Copy

Condensed from: Taste Skill (https://github.com/Leonxlnx/taste-skill), Open Design (https://github.com/nexu-io/open-design), UI UX Pro Max (https://github.com/nextlevelbuilder/ui-ux-pro-max-skill), Hallmark (https://github.com/Nutlope/hallmark)

Write the argument before markup

One line each: who reads, what this is (as the maker would tell a friend), the one belief, the proof, the next action. Then list sections as claims with proof:

1. A three-legged oak stool, made to order.        → the stool, large
2. Each seat is cut from one board.                → three close-ups
3. Six weeks, and you can follow it.               → photographed stages
4. 240, delivered by the maker.                    → price, button

A section with no claim is filler: delete it. The argument's order replaces the stock hero, logos, features, testimonial, pricing, CTA.

Headlines

• Two lines max at every width. Hero ≤32 characters (4-6 words) survives a 390px phone at 44px; ≤42 if the phone size drops to ~34px. Section heads 2-5 words.
• Budget: chars per line ≈ line width ÷ (font px × k); k = 0.40 condensed, 0.50 most faces, 0.58 wide or caps.
• Don't shrink to fit: 5 words at 64px beat 9 at 28px.
• Shapes that work (pick the plainest true one):
  • The name, huge, plus a one-line description (studios, hotels).
  • What it is: "Furniture for small rooms."
  • A claim a competitor couldn't sign: "Invoices that chase themselves."
  • An instruction, verb first: "Understand your money."
  • A place or moment: "Lisbon, since 1984."
• Tests for every line: can the reader picture it, could it be proven false, could only this business say it? "Software that works for you" fails; "Sourdough at four, gone by ten" passes.
• Sentence case. No full stop unless the voice uses them everywhere.
• Section heads say what the visitor gets ("Three loaves a morning", "Prices"), never a category label ("Features", "Why us", "Our story", "Field notes").

Banned shapes

• Mad-lib: "The AI-powered platform for modern teams".
• Tricolon: "Fast. Simple. Secure." / "Plan. Build. Ship." Adjective triads anywhere.
• Correction: "It's not just a tool, it's a workflow", "More than a …".
• "X, reimagined / redefined / made simple", "Welcome to …", "Meet …", "Say goodbye to …", "Whether you're X or Y".
• A question the reader didn't ask. A colon title: "Ledgerly: invoicing for freelancers".
• One word styled differently (italic, serif, colour, underline, pill).

Banned vocabulary

unlock, unleash, supercharge, elevate, empower, streamline, seamless, effortless, robust, cutting-edge, next-generation, world-class, all-in-one, blazing fast, game-changer, journey, reimagine, "Click here", "Enter your email below", "Oops".

Banned furniture

• Eyebrows: tiny tracked caps label or pill above a heading ("NEW ·", "FEATURES"). 57% of weak sites vs 16% of strong use tiny tracked caps.
• "Est. 2024", coordinates, time strips, version strings, "Scroll to explore", fake photo credits, "Available for work" dots, words strung with middle dots.
• "Step 1", "Phase 02", "01 / 03" counters. Order by position or a real <ol>.
• Three of everything. Use the count the content has.
• Em dash as a habit. Use a full stop, comma, colon or parentheses.

Supporting line and body

• Subhead: one sentence, 12-22 words: what it is, for whom, the one difference. Never restates the headline.
• Specific noun + real number: "ships in a week" not "fast delivery"; "38 seats" not "intimate"; "$240" not "affordable".
• Verbs over adjectives. One idea per sentence. Paragraphs of 2 short sentences on marketing pages.
• Page budget: ~450-575 visible words. Lists: 4 items (3-word label + ~10-word line); past 5, use a table.
• A large statement or quote is a <p>/<blockquote>, ≤25 words, ≤36px desktop / 24px phone. Bigger means it's a headline and gets 2 lines.

Buttons and links

• Verb + object, 1-3 words: "Book a table", "See the plans", "Download for Mac", "Start free" (not "Get started free").
• The primary action keeps one name everywhere on the page. One primary per screen; second action is a text link.
• "Continue" only as the second step of a flow. Never "Submit", "Click here", or five "Learn more" links.
• Max one arrow glyph, on the primary only. Labels never wrap: shorten before shrinking.
• Destructive: name object and count, "Delete 3 invoices"; the confirmation names the consequence ("Members lose access immediately").
• Nav labels: single nouns, ≤5 links.

Proof and sample data

• Never invent customers, named quotes, logos, user counts, ratings, benchmarks or "10,000+ teams".
• No proof supplied: show the thing large, explain how it works, use brief facts (price, place, year).
• Sample details are expected at real density (each room with a name, view and rate; each dish with a price) and listed in the handoff for confirmation.
• Sample data reads as sample: example.com, "Example Kitchen", round amounts, totals that sum from rows. Never Lorem ipsum, Acme, John Doe, "User 1".

App titles

• A noun, not a greeting: "Analytics", "Invoices", the object's name. "Welcome back, Alex" plus a waving-hand emoji is a tell; no emoji in UI.
• Optional subline about the data, not the interface: "Revenue rose 12% vs prior 30 days", never "This page shows your metrics".

Empty states (never "No data")

Errors

• What happened, why (if known), what to do: "Your card was declined: insufficient funds. Try another card."
• Never "Something went wrong", "Oops", exclamation marks, or blame ("You entered an invalid…").
• Field errors name the sub-rule: "Phone number is too short", not "Invalid phone". Ship 4-7 distinct messages for email, phone, card, postal code.
• Suggest the fix when knowable: "Use MM/DD/YYYY. Did you mean 05/03/2026?"
• Block errors carry freshness: "Couldn't load deployments. Last updated 09:14." [Retry]. After 3 failed retries: "Contact support" + copyable error ID.

Feedback text

• Loading: label after 2s ("Loading payments…"); at 15s once: "Taking longer than expected."
• Success: past tense + object + undo: "Invoice deleted. Undo". Autosave: quiet "Saved".

Numbers in copy

• Separators and fixed decimals: "$16,531.54" (money 2, % 1-2, counts 0).
• Sign on every change ("+10,100 (+0.20%)"); window in words ("vs prior 30 days"); from zero write "+4 (new)", never "+100%".
• Real zero printed ("$0"); missing value = grey dash. Capacity: "12.7k of 20.0k".
• Recency in words ("Today"); compared dates in ISO ("2024-02-15").

Micro-typography

Curly quotes and apostrophes, a real ellipsis (…), non-breaking space before a headline's orphan word, caps for ≤3 words only, no text under 13px on pages.

Voice

Write as the owner would say it across a counter: the brief's own nouns, a real place, the verb a customer uses. One pun per page max.

Read by your agent through get_guide("copy") in the taste MCP.