zero-slop 2.8.3 → 2.8.5

package/README.md

@@ -5,10 +5,10 @@
   <img alt="tests" src="https://img.shields.io/badge/tests-passing-227B5B">
   <img alt="dependencies" src="https://img.shields.io/badge/runtime%20dependencies-0-227B5B">
   <img alt="privacy" src="https://img.shields.io/badge/learning-private-227B5B">
-  <img alt="version" src="https://img.shields.io/badge/version-2.8.3-72528F">
+  <img alt="version" src="https://img.shields.io/badge/version-2.8.5-72528F">
   <a href="https://hol.org/guard/plugins"><img alt="Listed in the HOL plugin registry" src="https://img.shields.io/badge/HOL%20registry-listed-2C6E8F"></a>
   <a href="https://github.com/hashgraph-online/awesome-ai-plugins#tools--integrations"><img alt="Listed in awesome-ai-plugins" src="https://img.shields.io/badge/awesome--ai--plugins-listed-2C6E8F"></a>
-  <a href="https://zero-slop.ai/try/"><img alt="This README scores 12.0 out of 100 on the slop score, inside the human range" src="https://img.shields.io/badge/slop%20score-12.0%2F100-0f7d55"></a>
+  <a href="https://zero-slop.ai/try/"><img alt="This README scores 11.6 out of 100 on the slop score, inside the human range" src="https://img.shields.io/badge/slop%20score-11.6%2F100-0f7d55"></a>
 </p>
 
 Less slop, more pop in your writing.
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ The badge above is this README's own, from `npx zero-slop score README.md`.
 Put yours up the same way:
 
 ```md
-[![Slop score](https://img.shields.io/badge/slop%20score-12.0%2F100-0f7d55)](https://zero-slop.ai/try/)
+[![Slop score](https://img.shields.io/badge/slop%20score-11.6%2F100-0f7d55)](https://zero-slop.ai/try/)
 ```
 
 Colours are the scorer's bands: `0f7d55` under 25, `b8860b` under 60, `b0502c`
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ above.
 
 ## The slop that Zero Slop catches
 
-290 weighted patterns and a 96-term lexicon, including:
+294 weighted patterns and a 96-term lexicon, including:
 
 1. Binary contrasts: "It's not X. It's Y."
 2. Throat-clearing openers: "Here's the thing," "Let me be clear"
@@ -228,12 +228,12 @@ proof of general accuracy.
 
 ### Speed
 
-One busy Apple silicon Mac. Meter: 1,000 documents in 1.9949 seconds (501.3 per
-second), 15,201 words in 0.3200 seconds, worst stress case 2.3077 seconds.
-Reading pass: 0.7712 seconds for the same 1,000 (1296.7 per
-second), 0.1054 for the same large document, linear to 96,000 words. Learning
-pass, 8,000 words: 0.2832 seconds. Across 24 interleaved runs against 2.7.7 we measured
-0.22% higher median throughput; that is machine noise, not a speed claim. Editing
+One busy Apple silicon Mac. Meter: 1,000 documents in 1.9929 seconds (501.8 per
+second), 15,201 words in 0.3223 seconds, worst stress case 2.2932 seconds.
+Reading pass: 0.7823 seconds for the same 1,000 (1278.3 per
+second), 0.1092 for the same large document, linear to 96,000 words. Learning
+pass, 8,000 words: 0.1592 seconds. Across 24 interleaved runs against 2.7.7 we measured
+1.29% lower median throughput; that is machine noise, not a speed claim. Editing
 time is excluded.
 
