deslop

Cut the AI-sounding prose out of what was just written. Apply local edits when allowed. In plan or review mode, or for outbound text, propose changes without applying them.

Scope, in order: prose written this session, then the current change, then the branch's open PR. Stay on files related to the current ticket, not the whole diff.

The cut test. Delete is the default, not rewrite. If it can be figured out by reading the code, delete it. The comment goes, the doc section goes, the file goes. Rewriting an inferable comment into a tighter inferable comment is the failure this exists to prevent. Only a non-obvious WHY or a hidden constraint survives, and shortening comes after, in the trim pass below.

For prose generally: does this carry information a reader cannot get from the thing it describes, or is it performing?

Trim survivors clause by clause. Passing the cut test earns a sentence its place, not its length. Cut:

• Restatement: two sentences carrying one fact keep the more concrete one
• Detail the artifact already shows, like a parameter's valid values
• Steps the remaining steps imply: "open a PR and merge to main" is "merge to main"
• Clauses that are true but off-point where they sit

Mechanical tells. Check every time, before reading for anything else.

• Em dashes, anywhere
• "lands" and "lands in" - use "shows up in" or "goes to"
• Walls of text. Break them up.
• -- as a separator becomes -
• Jira keys like ABC-1234 as a comment prefix. State the why without the key. A key doing real work stays, like a TODO naming the ticket that tracks its removal. When unsure, flag instead of cutting.
• "kill switch" in audience-facing text - use "on/off toggle"
• Do not use the word flying blind or blind to describe something
• AI vocabulary: crucially, delve, interplay, pivotal, tapestry, testament, seamless, robust, leverage, load-bearing, load bearing - plain equivalents
• Inflated copulas: "serves as", "stands as", "boasts", "features" - "is"/"has"
• Verbose phrases and filler words: "in order to" - "to", "due to the fact that" - "because", "utilize" - "use"
• Curly quotes - straight quotes
• Title Case Headings - sentence case, unless the surrounding document already established Title Case as its own heading convention (an existing README, Confluence page, or PR template with consistent Title Case headings throughout); match what's there instead of introducing a mismatched style
• Bold scattered inside sentences for emphasis (structural bold, meaning a lead phrase, a label, or a key figure, stays)
• Repeated or performative colon connectors, not ordinary explanatory colons or colons that are just syntax (URLs, timestamps, labels, code)

Judgment tells. Read for these.

• Punchy sentence fragments for rhetorical effect
• Victory-lap framing that explains why a result is impressive
• Closers that tie a bow on the thesis. End on the fact.
• Escalating three-clause builds
• Instructional voice where past-tense first person fits: "I used a scratch thread", not "Use a scratch thread"
• Stock openers and filler: "Good point", "turns out", "just to clarify", "essentially". No bullet recap, no closing summary.
• Step-by-step privilege-escalation chains. Keep the decision and the control.
• Hollow -ing phrases: "highlighting", "ensuring", "showcasing" - delete or state the actual mechanism
• Puffery: "pivotal moment", "evolving landscape" - cut, state facts
• "Not just X, but Y" - state the point directly
• Synonym cycling: same thing called three different names - pick one, repeat it
• Over-hedging: "could potentially possibly" - "may"
• Passive voice where the actor is knowable: "queries are validated" - "the compiler validates queries"
• Weak verb + adverb: "runs quickly" - cut the vague adverb and state what actually makes it fast, or cite a number. ("is fast" alone just trades one unsupported claim for another.)
• Feelings-over-mechanism: describe the actual function or cut
• Abstract metaphor nouns: substrate, wedge, vector, nexus, endgame, flywheel - concrete terms. Exclude "harness" from this list, since it's a legitimate term in AI agent contexts (agent harness), flagging it would produce false positives.
• Header-restating lists: **Performance:** Performance improved... - convert to prose or fix the lead

Keep the courtesies. In outbound messages, scope-lock the content but leave the professional norms: OOO disclosure, greetings, acknowledgments. Cut the padding around a courtesy, never the courtesy.

Keep the substance. Data tables and enumerable lists are data presentation, not slop. Short sentences are not slop, only telegraphic fragments or symbol-chain formulas are. Established domain terms, identifiers, quoted text, and this repo's own terminology are preserved even when they appear on the AI-vocabulary or abstract-metaphor-noun lists above, those lists flag candidates for a second look, not an automatic find-and-replace.

Syntax. Multi-line comments collapse to one /* */ block, never stacked //. In #-comment languages the fix is fewer and shorter lines.

Markdown. Cut the preamble when the first real section already orients, and cut the closing summary.

Nothing to cut is a valid result. Say so in one line and stop.

Hands off: no logic changes, no test changes, no new comments, no rewording that shifts meaning, nothing outside scope. In plan or review mode, return proposed cuts or rewrites without editing files.

Do not run gh pr edit, gh pr comment, gh api with a write method, updateConfluencePage, editJiraIssue, slack_send_message, or slack_update_canvas during a pass. Approval is per-action and per-surface, and does not carry to the next invocation. Local file edits need no gate.

For Jira comments and already-sent Slack messages, provide proposed text to paste. Do not edit them during this pass.

Then report exactly this, and nothing extra:

Cut - only edits actually applied: <file>:<line> - "<first few words>" -> <one-word reason>

Kept - only the genuinely borderline ones, same format plus why it survived.

Proposed - outbound text or changes withheld in plan or review mode. Give each proposed cut or rewrite with its location and how to apply it. Do not apply any of them in this turn.

Keep the report tight. No preamble, no summary.