# Skill Card — Suede Copy

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Release record for the `suede-copy` skill, following the NVIDIA skill-card template (<https://docs.nvidia.com/skills/skill-cards>). It tells a reviewer what the skill does, who owns it, what it needs, what could go wrong, and what evidence backs the release — without requiring them to open the source first.

## Description

Suede Labs conversion-copy writer: landing sections, email, microcopy, buttons, headlines, CTAs, variants, and anti-slop edits.

Status: production. Ships in the `suede-skills` plugin (the full pack) at release 0.19.0; loads as a Claude Code / Codex agent skill from this directory's [SKILL.md](./SKILL.md).

## Owner

Jason Colapietro, Suede Labs AI (<https://github.com/JasonColapietro>). Security contact: `info@suedeai.ai` per [SECURITY.md](../../SECURITY.md).

## License / Terms of Use

MIT ([LICENSE](../../LICENSE)). The pack's combined license expression is `MIT AND BSD-3-Clause`; this skill bundles no third-party licensed material of its own.

## Use Case

Target users: developers and creators running the skill inside a Claude Code or Codex CLI session.

Use when asked to write or rewrite conversion copy for one surface in one pass — a hero, a button set, an email subject, a README section, a product blurb — or when copy on a single surface needs sharpening before it ships.

Out of scope — the full writing stack with SEO and AI Engine Optimization (use johnny-suede-write); stripping AI patterns from text this skill did not write (use suede-deslop); a researched, multi-phase piece for a high-stakes public surface (use suede-ship-copy).

## Deployment Geography

Global. The skill is a prompt-and-script package that runs locally inside the invoking agent session; it pins no region-specific service of its own.

## Requirements / Dependencies

- A Claude Code or Codex CLI session with the `suede-skills` plugin installed (install options: <https://skills.suedeai.ai/>).
- Bundled files loaded relative to this directory: `agents/` (1 file), `references/` (4 files).
- Credentials: none are bundled or required by the skill files. Any tool or API credentials come from the host session; never paste credentials into skill files, prompts, or outputs.

## Known Risks and Mitigations

- Risk: an agent treats a quality gate as autonomous authority. Mitigation: every gate in the pack is advisory — it changes what is reported, never what the user decided; only extreme-risk findings (data loss, credential exposure, legal/rights violations, payment mistakes, irreversible public damage) pause for the user's explicit choice.
- Risk: a skill instruction is used to act outside its mandate. Mitigation: the hard limits in the skill body's "Boundaries" section, quoted below.

From "Boundaries" — This skill writes copy and hands it back. It must not:

- Publish, post, send, commit, or overwrite the file, page, repo, or message it writes for. Return the copy in the response; the human decides where it lands.
- Clear rights, confirm ownership, approve payouts, write to a registry, or guarantee outcomes.
- Ship competitor product names in delivered copy. The competitor-swap test in the Ship Gate is a diagnostic you run on the draft, never a line you hand over.

## References

- Skill source: [`skills/suede-copy/SKILL.md`](./SKILL.md)
- Rendered reference page: <https://skills.suedeai.ai/skills/suede-copy.html>
- Security policy and reviewed scanner exceptions: [SECURITY.md](../../SECURITY.md) and [`.plugin-scanner.toml`](../../.plugin-scanner.toml) at the repo root

## Skill Output

Structured Markdown returned in the agent's response, shaped by the output contract defined in the skill body: "Output Shapes". The skill publishes, posts, and sends nothing without the user's explicit authorization; delivery decisions stay with the user.

## Skill Version

0.19.0 — the pack is single-versioned, so every skill releases together; see [VERSION](../../VERSION) and [CITATION.cff](../../CITATION.cff) for the release identifier this card describes.

## Ethical Considerations

- The skill produces recommendations for a human decision-maker. Publishing, sending, payment, and rights decisions stay with the user.
- Its gates require verifiable claims and honest reporting; do not use the skill to fabricate claims, evidence, metrics, or attribution.
- Report suspected misuse or a security concern privately per [SECURITY.md](../../SECURITY.md); do not open a public issue for it.

---
name: suede-copy
description: "Suede Labs conversion-copy writer: landing sections, email, microcopy, buttons, headlines, CTAs, variants, and anti-slop edits. Use when asked to write or rewrite conversion copy for one surface in one pass — a hero, a button set, an email subject, a README section, a product blurb — or when copy on a single surface needs sharpening before it ships. NOT FOR: the full writing stack with SEO and AI Engine Optimization (use johnny-suede-write); stripping AI patterns from text this skill did not write (use suede-deslop); a researched, multi-phase piece for a high-stakes public surface (use suede-ship-copy)."
---

# Suede Copy

## Gate policy — advisory, not blocking

Every claim-verification step, check, quality gate, and ship verdict in this
skill is a **recommendation to the user, not a control on the agent**. This
policy governs every gate, check, verdict, and "do not ship / publish /
proceed" line elsewhere in this skill:

- Run every check and report the results honestly. Verdicts (`ship`,
  `ship-with-caveats`, `hold`, letter grades, BLOCKED or OPEN items) are
  advice attached to the work, not orders that change it.
- Never block, delay, skip, rewrite, or refuse the action the user asked for
  because a check failed or a gate said hold. Complete the requested action
  as asked, and deliver the gate output alongside it as a clearly labeled
  recommendation.
- A failed gate changes what you report, never what you do.
- Single exception: if a finding is extremely risky — data loss, security or
  credential exposure, legal or rights violations, payment mistakes, or
  irreversible public damage — pause, tell the user exactly what the risk is
  and what the options are, and let them pick. Their choice is final.

