TIGHTEN

Remove repetition, filler, and unnecessary setup while preserving key facts, decisions, evidence, caveats, and action items.

A Power Mode is an instruction pattern, not a feature of the AI. Nothing recognises the name — the wording underneath it does the work, and you can copy it from this page.

From the book. Chapter 14 / Part VII — TIGHTEN

What it actually does

Some answers are not wrong. They are just too long, and the useful content is buried under repeated setup, extra qualifiers, duplicated conclusions, and generic transitions.

TIGHTEN asks for that overhead removed while the substance is preserved: the key facts, decision points, evidence, caveats, and action items.

It is not "make it short at any cost." The named list is what the instruction protects, because aggressive shortening removes caveats and action items first — they are the shortest and easiest lines to cut, and they are usually the reason the document exists.

When to use it

Use TIGHTEN when you have content that is right, and simply too much of it.

It is the primary mode for this job: fix how it reads.

When not to use it

This is the section worth reading. Using only what the work requires is the point; a mode applied to the wrong shape of problem costs you a worse answer than plain language would have given.

Use a different mode instead

NATURAL VOICE fires when you have writing that is accurate but reads as machine-made, and no sample to match it to.
ELI10 fires when you have a reader who cannot follow the language, rather than one who cannot spare the time.
VOICE MATCH fires when you supply writing samples and ask new text to sound like them.
SOCRATIC MODE fires when you ask to be questioned before being answered, because what you decide depends on things you have not said yet.

Use no mode at all

The source is already concise.
Compression would remove context needed for understanding or verification.

There is no bonus for naming a mode when plain language is clearer. If you can already state the exact question, ask it.

Its failure mode

Cutting useful nuance or evidence.

Starter instruction

Paste this above your task. It is the whole mode — there is nothing else to switch on.

Shorten this substantially. Remove repetition, filler, unnecessary setup, and duplicated conclusions. Preserve the key facts, decision points, evidence, caveats, owners, deadlines, risks, and action items that materially affect the result.

Related modes

Try it on your own work

Describe what you are actually doing and the Builder writes the full prompt — mode, context, output shape, and the verification step. It picks the mode from your description, which is why this link does not carry one.

Open the Prompt Builder →