 ### Reading-pass accuracy

package/SKILL.md

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 name: zero-slop
 license: MIT
 metadata:
-  version: "2.8.3"
+  version: "2.8.5"
   author: manavmishra
 description: Turn drafts into sharp, natural prose or inspect them without rewriting. Zero Slop runs inside the user's existing AI assistant; Claude, GPT, or another compatible model reads and edits in context while local tools point to exact phrases and protect the source. Use when the user asks to humanize or de-slop writing, inspect AI-sounding patterns, fix text that reads like ChatGPT, polish outward-facing prose, draft social or LinkedIn content, or apply a final quality check to prose the agent generated. The workflow preserves facts, voice, and format and learns privately from repeated, reason-labelled human edits.
 ---
@@ -91,8 +91,8 @@ local and AI responsibilities distinct:
    and directly fix stumbles, repetition, weak transitions, and awkward flow.
 7. **Verifier — local tools plus the AI assistant.** Check the exact final text
    against the source for the writing score, facts, meaning, qualifiers, voice,
-   format, and structure. Any repair returns through roles 5 and 6 before role 7
-   runs again.
+   format, and structure. This is a release gate, not advice: a warning blocks
+   delivery. Any repair returns through roles 5 and 6 before role 7 runs again.
 8. **Fresh-eyes finalizer — a new AI pass.** Read the verified text as a first-time
    reader, apply only safe final polish, and approve it without changes. A role 8
    edit restarts roles 5 through 8; the finalizer never bypasses verification.
@@ -192,7 +192,7 @@ Run the heuristic surface scorer on the draft:
 python3 <skill-root>/scripts/slopscore.py --explain <file>   # any cwd; or pipe via stdin
 ```
 
-Every channel runs on every draft: the pattern meter (290 weighted tells plus
+Every channel runs on every draft: the pattern meter (294 weighted tells plus
 a 96-term lexicon and 26 context-gated riders), rhythm and burstiness,
 long-form word variety, followability, formatting
 densities, and register. Each one is interpretable: pattern-meter hits come
@@ -933,7 +933,7 @@ the AI model already running in the assistant or rewrite this `SKILL.md`.
 - `references/tells.md` — the master taxonomy (113 tells, 6 families) with fixes.
   It is the human-readable catalogue; `data/patterns.json` is its machine
   implementation. Together with the reviewed shared overlay, the current
-  release carries 290 weighted regexes because some tells need more than one.
+  release carries 294 weighted regexes because some tells need more than one.
 - `references/rewrite-moves.md` — the positive program: the six ladder rungs
   expanded, with before/after pairs and voice calibration.
 - `references/platforms.md` — LinkedIn, X/Twitter, email, blog, newsletter,

package/data/corpus/performed-register/README.md

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # performed-register — should-flag corpus
 
-Thirty-five spans a human editor flagged as slop on sight while the scorer
+Thirty-six spans a human editor flagged as slop on sight while the scorer
 passed every one clean (9.5–10.9, zero pattern hits). All come from
 zero-slop.ai blog drafts written in August 2026 — first-party text, so no
 external registry entry applies. They share one register: **performed-writer

package/data/corpus/performed-register/mechanical/social-stage-stack.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+The channel feels less like a workshop and more like a stage. I know I'm not
+alone. Not in a planning meeting. Not in a team review. But in a private group.
+That is where the real conversations are starting to happen.

package/data/learned-log.md

@@ -390,3 +390,14 @@ example that motivated it.
