| name | stop-slop |
| description | Remove AI writing patterns from prose. Use when drafting, editing, or reviewing text to eliminate predictable AI tells — throat-clearing, binary contrasts, false agency, adverbs, passive voice, vague declaratives. |
| user_invocable | true |
Stop Slop
Eliminate predictable AI writing patterns from prose.
Credit: Hardik Pandya — github.com/hardikpandya/stop-slop (MIT)
Core Rules
- Cut filler phrases. Remove throat-clearing openers, emphasis crutches, and all adverbs.
- Break formulaic structures. Avoid binary contrasts, negative listings, dramatic fragmentation, rhetorical setups, false agency.
- Use active voice. Every sentence needs a human subject doing something. No passive constructions. No inanimate objects performing human actions ("the complaint becomes a fix").
- Be specific. No vague declaratives ("The reasons are structural"). Name the specific thing. No lazy extremes ("every," "always," "never") doing vague work.
- Put the reader in the room. No narrator-from-a-distance voice. "You" beats "People." Specifics beat abstractions.
- Vary rhythm. Mix sentence lengths. Two items beat three. End paragraphs differently. No em dashes.
- Trust readers. State facts directly. Skip softening, justification, hand-holding.
- Cut quotables. If it sounds like a pull-quote, rewrite it.
Quick Checks
Before delivering prose:
- Any adverbs? Kill them.
- Any passive voice? Find the actor, make them the subject.
- Inanimate thing doing a human verb ("the decision emerges")? Name the person.
- Sentence starts with a Wh- word? Restructure.
- Any "here's what/this/that" throat-clearing? Cut to the point.
- Any "not X, it's Y" contrasts? State Y directly.
- Three consecutive sentences match length? Break one.
- Paragraph ends with punchy one-liner? Vary it.
- Em-dash anywhere? Remove it.
- Vague declarative ("The implications are significant")? Name the specific implication.
- Narrator-from-a-distance ("Nobody designed this")? Put the reader in the scene.
- Meta-joiners ("The rest of this essay...")? Delete. Let the essay move.
Scoring
Rate 1-10 on each dimension:
| Dimension | Question |
|---|
| Directness | Statements or announcements? |
| Rhythm | Varied or metronomic? |
| Trust | Respects reader intelligence? |
| Authenticity | Sounds human? |
| Density | Anything cuttable? |
Below 35/50: revise.
Phrases to Remove
Throat-Clearing Openers
Remove these. State the content directly.
- "Here's the thing:" / "Here's what/this/that [X]" / "Here's why [X]"
- "The uncomfortable truth is" / "It turns out" / "The real [X] is"
- "Let me be clear" / "The truth is," / "I'll say it again:"
- "I'm going to be honest" / "Can we talk about"
- "Here's what I find interesting" / "Here's the problem though"
Emphasis Crutches
Add no meaning. Delete them.
- "Full stop." / "Period."
- "Let that sink in."
- "This matters because" / "Make no mistake" / "Here's why that matters"
Business Jargon
| Avoid | Use instead |
|---|
| Navigate (challenges) | Handle, address |
| Unpack (analysis) | Explain, examine |
| Lean into | Accept, embrace |
| Landscape (context) | Situation, field |
| Game-changer | Significant, important |
| Double down | Commit, increase |
| Deep dive | Analysis, examination |
| Take a step back | Reconsider |
| Moving forward | Next, from now |
| Circle back | Return to, revisit |
Adverbs
Kill all adverbs. No -ly words. No softeners, no intensifiers, no hedges.
Specific offenders: really, just, literally, genuinely, honestly, simply, actually, deeply, truly, fundamentally, inherently, inevitably, interestingly, importantly, crucially.
Filler phrases: "At its core", "In today's [X]", "It's worth noting", "At the end of the day", "When it comes to", "In a world where", "The reality is".
Meta-Commentary
Remove self-referential asides. The essay should move, not announce its own structure.
- "Hint:" / "Plot twist:" / "Spoiler:"
- "You already know this, but" / "But that's another post"
- "X is a feature, not a bug" / "Dressed up as"
- "The rest of this essay explains..." / "Let me walk you through..."
- "In this section, we'll..." / "As we'll see..." / "I want to explore..."
Performative Emphasis
- "creeps in" / "I promise" / "They exist, I promise"
Telling Instead of Showing
- "This is genuinely hard" / "This is what leadership actually looks like"
- "This is what X actually looks like" / "actually matters"
Vague Declaratives
Sentences that announce importance without naming the specific thing. Kill these.
- "The reasons are structural" / "The implications are significant"
- "This is the deepest problem" / "The stakes are high" / "The consequences are real"
Structures to Avoid
Binary Contrasts
Create false drama. State the point directly.
- "Not because X. Because Y." / "Not because X, but because Y."
- "[X] isn't the problem. [Y] is." / "The answer isn't X. It's Y."
- "It feels like X. It's actually Y." / "The question isn't X. It's Y."
- "not X, it's Y" / "isn't X, it's Y" / "stops being X and starts being Y"
Fix: State Y directly. Drop the negation.
Negative Listing
Listing what something is not before revealing what it is.
- "Not a X... Not a Y... A Z."
- "It wasn't X. It wasn't Y. It was Z."
Fix: State Z. The reader doesn't need the runway.
Dramatic Fragmentation
- "[Noun]. That's it. That's the [thing]."
- "X. And Y. And Z."
- "This unlocks something. [Word]."
Fix: Complete sentences. Trust content over presentation.
Rhetorical Setups
- "What if [reframe]?" — Socratic posturing
- "Here's what I mean:" — Redundant preview
- "Think about it:" — Condescending prompt
- "And that's okay." — Unnecessary permission
Fix: Make the point. Let readers draw conclusions.
False Agency
Giving inanimate things human verbs. AI loves this because it avoids naming the actor.
- "a complaint becomes a fix" → Someone fixed it.
- "the decision emerges" → Someone decides.
- "the culture shifts" → People change behavior.
- "the data tells us" → Someone reads it and draws a conclusion.
Fix: Name the human. "The team fixed it that week" beats "the complaint becomes a fix."
Narrator-from-a-Distance
- "Nobody designed this." / "This happens because..." / "People tend to..."
Fix: Put the reader in the room. "You don't sit down one day and decide to..." beats "Nobody designed this."
Passive Voice
- "X was created" → Name who created it
- "Mistakes were made" → Name who made them
Fix: Find the actor. Put them at the front.
Sentence Starters to Avoid
- Sentences starting with What, When, Where, Which, Who, Why, How → Lead with the subject or the verb.
- Paragraphs starting with "So" → Start with content.
- Sentences starting with "Look," → Remove.
Rhythm Patterns
- Three-item lists → Use two or one
- Questions answered immediately → Let questions breathe or cut them
- Every paragraph ends punchily → Vary endings
- Em-dashes → Remove. Use commas or periods.
- Staccato fragmentation → Don't stack short punchy sentences
- Lazy extremes (every, always, never, everyone, nobody) → Use specifics
Examples
Throat-Clearing + Binary Contrast
Before: "Here's the thing: building products is hard. Not because the technology is complex. Because people are complex. Let that sink in."
After: "Building products is hard. Technology is manageable. People aren't."
Filler + Unnecessary Reassurance
Before: "It turns out that most teams struggle with alignment. The uncomfortable truth is that nobody wants to admit they're confused. And that's okay."
After: "Teams struggle with alignment. Nobody admits confusion."
Business Jargon Stack
Before: "In today's fast-paced landscape, we need to lean into discomfort and navigate uncertainty with clarity. This matters because your competition isn't waiting."
After: "Move faster. Your competition is."
Dramatic Fragmentation
Before: "Speed. Quality. Cost. You can only pick two. That's it. That's the tradeoff."
After: "Speed, quality, cost — pick two."
Rhetorical Setup
Before: "What if I told you that the best teams don't optimize for productivity? Here's what I mean: they optimize for learning. Think about it."
After: "The best teams optimize for learning, not productivity."
