ConcertoNotes Unslop Humanize
Purpose
Rewrite natural-language memory files (CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, todos, preferences, docs) so they sound human-written: no sycophancy, no stock vocab, no five-paragraph essay shape, no tricolon padding. Everything technical stays exact: code blocks, inline code, URLs, file paths, commands, headings, tables.
Two modes:
--deterministic— fast regex pass that strips canonical AI-isms and tightens tricolons. No API call, noANTHROPIC_API_KEYneeded. Best for batch processing and CI.- LLM mode (default) — calls Claude (via Anthropic SDK or
claude --printCLI fallback) to do a full rewrite that engineers burstiness, restructures performative paragraphs, and matches voice. Slower but better quality.
Humanized version overwrites the original. A FILE.original.md backup is written first. Re-run after editing the .original.md to regenerate.
Intensity levels (--mode)
| Mode | What runs | Use when… |
|---|---|---|
subtle |
Stock vocab only. | Structure is fine; you just want AI vocabulary gone. |
balanced |
(Default.) Sycophancy, hedging, transitions, stock vocab, authority tropes, signposting, performative balance, em-dash cap. | Everyday docs / READMEs / CLAUDE.md. |
full |
Balanced + filler phrases + negative-parallelism tricolons + stronger LLM prompt. | Marketing copy, release notes, slop-heavy LLM output. |
Two-pass audit
Use the deterministic pass to get a report, then fix anything that slipped:
humanize --deterministic --report audit.json doc.md # writes audit + humanized
humanize doc.md # optional LLM polish on top
audit.json lists every rule that fired, every before → after pair, and counts_by_rule. Great for reviewing what the regex changed before trusting the diff to merge.
Trigger
/unslop-file <filepath>, /unslop:humanize <filepath>, or "humanize memory file", "de-slop this doc", "strip AI tone from this file".
Process
The scripts live in a scripts/ directory adjacent to this SKILL.md.
Common layouts:
- Full repo:
unslop/SKILL.md+unslop/scripts/ - Synced mirror:
skills/unslop-file/SKILL.md+skills/unslop-file/scripts/ - Codex bundle:
plugins/unslop/skills/unslop-file/SKILL.md+ siblingscripts/
Always prefer the scripts/ sibling of the currently loaded SKILL file.
Steps:
- Locate the directory containing this SKILL.md and its
scripts/sibling. - Run from that directory:
python3 -m scripts <absolute_filepath>(LLM mode), or add--deterministicfor the regex pass. - CLI flow: detect file type → write
.original.mdbackup → humanize → validate (preserve check + AI-ism residual check) → on validation error: targeted fix call (LLM mode) → retry up to 2 times. - On final failure: report errors, restore original, exit 2.
- On success: report path of humanized file and
.original.mdbackup, exit 0. - Return result to user.
Humanization Rules
Remove (canonical AI-isms)
- Sycophancy openers: "Great question!", "Certainly!", "Absolutely!", "Sure!", "I'd be happy to help", "What a fascinating..."
- Stock vocab:
delve,tapestry,testament(praise form),navigate/embark/journey(figurative),realm,landscape(figurative),pivotal,paramount,seamless,holistic,leverage(filler verb),robust(filler),comprehensive(when "complete" works),cutting-edge,state-of-the-art(filler),interplay,intricate,vibrant,underscore(s)/d/ing(figurative),crucial,vital(role/importance/part),ever-evolving,ever-changing,in today's (digital) world/age,dynamic landscape. - Hedging openers: "It's important to note that", "It's worth mentioning", "Generally speaking", "In essence", "At its core", "It should be noted that", "It's also worth pointing out".
- Authority tropes (sentence start): "At its core,", "In reality,", "Fundamentally,", "What really matters is", "The heart of the matter is", "At the heart of X is/lies".
- Signposting announcements: "Let's dive in(to ...)", "Let's break this down", "Here's what you need to know", "Without further ado", "In this article, I'll ...", "Buckle up".
- Transition tics (sentence start): "Furthermore,", "Moreover,", "Additionally,", "In conclusion,", "To summarize,".
- Performative balance: "however" / "on the other hand" appended to every claim.
- Em-dash pileups (more than two em-dashes per paragraph).
- Filler phrases (
--mode fullonly): "in order to" → "to", "due to the fact that" → "because", "prior to" → "before", "with regard to" → "about", "a wide variety of" → "many", "at this point in time" → "now", "the fact that" → "that", etc. - Negative-parallelism tricolons (
--mode fullonly): "No guesswork, no bloat, no surprises." — the rhetorical triple-no punch.
Tighten
- Tricolons: "X, Y, and Z" stacks where two would suffice — keep two, drop the weakest
- Bullet soup: three bullets that say the same thing → merge into one sentence
- Five-paragraph essay shapes: vary paragraph length; don't write four paragraphs of identical length
Preserve EXACTLY (never modify)
- Fenced code blocks (
...) — every byte - Indented code blocks (4-space)
- Inline code (
...) - URLs and markdown links
- File paths (
./src/,/etc/,C:\Users\...) - Commands (
npm install,git rebase,docker run) - Technical terms, proper nouns, API names
- Dates, version numbers, numerics
- Environment variables (
$HOME,${NODE_ENV})
Preserve structure
- All markdown headings (text exact)
- Bullet hierarchy and nesting
- Numbered lists
- Tables (compress cells; keep structure)
- YAML frontmatter
CRITICAL RULE
Everything inside ``` ... ``` is read-only. No comment changes, no whitespace changes, no line reordering. Inline backticks: same. Code is the substrate; humanization only operates on prose between code regions.
Pattern (before → after)
| # | Before | After (deterministic, --mode balanced) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | It's important to note that running tests prior to pushing changes is a comprehensive best practice. Additionally, it's worth mentioning that this can prevent broken builds. | Running tests before pushing changes is a broad best practice. This can prevent broken builds. |
| 2 | The application leverages a microservices architecture that comprises multiple discrete components. | The application uses a microservices architecture that comprises multiple discrete components. |
| 3 | At its core, caching trades memory for latency. | Caching trades memory for latency. |
| 4 | Let's dive in. Here is the first step. | Here is the first step. |
| 5 | The intricate interplay between caching and latency is crucial. | The detailed link between caching and latency is important. |
| 6 | In today's digital world, we ship fast. | Today, we ship fast. |
At --mode full, additionally:
| # | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | We ran the tests in order to verify the fix. | We ran the tests to verify the fix. |
| 8 | The build failed due to the fact that the disk was full. | The build failed because the disk was full. |
| 9 | No guesswork, no bloat, no surprises. | (stripped) |
Reference
blader/unslop— Claude-Code skill listing 30+ AI tells; we incorporated the strongest signals.- Wikipedia: Signs of AI writing — public taxonomy cross-referenced for vocab.
- Full comparison + gap analysis:
docs/research/IMPLEMENTATION_TRACE.md.
Boundaries
- Only operate on
.md,.txt,.markdown,.rst, or extensionless natural language. - Never modify
.py,.js,.ts,.json,.yaml,.yml,.toml,.env,.lock,.css,.html,.xml,.sql,.sh. - Mixed prose-and-code files: humanize only the prose; leave fenced code untouched.
- If unsure whether a file is prose or code: leave unchanged.
- Backup
FILE.original.mdis written before overwrite. Never humanize a file already named*.original.md. - Sensitive paths (anything matching
.env*,*.pem,*.key,~/.ssh/,~/.aws/, etc.) are refused before any read or API call. - Files larger than 500 KB are refused.