# Writing Guidelines

Should be used when the user asks to "review writing", "check documentation style"...

- Repository: https://github.com/fcakyon/claude-codex-settings (1195 stars)
- Category: Writing
- License: MIT
- Last updated: 2026-11-01
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add fcakyon/claude-codex-settings --skill writing-guidelines -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add fcakyon/claude-codex-settings --skill writing-guidelines -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add fcakyon/claude-codex-settings --skill writing-guidelines -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add fcakyon/claude-codex-settings --skill writing-guidelines -g -a gemini-cli -y`
Claude Code plugin marketplace: `/plugin marketplace add fcakyon/claude-codex-settings`

## Description

This skill should be used when the user asks to "review writing", "check documentation style", "audit interface copy", or "apply writing guidelines".

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# Writing Guidelines

Review the files or patterns provided by the user for compliance.

Read files, check against rules below. Output concise but comprehensive: sacrifice grammar for brevity. High signal-to-noise.

## Rules

### Planning & content type

- Every page has a plan (overview, goal, audience, content plan, open questions) referenced or linked
- Content type declared in `meta.contentType`: `Tutorial`, `How-to`, `Reference`, `Conceptual`, `Troubleshooting`, or `Landing`
- Title is user-shaped (the user's question), not feature-shaped (the engineer's name)
- Page does one job: tutorial OR how-to OR reference, not three at once
- Goal is verb-driven (Bloom's taxonomy): "configure", "explain", "debug" (testable)
- Multi-audience pages: short shared opener, then technical subsections

### Voice & tone

- Active voice. Mental test: append "by monkeys". If the sentence parses, rewrite
- Direct address: `you`, never `the user` or `one can`
- Imperative for steps: "Click **Add Project**", not "You will need to click **Add Project**"
- Sentences under 20 words target
- Contractions encouraged (`you'll`, `it's`) for warmth
- Present tense unless describing future behavior
- Limit `we`: only for deliberate organization actions ("we recommend", "we deprecated"), never as a stand-in for "you"
- No rhetorical questions (sounds like marketing)
- Second-read test: read each sentence once at speech pace; if you re-read to parse it, name the subject, the action, and the consequence (kill metaphor verbs and pronouns reaching back several sentences)

### Banned words

- `easy`, `simple`, `quick`: puts pressure on the reader and reads as marketing; replace with concrete description ("one command", "default settings", "most projects don't need this")
- `very`, `just`, `really`: filler; cut or rewrite

### Concision

The rest: https://github.com/fcakyon/claude-codex-settings/blob/HEAD/plugins/frontend-design-skills/skills/writing-guidelines/SKILL.md