deslop

A Claude skill for removing AI writing patterns from prose.

What it does

When you write, draft, edit, or review text, deslop identifies and eliminates predictable AI tells: formulaic sentence structures, filler phrases, false agency, dramatic fragmentation, vague declaratives, and dozens of other patterns that signal machine-generated writing.

The skill works across any prose context. Examples are weighted toward scientific writing and technical blog posts, but the rules apply to any writing where you want a human voice without the AI veneer. For scientific contexts specifically, the skill accounts for conventions like passive voice in methods sections and domain-specific terminology.

Installation

Option 1: Download ZIP

Click the green Code button at the top of this repo, then Download ZIP. Extract the ZIP and add the folder to your Claude skills directory.

Option 2: Releases

Go to the Releases page and download the latest .skill file. Add it to your Claude skills in customize/skills on the web, or double-click it if you have Claude Desktop installed.

Option 3: Build it yourself

Build a .skill file from the source code, then add it to your Claude skills as described above.

git clone https://github.com/stephenturner/skill-deslop.git
cd skill-deslop
zip -r deslop.skill SKILL.md references/

How to use it

Install as described above, then use it like you normally talk to Claude. The skill triggers automatically when you:

• Ask Claude to write prose (blog posts, essays, articles, memos, newsletters) making it sound natural instead of AI-generated
• Ask Claude to “deslop”, “de-AI” or “make it sound human”
• Ask Claude to check for “slop” or AI patterns

You can also reference the skill directly:

• “Review this draft using the deslop checklist”
• “Score this text on the deslop rubric”
• “Rewrite this paragraph to pass the deslop quick checks”

Scoring rubric

The skill includes a 1-10 scoring rubric across five dimensions:

Below 35/50: revise.

Skill structure

deslop/
├── SKILL.md              # Core rules, quick checks, scoring rubric
├── README.md             # This file
└── references/
    ├── phrases.md        # Phrases to remove or replace
    ├── structures.md     # Structural patterns to avoid
    ├── tropes.md         # Full catalog of AI writing tropes
    └── examples.md       # Before/after transformations

Acknowledgments

This skill was built in part by combining and synthesizing material from two open sources:

• AI writing tropes catalog from tropes.fyi by Ossama Hassanein. The references/tropes.md file is adapted from this source, and trope patterns are integrated throughout the other reference files.
• stop-slop from github.com/hardikpandya/stop-slop by Hardik Pandya. The phrase lists, structural patterns, before/after examples, scoring rubric, and quick checks draw from this project.

License

MIT