How do I install the Proofread skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add brycewang-stanford/proofread-3 in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Proofread safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. Capability flags: docs only. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Proofread?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Proofread free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Proofread?

brycewang-stanford (@brycewang-stanford) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Proofread by brycewang-stanford — Agent Skill

Name: Proofread
Rating: 4.2 (5 reviews)
Author: brycewang-stanford

Proofread

Run the proofreading protocol on academic writing — papers or manuscripts. Checks grammar, typos, layout issues, consistency, and academic writing quality. Produces a report without editing files. Make sure to use this skill whenever the user wants surface-level writing errors found — not substantive academic critique. Triggers include: "proofread", "check for typos", "grammar check", "look for errors in my draft", "proofread all", "polish this", "check my writing", "are there any mistakes", "proofread before I send this", or when the user wants a clean-up pass rather than feedback on arguments or methods.

brycewang-stanford Updated Sep 9, 2026 1k repo stars

File contents

Proofread Academic Writing

Run the mandatory proofreading protocol on papers or manuscripts. Produces a report of all issues WITHOUT editing any source files.

Steps

Identify files to review:
- If $ARGUMENTS is a specific filename: review that file only
- If $ARGUMENTS is all: review all files in manuscripts/ and Quarto/ (if it exists)
- If $ARGUMENTS is a file in manuscripts/: treat as manuscript (not slides)
- If $ARGUMENTS is empty or ambiguous and multiple files exist, use AskUserQuestion:
  - header: "Files"
  - question: "Which files should I proofread?"
  - multiSelect: true
  - options: list up to 4 found files (label: filename, description: directory and file type). User can select multiple or choose "Other" to specify a path.
For each file, launch the proofreader agent that checks for:

GRAMMAR: Subject-verb agreement, articles (a/an/the), prepositions, tense consistency TYPOS: Misspellings, search-and-replace artifacts, duplicated words LAYOUT ISSUES: Overfull hbox (LaTeX slides/manuscripts), content exceeding slide boundaries (Quarto), table/column overflow in manuscripts CONSISTENCY: Citation format, notation, terminology, variable names matching table column names ACADEMIC QUALITY: Informal language, missing words, awkward constructions
Produce a detailed report for each file listing every finding with:
- Location (line number or section heading)
- Current text (what's wrong)
- Proposed fix (what it should be)
- Category and severity
Save each report to quality_reports/:
- For .tex slide files: quality_reports/FILENAME_report.md
- For .qmd slide files: quality_reports/FILENAME_qmd_report.md
- For manuscript files: quality_reports/FILENAME_proofread.md
IMPORTANT: Do NOT edit any source files. Only produce the report. Fixes are applied separately after user review (see rules/proofreading-protocol.md).
Present summary to the user:
- Total issues found per file
- Breakdown by category
- Most critical issues highlighted

---name: proofread-3description: Run the proofreading protocol on academic writing — papers or manuscripts. Checks grammar, typos, layout issues, consistency, and academic writing quality. Produces a report without editing files. Make sure to use this skill whenever the user wants surface-level writing errors found — not substantive academic critique. Triggers include: "proofread", "check for typos", "grammar check", "look for errors in my draft", "proofread all", "polish this", "check my writing", "are there any mistakes", "proofread before I send this", or when the user wants a clean-up pass rather than feedback on arguments or methods.--- # Proofread Academic Writing Run the mandatory proofreading protocol on papers or manuscripts. Produces a report of all issues WITHOUT editing any source files. ## Steps 1. **Identify files to review:** - If `$ARGUMENTS` is a specific filename: review that file only - If `$ARGUMENTS` is `all`: review all files in `manuscripts/` and `Quarto/` (if it exists) - If `$ARGUMENTS` is a file in `manuscripts/`: treat as manuscript (not slides) - If `$ARGUMENTS` is empty or ambiguous and multiple files exist, use AskUserQuestion: - header: "Files" - question: "Which files should I proofread?" - multiSelect: true - options: list up to 4 found files (label: filename, description: directory and file type). User can select multiple or choose "Other" to specify a path. 2. **For each file, launch the proofreader agent** that checks for: **GRAMMAR:** Subject-verb agreement, articles (a/an/the), prepositions, tense consistency **TYPOS:** Misspellings, search-and-replace artifacts, duplicated words **LAYOUT ISSUES:** Overfull hbox (LaTeX slides/manuscripts), content exceeding slide boundaries (Quarto), table/column overflow in manuscripts **CONSISTENCY:** Citation format, notation, terminology, variable names matching table column names **ACADEMIC QUALITY:** Informal language, missing words, awkward constructions 3. **Produce a detailed report** for each file listing every finding with: - Location (line number or section heading) - Current text (what's wrong) - Proposed fix (what it should be) - Category and severity 4. **Save each report** to `quality_reports/`: - For `.tex` slide files: `quality_reports/FILENAME_report.md` - For `.qmd` slide files: `quality_reports/FILENAME_qmd_report.md` - For manuscript files: `quality_reports/FILENAME_proofread.md` 5. **IMPORTANT: Do NOT edit any source files.** Only produce the report. Fixes are applied separately after user review (see `rules/proofreading-protocol.md`). 6. **Present summary** to the user: - Total issues found per file - Breakdown by category - Most critical issues highlighted

Frequently asked questions