Trails Writing Style

Trails Writing Style

The v1 vocabulary families are live. Use derive for contract-owned fact production and render for surface presentation.

This skill covers how Trails prose should read: sentence rhythm, structural patterns, examples, and vocabulary discipline.

For the larger stance, load trails-writing-voice. For document placement and required sections, load trails-writing-docs.

Start From The Contract

Trails writing should follow the same shape as Trails itself:

1. Define the authored truth.
2. Derive facts the framework already knows.
3. Render the right surface, doc, example, check, or report.

This is both architecture and writing style. Avoid asking readers to reconcile three versions of the same idea.

Sentence Rhythm

Use a mix of:

• Claim: one sentence that can stand alone.
• Reason: why the claim matters.
• Consequence: what breaks or gets easier.
• Example: code, command, or concrete output.

Short sentences carry decisions. Longer sentences are allowed when they earn their room by explaining a real tradeoff.

Avoid uniform paragraph sludge. If a paragraph has more than one job, split it.

Headers

Headers should help the reader navigate.

Prefer headers that name the work:

• Fresh App Loading
• Release Intent
• Surface Accommodations
• What This Does Not Decide

Avoid decorative or vague headers:

• Overview
• Background
• More Details
• Things To Consider

Overview and Background are acceptable only when the document template requires them. Even then, make the first sentence do real work.

Examples Are Primary Evidence

An agent or developer should often understand the rule from the example before they read the prose.

Good examples:

• include imports when imports matter;
• show the authored contract and the resulting surface or behavior;
• include expected output for commands;
• show failure cases when failure behavior is part of the contract;
• are runnable or clearly marked as abridged.

Avoid examples that hide the important part behind ....

For worked good-and-bad samples across docs and narrative containers, see assets/SAMPLES.md.

Voice Mechanics

Prefer:

• active voice;
• concrete nouns;
• direct verbs;
• exact file paths, commands, issue IDs, or ADR links when relevant;
• "this means" lists after dense claims;
• "the test:" heuristics when a reviewer needs to apply a rule.

Avoid:

• hedging settled decisions;
• inventing synonyms for variety;
• corporate filler;
• marketing superlatives;
• unexplained jargon;
• clever metaphors that require decoding;
• passive voice that hides who acts.

Vocabulary Discipline

Use the current project vocabulary from docs/lexicon.md, AGENTS.md, and ADRs.

Current high-signal direction:

• trail, not action, endpoint, handler, or route for the unit of work.
• surface, not transport, when naming the outside boundary.
• topo for the assembled Trails graph primitive.
• compose, not cross, follow, call, invoke, route, or workflow for trail-to-trail composition.
• implementation for the authored behavior field.
• resource for declared infrastructure dependencies.
• layer for typed execution wrappers.

Use derive for contract-owned fact production and render for surface presentation. Preserve retired terms only in explicitly historical release, migration, or decision evidence.

Theme Is Not A Checklist

Outdoor language belongs when it clarifies official concepts. It does not belong as decorative prose.

Good:

A detour names a recovery strategy for a failed trail, not general control flow.

Bad:

Pack your gear before trekking into the terrain of release configuration.

Use plain words unless the themed word carries the concept better.

Replacement Patterns

Review Checklist

When reviewing Trails prose:

• Is the first claim clear enough to quote?
• Does each paragraph have one job?
• Are examples concrete and aligned with current source?
• Are themed terms official or genuinely clarifying?
• Are ratified future terms distinguished from current live code when needed?
• Are derive and render used with distinct meanings?
• Does the text avoid synonym drift?
• Does the document teach the check or heuristic an agent should apply later?