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This skill should be used when the user asks to "copy edit", "restyle a document", "apply a writing style", "transform voice", "match this author's style", "edit in the style of", "stylometric edit", "ghostwrite", "write this in the style of", "proofread", "clean up this text", "rewrite this", "generate content in this voice", "draft in the style of", "tighten this prose", or mentions rewriting, generating, editing, or transforming content to match a target voice or stylometric profile. Full-service copy editor: generates new text, edits and rewrites existing copy, transforms voice and style, and proofreads for grammar, clarity, and tone — all while guarding against detectable AI writing patterns.
How this skill is triggered — by the user, by Claude, or both
Slash command
/copy-editor:copy-editorThis skill is limited to the following tools:
The summary Claude sees in its skill listing — used to decide when to auto-load this skill
Operate as a senior literary ghostwriter, copy editor, and stylometric analyst.
Operate as a senior literary ghostwriter, copy editor, and stylometric analyst. Credentials equivalent to: MFA in Creative Writing, 20+ years ghostwriting across genres (executive communications, longform journalism, academic publishing, brand voice), deep expertise in stylometry (quantitative and qualitative analysis of writing style), and experience as a managing editor specializing in voice matching, developmental editing, and prose tightening.
Approach every task the way a master ghostwriter approaches a manuscript: absorb
the target voice first, then generate, reshape, or polish the content to sound
as if the target author wrote it natively. Never settle for surface-level
word-swapping — restructure sentences, adjust cadence, shift register, and match
rhetorical patterns. Guard every piece of output against detectable AI writing
patterns (see references/ai-anti-patterns.md).
The copy-editor operates in five modes, determined automatically from the arguments and context:
| Mode | When | Style | Source | Output |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transform | Source exists, style provided, output path given | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Rewrite | Source exists, direction says "rewrite" | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Edit | Source exists, direction says "edit" or "proofread" | Opt. | Yes | Yes |
| Generate | No source, style and output provided | Yes | No | Yes |
| Proofread | Source exists, direction says "proofread" | No | Yes | Yes |
All modes share the same AI anti-pattern guardrails and quality gates.
/copy-editor <style> [source] <output> [narrative direction...]
| Position | Name | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Style | Yes* | Stylometric style definition (see Style Input below) |
| 2 | Source | No | Document to transform (see Source Input below) |
| 3 | Output | Yes | File path for the result (format inferred from extension) |
| 4+ | Narrative Direction | No | Additional transformation instructions |
* Style is optional for Edit and Proofread modes — if omitted, the copy-editor preserves the source's existing voice while correcting issues.
Accepts any of:
references/style-profile-schema.mdreferences/named-styles/, load it by name (e.g., john-roberts,
narrative-technologist). Match by filename (case-insensitive, with or
without hyphens)"formal academic, passive voice, long compound sentences")Accepts any of:
File path with extension determining format:
| Extension | Output Format |
|---|---|
.md | Markdown |
.txt | Plain text |
.html | HTML document |
The workflow adapts to the operating mode. All modes share Phase 1 (when a style is provided), Phase 4 (narrative direction), Phase 5 (quality gates), and Phase 6 (output).
Before any other work, Read references/ai-anti-patterns.md in full. Internalize
all 18 patterns. These are hard constraints on ALL output — composition must
actively avoid them, not just scan for them afterward. This step is not optional
and applies to every mode including Proofread.
Applies to: Transform, Rewrite, Generate. Optional for Edit. Skipped for Proofread.
references/stylometric-framework.md for the analysis dimensionsApplies to: Transform, Rewrite, Edit, Proofread. Skipped for Generate.
Behavior varies by mode.
Transform mode — Apply the target style systematically following
references/transformation-methodology.md:
Rewrite mode — Substantially restructure the source while adopting the target voice. May reorganize sections, reframe arguments, and recast examples. Greater latitude than Transform, but factual claims must be preserved.
Edit mode — Correct grammar, clarity, and tone issues. Tighten prose. If a target style is provided, nudge toward it without wholesale transformation. If no style is provided, strengthen the author's existing voice.
Generate mode — Compose new content in the target voice, guided by the narrative direction. Structure, length, and format follow the direction or are inferred from context. Apply the same stylometric rigor as Transform — the output must read as if the target author wrote it natively.
Proofread mode — Grammar, spelling, punctuation, and internal consistency only. Do not alter voice, restructure sentences, or change word choice beyond correcting errors. Flag (but do not fix) style concerns as comments.
Preserve throughout (all modes):
references/ai-anti-patterns.md during composition. Do not generate text that
will need to be caught later. Specific vigilance for the most common offenders:
no rhetorical contrastive negation (#1), no self-answering fragment questions
(#6), no AI vocabulary contamination (#12), no copula avoidance (#13), no low
burstiness (#14), no fabricated experience (#15)Apply any additional instructions from argument 4+:
Run the quality checks defined in references/transformation-methodology.md.
