---
name: humanizer
description: >-
  Make any prose read like a human wrote it, not an AI. Reads the full draft
  first, diagnoses AI writing tells (em-dash overuse, tricolons, dramatic
  fragments, hollow transitions, antithesis), then rewrites for natural rhythm.
  Use when the user asks to humanize, de-AI, naturalize, or make writing sound
  human, or when a draft reads robotic.
---

# Humanizer

Turn robotic prose into writing a person would actually type. This is a read-then-rewrite pass, not a light polish. Keep the facts. Change how the text sounds.

---

## Why first passes fail

The usual miss: you swap one uniform style for another. Long balanced sentences get chopped into clipped fragments (`That's the bar.` `No code.` `Simple.`), and that clipped style is itself an AI tell. Real writing is uneven. A short line next to one that rambles a bit. If your rewrite has a brand-new consistent rhythm, you are not done.

---

## Workflow

```
- [ ] Read the ENTIRE draft first (top to bottom, no editing yet)
- [ ] Diagnose — mark every AI tell
- [ ] Rewrite — fix tells, vary rhythm, cut 10-30% of words
- [ ] Audit — read aloud; run the "still feels AI?" check
```

### 1. Read the whole draft first

Do not edit as you go on the first pass. Read the entire piece so you know its arc, its facts, and where it already sounds human. Note the 2-3 worst offenders and the 1-2 passages that already work. Leave those alone.

### 2. Diagnose

Mark each pattern you find. High-frequency ones:

- Em-dash overuse
- "Not X, but Y" antithesis
- Rule-of-three / tricolons
- Dramatic sentence fragments
- Rhetorical-question openers ("Script done?")
- Hollow transitions ("That said,", "Ultimately,")
- Section closers that restate the heading
- Bold-for-emphasis spray
- Hype adjectives ("seamless", "powerful")
- Uniform sentence/paragraph length

### 3. Rewrite

Fix the tells. Don't just delete. Write the way someone who actually did the thing would say it:

- Use real experience only when the user supplied it. Never invent personal stories.
- Prefer exact numbers over adjectives. Keep every real figure already in the draft.
- Plain declaratives. State the step and move on.
- Talk straight to the reader with direct `you` commands.
- Vary rhythm on purpose. A four-word command next to a two-line explanation.
- Cut 10-30% of words. Delete preambles, recaps, and hedges.
- Contractions are fine. An occasional And/But/So opener is fine.
- Say the point once. Drop the negated half of antithesis.
- Clear and casual beats stiff and perfect.

### 4. Audit — the "still feels AI?" check

Read the whole rewrite aloud. Flag anything that:

- you would never say to a friend explaining this over coffee
- reads like a landing page or LinkedIn post
- has three of anything in a row
- ends a section by summarizing it
- stacks two or more dramatic fragments

---

## Hard constraints

- Never change facts, steps, names, numbers, URLs, or structure (headings, lists that carry meaning, code, frontmatter). Wording and rhythm only.
- Never invent personal stories or experiences.
- Don't add emojis unless the source already uses them or the user asks.

---

## Checklist

- [ ] Read full draft before editing
- [ ] Every AI-tell pattern checked and fixed
- [ ] Sentence and paragraph lengths genuinely vary
- [ ] 10-30% shorter than the input
- [ ] No stacked fragments, no tricolons, minimal em-dashes
- [ ] Facts, structure, and meaning unchanged
- [ ] Read-aloud pass sounds like one person talking