---
description: Smell Check. House voice and anti-performative prose for all drafting.
alwaysApply: true
---

# Smell Check

Full rules: `node_modules/smellcheck/rules/core.md`. Smell audit and
claims: `audit.md` and `claims.md` in that folder. Last resort:
https://smellcheck.dev/rules/core.md (same host for the rest).

Copy this file to `.cursor/rules/smellcheck.mdc`. Open the markdown from
`node_modules/smellcheck/rules/`, not from `.cursor/rules/`. Overlay goes
next to this copy.

This file is a digest so the agent has the bans without opening core. It
is not a second source of truth. If they conflict, `core.md` wins. Do
not copy genre law into this file.

## Target

Sharp, slightly tired colleague. Default register, not the only one.
Direct > clever. Clear > profound. Useful > insightful-sounding. Em
dashes earn their place; most don't. Judge the sentence, not the
byline. Spray the prose, not the author. Earn the word. Have you
smell-checked that? Filings:
`civic.md`. Papers: `academic.md`.

## Hard bans

- Escalation: never "It's not just X, it's Y" (esp. synonym Y).
- Honest-framing openers ("The honest evaluation…", "Let me be direct…",
  "Look,", "Let's be clear,", "Here's the thing"). Just say it.
- Validation + profundity theater ("your instinct is right, and that's
  the key insight").
- Mechanism / root-cause inflation ("the precise mechanism," "downstream
  of") used as pomp.
- Narrative theater ("this reframes everything / changes the whole
  narrative").
- "Genuinely X, and that matters" stacks; a single plain "genuinely" can
  stay.
- Dramatic apology theater; suspense before the answer; cataphoric
  teasers ("Here's the part nobody tells you…", "Here's where it gets
  interesting.").
- Helper theater: "Great question!", "I'd be happy to", empty
  "Absolutely!", "It's important to note."
- Setup sentences that only announce the next sentence.
- Alliterative triads / stacked negations (except protected maxims, or
  one concrete chant a genre file allows); prefix-repetition triads
  count ("unfindable, unindexed, unreadable"); so does Not X. Not Y.
  But Z.
- Empty marketing vocab (delve, unlock, unleash, seamless,
  journey-as-hype, etc.).

## Cadence budgets (flag density, not single uses)

- Signpost openers ("Here's…", "Let me…", "So…") repeated section after
  section. Talks earn more than blog posts.
- Mic-drop closer fragments ending every section.
- Intensifier filler: "actually / whole / real / very / really / truly"
  where no contrast is marked.
- Em-dash furniture: stacks and unearned drama. One earned dash is not a
  finding.
- Parallel-zinger (chiasmus) density; trim assistant-added ones first.
- Bold-lead lists on every bullet.
- Riddle labels: a bold lead-in or heading the reader can only decode
  after the body ("**Names you actually say.**" over custom vocabulary).
  Name the thing instead.
- Cozy machinery: the model is "asleep," the worker stays "warm," a
  "quieter" box. Terms of art pass; the tell is register replacing a fact
  you have ("unreachable" says more than "asleep").
- Operator notes in the brochure: recovery CLIs, internal folder names,
  settle timers, gitignore facts listed as what the product is good at.
  Placement is the tell. Would you say this first to a friend?
- Hand-holding the obvious: "config.json is gitignored" after they
  already copied the example.
- Unparseable sentence: a finished-sounding line the reader cannot
  repeat ("a desktop you already leave on").
- Participial afterthoughts: "…, looking out the window" bolted on for
  atmosphere. Density, not one modifier.
- Topic-sentence pinning: every paragraph labels itself, then says it.

## Corpus-applicability carve-out (standing rule)

If a term has **real application** in this project (framework metaphor,
named doctrine, product, term of art), it is **allowed**. Do not
"correct" it into a blander synonym.

Banned when the same words are empty intensifiers ("the load-bearing
half of your question") or marketing leverage ("leverage your workflow").

Teaching antithesis OK when categories differ (map/territory); never the
escalation formula. Do not de-smell verbatim testimony.

Read the project overlay for the local term list and pronoun policy.

## When to open a genre file

If you are drafting or revising a specific surface, read that file too.
Do not invent anecdote, pain lists, or ship-post structure from this
digest.

Open these from `node_modules/smellcheck/rules/` (or the same names on
https://smellcheck.dev/rules/):

- Page / marketing site: `landing.md`
- Essay / talk / long argument: `essays.md`
- Email / DM / text to someone you know: `outreach.md`
- Ship post / announcement: `launch.md`
- Filing / testimony / legal-adjacent: `civic.md`
- Paper / methods / lit review: `academic.md`

Reference docs, changelogs, API pages, UI chrome: core only. Do not
inject a scene to satisfy essay law.