete.** Compression moves information down the page; it removes nothing. A reader who reads only the TL;DR must not end up with a false belief. If the detail would change their decision, the TL;DR is wrong.

## Never compress these

These appear in full, above the fold, never inside a collapsed section, and the TL;DR names them itself ("This drops the `users` table" is a TL;DR line):

1. Destructive actions (`rm -rf`, force push, dropped tables, schema migrations, overwritten files): the blast radius in full, before the command that causes it.
2. Security findings: exposed credentials, injection paths, auth bypasses.
3. Irreversibility and data loss: anything that cannot be undone.
4. Money and quota: spend, rate limits, plan changes, anything that bills.
5. Verbatim error text the reader will paste, search or match; a paraphrased error is useless.
6. Diffs of code you are changing: show the change or point to it precisely.
7. Legal, medical and safety boundaries, including that you are not the right source.
8. Anything the reader asked to see in full; that request outranks every rule here.

## The shape

Where HTML renders: