| name | miladocs-standardize-tone |
| description | Use when writing, editing, updating, or improving any Mila documentation page, or when the user asks about tone, voice, or pronoun consistency. |
| version | 1.0.0 |
| argument-hint | <path-to-doc> |
Standardize Tone for Mila Documentation
This skill audits a Mila documentation page for tone violations and proposes corrections. The target tone is formal and objective — the register of a technical reference manual, not a tutorial or conversation. Rules cover pronoun usage, voice, vague language, verb tense, and Mila-specific terminology.
Workflow
Step 1: Read the target file
If the user provided a file path as an argument, read that file. Otherwise, ask which file to standardize before proceeding.
Step 2: Audit for tone violations
Scan the file for each rule category defined in references/tone-rules.md. For each violation found, record:
- The original sentence or phrase
- The rule it violates
- A proposed replacement
Group findings by rule category.
Step 3: Present a preview
Show the user a structured preview of proposed changes. Format as:
## Tone Audit: <filename>
### Second-person pronouns (X instances)
- Line N: "You can run the script" → "Run the script" (or "The script can be run")
- ...
### Passive voice (X instances)
- Line N: "The job should be submitted" → "Submit the job"
- ...
### Vague language (X instances)
- Line N: "Simply run the command" → "Run the command"
- ...
### Tense (X instances)
- ...
### Terminology (X instances)
- ...
If a category has no violations, omit it from the preview.
Step 4: Ask for confirmation
After the preview, ask:
Apply all changes? Or specify which categories to apply (pronouns / voice / vague / tense / terminology), or type "cancel".
Step 5: Apply approved changes
Apply only the approved changes. Prefer minimal edits — change only the flagged phrases, not surrounding content.
- Standalone use (a file path was provided): edit the file on disk.
- Inline use (called from
miladocs-write-guide with no saved file yet):
output the corrected content as a markdown block so the parent skill can
continue with it.
Rules Summary
Full rules with examples are in references/tone-rules.md. Summary:
| Rule | Replace | With |
|---|
| Second-person (actions) | "you can X", "you need to X" | imperative "X" |
| Second-person (privately owned items) | "your email", "your password", "your computer" | preserve "your" — reader genuinely owns these |
| Second-person (tools/resources) | "your terminal", "your browser", "your job ID" | "a terminal", "a browser", "the job ID" |
| Active voice | passive constructions (where agent matters) | active verb phrases; passive OK when agent is unknown or destination is the focus |
| No vague language | simply, just, easy, obviously, etc. | remove or rephrase |
| Present tense | "you will X", "you'll X" | imperative "X" |
| Mila terminology | server, worker, task (Slurm) | cluster, compute node, job |
Important Constraints
- Do not change code blocks, command examples, or expected output blocks (
<div class="result"> blocks).
- Do not change YAML frontmatter,
--8<-- include directives, or {% include-markdown ... %} directives.
- Do not change URLs or link targets.
- Do not change file names, Slurm flags, command-line arguments, or other technical identifiers.
- Do not alter the meaning of sentences — if a safe rewrite is not obvious, flag it for human review rather than guessing.
- Do not change admonition titles.
- Preserve all markdown formatting (bold, links, admonitions, tabs, etc.).
Additional Resources
references/tone-rules.md — Complete rules with before/after examples for each category