# Prose > Edit human-facing prose to remove AI patterns, padding, hedging, and awkward generated phrasing. - Skill: `socketdev/prose` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 6 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add socketdev/prose` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/socketdev/prose/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Coding & Dev Tools - Author: socketdev (https://skillmd.com/u/socketdev) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/socketdev/prose --- # 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 near-verbatim, with fleet additions marked (rule 3 + references/idioms.md are fleet-authored). 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 Discussion, a Linear issue/comment, a status summary, or a multi-paragraph commit _body_ → **conversational mode**: the Core Rules **plus** [references/conversational.md](references/conversational.md) (lead with the point, be brief, show the receipt, use the maintainer voice, and drop AI scaffolding; when a body earns structure, use GitHub advanced formatting — `
` folds with specific summaries, at most one `> [!NOTE]`-family alert, `- [ ]` task lists, autolinks/permalinks, sparing footnotes). **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@` 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 1. Apply the Core Rules to every paragraph, in order. 2. Run the Quick Checks on the full draft. 3. Score with the Scoring table; if it totals below 35/50, revise and re-score. 4. 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 1. **Cut filler phrases.** Remove throat-clearing openers and emphasis crutches; cut adverbs that do not add meaning. See [references/phrases.md](references/phrases.md). 2. **Break formulaic structures.** Avoid binary contrasts, negative listings, dramatic fragmentation, rhetorical setups, false agency. See [references/structures.md](references/structures.md). 3. **Keep the idiom.** Sayings in the maintainer's Gen X / late-millennial register — "earning its keep", "not my first rodeo", "side quest" — are ENCOURAGED, one per thought, decorating a plain claim rather than replacing it. Do not strip them as slop; the removal lists never included them. See [references/idioms.md](references/idioms.md). 4. **Prefer active voice when it clarifies the actor.** Keep passive constructions when they are more precise or the actor is intentionally unknown. Avoid inanimate objects performing human actions ("the complaint becomes a fix"). 5. **Be specific.** No vague declaratives ("The reasons are structural"). Name the specific thing. No lazy extremes ("every," "always," "never") doing vague work. 6. **Put the reader in the room.** No narrator-from-a-distance voice. "You" beats "People." Specifics beat abstractions. 7. **Vary rhythm.** Mix sentence lengths. Two items beat three. End paragraphs differently. No em dashes. 8. **Trust readers.** State facts directly. Skip softening, justification, hand-holding. 9. **Cut quotables.** If it sounds like a pull-quote, rewrite it. ## Quick Checks Before delivering prose: - Any adverbs that add no meaning? Cut them. - Would active voice clarify responsibility? Name the actor. - 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. - Did an edit strip a saying ("earning its keep", "side quest")? Restore it — idioms are voice, not slop (references/idioms.md). ## 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](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.