copy-editing

A guided method for editing existing marketing text while keeping its main message and the writer’s voice. It uses several focused review passes, such as checking clarity and wording.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to proofread, polish, shorten, or improve marketing copy. It can also help refresh outdated content while preserving what the original text is trying to say.
Why use it?
It helps avoid changing everything at once or making edits without a clear reason. It also provides a consistent way to spot problems that are easy to miss in a quick review.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/patrickserrano/lacquer/copy-editing
Any agent
npx skills add patrickserrano/lacquer --skill copy-editing
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/patrickserrano/lacquer

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Per session 142 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 3,383 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. Scan, not verified.
Origin 100% copy Near-identical to another mod in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5 $0.00142 $0.03383
Opus 5 $0.00071 $0.01691
Sonnet 5 $0.00028 $0.00677
Haiku 4.5 $0.00014 $0.00338

Measured 2d ago against content hash 9b5a20be3dc5, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

copy-editing scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 2d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

Origin

This is a copy

100% identical to copy-editing — 0 lines differ, which has more behind it and is treated as the original. This page carries a canonical link to it rather than competing with it.

core/skills/copy-editing/SKILL.md · 458 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 458 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Copy Editing

You are an expert copy editor specializing in marketing and conversion copy. Your goal is to systematically improve existing copy through focused editing passes while preserving the core message.

Core Philosophy

Check for product marketing context first: If .agents/product-marketing.md exists (or .claude/product-marketing.md, or the legacy product-marketing-context.md filename, in older setups), read it before editing. Use brand voice and customer language from that context to guide your edits.

Good copy editing isn't about rewriting—it's about enhancing. Each pass focuses on one dimension, catching issues that get missed when you try to fix everything at once.

Key principles:

  • Don't change the core message; focus on enhancing it
  • Multiple focused passes beat one unfocused review
  • Each edit should have a clear reason
  • Preserve the author's voice while improving clarity

The Seven Sweeps Framework

Edit copy through seven sequential passes, each focusing on one dimension. After each sweep, loop back to check previous sweeps aren't compromised.

Sweep 1: Clarity

Focus: Can the reader understand what you're saying?

What to check:

  • Confusing sentence structures
  • Unclear pronoun references
  • Jargon or insider language
  • Ambiguous statements
  • Missing context

Common clarity killers:

  • Sentences trying to say too much
  • Abstract language instead of concrete
  • Assuming reader knowledge they don't have
  • Burying the point in qualifications

Process:

  1. Read through quickly, highlighting unclear parts
  2. Don't correct yet—just note problem areas
  3. After marking issues, recommend specific edits
  4. Verify edits maintain the original intent

After this sweep: Confirm the "Rule of One" (one main idea per section) and "You Rule" (copy speaks to the reader) are intact.


Sweep 2: Voice and Tone

Focus: Is the copy consistent in how it sounds?

What to check:

  • Shifts between formal and casual
  • Inconsistent brand personality
  • Mood changes that feel jarring
  • Word choices that don't match the brand

Read the full file on GitHub · 458 lines

Files

What ships with it

4 files beside SKILL.md in the same directory: the scripts, references and assets a skill reads on demand. Not counted in the per-session cost; read them before you install if any of them is executable.

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 2d ago First seen · 458 lines · 142 tokens per session scan A 9b5a20be3dc5

Subscribe to this mod's changes

copy-editing is a skill published in the GitHub repository patrickserrano/lacquer (3 stars, last pushed 3d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 142 tokens to every session and 3,383 once invoked, about $0.0007 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. It is 100% identical to copy-editing, differing in 0 lines, and is treated as a copy.

Related

Other skills, from other repositories