dfrysinger/build/skills/prompt-prose-writer

Prompt Prose Writer

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Prompt prose is text authored to be loaded into an LLM's context as instructions, system prompts, agent definitions, skill definitions, reviewer rubrics, MCP tool descriptions, RAG instructions, or any equivalent LLM-consumable directive content.

Detection rule (universal). Use content semantics, not just file path or extension, as the determining signal. Ask: is the text intended to be loaded into an LLM's context at runtime as instructions? If yes, it is prompt prose, regardless of where it lives in the repo.

Path and extension as secondary signals (fast-path shortcut for qrspi-plus-internal authoring). When ALL target files match one of these globs, classify as prompt prose without further inspection:

• skills/**/SKILL.md
• skills/**/*.md (snippet files under a skill directory)
• agents/*.md
• AGENTS.md
• CLAUDE.md

Files outside these globs require the content-semantic test above. Other projects may carry prompts in prompts/, src/llm-instructions/, or custom layouts — the content-semantic test is universal; the glob list is qrspi-plus-internal convenience only.

Examples of prompt prose:

• A SKILL.md body that instructs an orchestrator.
• An agents/*.md file defining a subagent (role, task, constraints, tools).
• A .md file under a project's prompts/ directory whose frontmatter description: indicates LLM consumption.
• A verbatim system prompt embedded in any markdown file (e.g., "You are...", "Your role is...", <HARD-GATE> blocks).
• A .txt or .json file whose content is plainly an LLM instruction payload.

Examples of NOT prompt prose:

• Code documentation, README files describing features.
• Design decisions in prose form (unless a <!-- prose-design: ... --> marker indicates a verbatim prompt-prose block within).
• Research notes ABOUT prompts (this file itself is a meta-document — it IS subject to the rules per meta-acceptance, but ordinary research/explanatory content about prompts is not).
• Configuration files, test fixtures, shell scripts.

Rules file. When prompt-prose authoring or review applies, the rules live at skills/_shared/prompt-design-rules.md (resolved from the installed plugin path per host convention).

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Writer-side application. When authoring or planning a deliverable, apply the detection above to the planned target content (or sub-block, for blocks within larger documents like design.md). If the target IS prompt prose, Read skills/_shared/prompt-design-rules.md (resolved from the installed plugin path per host convention) and apply R1-R7 + cross-cutting principles BEFORE drafting, not as post-write polish. The rules shape what to write; patching after the fact is a known anti-pattern. If the Read fails, do NOT proceed with authoring. Surface the error and stop.

If the target is NOT prompt prose (ordinary documentation, configuration, code, non-prompt prose), do NOT Read the rules file. Reading-without-applying is the verbosity-bias anti-pattern the rules themselves warn against — loading them into context for a deliverable they don't apply to wastes context and risks misapplication.

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