Perplexity Improver Skill

Reduce AI-detectable patterns in chapters by rewriting low-perplexity sentences while preserving narrative integrity.

Quick Start

/perplexity-improver story/chapters/chapitre-05.md

Multiple chapters can be analyzed in one run:

/perplexity-improver story/chapters/chapitre-01.md story/chapters/chapitre-02.md

Performance Warning

⚠️ The analysis script is SLOW (several minutes for model loading and analysis).

• Accumulate several corrections before re-running
• Use at the end of a writing session, not after each edit

When to Use

• After writing a chapter, before final validation
• When perplexity analysis shows a warning (⚠️)

Supported Languages

Workflow

Phase 1: Analyze Chapter

1. Detect language from chapter content (first 500 characters):

• Identify language code (fr, en, etc.)
• Load corresponding techniques file: references/rewriting-techniques-{lang}.md
• If language not supported → report error and exit

2. Run perplexity analysis from the script directory (required for uv to find dependencies):

cd scripts/detection && uv run python detection.py ../../<path/to/chapter.md>

Important: The uv run command must be executed from scripts/detection/ where the pyproject.toml is located.

3. Extract from output:

• Median perplexity score
• Warning status (median below threshold)
• Suspect rate (percentage of suspect sentences)
• List of suspect sentences sorted by ascending perplexity

Phase 2: Evaluate Need

The script flags sentences using multiple criteria:

• low_perplexity: individually predictable sentence
• low_std: passage with uniform perplexity (no surprises)
• adjacent_low: extended stretch without friction
• low_ppl_density: cumulative boredom signal
• forbidden_word: AI-signal vocabulary

Decision tree:

• If no warning (⚠️) in output → PASS, report and exit
• If warning displayed (flagged rate > 25%) → proceed to Phase 3

Priority: Sentences with multiple flags (multi-flagged) should be rewritten first using techniques from references/rewriting-techniques-{lang}.md.

Phase 3: Rewrite Sentences

Process sentences from lowest perplexity first (most predictable = most suspect).

For each suspect sentence:

1. Locate in original chapter
2. Rewrite using techniques from references/rewriting-techniques-{lang}.md
3. Preserve exact meaning and narrative function

CRITICAL: Verify that meaning is preserved and rewrites integrate naturally.

Phase 4: Re-analyze

Run perplexity script on modified chapter.

Compare before/after:

• Median perplexity: target ≥ threshold (no warning)
• Suspect rate: target ≤ 20%
• Suspect sentence count: target reduction

If still warning:

• Iterate (max 3 loops)
• Try different rewriting techniques
• Focus on remaining lowest-perplexity sentences

Phase 5: Finalize

Generate reports in .work/:

• perplexity-report.md: before/after stats, PASS/FAIL status
• perplexity-changes.md: each rewritten sentence with technique used

Ask for validation before applying changes to chapter file.

Thresholds Reference

All thresholds are defined in scripts/detection/detection.py (constants at top of file).

Interaction Style

• Show progress after each phase
• Present before/after comparisons
• Explain technique choices
• Ask for validation before applying changes to file