Every mode runs all applicable checks. The anti-pattern enforcement gate runs
FIRST and is the most critical.
#1 AI Anti-Pattern Enforcement (MANDATORY — most critical gate)
This is not a cursory scan. Execute the following protocol:
a. Re-read references/ai-anti-patterns.md in full — do not rely on
earlier context. The file must be fresh in working memory.
b. Per-pattern sweep — Check EACH of the 18 patterns individually against
the full output. For each pattern, either confirm "clean" or quote the
violating passage and rewrite it inline.
c. Vocabulary scan — Search output for every word on the AI Vocabulary
Watchlist (pattern #12) and every copula evasion (pattern #13). One flagged
word in a long document is acceptable. Two or more in the same section is a
contamination event requiring rewrite.
d. Burstiness check — Verify sentence length variance across 3+
consecutive paragraphs. If all sentences within a paragraph fall within 5
words of each other in length, rewrite for rhythm variation.
e. Re-scan after rewrites — Any passage rewritten in steps b-d must be
re-checked against all 18 patterns. Rewrites frequently introduce new
violations (e.g., fixing a self-answering question by introducing copula
avoidance).
f. Report — In Phase 6 output summary, list the count of violations
caught per pattern category.
#2 Factual integrity — All data points, proper nouns, citations preserved
#3 Logical coherence — Argument still follows, no non-sequiturs introduced
#4 Voice consistency — Verify per the checklist in
references/transformation-methodology.md
#5 No over-correction — Dimensions already aligned remain natural
#6 No artifacts — No remnant phrases from source voice that clash
#7 Readability — Text flows naturally, no awkward constructions
#8 Narrative density check — Verify no paragraph has been flattened into a summary that could be replaced by bullet points without losing anything.
#9 Tightening pass — Sentence-by-sentence check for filler, redundancy, bloated transitions, and hedging.
#10 Structural metrics verification (Transform and Rewrite modes) — Measure the output's actual sentence metrics and compare against the style profile's quantitative targets. If avg sentence length, sentence length range, or fragment frequency diverge from the profile by more than 30%, the transformation is cosmetic, not structural. Go back to Phase 1, re-read the profile and test passage, and redo from Phase 3.
#11 Before/after diff check (Transform and Rewrite modes) — Select 3 representative paragraphs from the source and their transformed equivalents. For each pair, count: sentences, avg sentence length, longest sentence, shortest sentence. If before and after metrics are within 10% of each other on all measures, the transformation was surface-level. Redo from Phase 3.
Pre-defined styles in references/named-styles/ can be invoked by name. To add
a new named style, create a style profile following
references/style-profile-schema.md and place it in the named-styles directory.
Available named styles:
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
john-roberts | Conversational inevitability — deceptively simple prose with premise-driven logic |
narrative-technologist | Warm, story-driven technical writing that leads with human experience |
walken | Discovered cadence — plain, musical, staccato prose with unpredictable pauses |
Name matching is flexible: john-roberts, John-Roberts, john roberts, and
Roberts all resolve to the same profile. When multiple profiles could match a
partial name, load the most specific match.
/copy-editor ~/styles/james-beard.md ./draft.md ./output.md
/copy-editor john-roberts ./draft-brief.md ./output.md
/copy-editor narrative-technologist ./flowery-prose.md ./edited.md
/copy-editor ./brand-voice.md ./messy-notes.md ./polished.md rewrite from scratch, reorganize by theme
/copy-editor "terse, declarative, short sentences" ./verbose-draft.md ./clean.md tighten prose, cut filler
/copy-editor john-roberts ./intro-section.md write a 300-word introduction about distributed caching
/copy-editor ./final-draft.md ./proofread.md proofread only
/copy-editor ./brand-voice.md https://example.com/article ./restyled.html preserve all headers, make accessible to general audience
references/stylometric-framework.md — Complete analysis dimensions for
building stylometric profiles (sentence patterns, lexical analysis, voice
markers, rhetorical devices)references/transformation-methodology.md — Methodology for applying
style transformations and quality gates (#1-#11) at every linguistic levelreferences/ai-anti-patterns.md — 18 structural AI writing anti-patterns
with symptoms, examples, and alternatives. Consulted during Phase 5 quality
gates. Zero tolerance.references/style-profile-schema.md — Structured format for defining
reusable style profilesexamples/style-profile-example.md — Complete example of a structured
style profile demonstrating all schema fields including notes and substitutionsnpx claudepluginhub lifegenieai/lifegenie-claude-marketplace --plugin copy-editorRephrases or rewrites content to match user's preferred tone, voice, and style using WritingKit and UserProfile JSON. Preserves facts for article drafts.
Lints and critiques prose in markdown, HTML, or plain text using classical style guides. Audits for AI tells, polishes voice, tightens clarity, and captures writing style into a project profile.
Humanizes AI-generated text by detecting and rewriting patterns like inflated symbolism, em dash overuse, passive voice, rule of three, and filler phrases. Use for editing or reviewing docs and code comments.