zero-slop

Files (105)

• SKILL.md
• README.md · data/corpus/community-register/
• communicative-drift.txt · data/corpus/community-register/judgment/
• reflexive-agreement.txt · data/corpus/community-register/judgment/
• rhetorical-scale-mismatch.txt · data/corpus/community-register/judgment/
• adjective-inflation.md · data/corpus/must-flag/
• caveat-template.md · data/corpus/must-flag/
• classifier-scaffolding.md · data/corpus/must-flag/
• dangling-thin.md · data/corpus/must-flag/
• label-period-list.md · data/corpus/must-flag/
• manifest.json · data/corpus/must-flag/
• mic-drop.md · data/corpus/must-flag/
• monument-negation.md · data/corpus/must-flag/
• opus-effort-recap.md · data/corpus/must-flag/
• plural-noun-fragment.md · data/corpus/must-flag/
• referent-cycling.md · data/corpus/must-flag/
• unnamed-validator.md · data/corpus/must-flag/
• README.md · data/corpus/must-not-flag-shape/
• aphorism-list.txt · data/corpus/must-not-flag-shape/
• changelog.txt · data/corpus/must-not-flag-shape/
• dialogue.txt · data/corpus/must-not-flag-shape/
• lyrics.txt · data/corpus/must-not-flag-shape/
• poem.txt · data/corpus/must-not-flag-shape/
• sms-transcript.txt · data/corpus/must-not-flag-shape/
• README.md · data/corpus/must-not-flag/
• esl-engineer-email.txt · data/corpus/must-not-flag/
• exec-memo.txt · data/corpus/must-not-flag/
• federalist.txt · data/corpus/must-not-flag/
• gettysburg.txt · data/corpus/must-not-flag/
• grant-abstract.txt · data/corpus/must-not-flag/
• ml-methods.txt · data/corpus/must-not-flag/
• personal-essay.txt · data/corpus/must-not-flag/
• press-release.txt · data/corpus/must-not-flag/
• recipe.txt · data/corpus/must-not-flag/
• sre-runbook.txt · data/corpus/must-not-flag/
• technical-postmortem.txt · data/corpus/must-not-flag/
• terse-engineer-note.txt · data/corpus/must-not-flag/
• README.md · data/corpus/performed-register/
• bare-subject-swap.txt · data/corpus/performed-register/judgment/
• detection-fragile.txt · data/corpus/performed-register/judgment/
• draft-cheap-signal.txt · data/corpus/performed-register/judgment/
• ear-chiasmus.txt · data/corpus/performed-register/judgment/
• fight-against-tagline.txt · data/corpus/performed-register/judgment/
• fine-beat.txt · data/corpus/performed-register/judgment/
• glow-finishing.txt · data/corpus/performed-register/judgment/
• jargon-compression.txt · data/corpus/performed-register/judgment/
• not-perfect-honest.txt · data/corpus/performed-register/judgment/
• punctuation-convict.txt · data/corpus/performed-register/judgment/
• recipe-ingredients.txt · data/corpus/performed-register/judgment/
• replay-lands.txt · data/corpus/performed-register/judgment/
• rhymes-with.txt · data/corpus/performed-register/judgment/
• rhythm-prints.txt · data/corpus/performed-register/judgment/
• same-leak.txt · data/corpus/performed-register/judgment/
• tools-work.txt · data/corpus/performed-register/judgment/
• tuning-gradients.txt · data/corpus/performed-register/judgment/
• whole-product.txt · data/corpus/performed-register/judgment/
• words-cheap.txt · data/corpus/performed-register/judgment/
• argue-with-artifact.txt · data/corpus/performed-register/mechanical/
• bill-lands.txt · data/corpus/performed-register/mechanical/
• billed-to-reader.txt · data/corpus/performed-register/mechanical/
• …and 45 more

SKILL.md (first lines)

# Zero Slop

## Local tool routing

In this plugin, run local checks through the declared `zero-slop-local` MCP
server. The examples below name its tools. Supply the contents of the named
drafts and packets using each tool's advertised input schema; never pass a file
path or run these examples through a shell. Example flags describe the matching
operation, not a command to execute. Save returned output only with the host's
approved file tools when the user requests a file.

Keep every editorial role and verification requirement below. A tool result
does not replace contextual reading or independent review. Learning still needs
affirmative consent, and activation needs separate consent. Use the `version`
tool with `check_for_updates: true` for the optional metadata-only release check.
Never call the remote editing tool automatically. If a local tool is unavailable,
use the documented manual path and disclose which checks did not run.

Do not delegate file conversion to other skills or execute shell commands,
custom scripts, or conversion programs outside the declared MCP servers.
For DOCX and PDF, use only built-in host file operations that support the format
without launching custom code. If those operations are unavailable, leave the
original file untouched, explain the format limitation, and ask the user to
provide the prose or approve a plain-text alternative. Never claim that styles,
layout, or the original format were preserved without producing that output.


A linter for the AI accent. The things that make prose read as machine-written
are measurable, so measure them, fix them, and show the numbers.

