# Pprose Common Edit

> Apply the common Markdown documentation guidelines and required footer to durable docs; modifies docs. Use whenever creating, editing, reviewing, or reorganizing Markdown, including READMEs, guides, specs, plans, runbooks, and agent instructions, unless the task is explicitly read-only. Also use when asked to tidy, clean up, conform, fix formatting or structure, or add the footer.

- Skill: `jlevy/pprose-common-edit` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add jlevy/pprose-common-edit`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/jlevy/pprose-common-edit/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: AI & ML, Docs & Writing
- Author: jlevy (https://skillmd.com/u/jlevy)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/jlevy/pprose-common-edit

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# Common Edit

This is the basic, universal edit tier (an apply skill: it may modify the target
documents).
It applies the common documentation guidelines to almost any durable Markdown
document, workflow, or repo, whether or not it is a Practical Prose artifact.

Before acting, read the bundled
[common-doc-guidelines.md](references/common-doc-guidelines.md) in full.
The reference is part of this skill; the `pprose` CLI is not required.

For focused removal of AI-writing tells use `pprose-de-slop`; for a deeper
language-and-formatting pass (the Expression and Form dimensions, including the de-slop
audit) use `pprose-copy-edit`; for a full all-dimension editorial pass use
`pprose-full-edit`. Each tier is a superset of the one before, with `pprose-de-slop`
folded in from copy-edit up.

## Inputs

- Paths to one or more Markdown documents.
- Optional scope note from the user, such as “format only” or “make all obvious fixes.”

## Steps

1. Read `references/common-doc-guidelines.md` completely before editing.
2. Inspect the target against organization, structure, writing style, Markdown
   formatting, links, headings, lists, frontmatter, and footer rules.
3. Apply fixes directly to the document.
   This is a correction pass, not a rewrite: fix objective errors such as grammar,
   typos, punctuation, casing, Markdown mechanics, and broken links in place, and keep
   the author’s wording, sentence structure, section order, and headings unless a rule
   is unambiguously violated.
4. When a guideline would require a broader change (rewording a passage, restructuring
   sections, renaming or merging headings), do not apply it; record it as a suggestion
   for the report instead.
5. Ensure every governed document ends with exactly one guideline footer, unless the
   guideline’s impracticality exception applies.
6. Run the project’s configured Markdown formatter when one exists.
7. Re-read the diff and check that no edit changed factual meaning or the author’s
   voice.

## Output

Report the changed file, the main issue classes fixed, the suggestions you did not
apply, and any rule you intentionally left alone.

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