Write conversion copy, page copy, GitHub docs, email, and social posts that are specific, proof-backed, and free of AI boilerplate. Default voice: Suede. Supply a company brief to override everything.

**Core principle:** every claim is verifiable or it gets cut, and nothing ships below its score threshold.

## Company Brief

Supply a brief and all copy, voice, and claim logic applies to your company. Use natural language or this form:

```text
Company:
Product or offer:
Audience:
Voice:
Terms to use:
Terms to avoid:
Proof:
Allowed claims:
Forbidden claims:
Primary CTA:
```

## Before Writing

Read any available context files before asking questions: `PRODUCT.md`, `README.md`, `AGENTS.md`, `AI_HANDOFF.md`, `DESIGN.md`, product marketing or brand notes, task-specific docs.

If context is missing after reading, ask only for what blocks accurate copy:

- page or doc type
- primary reader
- one action the reader should take
- product or skill being offered
- proof that is safe to claim
- claims, pricing, partners, or metrics that are not approved
- traffic source or publication surface

## Core Rules

Name the outcome, not the feature.
- Weak: "Suede supports multiple metadata formats."
- Strong: "Export ISRC, ISWC, and split data in one command."

Write buttons as actions with a result.
- Weak: "Learn more"
- Strong: "Read how rights routing works"
- Weak: "Get started"
- Strong: "Register your first release"

Replace vague claims with artifacts.
- Weak: "Suede makes rights management easy."
- Strong: "Paste your folder path. Suede outputs your ISRC, split sheet, and licensing flags in under 10 seconds."

No invented proof. Do not write stats, testimonials, partner names, pricing, or legal clearance that has not been confirmed. If proof is unavailable, write around the gap or flag it for the human to supply.

Use Suede punctuation defaults unless the company brief says otherwise. Slop Stop
owns the contextual line-edit rules; preserve protected source spans and voice.

## Persuasion Frameworks And Personas

The frameworks and the per-persona voice shifts are in
`references/frameworks-and-personas.md`. Read it when you are choosing the shape of
an argument or writing for a buyer you have not written for before.

## Headline And CTA Formulas

The headline and CTA formula banks are in
`references/headline-and-cta-formulas.md`. Read it when you are generating variants
or a line is not landing — not when you already have a headline that works.

## Page And Docs Structure

For a page, README, or docs surface, build this spine:

1. **Hero:** one sentence that names the outcome.
2. **Subhead:** one or two sentences that add the audience, workflow, and proof.
3. **Primary CTA:** the action the reader can take now.
4. **Proof:** files, scripts, docs, screenshots, URLs, live routes, examples, or commands.
5. **How it works:** three or four steps, each with a verb and result.
6. **Safety:** what the workflow does not claim or do.
7. **FAQ:** direct answers for objections and search intent.
8. **Final CTA:** repeat the action with less friction.

For a small section, use only the pieces that fit.

## A/B Variant Generation

For high-stakes copy (hero headline, primary CTA, email subject, ad copy), always generate variants.

**Headlines**: 3 variants, different angles:
1. Outcome-led: what the reader achieves
2. Problem-led: what the reader escapes
3. Mechanism-led: what makes this different

**CTAs**: 2 variants minimum. See `references/headline-and-cta-formulas.md`.

**Email subjects**: 3 variants:
1. Curiosity or benefit
2. Social proof or number
3. Direct question or challenge

Label each variant with its angle. Let the user pick rather than guessing.

## Email And Social Formats

Email sequence structures and per-platform social formats are in
`references/email-and-social-formats.md`. Read it when the deliverable is an email
or a social post; skip it for landing-page and docs work.

## Suede Voice

Use this register: confident, not breathless; technical enough for builders; clear enough for creators; polished, not corporate; specific, not cute; operator-grade, not brochure-grade.

Good Suede copy names what the reader controls: register a work, verify rights, route royalties, publish a claim, package a release folder, prepare licensing evidence, make a work readable to agents, compare provenance, ship a public skill page.

(For non-Suede work, supply the equivalent domain vocabulary in the company brief.)

