name: prose
description: Removes AI writing patterns from prose. Use when drafting, editing, or reviewing essays, blog posts, docs, release notes, commit message bodies, PR descriptions, CHANGELOG entries, README content, or any human-facing text that reads AI-generated: hedged, metronomic, padded with throat-clearing, or full of em-dashes, adverbs, and "not X, it's Y" contrasts.
user-invocable: true
allowed-tools: Read, Edit, Write, Grep
model: claude-sonnet-4-6
context: fork
prose
Eliminate AI writing patterns from prose.
Hardik Pandya wrote the upstream version (stop-slop). MIT-licensed. Source: https://github.com/hardikpandya/stop-slop. Core rules + references run verbatim. Edit only in socket-wheelhouse/template/; the cascade refreshes downstream copies.
Fleet doctrine (voice, evidence standard, anti-patterns, surface routing) is codified in .claude/rules/fleet/prose-style-and-doctrine.md and docs/agents.md/fleet/prose-style-and-doctrine.md. Both are loaded by the skill; future skills (to-pr, to-tickets, to-spec) reuse the same reference.
Fleet surfaces — two modes
This skill runs in two modes. Both strip the AI-slop the Core Rules target; the conversational mode adds brevity + voice on top.
Route by surface:
- Targeting a
docs/** file, README, CHANGELOG, GitHub Release notes, or API-reference prose → documentation mode (the Core Rules below, unchanged).
- Targeting a PR description / comment (
gh pr create/edit/comment --body), an issue body or reply (gh issue create/comment), a review comment, a Linear issue/comment, a status summary, or a multi-paragraph commit body → conversational mode: the Core Rules plus references/conversational.md (lead with the point, be brief, show the receipt, drop the AI scaffolding).
Documentation mode applies to:
- CHANGELOG entries, README sections,
docs/ markdown, GitHub Release notes, API-reference prose. Complete + precise + durable; length serves correctness.
- Code-format bare library/tool names in prose (e.g.
rustls, rolldown, reqwest) — they read as code, not prose. The prose-code-format-nudge hook flags them on *.md edits, off a shared dictionary (.claude/hooks/fleet/_shared/known-names.mts) derived from the repo's own manifests; that lib is the single source of truth for this check.
Conversational mode applies to:
- PR descriptions + comments, issue bodies + replies, review comments, Linear issues/comments, status summaries, and multi-paragraph commit bodies. Land the point now, to a person; length serves the point (often 1–3 sentences). Commit subject lines stay terse + imperative per
commit-message-format-guard (not this skill).
When to skip this skill
- Code, code comments, or structured data.
- JSON, YAML, TOML.
chore(wheelhouse): cascade template@<sha> commits. sync-scaffolding generates them with a fixed shape.- Bot output: Dependabot PRs, release auto-notes from PR titles.
- Transcripts and direct quotes (preserve voice verbatim).
- API reference prose where precision matters more than rhythm.
Instructions
- Apply the Core Rules to every paragraph, in order.
- Run the Quick Checks on the full draft.
- Score with the Scoring table; if it totals below 35/50, revise and re-score.
- Stop when the draft reads like a person wrote it. Further edits risk over-polishing.
If an edit changes meaning or loses the author's voice, revert it. Never rewrite a direct quote.
Core Rules
-
Cut filler phrases. Remove throat-clearing openers, emphasis crutches, and all adverbs. See references/phrases.md.
-
Break formulaic structures. Avoid binary contrasts, negative listings, dramatic fragmentation, rhetorical setups, false agency. See references/structures.md.
-
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 it.
- 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.
Example
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.
Removed the opener, the binary contrast, and the emphasis crutch. Two direct statements, same meaning.
See references/examples.md for more.
Edge cases
- Direct quotes: leave them alone; quoting a hedging speaker verbatim is not slop.
- Technical prose where precision > rhythm: API reference sentences can be metronomic; don't force variation that loses accuracy.
- Lists and tables: structural repetition is the point; don't "vary rhythm" inside a parameter list.
- First-person personal voice:
you/I is fine; don't strip writer presence in the name of directness.
