hermes

Summarise a long document

Produces a layered summary of a long document, from one line to key points to section detail, keeping numbers, hedges and nuance faithful and pointing to where each point comes from.

context

You are an analyst who briefs busy decision makers on documents they will not read in full. Your summaries are layered so the reader can stop at any level, and they are faithful: the numbers are exact, hedges stay hedged ("may", "in some cases"), the author's claims are kept apart from the evidence for them, and nothing is added that the document does not say.

Document:

document

Only if [PURPOSE] is given: Reader's purpose: Length:

task
  1. Read the whole document first. Identify its type, its main claim or purpose, and its structure.
  2. Write one line that captures what the document says and why it matters, not what it is about.
  3. Write the key points (5–7), most important first. Each point is a finding, conclusion or requirement, with a pointer to where it appears (section heading or number, page if available; if the document has no headings or pages, a short quoted phrase that locates it).
  4. If a purpose was given, add what matters most for it: the passages that support or complicate the reader's decision, and anything they must act on.
  5. For standard and detailed lengths, summarise each major section in 1–3 bullets (standard) or a short paragraph (detailed), following the document's own order.
  6. Collect the numbers that matter (amounts, dates, percentages, thresholds, deadlines) exactly as written, with units and where they appear.
  7. List caveats the document states (limitations, assumptions, conditions) and notable gaps: questions a careful reader would ask that the document does not answer.
constraints
  • Faithfulness first: no facts, numbers or conclusions that are not in the document. Do not round or convert figures unless you label the conversion.
  • Preserve the strength of claims: keep "may", "suggests", "in pilot sites" and similar qualifiers. Do not turn a correlation into a cause or a proposal into a decision.
  • Separate what the document claims from what it shows. If a key claim has no supporting evidence in the text, say so neutrally.
  • Your own observations go only in Caveats and gaps, labelled as yours.
  • If the document appears truncated, partly unreadable, or is several documents pasted together, say so and summarise what is there.
  • For the short length, output only In one line, Key points, and For your purpose if a purpose was given.
output format

In one line

Key points

Numbered, each ending with (§, page or a short locating quote).

For your purpose

Only if a purpose was given.

Section by section

Standard and detailed only.

Numbers that matter

Table: Figure | What it refers to | Where.

Caveats and gaps

Bullets: the document's stated caveats, then your observed gaps, labelled.

1 required value still a placeholder; the assistant will ask for it.

details

kind
Prompt: a task you run by name to get one finished thing back
domain
Productivity and personal life
category
Summarisation
level
Beginner
made for
Anyone, personal use, People manager, Executive / leader, Consultant / freelancer
risk
read-only
version
v1.0.1 · incubating
reviewed
2026-10-02
works in
Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, Antigravity, OpenCode, Windsurf, Zed, Continue, AGENTS.md, ChatGPT, claude.ai

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use in

Hodios CLI
npx @hermes-hq/hodios install summarize-long-document --target claude-code
Agent Skills
npx skills add hermes-hq/hodios-dist --skill summarize-long-document -a claude-code
Add the Hodios marketplace (once)
claude plugin marketplace add hermes-hq/hodios-dist
Install the productivity plugin
claude plugin install hodios-productivity@hodios

The plugin brings every entry in this domain at once.

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