ember-dossier / rules
Cursor rule0 starsChanged 47 days agoMITView on GitHub
Smell Check. House voice and anti-performative prose for all drafting.
Where files are headingNew Cursor rule files have more rules about planning and tracking tasks, and fewer about code style.
Of the Cursor rule files we read, the 4,157 first seen in the last six months, against the older ones: the kind of rule that gained most share, and the kind that lost most. About files like this in general, not this one, and an estimate, since a kind is a pattern in the words.
In this repository11 other files it gives its agents.
- AGENTS.mdAGENTS.md
- .forgetrail/AGENTS.mdAGENTS.md
- .forgetrail/CLAUDE.mdCLAUDE.md
- .cursor/rules/commit-messages.mdcCursor rule
- .cursor/rules/forgetrail-lessons-gate.mdcCursor rule
- .cursor/rules/forgetrail-lessons-mcp.mdcCursor rule
- .cursor/rules/forgetrail-phase-status.mdcCursor rule
- .cursor/rules/git-user-commits.mdcCursor rule
- .cursor/rules/npm-publish.mdcCursor rule
- ember-dossierSkill
- ember-dossierSkill
The file
We split this smellcheck.mdc into the rules it gives an agent
1 rule. About 0 are common, 0 are distinctive, and 1 is very specific to this project.
≈0
Common · estimate
Many files like this have a rule of this kind.
≈0
Distinctive · estimate
This author's own choices. Worth a look.
1
Very specific
Tied to their project's names, files or tools. Probably skip.
- Common
- Distinctive
- Very specific
- Very specific: line 49
If a term has real application here, leave it.
≈ “Common” is an estimate: at least 1 in 5 of the 6,668 Cursor rule files we read have a rule of the same kind, not the same words. “Very specific” is our guess from the words: it names a file, a command, a setting or the project itself.
Files
---
description: Smell Check. House voice and anti-performative prose for all drafting.
alwaysApply: true
---
# Smell Check
Full rules: the `smellcheck` package
([`node_modules/smellcheck/rules/core.md`](../../node_modules/smellcheck/rules/core.md)). Overlay:
[`docs/smellcheck.md`](../../docs/smellcheck.md). Smell audit:
`smellcheck` `rules/audit.md`. Claims: `smellcheck` `rules/claims.md`.
This file is a digest. If it conflicts with `core.md`, `core.md` wins.
## Target
Sharp, slightly tired colleague. Direct > clever. Clear > profound.
Useful > insightful-sounding. Em dashes earn their place; most don't.
Judge the sentence, not the byline. Spray the prose, not the author.
Earn the word.
Site, README, and skill speak as the product (EmberDossier / it). No
corporate we. No builder I.
## Hard bans
- Escalation: never "It's not just X, it's Y" (esp. synonym Y).
- Honest-framing openers ("The honest evaluation…", "Let me be direct…").
Just say it.
- Validation + profundity theater ("your instinct is right, and that's
the key insight").
- Narrative theater ("this reframes everything / changes the whole
narrative").
- Helper theater: "Great question!", "I'd be happy to", empty
"Absolutely!", "It's important to note."
- Empty marketing vocab (delve, unlock, unleash, seamless,
journey-as-hype, etc.).
## Cadence budgets (flag density, not single uses)
- Signpost openers ("Here's…", "Let me…", "So…") repeated section after
section.
- Mic-drop closer fragments ending every section.
- Em-dash furniture: stacks and unearned drama.
- Riddle labels. Name the thing instead.
## Corpus-applicability
If a term has real application here, leave it. See [`docs/smellcheck.md`](../../docs/smellcheck.md).
## Examples
Example subjects in shipped docs must be gender-neutral or obviously
generic. Do not use real living people as examples unless the user named
that subject.
## When to open a genre file
- Page / marketing site: `smellcheck` `rules/landing.md`
- Essay: `smellcheck` `rules/essays.md`
- Ship post: `smellcheck` `rules/launch.md`
Reference docs, the skill contract, UI chrome: core only.
Does it work?
Reviews from people and from AI agents that ran it: what they used it for, and whether it worked.
No reviews yet
People and AI agents can review whether this works in practice. Say what you used it for, and whether it worked.
- It worked
- Partly
- It didn't
Using an agent? It can post a review for you after it has run the file: the MCP tool registry_write, action report. How to connect one.
Your trail
Files you open will collect here, so you can find them again.
Open two or more, and you can remix the rules you like from each into one list. Kept in this browser only.
Now do this for your own.
Bring your CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md or skills. agentleFS shows which of your rules are common, which are yours and which only fit one project, and keeps one version your agents read everywhere.