Antislop

antislop

Anti Slop: Rules for AI Coding Agents

Follow these rules whenever generating or building UI for a website, web app, or any interface. The goal: the design should feel crafted by a designer, not generated by AI. Before any UI work, ask the user (in their chat language) when antislop applies: during the work, or after it is done. Do not start until they answer.

First-Run Install Wizard

antislop is a system: this core file plus optional skills, one per concern (antislop-ui, antislop-copywriting, and so on, each a folder with a SKILL.md). This section installs them once. It is an offer, not a requirement: if the user prefers, this file alone remains a complete filter.

Skip this section if the project's entry file (AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, GEMINI.md, or the equivalent the running tool reads at session start) already contains an antislop pointer block. That means antislop is already installed. Come back only when the user asks to add or remove a skill.

If no antislop pointer exists and this file is being read for the first time, run the wizard:

The steps below are the manual install for setups where only this file is present. No network is used: missing skills are fetched by the user, never by the agent.

1. Declare the setup before doing anything. Tell the user you will (a) get the chosen skill(s) in place in skills/<name>/ subfolders next to this file (the user fetches them; the agent never downloads from the network, see step 4), and (b) append an antislop pointer block at the end of the project's entry file. Get approval. Never modify the entry file silently.
2. Ask which skills to install (multi-select, in the user's chat language). List only the skills that exist in this version of antislop:

• 1. All (recommended): install every available skill. Choose this when the work spans UI, copy, people, or mobile layout.
• 2. `antislop-ui` (UI / visual): pick this for building or editing a website, web app, or interface: color, layout, components, decoration, motion.
• 3. `antislop-copywriting` (copy & text): pick this for writing or editing copy: headlines, CTAs, value propositions, tone, landing-page text, product prose.
• 4. `antislop-human` (people): pick this for making sure a UI works for people with different eyes, hands, and setups: contrast, keyboard, focus, states.
• 5. `antislop-layoutmobile` (mobile / responsive): pick this for layouts that have to reflow across screen sizes, phone to desktop: breakpoints, scale, grids, overflow, tap targets.
• 6. `antislop-code` (code comments): pick this for writing or editing code comments: remove generic AI-slop comments, keep the valuable ones, never touch the code.
• New skills appear here as they ship; never offer a skill that does not exist in this version.

If the user declines or says "core only", stop here and use this file alone as the filter. Do not install anything.

1. Resolve direction (only if a UI skill was selected). Check for DESIGN.md or explicit brand/style direction. If none exists, be honest that antislop is a filter, not a beautifier: without direction the output tends toward monotonous. Recommend having a DESIGN.md, then offer these paths:

• 1. The user supplies direction (recommended). They write their own DESIGN.md, or answer a few direction questions (identity, personality, palette, typography, mood) and the agent transcribes their answers into DESIGN.md. The user is the author; the agent only formats. Never invent example content for DESIGN.md.
• 2. The agent supplies direction, with an honest warning. The agent writes the direction itself, stating explicitly that agent-generated style tends toward default AI taste, which is the slop antislop filters, so the result is likely monotonous. If chosen, still ask a minimal brief (product, audience, mood) before building.
• 3. The user skips direction for now. Proceed without a DESIGN.md. Any UI built this way must be labeled "draft without direction" with dials ENERGY 1 / RHYTHM 1 / MOTION 1 (R-37), and is not a shippable deliverable.

1. Get the chosen skill(s) in place; the user does the fetching, never the agent. A SKILL.md is instructions the agent will obey, so an agent that downloads one at runtime is fetching its own next prompt: do not do it, and do not ask for network access here. The skills ship as folders in the release (skills/<name>/SKILL.md). If a chosen skill folder is missing next to this file, tell the user which ones are missing and that they come with the release matching this core, so a newer skill never mixes with an older one. antislop-human also needs contrast-check.py from that same folder.
2. Append the pointer block at the END of the project's entry file (the file the running tool reads at session start: CLAUDE.md for Claude Code, AGENTS.md for Codex, GEMINI.md for Gemini CLI, and so on). If that file does not exist, create it. Never modify existing content: ``md <!-- antislop:start --> ## antislop For UI, copy, people, mobile layout, or code comments work, read antislop.md` (core) and then the skill for the task:

• UI / visual: skills/antislop-ui/SKILL.md
• Copy & text: skills/antislop-copywriting/SKILL.md
• People: skills/antislop-human/SKILL.md
• Mobile / responsive: skills/antislop-layoutmobile/SKILL.md
• Code comments: skills/antislop-code/SKILL.md Before starting, ask the user when antislop applies: during the work, or after it is done. <!-- antislop:end --> ``` The packaged installers write the same two markers, so whichever install path runs last replaces the block instead of adding a second one. If an older antislop block exists (even without the markers), replace just that block instead of appending a duplicate.

1. Ask the usage-mode question (see "Two Usage Modes"), then proceed with the work.

Notes:

• The entry file is read at the start of a session, so a newly written pointer takes effect from the next session.
• The wizard needs file-write access for step 5 (the pointer block), and nothing else; the user approves once. It never needs network access.
• The pointer block is the source of truth for which skills are installed. To add or remove a skill later, update the block to match (add or remove the file and its line).

Two Usage Modes

antislop is used one of two ways. At the start of a session, ask the user which applies, in the user's chat language (not the language of this file). Do not start UI work until they answer.

When do you want to use antislop? 1. DURING the project, while working (planning & execution). I will apply the rules while I write, so AI slop does not appear from the start. 2. AFTER the project is finished. I will audit what exists: a numbered findings list with priorities, you pick which numbers to fix, then I fix and report. Which one, 1 or 2?

• Mode 1 (During): follow the rules while generating. This prevents slop from the start and ends with the Delivery Gate. Use it when building new UI.
• Mode 2 (After): audit an already-finished project. Produce a numbered findings list in anti-slop/audit-001-YYYY-MM-DD.md (numbers keep rising). Each finding cites the violated rule (R-XX) and a one-line reason. Priority follows the rule tier: Hard Gate = HIGH, Purpose-Gate = MEDIUM, Quality Locks = LOW. Do not modify anything until the user approves specific numbers; numbers not mentioned are not touched. Then fix the approved items and write a follow-up report.