Hoover Content System (HCS)

A skill-based system for content creation. Each skill is a structured package with defined inputs, workflows, templates, and quality criteria.

What This Is

HCS provides repeatable skills for:

• UX Writing – Error messages, empty states, dialogs, notifications, forms, onboarding
• Content Design – UI copy systems, patterns, audits, naming, cognitive load
• Content Strategy – Voice/tone, taxonomy, messaging hierarchy, roadmaps
• Content Context – Feature context packs, vocabulary, state maps, user journeys
• Technical Documentation – How-to guides, API docs, reference docs, release notes
• Developer Content – CLI help, SDK docs, code comments, configuration guides
• Marketing – Landing pages, product messaging, campaigns, app store listings
• Editorial – Blog posts, case studies, thought leadership, tutorials
• MCP & Agents – Agent instructions, system prompts, tool descriptions, evals
• Research & Insights – User research synthesis, feedback analysis, audit reports

Repo Structure

/skills/              → Skill packages organized by category
/shared/              → Global standards (apply to ALL outputs)
/governance/          → Rules, catalog, glossary, naming conventions
/evals/               → Test cases for skill validation

Skill Package Structure

Each skill folder contains:

How to Use

1. Find the skill – Check governance/skill-catalog.md or match by trigger keywords
2. Read SKILL.md – Understand required inputs and workflow
3. Apply shared standards – All outputs follow /shared guidelines
4. Use templates – Follow TEMPLATES.md for output format
5. Validate – Check against RUBRIC.md criteria

Getting Started: Write an Error Message

Here’s a quick walkthrough using the writing-error-messages skill.

1. Gather inputs

You need:

• Error type: validation, system, network, permission, or not-found
• Severity: blocking, degraded, or informational
• User action: what the user was trying to do
• Recovery actions: what they can do next

Example scenario: User tries to save a file but their session expired.

2. Open the skill

Read skills/ux-writing/writing-error-messages/SKILL.md for the workflow.

3. Apply the template

From TEMPLATES.md, error messages use this structure:

Title: [What happened – max 60 chars]
Body: [Why it happened – max 150 chars, optional]
Action: [What to do – max 25 chars]

4. Write the copy

Title: Your session expired
Body: Sign in again to save your changes.
Action: Sign in

5. Validate against the rubric

Check RUBRIC.md:

• ✅ Title under 60 characters
• ✅ No user blame
• ✅ Clear recovery action
• ✅ No technical jargon

Done. You’ve executed a skill.

Ready-to-Use Prompts

Don’t want to read the docs? PROMPTS.md has copy-paste prompts for every skill category:

• UX writing (errors, empty states, dialogs, onboarding)
• Content design (naming, audits, microcopy systems)
• Content strategy (voice/tone, messaging, briefs)
• Technical docs (how-tos, release notes, API docs)
• Developer content (CLI help, code comments)
• Marketing (landing pages, announcements, emails)
• MCP & agents (system prompts, tool descriptions)
• Research (synthesis, feedback analysis)
• Validation (rubric checks, style checks, accessibility)

Just fill in the brackets and go.

Shared Standards

All outputs comply with:

For AI Agents

This repo includes instruction files for AI assistants:

• .github/copilot-instructions.md – GitHub Copilot
• CLAUDE.md – Claude
• AGENTS.md – Generic agents
• .cursorrules – Cursor

Each file contains the skill trigger index for fast matching.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for how to add or update skills.

License

MIT