Top Edit

---
name: top-edit
description: >-
  Use this as the last mechanical pass before publishing, to screen AI tells and
  house-style misses that a slop word-list can skip.
---


# Top edit

Checklist pass. Pattern-matching, not a vibe critique. Run after No AI slop. Do not edit the draft in this pass. Report flags with line, quote, and a fix.

## AI tells

1. Vague This/That openers with no noun
2. Correlatives: not only/but also, both/and
3. Formulaic transitions: moreover, furthermore, additionally, indeed, in fact
4. Hedging: it could be argued, it seems, one might say
5. Marketing speak: game-changing, groundbreaking, unlock, empower
6. Signposts: let's dive in, as we'll see, here's the thing
7. False drama fragments
8. Artificial triads of three
9. Balanced on-the-other-hand that refuses a position
10. Consultant-speak: moving the needle, low-hanging fruit, key takeaway
11. Banned words: leverage, comprehensive, pivotal, delve, showcase, tapestry, robust, seamless
12. Em dashes
13. Formula: not just X but Y, in today's world
14. Forced symmetry across sections
15. Repetition disguised as depth
16. Sentence-initial But/And overuse
17. Contrastive reframing more than twice in a long piece

## House

- Opening is a scene or lived fact, not an abstract thesis
- Arc is concrete then mechanism then implications
- Major claims have a named source
- Teach test in one sentence
- Specificity: could someone else have written this?

## Prose

- Same word twice in close range
- Passive clusters
- Five sentences of similar length
- Dead metaphors

## Verdict

CLEAN (0–2 minor), LIGHT FIXES (3–5), or NEEDS WORK (6+ or structural). One-sentence recommendation.

If the same pattern hits 10 times, flag the first 3 and count the rest.

Source: adapted from [Nadiem Mahmoud, top-edit](https://github.com/nadiem99/claude-writing-skills/blob/5b52111e1bd30e93643929f17155e82aa26f771f/skills/pipeline/top-edit/SKILL.md). MIT; see [third-party notices](../../../THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md). Run No AI slop first.