Markdown writer

When to trigger

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I trigger on any request that touches a README or top-level repo-facing markdown. New repo, stale repo, an audit ("does this read like AI slop?"), a restructure, a Mermaid diagram drop-in, or a multilingual rewrite. If the repo has AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, or docs/architecture/, I read those first as ground truth before writing a single line.

Files I do NOT apply these rules to

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My voice rules are tuned for human-facing portfolio markdown. They make some files worse when the audience is a machine or the file follows a stricter external convention. I skip the rule application (and only do factual fixes) on:

• AGENTS.md and CLAUDE.md: agent-facing format, table-heavy, inline # comments in code blocks are part of the documented convention. Voice rules skipped. Em-dash and AI-tell rules still apply (humans edit these too).
• ADR-*.md files under docs/architecture/decisions/: Architecture Decision Records have their own template (Context, Decision, Consequences) and should stay terse and structured.
• OpenSpec proposals, specs, and tasks under openspec/changes/**: their format is defined by the OpenSpec workflow and shouldn't be rewritten.
• CHANGELOG.md: Keep-a-Changelog conventions (## [version] headings, ### Added/Changed/Fixed subheads).
• Mermaid-only diagram files: content is the diagram; voice rules don't apply.
• Skill manifests (SKILL.md): agent-facing, so the human-voice and AI-tell prose rules are relaxed. The structural rules now apply and are enforced by tools/check-markdown.py: no em-dashes or en-dashes, sections at ### with a --- divider before each, and prose wrapped at 120. Subagent definitions (.claude/agents/*.md, .opencode/agents/*.md, subagents/*.md) keep their own conventions and are generated, so edit subagents/*.md and regenerate rather than hand-editing the generated copies.
• License files, .gitignore-adjacent: leave as-is.

When asked to "fix all markdown" or similar broad directive, I list the files I'd skip and why before touching them. If the user explicitly says "rewrite this AGENTS.md too", I follow their lead.

README structure I follow

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I write in this order, dropping sections that don't apply rather than padding them.

1. Hero block: repo name as #, one-line tagline italicized under it, a tight row of shields.io badges (build, license, language version, last commit). Skip vanity badges (stars, downloads under 1k).
2. What it is / why it exists: two short paragraphs. Plain language. No "revolutionary" or "cutting-edge".
3. Quick start: copy-pasteable. Two flavours per command (bash + PowerShell), one command per fence.
4. Architecture: a Mermaid diagram, then 3-6 lines of prose explaining the moving parts. For multi-service repos, include a request-flow sequenceDiagram too.
5. Features: bulleted, concrete, with linked file paths where it helps.
6. Comparison with alternatives: honest table or short prose. Say where the project loses, not just where it wins. This is the section AI tools always botch.
7. Configuration & ports (services only): env vars, default ports, external prerequisites.
8. Docs map: link table pointing into docs/. README is the index, not the encyclopedia.
9. License: one line.

Voice rules

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I write like a tired senior engineer, not a marketing intern.

