Stop slop
Remove AI writing patterns from prose. Use when drafting, editing, or reviewing text to eliminate predictable AI tells.From its SKILL.md
npx -y skills add JustMichael-80/MasterVault --skill stop-slopAssembled from the repository path, not quoted from the project. Check it against their README if it does not work.
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SKILL.md
2.6 KB, 550 tokens by cl100k_base, as published. Nobody here has run it
Stop Slop
Eliminate predictable AI writing patterns from prose.
Core Rules
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Cut filler phrases. Remove throat-clearing openers, emphasis crutches, and all adverbs. See references/phrases.md.
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Break formulaic structures. Avoid binary contrasts, negative listings, dramatic fragmentation, rhetorical setups, false agency. See references/structures.md.
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Use active voice. Every sentence needs a human subject doing something. No passive constructions. No inanimate objects performing human actions ("the complaint becomes a fix").
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Be specific. No vague declaratives ("The reasons are structural"). Name the specific thing. No lazy extremes ("every," "always," "never") doing vague work.
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Put the reader in the room. No narrator-from-a-distance voice. "You" beats "People." Specifics beat abstractions.
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Vary rhythm. Mix sentence lengths. Two items beat three. End paragraphs differently. No em dashes.
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Trust readers. State facts directly. Skip softening, justification, hand-holding.
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Cut quotables. If it sounds like a pull-quote, rewrite it.
Quick Checks
Before delivering prose:
- Any adverbs? Kill them.
- Any passive voice? Find the actor, make them the subject.
- 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.
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.
Examples
See references/examples.md for before/after transformations.
License
MIT
What ships with it: 6 files
13.4 KB alongside SKILL.md
references/
- examples.md1.6 KB
- phrases.md2.8 KB
- structures.md5.1 KB
- CHANGELOG.md895 B
- LICENSE1.0 KB
- README.md1.8 KB
Gives 1 of the 12 instructions most docs writing skills give in 550 tokens
Counted across 1,951 of the 3,904 authors here whose files we hold, read 2026-09-06
- Use third-person for skill descriptionsin 54 of 1951, across 35 files
- Start descriptions with Use whenin 43 of 1951, across 29 files
- Run baseline scenarios before writing any skillin 40 of 1951, across 26 files
- Use active voicehere, and in 40 of 1951, across 36 files
- Map file responsibilities before defining tasksin 36 of 1951, across 29 files
- Use checkbox syntax for tracking stepsin 35 of 1951, across 27 files
- Ask one question at a timein 35 of 1951
- Offer execution options after saving the planin 33 of 1951, across 24 files
- Include complete code in every stepin 33 of 1951, across 27 files
- Design units with clear boundaries and interfacesin 31 of 1951, across 23 files
- Announce the skill usage at the startin 30 of 1951
- Verify agent compliance after adding the skillin 29 of 1951, across 17 files
Grouped from the skills themselves: near-identical wordings counted once, and counted by distinct author, so one author publishing three of these counts once. Length counted with cl100k_base; the agent that loads this file may tokenize it differently.