   alone: paragraph-order dependence, unsupported novelty, self-labelled
   significance, moral-adjective category errors, recap-flattery, and
   wall-of-text replies.
+- 2026-09-03 — v2.8.4 social-stage false negative. A long promotional social
+  post scored 15.0 because its only machine-readable signal was one candour
+  phrase; repeated validation, staged negative fragments, a less-like/more-like
+  comparison, and a generic "real conversations" close were left entirely to
+  the contextual reader. Added four narrow anchors whose combined weight finds
+  that stack without making any one ordinary phrase decisive. Also fixed the
+  reading pass so curly contractions, irregular past-tense verbs, and Unicode
+  dash bullets are not misreported as verbless prose. The reproduced miss moves
+  from 15.0 to 50.2, the edited version remains below the 25-point line, every
+  known-human control remains below it, and the exact finishing pipeline now
+  treats a verifier warning as a blocked release rather than advisory copy.

package/data/patterns.json

@@ -162,6 +162,15 @@
    "first_seen": "2026-08-03",
    "last_confirmed": "2026-08-15"
   },
+  {
+   "name": "social-validation",
+   "cat": "performed",
+   "rx": "\\b(?:i (?:know|realize) i(?:'|\u2019)m not alone|you(?:'|\u2019)re not (?:alone|imagining it)|if you(?:'|\u2019)ve (?:felt|noticed) [\\w '\u2019-]{2,36}, you(?:'|\u2019)re not (?:alone|imagining it))\\b",
+   "hints": ["not alone", "not imagining it"],
+   "w": 2.5,
+   "first_seen": "2026-09-03",
+   "last_confirmed": "2026-09-03"
+  },
   {
    "name": "faux-insight",
    "cat": "performed",
@@ -226,6 +235,15 @@
    "first_seen": "2026-08-03",
    "last_confirmed": "2026-08-03"
   },
+  {
+   "name": "staged-negative-ladder",
+   "cat": "contrast",
+   "rx": "(?:^|[.!?]\\s+|\\n)[\u2013\u2014*+\u2022-]*\\s*not in (?:an? |the )?[\\w '\u2019-]{2,32}\\.\\s*(?:[\u2013\u2014*+\u2022-]+\\s*)?not in (?:an? |the )?[\\w '\u2019-]{2,32}\\.\\s*(?:[\u2013\u2014*+\u2022-]+\\s*)?but in (?:an? |the )?[\\w '\u2019-]{2,48}",
+   "hints": ["not in a", "not in the"],
+   "w": 5,
+   "first_seen": "2026-09-03",
+   "last_confirmed": "2026-09-03"
+  },
   {
    "name": "this-isnt-about",
    "cat": "contrast",
@@ -515,6 +533,15 @@
    "first_seen": "2026-08-14",
    "last_confirmed": "2026-08-14"
   },
+  {
+   "name": "less-like-more-like",
+   "cat": "contrast",
+   "rx": "\\b(?:feel(?:s|ing)?|seem(?:s|ing)?) less like (?:an? |the )?[\\w '\u2019-]{2,48}(?:,| and)? (?:an? )?(?:little )?more like (?:an? |the )?[\\w '\u2019-]{2,48}",
+   "hints": ["less like", "more like"],
+   "w": 4,
+   "first_seen": "2026-09-03",
+   "last_confirmed": "2026-09-03"
+  },
   {
    "name": "thats-not-thats",
    "cat": "contrast",
@@ -1177,6 +1204,15 @@
    "first_seen": "2026-08-14",
    "last_confirmed": "2026-08-14"
   },
+  {
+   "name": "real-conversation-closer",
+   "cat": "performed",
+   "rx": "\\bwhere the (?:real|genuine|meaningful) (?:conversation|conversations|connection|connections) (?:is|are) (?:starting to |finally )?(?:happen|happening|taking place)\\b",
+   "hints": ["real conversation", "genuine conversation", "meaningful conversation"],
+   "w": 3,
+   "first_seen": "2026-09-03",
+   "last_confirmed": "2026-09-03"
+  },
   {
    "name": "recipe-for",
    "cat": "cliche",

package/package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "zero-slop",
-  "version": "2.8.3",
+  "version": "2.8.5",
   "description": "An Agent Skill that scores AI-sounding prose locally, guides the host AI through an editorial rewrite, and checks changed source details. The local tools run offline with zero dependencies.",
   "bin": {
     "zero-slop": "bin/zero-slop.mjs"
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@
     "!scripts/build_plugin.py",