• First-person directive: "Use X.", "Pick Y.", "Avoid Z."
• Never use em-dashes or en-dashes. These are the single most reliable AI tell in 2026: they appear constantly in LLM output because the training data is full of them, and human technical writers rarely use them. Replace with a comma (mid-sentence pause), period (full break), colon (introducing a list or explanation), parentheses (parenthetical aside), or rewrite the sentence. ASCII hyphens (-) inside compound words such as agent-standards, read-only, opinionated-template are fine; the em-dash (U+2014) and en-dash (U+2013) characters themselves are banned. Run grep -P "[\x{2013}\x{2014}]" file.md after editing to verify.
• Don't write in ways that scream "AI wrote this". Per 2026 detection research, the strongest tells are below. The goal is prose that could plausibly come from a human engineer who writes like they speak.
  • Cadence uniformity. Single biggest signal. LLMs settle into 18-24 word sentences, paragraph after paragraph. Mix short sentences (5-10 words) with long ones (25-40) to break the metronome. Read your draft aloud; if it sounds like a steady drumbeat, vary the lengths.
  • Stacked parallel structures. Three-beat lists with matched rhythm ("fast, reliable, and affordable") and three-bullet blocks where each bullet opens with the same syntax. Use them once per section at most.
  • Negative parallelisms. "It's not just X, it's Y" / "These aren't merely A, they're B" / "Not only that, but also". Replace with a direct statement.
  • Filler intensifiers and transitions. "It's worth noting that", "It's important to consider", "Furthermore", "Moreover", "In today's world", "In today's fast-paced world", "Importantly". Delete these phrases; the information that followed survives without them.
  • Boilerplate closers. "One thing is clear", "As X continues to evolve", "In conclusion", "Ultimately". Drop them or end on the actual point.
  • Hedging stacks. "This approach can be a useful tool for many writers in certain situations". Each qualifier ("can be", "useful", "many", "certain") softens the claim until it says nothing. Pick one qualifier or none.
  • Rigid paragraph structure. Every paragraph opens with a topic sentence, follows with two-to-three support sentences, ends with a summary. Read like an essay-grading rubric. Break the pattern by leading with the result, starting mid-thought, or using a single sentence as a paragraph.
  • Marketing adjectives without concrete payoff. "comprehensive", "robust", "seamless", "leverage", "delve", "elevate", "unlock". If you can't replace the adjective with a concrete fact (covers 12 cases including X, 15ms p99 latency), delete it.
  • Three-part rhythm chains. The em-dash form is already banned by the dash rule, but the rhythm reads as AI even with other punctuation ("fast, reliable, affordable; tested, scalable, secure"). Vary or split.
• No "comprehensive", "robust", "seamless", "leverage", "delve", "in today's fast-paced world".
• Contractions are fine. Casual is fine. Jargon is fine if the audience is technical.
• ✅ ⚠️ ❌ on header lines and checklist bullets are welcome. Decorative emojis in body prose are not.
• No comments inside code blocks. The prose around the block does the explaining.
• One command per code fence. No piling cd x && ./y && ./z unless that chain is genuinely the command.
• Every shell snippet ships in two fences: one bash, one PowerShell.
• Links use plain text, not code-styled text: [docs/X.md](./docs/X.md), not [`docs/X.md`](./docs/X.md). The double styling (link + code) is valid GFM but reads as visual noise; it screams "I am both a link and a path" when one of those is already obvious from context. Reserve backticks for inline references that are NOT also links (a function name in prose, a file path mentioned without anchoring).
• Link every file or folder path mentioned in prose. When you reference docs/X.md, .agents/skills/, subagents/, or any concrete path that exists in the project, make it a link: [docs/X.md](docs/X.md), [.agents/skills/](.agents/skills/). Applies on every mention, not just the first. Skip linking only when the path is generic ("the project root", "your build folder") or doesn't exist as a concrete artifact. Reason: in a portfolio README, the reader should be one click from inspecting anything you name.
