Write a sincere, effective apology to a customer, group, or the public. Use when asked to write an apology, say sorry to a customer or community, make amends after a mistake, or respond to a complaint with an apology. Produces a genuine apology — acknowledgement, taking responsibility, empathy for the impact, the concrete fix and prevention, and an offer to make it right — in the right tone, without excuses or non-apologies.
Start a fresh conversation. Replace the highlighted placeholders.
Use apology-letter to draft a sincere apology to [recipient] about [incident], with a concrete remedy, only truthful prevention commitments, a short chat version, and details to confirm.
Required inputs
[recipient]
[incident]
User-approved starter prompt based on a pinned source version; check current skill requirements before running. Task evidence ↗
SKILL.md
name: apology-letterdescription: "Write a sincere, effective apology to a customer, group, or the public. Use when asked to write an apology, say sorry to a customer or community, make amends after a mistake, or respond to a complaint with an apology. Produces a genuine apology — acknowledgement, taking responsibility, empathy for the impact, the concrete fix and prevention, and an offer to make it right — in the right tone, without excuses or non-apologies."
Apology Letter Skill
A real apology rebuilds trust; a non-apology ("we're sorry you feel that way") destroys it. The difference is
specific: acknowledge what happened, own it without excuses, show you understand the impact, and say concretely
what you'll do. This skill writes apologies that actually land — sincere, accountable, and specific to the
situation.
Working from a brief
Given "apologise to a customer whose order we lost", write the full apology anyway — infer the impact and a
reasonable remedy, label assumptions, and bracket only details to confirm (names, dates, specific compensation).
Never hand back advice about apologising instead of the apology itself.
Required Inputs
Ask for these only if they aren't already provided (else infer and label):
What happened — the mistake, and who was affected.
The impact — how it affected them (inconvenience, cost, trust, harm).
Your responsibility — what you got wrong (own your part plainly).
The remedy — what you'll do to fix it and prevent recurrence, and any make-good offer.
Recipient & tone — one customer / a community / the public; and how formal.
Output Format
Apology: [situation]
A complete, ready-to-send message in this order:
Acknowledge — name specifically what happened, up front.
Take responsibility — own it directly ("we got this wrong"), no "if", no "but", no blame-shifting.
Empathy — show you understand the actual impact on them.
Make it right — the concrete fix and, where appropriate, a make-good (refund, replacement, credit).
Prevent recurrence — briefly, what changes so it doesn't happen again (only if true).
Close — sincere, human, with a way to reach a real person.
Then provide a short version (2–4 sentences) for chat/social, and notes on anything to confirm.
Quality Checks
Acknowledges the specific mistake — not a vague "issues occurred"
Takes real responsibility — no "if we offended", "but", or blaming the customer/circumstances
Shows genuine understanding of the impact, in their terms
Offers a concrete fix and, where fitting, a way to make it right
Prevention is mentioned only if true, not as empty reassurance
Tone matches the severity — proportionate, sincere, not grovelling or glib
Anti-Patterns
Do not write a non-apology ("we're sorry you feel that way", "mistakes were made") — it makes it worse
Do not use conditional language ("if this caused any inconvenience") when harm clearly occurred
Do not bury the apology under excuses, context, or self-justification
Do not over-promise prevention you can't deliver
Do not be so brief it reads as dismissive, or so effusive it reads as insincere — match the harm
Based On
Effective-apology practice — specific acknowledgement, unconditional responsibility, empathy, concrete remedy, and credible prevention.