anti-slop
Skill9 starsChanged 51 days agoMITView on GitHub
Detect and remove AI writing tells ("slop") from prose while preserving the author's voice. Load when drafting or reviewing prose, blog posts, essays, white papers, marketing copy, emails, docs, or reports, and when a human asks to make writing sound less AI-generated or to review someone else's writing for AI tells. Triggers on "sounds like AI", "slop", "AI tell", "make this more human", "editorial pass", or "review my writing".
32 other projects use a version of this.
Adopted by
Most recently taken up by
- sant1jmnz/claude-code-kittheir own version, first seen Nov 15, 2026
- MishraShardendu22/agent-skills-hub-sync-enginetheir own version, first seen Nov 8, 2026
- TheVeller/claude-skillstheir own version, first seen Nov 8, 2026
- a7garden/anti-sloptheir own version, first seen Nov 8, 2026
- umfhero/skillstheir own version, first seen Nov 8, 2026
- Vumb-VibeCoder/hook-everythingtheir own version, first seen Nov 8, 2026
Used with
Projects with it also use research and handoff.
Other files people use alongside this one.
Files found in the same public projects as a version of this one, more often than they turn up anywhere else. Each project counts once, large collections count for less, and this file's own repository is left out.
NVIDIASkillresearch
Before designing a feature, research how comparable libraries solve the problem, check best practices, known pitfalls, and upstream changes. Use when starting a new feature, investigating an unfamiliar area, or the user asks to research something.
Also in 3 projects that use this
MicrosoftSkillhandoff
Compact the current conversation into a handoff document for another agent to pick up.
Also in 3 projects that use this
Other versions32 projects use a version of this.
Word for word · 0
None found.
Edited · 0
None found.
Wrote their own version · 32
- elithrar/dotfiles★ 222same name
- Gesso-Build/skills★ 91same name
- roedyrustam/vibes-plug★ 75same name
- Tom-Babb/ai-marketing-skills-with-by-tom-babb★ 30same name
- Vumb-VibeCoder/hook-everything★ 19same name
- aixarizzo/kill-slop★ 17same name
- darknecrocities/SkillBuilder★ 13same name
- HyunjunJeon/claude-workflow-mods★ 9same name
- taljeon/plzdo★ 9same name
- adeonir/agent-skills★ 8same name
22 more not listed
How matches are found. Word for word: the exact same text. Edited: shares passages with this file (“99% same” means 99% of its five-word phrases also appear here; 10% or more counts). Their own version: similar meaning, or, weakest, the same name. We can’t tell which project had it first. Projects are counted among the 200 most-starred candidates, and mentions are links to the repository we found, up to 50 per site, so both counts are a floor.
In this repository11 other files it gives its agents.
- skills/humanize/AGENTS.mdAGENTS.md
- de-ai-routerSkill
- anti-ai-slop-writingSkill
- deslopSkill
- humanizer-aboudjemSkill
- humanizer-zhSkill
- humanizeSkill
- no-ai-slopSkill
- qu-ai-weiSkill
- slopbethSkill
- unslopSkill
The file
Show its rules and text
We split this skill into the rules it gives an agent
14 rules. 0 are common, 14 are distinctive, and 0 are very specific to this project.
0
Common
Most of the 31 edited versions we read keep these.
14
Distinctive
This author's own choices. Worth a look.
0
Very specific
Tied to their project's names, files or tools. Probably skip.
- Common
- Distinctive
- Very specific
- Distinctive: line 15
Keep rhythm the author earns: a short punchy fragment after a long sentence, a deliberate tricolon, a load-bearing contrast, a strong …
- Distinctive: line 16
When unsure, leave it. A false positive that flattens a good sentence is worse than one surviving tell.
- Distinctive: line 28
Write first, then run the review workflow on your own draft before delivering.
- Distinctive: line 51
Before: "There is a failure mode worth naming directly, because well-intentioned teams walk straight into it.
- Distinctive: line 52
After: "Many teams equate safety with a human approving every step."
- Distinctive: line 56
Before: "…reuse the machinery we already have.
- Distinctive: line 57
After: "…reuse the machinery we already have.
- Distinctive: line 61
Before: "Speed is not a footnote here.
- Distinctive: line 62
After: "Speed changes which controls are viable: anything that depends on a person noticing has already lost."
- Distinctive: line 66
Before: "an authorization bug wearing the costume of a performance optimization"
- Distinctive: line 67
After: "an authorization bug, not a performance optimization"
- Distinctive: line 82
Never change facts, numbers, names, citations, or technical claims during a phrasing pass.
- Distinctive: line 83
Never restructure or re-argue.
- Distinctive: line 85
Do not introduce new slop while removing old (e.g.
“Common” is measured: kept by at least 6 in 10 of the 31 edited versions of this file we could read. “Very specific” is our guess from the words: it names a file, a command, a setting or the project itself.
Files
Anti-Slop: Writing and Reviewing Human-Sounding Prose
"Slop" is phrasing that signals machine authorship and erodes a reader's trust: filler that announces itself, hedged puffery, formulaic rhythm, and clever-sounding constructions that carry no information. The goal is not to strip personality. It is to remove the patterns that make a reader think "a model wrote this" so the ideas land.
Prime directive: preserve voice
The most common failure of an anti-slop pass is over-correction into flat, voiceless text. That is its own tell. Before deleting anything, decide whether it is slop (adds no meaning, follows a formula) or voice (a deliberate choice the author would defend).
- Cut filler, formula, and hedging.
