Add writing-style ground rules to agent instructions - #185
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Two rule sets observed missing from live agent output: agents write document metadata into plan bodies (date lines, invented status fields, author lines — all things the platform records), and they pad working documents with promotional prose. New "Writing Style" section bans body metadata (with a facts-anchor exception), sets Simplified- Technical-English-style plain-language rules with named banned words, and lets a plan type's description or template override the defaults so persuasive types (e.g. a pitch) stay possible. Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
HamptonMakes
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Aug 19, 2026
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| - Short sentences. One idea per sentence. Active voice, present tense. | ||
| - Plain verbs: "use", not "leverage"; "check", not "perform validation of". | ||
| - No metaphors, no marketing adjectives, no drama. Words that signal padding — "robust", "seamless", "comprehensive", "cutting-edge", "elegant", "crucially", "delve" — are banned unless you are quoting someone. |
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and add "honest", "actually"
Review feedback from Hampton on the padding-words list. Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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Live agent output shows two recurring problems the instructions never address:
New
## Writing Stylesection in/agent-instructions:🤖 Generated with Claude Code