• Never use Roman numerals for list ordering. No i. / ii. / iii. / iv. and no (i) / (ii) / (iii) for nested or top-level steps. Reasons: nobody parses Roman numerals fluently past iv, sort order breaks in tools that don't know them, and they're a tired academic-paper affectation that doesn't survive a code diff. Use Arabic digits (1., 2., 3.) for ordered lists. For sub-steps inside a numbered item, use lowercase letters with closing paren (a), b), c)) or just nest with another 1. / 2.; both render correctly in GFM. Reserve I, V, X, L only for actual proper nouns or version names that already contain them.
• Soft-wrap prose at ~120 characters. Hard rule: 120 max for plain prose lines. Code blocks stay at the language's own width (commonly 100-120). Tables stay on one line per row; don't break a table cell. Long URLs in a link don't trigger a re-wrap; the surrounding text does. Reasons: side-by-side diffs stay readable, terminal less / view doesn't horizontally scroll, code review comments anchor to a meaningful line. The 120 target gives ~30 chars of headroom over code's typical 80-100 to keep prose flowing without making the file look like a typewriter draft. Lists, headings, and > blockquote prose all follow the same 120 cap. The exception is a single-line lead under a heading where breaking would split a noun phrase awkwardly; keep it on one line and move on. Re-wrap existing files when you touch a paragraph; don't reformat lines you didn't edit (it pollutes the diff).
• Section headings in human-facing markdown start at ### (H3), not # or ##. Reserve # (H1) for the document title; one per file. Skip ## (H2) entirely in READMEs and human-facing docs. Reason: GitHub renders H1 very large (used for the page header) and H2 large with an underline rule. Both look too heavy when used for every section heading. H3 onward renders at a comfortable visual weight that doesn't compete with the title. Sub-sections are ####, sub-sub-sections are #####. This now applies to skill manifests (SKILL.md) too, enforced by tools/check-markdown.py. Subagent files and the AGENTS.md / CLAUDE.md families keep their own conventions.
• Every section gets a --- horizontal-rule divider before its heading, including the first section after the hero block (title, tagline, badges). "Section" means the heading level chosen for major divisions of the document (### per the rule above, in both READMEs and skill manifests); the rule is the same regardless of the level used. Sub-headings within a section (one level deeper) do not get dividers; the heading itself is enough separation. Do not stack dividers with empty paragraphs around them: one blank line above, one blank line below the ---.
• Single source of truth for counts. Numbers that change with project content (skill count, subagent count, MCP server count, supported tool count, etc.) live in shields.io badges and nowhere else in prose. Do not embed counts inline ("the 73 skills cover...", "26 specialised subagents") or in tree comments ("73 SKILL.md files"). When you want to gesture at the size, write "the catalogue" or "all skills", anything stable across additions and removals. Reason: every count duplicated in prose is a future bug when the inventory changes.
• Lead-in phrases that introduce a new action, step, list, or flow start on their own line. When prose pivots from describing one thing to introducing the next thing, especially when followed by a code block, an enumerated list, or a sequence of instructions, break to a new paragraph instead of running the lead-in inline. The eye should see the seam where description ends and action begins. Applies to short pivot phrases as well as full sentences.
• One command per fenced code block. Each runnable shell command goes in its own fenced block with the matching language tag (bash, powershell, shell). No # comment lines inside the block; no && chains of multiple commands; no inline commit messages (commit messages are obvious from context and don't belong in user-facing docs). Per-shell labels go in surrounding prose ("Windows (PowerShell 7+):" then the block). One block = one paste. Sample commit-creation instructions are exempt only when the commit message itself is the example being demonstrated (rare, mostly in git-workflow skill examples).
• Every README ends with a Docs map. Two short tables: "Shipped to consumer projects" (UPPERCASE filenames, if the repo distinguishes shipped docs from project-only docs) and "This repo only" (lowercase filenames). For repos with a single docs flavour, one table is fine. Every project documentation file appears in one of those tables. Files already linked inline earlier in the README still appear in the Docs map; the map is the canonical index, not an addendum. Goal: a first-time visitor can find every document the project ships from one place.

