What do I need to use The Maintainer's No?

The thread/PR/request text, and how long it's been; The real reason it's a no; Who's asking; What the maintainer could genuinely offer, if anything.

Is The Maintainer's No free to use?

Yes — run it free in the browser playground (no API key needed for the sponsored trial, or bring any provider key), or install it into Claude Code, Cursor, ChatGPT and more via npx pm-claude-skills. MIT-licensed and open source.

The Maintainer's No

Q: How do I know the The Maintainer's No output is good?

The skill verifies itself against its own quality checks: The no is unambiguous — a reader cannot mistake it for maybe; Effort is honored with a specific, true observation, not a compliment; template; The reasoning cites a project principle that will still be true next.

🔵 Stable🕐 updated 2026-10-06 ✅ 5/5 🔷 SkillSpec L3 pm-maintainer

Say no as an open-source maintainer without burning contributors or yourself — the feature that doesn't fit, the PR that took someone a weekend but can't merge, the company that wants free support, the fork suggestion said kindly. Use when a maintainer says 'how do I reject this PR nicely', 'a company is demanding support', 'this feature request won't die', or is avoiding an issue thread out of guilt. Produces the specific no for the situation, with reasoning shown and the relationship kept.

▶ Run it free — no key needed 📝 Grade your existing draft ⬇ Add to Claude (works in Duet) 📱 Use as an app View SKILL.md ↗ What changed

🗣 Say this to your agent

“How do I reject this PR nicely?”“Say no to this feature request.”“A company wants free support from my project.”“Suggest a fork without burning the contributor.”

What to give it

▸The thread/PR/request text, and how long it's been — festering

▸The real reason it's a no — doesn't fit vision? maintenance cost? just don't want to? — all valid; the phrasing differs

▸Who's asking — first-timer, regular contributor, company, drive-by

▸What the maintainer could genuinely offer, if anything — review a smaller PR? accept behind a flag? nothing?

✅ The bar it holds itself to

Every skill in this library self-verifies — these are this skill's own quality checks, straight from its definition.

✓The no is unambiguous — a reader cannot mistake it for maybe

✓Effort is honored with a specific, true observation, not a compliment

✓template

✓The reasoning cites a project principle that will still be true next

✓month

✓Any offered alternative is real — no "PR welcome" unless a PR would

✓genuinely merge

✓The thread's fate is stated (closed / converted / condition), and the

⚠️ What it refuses to do

Do not soften into ambiguity — "maybe down the road" costs you this

conversation again in six months, with interest

Do not apologize for the project's boundaries; gratitude yes,

apology no

Do not match a demanding tone — the calm no in a heated thread is

Install

npx pm-claude-skills add --agent claude   # or codex · cursor · gemini · hermes
# or one-line MCP (every skill, any client):
claude mcp add pm-skills -- npx -y -p pm-claude-skills pm-claude-skills-mcp

Related skills

🔌 Embed this skill

Drop this on your blog, docs, or site — it renders a "Run this skill" card:

<div data-pm-skill="the-maintainers-no"></div>
<script src="https://mohitagw15856.github.io/pm-claude-skills/embed.js" async></script>

💬 Discussion

The Maintainer's No is one of 1326 open-source professional AI agent skills — all SkillSpec L3. Try them all in the browser · ⭐ Star on GitHub · Browse the full catalog