- Keep rhythm the author earns: a short punchy fragment after a long sentence, a deliberate tricolon, a load-bearing contrast, a strong closing line.
- When unsure, leave it. A false positive that flattens a good sentence is worse than one surviving tell.
Make surgical edits. Do not restructure paragraphs, reorder arguments, or change meaning unless asked. Change phrasing, not substance.
Workflow
When reviewing (yours or someone else's)
- Read the whole piece first. Note voice: is it punchy, formal, conversational? You are matching this, not overwriting it. 2. Scan for the tells in the catalog below. Collect candidates — do not edit yet. 3. Validate each candidate: does removing it lose meaning? Is it formula or voice? Discard false positives. 4. Apply the surviving edits one at a time, each a minimal phrasing change. 5. Re-read the edited passages for rhythm. Fix anything that now reads choppy or flat. 6. Report what changed and the tell category for each, so the author can judge.
When drafting
Write first, then run the review workflow on your own draft before delivering. Do not self-censor into blandness while drafting; catch tells on the edit pass.
The tell catalog
| Tell | Why it erodes trust | Fix |
| Meta throat-clearing — announcing the point before making it: "It is worth noting that…", "There is a failure mode worth naming…", "Here is the tension." | Wastes the reader's time; signals padding. | Delete the frame. State the thing. |
| Demonstrative kicker — a vague "This/That + verdict" fragment tacked after a sentence: "That instinct backfires.", "This is where the risk hides.", "That is the whole point." | Formulaic filler rhythm; the "verdict" usually restates the prior sentence. | Cut it, or fold the idea into the sentence; pivot the next sentence with a real transition ("But…"). |
| Puffery adverbs — genuinely, truly, actually, simply, deeply, structurally, fundamentally. | Intensifiers that add heat, not light. | Delete. If the claim needs the adverb to be true, the claim is weak. |
| Importance-flagging — "Speed is not a footnote here.", "This matters.", "Make no mistake." | Tells the reader what to feel instead of earning it. | Show the consequence directly. |
| Clever metaphor flourish — "an authorization bug wearing the costume of a performance optimization." | Reads as a model performing wit. | State it plainly: "an authorization bug, not a performance optimization." |
| Grandiose prediction — "will define the next decade", "changes everything", "the future of X". | Overclaiming; lowers credibility in serious writing. | Cut or scope to a concrete, defensible claim. |
| Rule-of-three reflex — every list padded to three parallel items. | Predictable cadence; the third item is often filler. | Vary list length. Keep two if two is true. |
| Antithesis overuse — "not X, but Y" as a tic in paragraph after paragraph. | One is rhetoric; five is a template. | Keep the load-bearing one; rewrite the rest as plain statements. |
| Correlative bloat — "not only… but also", "whether… or". | Scaffolding that inflates simple sentences. | Split or simplify. |
| Hedged confidence — "It's important to consider…", "One might argue…", "In many ways…". | Sounds authoritative while committing to nothing. | Take the position or cut the sentence. |
| Section-closing summary — a final sentence that restates what the paragraph just said. | Redundant; a model habit. | Delete if it adds nothing. |
| Overused lexicon — delve, tapestry, realm, landscape, underscore, leverage, seamless, robust, crucial, pivotal, testament, navigate (figurative), foster, elevate, unlock. | Statistically flagged AI vocabulary. | Swap for plain words or cut. See references/tells.md. |
Concrete before / after
Meta throat-clearing
- Before: "There is a failure mode worth naming directly, because well-intentioned teams walk straight into it. It is the belief that safety means a human approving every step."
- After: "Many teams equate safety with a human approving every step."
Demonstrative kicker
- Before: "…reuse the machinery we already have. That instinct is where most of the risk hides. Four properties break the assumptions."
- After: "…reuse the machinery we already have. But four properties break the assumptions."
Importance-flagging + staccato
- Before: "Speed is not a footnote here. It changes which controls are viable. Anything that depends on a person noticing has already lost."
- After: "Speed changes which controls are viable: anything that depends on a person noticing has already lost."
Clever flourish
- Before: "an authorization bug wearing the costume of a performance optimization"
- After: "an authorization bug, not a performance optimization"
What to keep (do not "fix" these)
These are voice, not slop. Deleting them is the over-correction failure.
- Earned fragments: "Not flagged after the fact. Removed." — a short beat after a long sentence, used sparingly, for emphasis.
- Deliberate parallelism: "You can have either. You cannot have both."
- A strong closing line: "The perimeter fell twelve years ago. The session is next."
- First-person conviction: "We think…", "We are not comfortable saying…" when the author owns a real position.
The test: could the author defend this choice if asked? If yes, keep it. Slop cannot be defended — it is there because a pattern put it there.
Guardrails
- Never change facts, numbers, names, citations, or technical claims during a phrasing pass.
- Never restructure or re-argue. Phrasing only, unless explicitly asked for more.
- Validate every candidate before editing; report false positives you chose to keep and why.
- Do not introduce new slop while removing old (e.g. replacing a kicker with a different formulaic kicker).
- One tell fixed cleanly beats three fixed clumsily. Stop when the remaining candidates are voice, not slop.
Review checklist
- [ ] Read whole piece; noted the author's voice
- [ ] Collected tell candidates without editing
- [ ] Validated each: slop vs voice; discarded false positives
- [ ] Applied surviving edits as minimal phrasing changes
- [ ] Re-read for rhythm; fixed new choppiness/flatness
- [ ] Facts, numbers, structure untouched
- [ ] Reported changes + tell category per edit
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.