# Stop Slop

Removes predictable AI writing patterns from prose while drafting and editing.

- Repository: https://github.com/hardikpandya/stop-slop (18523 stars)
- Category: Writing
- License: MIT
- Last updated: 2026-03-17
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add hardikpandya/stop-slop --skill stop-slop -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add hardikpandya/stop-slop --skill stop-slop -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add hardikpandya/stop-slop --skill stop-slop -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add hardikpandya/stop-slop --skill stop-slop -g -a gemini-cli -y`

## Description

Remove AI writing patterns from prose. Use when drafting, editing, or reviewing text to eliminate predictable AI tells.

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

# 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](references/phrases.md).

2. **Break formulaic structures.** Avoid binary contrasts, negative listings, dramatic fragmentation, rhetorical setups, false agency. See [references/structures.md](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.

## Scoring

Rate 1-10 on each dimension:

The rest: https://github.com/hardikpandya/stop-slop/blob/HEAD//SKILL.md