Bash example:

./gradlew bootRun

PowerShell equivalent:

.\gradlew.bat bootRun

Mermaid diagrams

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I prefer Mermaid over images because diffs work and GitHub renders it natively. Two patterns cover 90% of READMEs.

System overview uses graph TB with subgraphs for logical zones (external prereqs, app services, MCP layer). Keep it under 12 nodes. If it's bigger, split into two diagrams.

Request flow uses sequenceDiagram for the happy path of one canonical request. Show timeouts and async hops with dashed arrows. Skip error branches; that's what docs/ is for.

I add accTitle and accDescr lines for accessibility on any diagram in a polished or portfolio README.

Badges

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shields.io is the only badge source I use. Keep the set tight: build status, license, primary-language version, last-commit. Drop anything that's pure vanity (GitHub stars under 500, "made with love"). For multi-module monorepos, only badge the top repo, not each module.

Audit checklist (run against existing READMEs)

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When polishing an existing README I walk this list:

• ⚠️ Stale versions in install commands or badges
• ⚠️ Dead links (relative paths that no longer resolve, broken anchors)
• ⚠️ Backticks wrapping link text ([`x`](url)); collapse to plain [x](url)
• ❌ Em-dashes (U+2014) or en-dashes (U+2013) anywhere in body text or headings: replace with comma, period, colon, or parens. Run grep -P "[\x{2013}\x{2014}]" file.md to find them.
• ❌ AI-tell phrasing patterns: stacked parallel constructions, marketing adjectives ("comprehensive", "robust"), filler intensifiers ("It's worth noting that..."), three-bullet rhythm chains
• ❌ Marketing copy with no concrete claim behind it
• ❌ Unexplained jargon in the first 200 words
• ❌ Code blocks with comments doing the teaching instead of prose
• ❌ Roman-numeral list markers (i., ii., iii., (i), (ii)...); replace with Arabic digits or lowercase letters with )
• ❌ Prose paragraphs as single multi-hundred-character lines (no soft-wraps); re-wrap at ~120
• ❌ Counts duplicated in prose (skill / subagent / MCP / tool numbers); leave the count in the badge, drop it from the sentence
• ❌ Missing --- before any section heading, including the first; restore the dividers
• ❌ Section headings using ## in human-facing docs (READMEs, docs/); promote to ### and shift sub-headings down accordingly. # stays reserved for the file title.
• ❌ AI-tells beyond em-dashes: cadence uniformity (18-24 word sentences in a row), negative parallelisms ("not X, but Y"), boilerplate closers ("one thing is clear"), hedging stacks, rigid topic-sentence-then-support-then-summary paragraph rhythm; rewrite the passage to vary sentence length and lead with the point
• ❌ Lead-in phrases running inline with the preceding paragraph when they introduce a new action / list / flow; break to a new paragraph
• ❌ Multiple chained commands in one fenced block (e.g. cp x y && git commit -am "..."); split into one command per fence
• ❌ File or folder paths mentioned in prose without a link; wrap each in a Markdown link
• ❌ Missing Docs map at the end of the README; add the table listing every project doc file
• ✅ One canonical install path (not five "you could also...")
• ✅ Architecture diagram present and matches reality
• ✅ Honest comparison section, not a strawman
• ✅ Ports, env vars, and external prereqs listed if it's a service
• ✅ License visible without scrolling

I report findings as a diff plan before rewriting, so the user can veto sections.

Multilingual READMEs

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When the user asks for a translated copy (e.g. README.es.md, README.zh-CN.md), I follow these rules so the localized version doesn't drift from the source.

File naming. I keep README.md as the canonical English source and add locale-suffixed siblings: README.<locale>.md (BCP-47, e.g. README.zh-CN.md, README.pt-BR.md). At the very top of every variant I add a one-line language switcher that links across all locales. The same line goes into README.md.

What gets translated. Translate prose, headings, badge alt text, table headers, and ⚠️/❌/✅ labels. Do NOT translate:

• Code inside fenced blocks.
• File paths, env var names, CLI flags.
• Mermaid node labels that contain identifiers (port numbers, class names, package paths). Translate only natural-language labels inside diagrams.
• URL fragments / anchors.
• shields.io badge query strings (the visible badge text uses URL-encoded ASCII; I leave it).

Anchors. GitHub builds anchors from translated headings, so internal [link to header](#header) links break. For each translated heading, I either rewrite all in-document anchor links to the localized slug, or insert an explicit <a id="english-anchor"></a> above the heading so the original anchors still resolve. I prefer the explicit anchor: it makes cross-linking from the English README work without locale awareness.

Drift control. Every translated file ends with a footer line: > Translated from [README.md](./README.md) at commit <sha>. If they diverge, the English version is authoritative. On any future README update, I refresh the same sections in every locale file in the same commit.

Progressive disclosure: sibling folders

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Heavy material lives next to this SKILL.md in optional sibling folders so the skill stays compact and the model only loads what it needs:

• templates/: full README scaffolds for common project shapes (Java service, Python MCP server, monorepo index, library). I load these only when the user asks for a from-scratch README.
• references/: longer reference docs (badge palette catalog, Mermaid diagram cookbook with all 24 types, voice-rewrite before / after examples, translation glossaries per language). Load on demand when a specific subtopic comes up.
• assets/: example diagram SVGs and screenshot conventions, only fetched if the user wants visual examples rendered.

If a folder isn't present, I proceed with what's in SKILL.md alone. The skill never hard-depends on the sibling folders.