Agent skill · writing content · hardikpandya
stop-slop
Remove AI writing patterns from prose. Use when drafting, editing, or reviewing text to eliminate predictable AI tells.
Why this skill is useful
Provides specific guidelines and checks to enhance prose quality by eliminating AI writing patterns that the AI might not recognize on its own.
What it needs
About 1k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-03-17. 15,285 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
Stop Slop Eliminate predictable AI writing patterns from prose. Core Rules 1. Cut filler phrases. Remove throat-clearing openers, emphasis crutches, and all adverbs. See references/phrases.md. 2. Break formulaic structures. Avoid binary contrasts, negative listings, dramatic fragmentation, rhetorical setups, false agency. See references/structures.md. 3. Use active voice. Every sentence needs a human subject doing something. No passive constructions. No inanimate objects performing human actions ("the complaint becomes a fix"). 4. Be specific. No vague declaratives ("The reasons are structural"). Name the specific thing. No lazy extremes ("every," "always," "never") doing vague work. 5. Put the reader in the room. No narrator-from-a-distance voice. "You" beats "People." Specifics beat abstractions. 6. Vary rhythm. Mix sentence lengths. Two items beat three. End paragraphs differently. No em dashes. 7. Trust readers. State facts directly. Skip softening, justification, hand-holding. 8. Cut quotables. If it sounds like a pull-quote, rewrite it. Quick Checks Before delivering prose: Any adverbs? Kill them. Any passive voice? Find the actor, make them the subject. Inanimate thing doing a human verb ("the decision emerges")? Name the person. Sentence starts with a Wh- word? Restructure it. Any "here's what/this/that" throat-clearing? Cut to the point. Any "not X, it's Y" contrasts? State Y directly. Three consecutive sentences match length? Break one. Paragraph ends with punchy one-liner? Vary it. Em-dash anywhere? Remove it. Vague declarative ("The implications are significant")? Name the specific implication. Narrator-from-a-distance ("Nobody designed this")? Put the reader in the scene. Meta-joiners ("The rest of this essay...")? Delete. Let the essay move. …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills hardikpandya/stop-slop--2013e8