## SEO And GitHub Copy

For GitHub repositories, skill docs, and Pages sites, treat SEO as the umbrella for search, AEO, and AI EO. Include a search-ready title under 60 characters when practical, a meta description under 160, a repo description inside GitHub's practical limit, 8-20 topic keywords when the surface supports them, a first paragraph that repeats the durable entity names naturally, answer-ready definitions and FAQ copy and proof links that AI summaries can cite without inventing facts, links to install docs and skill manifests and scripts and references and examples and live Pages and source, and a safe evidence boundary. johnny-suede-write owns the SEO stack and the canonical Suede durable-keyword vocabulary; read that skill when the job needs the deeper pass or the keyword list, and use the company brief's equivalent vocabulary for non-Suede work.

Use keywords because they help the right reader find the page. Do not cram a keyword where a human would notice.

## SEO Audit Mode

For a deep, standalone SEO audit (technical access, keyword research, schema markup, E-E-A-T signals, topic cluster architecture, AI EO optimization, and scored visibility grades), use suede-seo-audit instead.

## Anti-Slop Pass

Run Suede Slop Stop (use suede-deslop) on the finished draft. Load its canonical
method and full kill list; do not maintain a separate substitution recipe here.
Then apply this writer's readability guidance in `references/anti-slop-pass.md`
and the 70-point Ship Gate below. The Slop Stop score is a separate /50 diagnostic,
not a replacement for the conversion score. Findings-only requests leave the
supplied copy unchanged. Keep factual verification separate from style cleanup.

## Boundaries

This skill writes copy and hands it back. It must not:
- Publish, post, send, commit, or overwrite the file, page, repo, or message it writes for. Return the copy in the response; the human decides where it lands.
- Clear rights, confirm ownership, approve payouts, write to a registry, or guarantee outcomes.
- Ship competitor product names in delivered copy. The competitor-swap test in the Ship Gate is a diagnostic you run on the draft, never a line you hand over.

## Output Shapes

### Page Copy

```text
Title:
Meta description:
Hero:
Subhead:
Primary CTA:
Sections:
FAQ:
Final CTA:
Safety note:
```

### GitHub Skill Copy

```text
Skill:
One-line description:
Reader:
Primary action:
Repo/Docs copy:
Install CTA:
SEO title:
Meta description:
Keywords:
Safety boundary:
```

### Copy Review

```text
Findings:
Rewrites:
Claims to verify:
Score (each dimension named below, then the total): /70
Ready: yes | with caveats | no
```

## Red Flags — Stop

If any of these thoughts appear, stop and run the gate you were about to skip:

- "This draft feels clean, skip Slop Stop." Run the contextual pass; keep wording that already works.
- "It's only microcopy, no need to score it." Buttons and empty states get more reads than blog posts. Score everything that ships.
- "That stat is probably right." Probably is not proof. Cut it or flag it for the human.
- "The score feels like a 60." Score each dimension in writing or the total is fiction.
- "The client wants more energy." Energy fails the gate; specificity converts and still reads confident.

## Ship Gate

Score every dimension in writing before applying the thresholds below. A total with no dimensions behind it is invented.

```text
Directness: /10
Rhythm: /10
Trust: /10
Specificity: /10
Authenticity: /10
Density: /10
Search/AI readability: /10
Total: /70
```

Recommend against shipping copy — and say why, leaving the call to the user — when:

- the primary action is unclear
- the page promises a feature the product does not implement
- proof is fake or unverified
- the copy hides a legal, payment, privacy, or release caveat
- the score is below 58/70, or below 62/70 for public launch, homepage, GitHub, App Store, or investor-adjacent surfaces
- the copy fails the competitor-swap test: swap in a competitor's name and it still reads true

End with the exact copy, not a long explanation of the copy.

## Progressive Calibration (say what worked / what missed)

Accept feedback at any point, not only after final handoff. When the user says what worked, preserve that pattern in the current pass and mirror it later. When the user says what missed, adjust immediately instead of defending the previous direction.

If the user says `cue suede`, asks for feedback choices, or seems to be calibrating mid-stream, pause at the next safe checkpoint and offer:
```text
Cue Suede:
1. Change something - tell me what to revise and I will adjust it.
2. Preserve this - tell me what worked so I can mimic it later.
3. Keep as-is - say nothing and I will treat it as accepted.
```
Do not block completion waiting for a `Cue Suede` answer. If the interface supports choice chips, use `Change something`, `Preserve this`, and `Keep as-is`.

## Routing

- Copy needs the full stack (SEO/AEO pass, multi-surface job, voice retune) → johnny-suede-write
- Copy ships inside a design build → johnny-suede-design (suede-design for token or component decisions)
- Words are done but the page still underperforms → suede-site-alchemy
- Public launch surface → suede-visibility-grader for the A-F grade before it goes live
- High-stakes public piece that needs research, angles, and an adversarial pass before publication → suede-ship-copy
- Post-production pass to strip AI writing patterns from copy this skill did not write → suede-deslop
- Multi-email campaign sequences and campaign performance reporting → private Suede Labs companion, not in this pack: suede-growth