prose-hygiene

# Prose Hygiene The complete checklist for removing AI writing tells from prose. ## How to apply - **Drafting:** avoid every pattern below as you write. - **Reviewing:** read the prose and, for each match, output the quoted text, the rule it breaks, and a concrete rewrite. Then score per the rubric (see Scoring) and report the per-dimension scores and total. Judge only — do not edit the file. **Technical prose** (`.cs/summary.md`, memory entries) is the usual target here, so apply the rules with these carve-outs: a technical subject performing its function is not false agency ("the hook fires", "the test fails", "the ref survives the rm"); keep adverbs that carry technical meaning (asynchronously, atomically, locally); factual enumerations keep their true count (the three-item rule targets rhetorical triads, not a real list of three files); conditional openers are fine in procedural text (the starter ban targets rhetorical questions, not "When X, do Y"). **Scope:** cs applies this to `/summary` and `/wrap` output (`.cs/summary.md` and the memory entries; the narrative notebooks are exempt). A regex catches only the lexical items — the structural and voice rules need a model judging meaning — so `cs -lint` and the prose-lint Stop hook enforce just the lexical subset. ## Core principles 1. **Cut filler.** Remove throat-clearing openers, emphasis crutches, and every adverb. Say the thing. 2. **Break formulas.** No binary contrasts, negative listings, dramatic fragment...