Zero Slop is a skill, not an AI model. The user's existing AI assistant, powered
by Claude, GPT, or another compatible model, reads the draft, understands its
context, and performs the editorial work. The bundled local tools handle
repeatable checks. They do not replace the assistant, and no separate Zero Slop
model or service receives the draft.

The separately invoked npm `zero-slop deslop` command and hosted MCP/REST endpoints
send a draft to Zero Slop's remote service. They are opt-in alternatives, not local
checks in this workflow. Do not invoke them as part of an offline skill run without
the user's request. The npm `score` command continues to run locally.

The science in one paragraph: detectors (and readers) key on the *post-training
register* — text that sits at the most-probable phrasing, with uniform sentence
rhythm, a few hundred over-represented style words, tidy template structure, and
relentless even polish. These signals live in the surface realization of the
text and can usually be revised without changing the meaning; the fidelity and
semantic checks below enforce that boundary. `references/evidence.md` has the
citations, and the ladder below orders the signals by measured strength.

## Hard rules (non-negotiable)

For an explicit character-cleanup request, use the bundled offline text-hygiene
helper at `scripts/text_hygiene.py` when available. It inspects formatting
characters and removes only a
small reviewed set of embedded artifacts in 16 common ASCII prose words.
Only sentence-shaped lines with conservative prose openers are eligible.
Recognized code, command syntax, URLs, formulas, quotations and multilingual
formatting are excluded; these guards are not a complete code parser. Preserve
uncertain text and use inspection when its purpose is unclear.
This is a separate local operation, not a replacement for contextual editing.
Its change record can reverse the exact cleanup. A scriptless assistant must
not claim byte-level cleanup it did not perform. Character cleanup does not
verify removal of statistical watermarks from ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or any
other model. Preserve required disclosures and attribution.
In a host that routes local checks through the bundled MCP connector, use its
`clean_text` tool with the supplied text and optional `inspect: true` instead.

1. **Fidelity.** Meaning, claims, and facts survive exactly. Never invent a
   number, name, anecdote, or experience — and experiential/interior claims
   count ("by test day it felt familiar", "I was terrified"): if the author
   didn't say it, it's fabrication, even when it would make the piece land
   better. Preserve the underlying emotion or position when the author states
   one. A generic promotional intensifier may be reduced only when it is a
   named delivery defect and the underlying claim remains ("incredibly
   excited" may become "excited"). A hedge, scope limit, caveat, factual degree,
   or change of speaker is not promotional padding and must keep its strength.
   Specificity without source grounding is fabrication — worse than the slop it
   replaces.
2. **Flag hollow spans, don't fill them.** Prose that makes no claim cannot be
   rescued by rewording. Flag it and ask for the missing substance.
3. **No over-correction.** Trading AI-slop for edgy-slop (forced hot takes,
   fake first person, performed candor, staccato drama) is failure. Read
   `references/overcorrection.md` before heavy rewrites.
4. **Idempotence in editing.** Text that already reads human returns unchanged. "Reads
   human" is a two-channel finding, never a score: a draft returns unchanged
   only after the scorer is clean *and* the step 2 performed-register pass has
   run on it and reported zero findings. The best edit is often small. A reader-only
   review leaves every draft unchanged without certifying that it is clean. In
   scriptless mode, leave a draft unchanged when direct review finds no grounded
   edit, but do not certify it as scored or fully clear.
5. **Honest use.** This skill improves writing quality and voice. Refuse
   requests to defeat AI-disclosure requirements (schools, journals, employers
   that require disclosure) or to impersonate a named individual.
6. **Speak to the writer, not the scoring code.** User-facing reports must use
   ordinary editorial language. Say "writing score," "flagged phrases,"
   "sentence variety," "readability," "facts preserved," and "final checks."
   Never expose internal labels such as "surface score," "weighted tells,"
   "tell density," "burstiness," "followability," "fidelity gate,"
   "scorecard," "heatmap," "artifact," "candidate," or "overlay." Keep
   internal field names only in machine-readable JSON or maintainer notes.
7. **Tell the writer who did what.** Zero Slop is the skill and set of local
   tools; the AI assistant running it performs the contextual reading and
   editing. In every standalone report, name the current assistant or model
   only when the environment makes that identity certain. Say "Claude," "GPT,"
   or the accurate product name when known; otherwise say "your AI assistant."
   Never guess. Do not imply that a separate Zero Slop model or service
   received, read, or rewrote the draft.
8. **A clean score is not a completed review.** The scorer sees only the
   lexically anchored subset of the tells. Every rewrite or slop-inspection draft gets the
   performed-register pass in step 2 regardless of what the meter says, and
   that pass reports its counts — including zero — in the step 9 summary. A
   score in the "clear" band is a reason to look harder at register, not
   permission to stop: the tell families the meter cannot see are exactly the
   ones still standing when it comes back empty. A standalone audience reader
   review is a different diagnostic: it neither runs nor certifies this pass.

## Eight roles, one pipeline

Run the rewrite workflow as eight ordered responsibilities. They are editorial jobs,

From manavmishra/ZeroSlop, MIT.

More from manavmishra/ZeroSlop