--- name: copywriting description: "Create or audit COPY.md and write user-visible strings against it. Use before writing marketing copy, UI labels, error messages, empty states, meta tags, or email, and when copy has drifted from the canonical strings." license: MIT title: copywriting canonical_url: https://skilld.dev/gh/harlan-zw/brundlefly/copywriting last_updated: 2026-10-10T17:02:30.000Z --- > **Skill from skilld.dev.** Follow the user's requested action. > If the user asked to fork this Skill, follow the fork workflow below. Do not execute the Skill instructions while copying it. > Otherwise, follow the instructions below for this session. You do not need to install anything. > > Supporting files, fetch one when the Skill refers to it: [LICENSE.txt](https://skilld.dev/api/skills-raw/harlan-zw/brundlefly/copywriting/LICENSE.txt), [references/blocks/clarity.md](https://skilld.dev/api/skills-raw/harlan-zw/brundlefly/copywriting/references/blocks/clarity.md), [references/workflows.md](https://skilld.dev/api/skills-raw/harlan-zw/brundlefly/copywriting/references/workflows.md), [templates/COPY.md](https://skilld.dev/api/skills-raw/harlan-zw/brundlefly/copywriting/templates/COPY.md). > > If the user asked to install this Skill, run `npx skilld install harlan-zw/brundlefly/copywriting`. Install writes the Skill files into the project, so every session loads them. > > ## Fork workflow > > A fork creates an editable local Skill with its original author and licence. The request authorizes copying and local installation. > 1. Check `./skills/copywriting`, the project lockfile, and selected Agent targets together. If the local directory or installed Skill exists, stop. Never overwrite an existing directory or Agent target. > 2. Read [source metadata](https://skilld.dev/api/v1/skills/harlan-zw/brundlefly/copywriting) once. Use sourceUrl, sourceCommit, skillPath, sourceGone, and license. If the source is gone or its path is missing, stop. If license is null, read licence files at the source commit. > 3. Fetch only the source commit into a temporary Git repository. Do not clone full history. Derive repository_url from sourceUrl, including repository renames. If sourceCommit is absent, resolve the sourceUrl ref once. Set source_commit to that actual commit. Run these commands in one shell call: > > ```sh > git init --quiet "$temporary_dir" > git -C "$temporary_dir" fetch --quiet --depth=1 "$repository_url" "$source_commit" > git -C "$temporary_dir" checkout --quiet --detach FETCH_HEAD > ``` > > Read applicable licence declarations and notices at that commit. If copying is not permitted, report the restriction and stop. > 4. Inspect source entries together, then copy the directory containing skillPath into `./skills/copywriting`. Use the user's path if selected. Keep the original SKILL.md, relative links, scripts, binary assets, and executable modes. Exclude .git metadata. Reject symlinks and paths outside the Skill directory. After checking entries, use cp -a where available. A regular source directory needs no custom copy script. Do not save this page wrapper as SKILL.md. > Preserve author credit, notices, and applicable licence files from repository or parent directories. Add PROVENANCE.md with the Skill page, source URL, actual commit, original path, and licence. Retain any existing PROVENANCE.md and record new provenance separately. Batch source inspection, copying, and provenance work where practical. > 5. In the project root, run `skilld install ./skills/copywriting --mode copy --plain`. If skilld is unavailable, use `npx skilld install ./skills/copywriting --mode copy --plain`. This known command needs no help lookup. Install does not support --json. Use detected Agent targets, or add --agent for the targets the user selected. Install the local path, never the upstream selector. If installation fails, preserve the local copy and report the exact failure. > 6. Confirm the local lockfile source and installed Agent copies once. Report the local path, actual commit, and Agent targets. After edits, reinstall the same local path. Upstream updates must not replace it. Do not publish or push unless the user asks. # Copywriting Help the intended reader understand the message and their next action. Respect their knowledge, attention, and context. Optimize for clarity, accuracy, and brevity without losing needed explanation. Design for varied reading, attention, and working memory needs, including ADHD and dyslexia. Storytelling and style techniques serve meaning, understanding, and