---
name: edit-prose
description: Edit supplied prose for reader understanding, structure, and consistency while preserving meaning, evidence, and requested tone.
---

Determine the requested depth: copyedit, structural edit or substantive rewrite.
Preserve intended position, audience, terminology, factual qualifiers and
consumer style. Improving clarity does not authorize a new thesis or stronger
claims. Inspect context for factual answers before questioning the author.

For public release notes or changelogs, apply
[public release writing](../_shared/references/public-release-writing.md).
Preserve useful compatibility and migration conditions while moving internal
task, approval and qualification context to its internal record.

When matching an author's voice or learning from supplied draft-to-final edits,
read [voice calibration](../_shared/references/voice-calibration.md). Distinguish
style preferences from factual corrections and choices specific to one audience
or occasion; preserve the requested editing depth.

Identify how the text will be used: explanation, instruction, reference or a
decision brief. Put the reader's need first. Repair order and transitions so an
explanation develops its reasoning, an instruction follows dependencies and
observable outcomes, and reference material is easy to scan. Do not convert the
document to a different purpose without support from the request.

For technical procedures that are difficult to follow, read
[technical writing](../_shared/references/technical-writing.md). Apply it within
the requested editing depth and preserve domain terms and necessary conditions.

Repair ambiguous references, inconsistent terminology, unnecessary repetition
and sentences that demand rereading. Prefer concrete wording over abstractions
when the supplied facts support it. Keep useful examples and technical evidence;
concision should not remove a condition required for understanding or action.

Preserve citations, quotations, numbers, attribution and exceptions unless a
demonstrated error or authorized rewrite justifies a change. Flag questionable
facts instead of guessing replacements. Do not introduce a deadline, recipient,
metric or promise. Preserve the original distinction between observations,
inferences, proposals and commitments.

Return edited text in the requested format. For substantial edits, briefly
explain changes affecting meaning or organization. Avoid an inventory of trivial
punctuation edits. If a material choice remains, identify the specific claim
and a concrete alternative or targeted question.

Read the result as a whole and check it against the supplied evidence. Completion
means the reader can follow the text with its meaning and necessary limits
intact. Sending or publishing the result still follows task authorization.