This is a wiki mirror of the canonical style guide at
apps/blog/blog/markdown/posts/.ruler/style.md. If they
diverge, the .ruler/style.md file wins.
The Reviewer and Writer agents must read and follow this guide. The Reviewer's core job is enforcing it.
Casual, first-person, written by a working engineer. Think someone documenting what they actually did, not a tech writer producing polished documentation. First person is fine and doesn't need to be consistent across posts.
Honest about limitations, mistakes, and uncertainty. Phrases like "I don't know what that is, but it doesn't sit well with me" or "it got it wrong twice" are on-brand. Self-deprecating is fine. Generic enthusiasm is not.
Never sound like AI-generated content. Avoid:
No em-dashes. Ever. Use a comma, a period, or restructure.
Sentences: 8-15 words is typical. Vary length deliberately. Fragments are fine for emphasis.
Paragraphs: 1-5 sentences. White space is good. No walls of text.
Bold sparingly, for genuinely important terms or warnings.
Intros are short. 1-3 sentences establishing why this post exists, then get into it.
Headers are conversational and specific, not generic. "Why an iPhone App" not "Motivation".
Outros: end at the natural stopping point. No "thanks for reading."
Numbered lists for sequential steps. Bullet lists for unordered sets. Prose for reasoning and comparisons.
Use code blocks heavily. Copy-paste ready. Right language tag. Inline comments for non-obvious lines.
All internal links must end in .html.
Never write anything dishonest. Don't embellish or dramatize. Don't fabricate output. If a post includes command output or transcripts, they must be from real runs.
.html extension