connection. Preserve the supplied voice and truthful experience. `COPY.md` owns canonical assets, each surface's register, and banned language. Keep approved wording exact. If it creates a reading problem, propose a change rather than silently paraphrasing it. ## Ownership and dependencies This Skill works when copied alone. Read the target project's instructions before editing. Respect its branch, worktree, publication, and approval rules. This Skill does not own delivery. Create or audit COPY.md only. Do not create GLOSSARY.md or VISION.md automatically. ## The failure mode this exists to stop Independent rewrites can give one product conflicting descriptions, labels, and error messages. Readers must then work out whether those differences have meaning. Use the approved wording and register. Treat a new canonical string with the same caution as a public export. ## Boundaries Use the target project's supplied document ownership rules. When they disagree: `VISION.md` wins over everything, `GLOSSARY.md` wins on a product noun, and `COPY.md` wins on the sentence around it. Read a supplied GLOSSARY.md before naming a concept. Read this Skill before writing a sentence. If no glossary exists, preserve established names and ask about new concepts rather than generating another artifact. ## Rules 1. **Read `COPY.md` before writing anything a user sees.** Its canonical assets win over anything that reads better in the moment. 2. **Never paraphrase a canonical asset.** A tagline with one word changed is a second tagline. If the string is wrong, change it in `COPY.md` first, then propagate. 3. **Never use banned language.** The ban list carries a reason; the reason is what tells you whether a near-miss is also banned. 4. **Write in the register the surface calls for.** A button is not a paragraph, and a hero is not a tooltip. `COPY.md`'s register table decides, not the sentence's own momentum. 5. **A new canonical string does not get written silently.** Propose it, say what it displaces, and get confirmation. Inventing quietly is the whole failure mode. 6. **State supported specifics.** Use inspected names, quantities, and behavior when they help the reader. Source material claims and numbers. Concrete wording cannot establish authorship or make an unsupported claim accurate. 7. **Copy is not decoration.** If a section needs filler to look finished, the layout is wrong. Never invent a stat, a testimonial, or a feature to fill space. Text that restates a heading, a value, or a visible fact is decoration too. Rule 5 protects wording decisions that nobody has approved yet. ## Review for the reader Identify who reads each surface, what they already know, and what they need to understand or do. Apply [clarity](https://skilld.dev/api/skills-raw/harlan-zw/brundlefly/copywriting/references/blocks/clarity.md), including ADHD and dyslexia guidance, before accepting new copy or a proposed correction. The block is bundled here. No sibling Skill installation is required. Keep labels brief and specific. Put instructions, conditions, and consequences beside the action they explain. Explain errors without blame. Give a supported recovery action when one exists. Preserve required wording, register, and meaningful links. Recheck canonical assets after editorial changes. If an approved asset needs correction, show the exact proposal and follow the existing approval rules. Before removing a substantial section or feature, explain the proposed loss and ask unless already authorized. ## Workflow Read [the workflow reference](https://skilld.dev/api/skills-raw/harlan-zw/brundlefly/copywriting/references/workflows.md) and [the COPY.md template](https://skilld.dev/api/skills-raw/harlan-zw/brundlefly/copywriting/templates/COPY.md) before creating or auditing a copy file. Use init for a requested missing copy file, audit for drift, and write for a specific surface. Ask only about unresolved voice or canonical wording decisions. Existing explicit approval remains valid. Preserve approved strings exactly. Prepare proposed wording before requesting approval. Review prose directly, or use an available im-not-a-fly Skill optionally. Recheck canonical wording afterward. ## Scope Copywriting governs **sentences a user reads**: the exact wording, the register per surface, and the banned language. It does not govern what a concept is called, which is a supplied `GLOSSARY.md`, and it does not govern what may be claimed, which is `VISION.md`. When a noun and a sentence disagree, the noun wins.