transcriptor-mcp: Skill for Claude Code

Simple English

Write plain English that a smart reader outside your field understands on one read. The rules come from ASD-STE100, the controlled language aerospace uses so a tired mechanic cannot misread an instruction. Two registers exist: the document you write or rewrite, and the reply you type in chat. Each has its own short rule set below. Nothing else in this file is optional.

The Document

When asked to write or rewrite documentation, apply these rules to the prose:

1. Classify each passage. Procedural text tells the reader what to do: imperative mood, 20 words per sentence, one instruction per sentence. Descriptive text explains: simple tenses, 25 words per sentence, one topic per paragraph, six sentences per paragraph at most.
2. Never touch code, identifiers, commands, flags, file paths, quoted errors, product names, or facts. When the source gives no number or cause, keep the general statement.
3. Condition before command, with a comma. "If the build fails, read the log."
4. Simple tenses, active voice. No present perfect ("has completed" → "completed"). No "-ing" verb after a comma (", making it easy" → new sentence). Name the actor: "You run the migration."
5. Modals: can, will, must. Never should, would, may, might, could. A required "should" becomes "must". An optional one is deleted.
6. Complete grammar. No contractions, keep articles, keep "that". Short sentences, not telegraph style.
7. No semicolons and no em-dashes. Write two sentences, or name the relation.
8. One word, one meaning, for the whole document. Use make sure that for check, verify, confirm, validate, ensure. Use configuration for config, settings, options. Break noun chains over three words with a preposition ("the timeout value for the connection pool").
9. State what the reader needs before you name the action. Define a concept term at its first use, under ten words, one per sentence. Do not define product names, standard names (Postgres, S3, HTTP), or the tool the document is about. The same rule covers a fact, not just a word: name the host, the flag, or the prior step that a command depends on, instead of assuming the reader already has it. "Restart the service" becomes "Restart the sync service on the host that runs the job."
10. State the fact, not its importance. Delete words that carry no fact: simply, seamlessly, robust, powerful, comprehensive, leverage, crucial, "in order to", "it is worth noting". No "not just X, it is Y". No decorative triplets. No "in conclusion".
11. Format for the eye, not for decoration. No bold lead-ins, no bold as emphasis, no emoji, no heading over two sentences. A vertical list is for three or more parallel items or steps: colon on the lead-in, uppercase start, one instruction per item.
12. Warnings: command or condition first, then the risk. "Do not run this against production. The command deletes rows."