     "!scripts/build_skill_zip.py",
     "!scripts/check_svg.py",
+    "!scripts/check_release_surfaces.py",
     "!scripts/contextual.py",
     "!scripts/contextual-signals.md",
     "!references/contextual-signals.md",

package/scripts/register.py

@@ -380,6 +380,26 @@ FINITE_VERB = re.compile(
     r"|gate[sd]?|gives?|runs?|gets?|gave|gone)\b"
     r"|\b\w+(?:s|ed|es)\b", re.I)
 
+# Curly apostrophes are ordinary prose, not token boundaries. A contracted
+# auxiliary makes the clause finite even when the main verb is irregular or a
+# participle ("I’ve found", "you’re seeing"). The old tokeniser split those
+# into ``I``/``ve`` and ``you``/``re`` and then reported complete sentences as
+# fragments. Keep this conservative: a possible possessive false negative is
+# safer than telling a writer that a grammatical sentence has no verb.
+CONTRACTED_FINITE = re.compile(r"\b[A-Za-z][\w-]*['’](?:m|re|ve|s|d|ll)\b", re.I)
+# Only forms that are rarely ordinary nouns or adjectives belong here. Ambiguous
+# forms such as ``cut``, ``left``, ``read``, ``set``, and ``thought`` made real
+# fragments look grammatical ("Nothing left in the queue"). Contractions are
+# handled separately above, so this small list only closes clear past-tense
+# holes in uncontracted sentences.
+IRREGULAR_FINITE = frozenset("""
+arose became began blew broke brought bought caught chose came dealt did drew
+drank drove ate fell fed felt fought found flew forgot forgave froze gave got
+grew had heard held hid kept knew laid led lent lost made meant met paid rode
+ran said saw sold sent shook showed sang sat slept spoke spent stood stole
+struck swam took taught told threw understood woke wore won wrote was were went
+""".split())
+
 # The -s half of that catch-all cannot tell a verb from a plural noun, and a
 # plural noun in a fragment made the whole fragment invisible: "Same compound,
 # three identifiers." and "Same assay, two units." both read as verbed on
@@ -434,6 +454,11 @@ def _looks_like_noun(sent: str, start: int) -> bool:
 
 
 def _has_finite_verb(sent: str) -> bool:
+    if CONTRACTED_FINITE.search(sent):
+        return True
+    if any(word.lower() in IRREGULAR_FINITE
+           for word in re.findall(r"[A-Za-z][\w'’-]*", sent)):
+        return True
     for match in FINITE_VERB.finditer(sent):
         word = match.group(0)
         # An explicit auxiliary or an -ed form is a verb wherever it appears.
@@ -456,10 +481,10 @@ def _sentences(prose: str) -> list[str]:
 def verbless_fragments(prose: str) -> list[str]:
     out = []
     for sent in _sentences(prose):
-        words = re.findall(r"[A-Za-z][\w'-]*", sent)
+        words = re.findall(r"[A-Za-z][\w'’-]*", sent)
         if not (3 <= len(words) <= 12):
             continue
-        if sent.rstrip().endswith(":") or sent.lstrip().startswith(("-", "*", "#", "|")):
+        if sent.rstrip().endswith(":") or sent.lstrip().startswith(("-", "–", "—", "•", "*", "#", "|")):
             continue
         if IMPERATIVE_OPENER.match(sent):
             continue
@@ -562,7 +587,7 @@ def prose_of(text: str) -> str:
     return "\n".join(
         line
         for line in text.split("\n")
-        if not line.strip().startswith(("|", "![", ">", "    "))
+        if not line.strip().startswith(("|", "![", ">", "-", "–", "—", "•", "*", "    "))
     )
 
 

package/scripts/slopscore.py

@@ -900,7 +900,7 @@ def render_portfolio(result):
 # broetry is a slop tell, not a machine tell: LinkedIn writers invented it
 # years before GPT-3, and it demonstrably performs on the platform. Whether to
 # trade reach for a human voice is the author's call, not the meter's.
-STRUCT_MARK = re.compile(r"^\s*(?:[-*+•>#]|\d+[.)]|\|)")
+STRUCT_MARK = re.compile(r"^\s*(?:[-–—*+•>#]|\d+[.)]|\|)")
 DIALOGUE_OPEN = re.compile("^[\"“‘']")