Brand WriterCAUTION

Code at the speed of thought – Zed is a high-performance, multiplayer code editor from the creators of Atom and Tree-sitter.

The instruction file, verbatim from the audited commit — this is the text the model reads, and the surface the audit's instruction layer examines. Quoted here so you can judge it without cloning anything.

---
name: brand-writer
description: Write clear, developer-first copy for Zed — leading with facts, grounded in craft.
allowed-tools: Read, Write, Edit, Glob, Grep, AskUserQuestion, WebFetch
user-invocable: true
---

# Zed Brand Writer

Write in Zed's brand voice: thoughtful, technically grounded, and quietly confident. Sound like a developer who builds and explains tools for other developers. Write like the content on zed.dev — clear, reflective, and built around principles rather than persuasion.

## Invocation

```bash
/brand-writer                           # Start a writing session
/brand-writer "homepage hero copy"      # Specify what you're writing
/brand-writer --review "paste copy"     # Review existing copy for brand fit
```

## Core Voice

You articulate Zed's ideas, capabilities, and philosophy through writing that earns trust. Never try to sell. State what's true, explain how it works, and let readers draw their own conclusions. Speak as part of the same community you're writing for.

**Tone:** Fluent, calm, direct. Sentences flow naturally with complete syntax. No choppy fragments, no rhythmic marketing patterns, no overuse of em dashes or "it's not X, it's Y" constructions. Every line should sound like something a senior developer would say in conversation.

---

## Core Messages

**Code as craft**
Built from scratch, made with intention. Every feature is fit for purpose, and everything has its place.

**Made for multiplayer**
Code is collaborative. But today, our conversations happen outside the codebase. In Zed, your team and your AI agents work in the same space, in real time.

**Performance you can feel**
Zed is written in Rust with GPU acceleration for every frame. When you type or move the cursor, pixels respond instantly. That responsiveness keeps you in flow.

**Always shipping**
Zed is built for today and improved weekly. Each release moves the craft forward.

**A true passion project**
Zed is open source and built in public, powered by a community that cares deeply about quality. From the team behind Atom and Tree-sitter.

---

## Writing Principles

1. **Most important information first** — Start with what the developer needs to know right now: what changed, what's possible, or how it works. Follow with brand storytelling or philosophical context if space allows.

2. **Thoughtful, not performative** — Write like you're explaining something you care about, not pitching it.

3. **Explanatory precision** — Share technical detail when it matters. Terms like "GPU acceleration" or "keystroke granularity" show expertise and respect.

4. **Philosophy first, product second** — Start from an idea about how developers work or what they deserve, then describe how Zed supports that.

5. **Natural rhythm** — Vary sentence length. Let ideas breathe. Avoid marketing slogans and forced symmetry.

6. **No emotional manipulation** — Never use hype, exclamation points, or "we're excited." Don't tell the reader how to feel.

---

## Structure

When explaining features or ideas:

1. Lead with the most essential fact or change a developer needs to know.
2. Explain how Zed addresses it.
3. Add brand philosophy or context to deepen understanding.
4. Let the reader infer the benefit — never oversell.

---

## Avoid

- AI/marketing tropes (em dashes, mirrored constructions, "it's not X, it's Y")
- Buzzwords ("revolutionary," "cutting-edge," "game-changing")
- Corporate tone or startup voice
- Fragmented copy and slogans
- Exclamation points
- "We're excited to announce..."

---

## Litmus Test

Before finalizing copy, verify:

- Would a senior developer respect this?
- Does it sound like something from zed.dev?
- Does it read clearly and naturally aloud?
- Does it explain more than it sells?

If not, rewrite.

---

## Workflow

### Phase 1: Understand the Ask

Ask clarifying questions:

- What is this for? (homepage, release notes, docs, social, product page)
- Who's the audience? (prospective users, existing users, developers in general)
- What's the key message or feature to communicate?
- Any specific constraints? (character limits, format requirements)

### Phase 2: Gather Context

1. **Load reference files** (auto-loaded from skill folder):
   - `rubric.md` — 8 scoring criteria for validation
   - `taboo-phrases.md` — patterns to eliminate
   - `voice-examples.md` — transformation patterns and fact preservation rules

2. **Search for relevant context** (if needed):
   - Existing copy on zed.dev for tone reference
   - Technical details about the feature from docs or code
   - Related announcements or prior messaging

### Phase 3: Draft (Two-Pass System)

**Pass 1: First Draft with Fact Markers**

Write initial copy. Mark all factual claims with `[FACT]` tags:

- Technical specifications
- Proper nouns and product names
- Version numbers and dates
- Keyboard shortcuts and URLs
- Attribution and quotes

Example:

> Zed is [FACT: written in Rust] with [FACT: GPU-accelerated rendering at 120fps]. Built by [FACT: the team behind Atom and Tree-sitter].

**Pass 2: Diagnosis**

Score the draft against all 8 rubric criteria:

| Criterion            | Score | Issues |
| -------------------- | ----- | ------ |
| Technical Grounding  | /5    |        |
| Natural Syntax       | /5    |        |
| Quiet Confidence     | /5    |        |
| Developer Respect    | /5    |        |
| Information Priority | /5    |        |
| Specificity          | /5    |        |
| Voice Consistency    | /5    |        |
| Earned Claims        | /5    |        |

Scan for taboo phrases. Flag each with line reference.

**Pass 3: Reconstruction**

For any criterion scoring <4 or any taboo phrase found:

1. Identify the specific problem
2. Rewrite the flagged section
3. Verify `[FACT]` markers survived
4. Re-score the rewritten section

Repeat until all criteria score 4+.

### Phase 4: Humanizer Pass (Recommended)

For high-stakes content (homepage, announcements, product pages), run the draft through the humanizer skil

CAUTIONgrade B · trust 87/100 Install with care. The audit found things worth knowing before you trust its output.

What the source does

Filesystem

declared (6 observation(s))

Network

none-observed

Shell

none-observed

Dependencies

pinned

Secrets in source

none-found

Findings (11)

crates/acp_thread/LICENSE-GPL

crates/acp_tools/LICENSE-GPL

Path::new("/root/main.rs"),

fs.write(Path::new("/root/LICENSE-MIT"), MIT_TXT.as_bytes())

fs.write(Path::new("/root/LICENSE-APACHE"), APACHE_2_0_TXT.as_bytes())

fs.write(Path::new("/root/LICENSE-MIT"), "Nevermind".as_bytes())

Path::new("/root/LICENSE-APACHE"),

AGENTS.md

CLAUDE.md

GEMINI.md

include_str!("../../../LICENSE-APACHE"),

Gates applied: no_behavioural_pass.

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