Writing Style Checker
Prose linter + AI-slop detector: weasel words, passive voice, hedging, and research-cited AI tells
Open source Repository Open in the app JSON README (API)
About
Prose linter + AI-slop detector: weasel words, passive voice, hedging, and research-cited AI tells
Details
- Kind
- MCP servers
- Topic
- Developer tools
- Publisher
- theserverlessdev
- Origin
- official
- Category
- ferramentas
- Transport
- http
- Version
- 2.2.2
- Stars
- 5
- Last push
- 2026-07-24T16:14:39Z
- Repository state
- ativo
- Language
- TypeScript
- License
- MIT
- Added
- 2026-08-29 04:01:32
- Updated
- 2026-08-29 04:01:32
- Origin id
io.github.theserverlessdev/wsc
README
# Writing Style Checker
[](https://github.com/theserverlessdev/wsc/actions/workflows/ci.yml)
[](https://www.npmjs.com/package/wsc-mcp)
[](https://smithery.ai/servers/theserverlessdev/wsc)
[](https://glama.ai/mcp/servers/theserverlessdev/wsc)
[](LICENSE)
A prose linter and AI-slop detector. WSC finds **AI tells** — words, phrases, and sentence structures overrepresented in AI-generated text, each flag backed by a published corpus study. It also catches classic writing issues: **weasel words**, **passive voice**, **duplicate words**, **long sentences**, **nominalizations**, **hedging**, and **filler adverbs**. Available as a web editor, HTTP API, MCP server, CLI, and GitHub Action.
**[Live: wsc.theserverless.dev](https://wsc.theserverless.dev)**
## Features
- **Web Editor** - Real-time highlighting with inline fix buttons for all 8 detectors
- **HTTP API** - POST text with optional config, retrieve structured JSON responses
- **MCP Server (Remote)** - Connect AI assistants via Streamable HTTP transport
- **MCP Server (Local)** - Stdio-based server via [`wsc-mcp`](https://www.npmjs.com/package/wsc-mcp) on npm
- **CLI** - Check files from the command line via `wsc-lint`
- **GitHub Action** - Run checks in CI with `::warning` annotations
- **Configurable** - Customize detectors with `.wscrc.json` files
---
## What WSC is (and isn't)
WSC flags patterns that research on AI-generated text finds overrepresented, and cites a source for every flag. It does not, and cannot, prove authorship. Classifier-based detectors carry a documented false-accusation risk: a Stanford study found that seven of them misflagged 61% of essays written by non-native English speakers. WSC avoids that trap by design — every flag is a specific, explainable edit that improves the text no matter who, or what, wrote it.
---
## Detection Rules
| Detector | Items | Description |
|----------|-------|-------------|
| **Weasel Words** | 95 words/phrases | Vague terms like "very", "basically", "arguably", "numerous" |
| **Passive Voice** | 260 irregular verbs | Auxiliary verbs + past participles (regular `-ed` + irregular) |
| **Duplicate Words** | — | Adjacent repeated words across whitespace, case-insensitive |
| **Long Sentences** | threshold: 30 words | Sentences exceeding a configurable word count |
| **Nominalizations** | 245 word pairs | Nouns replaceable with verbs ("utilization" → "use") |
| **Hedging** | 100 phrases | Phrases that weaken assertions ("I think", "it seems") |
| **Filler Adverbs** | 139 words | Adverbs adding emphasis without substance ("totally", "utterly") |
| **AI Tells** | 98 words (+111 inflected forms) + 83 phrases + 12 structural patterns | Words, phrases, and sentence constructions overrepresented in AI-generated text (`delve`, `rich tapestry`, `It's not just X — it's Y`) |
Word lists sourced from [Matt Might's shell scripts](https://matt.might.net/articles/shell-scripts-for-passive-voice-weasel-words-duplicates/) and expanded with additional entries. AI tells draw on published corpus studies: Kobak et al. 2025 (Science Advances), Juzek & Ward 2025 (COLING), Liang et al. 2024 (Stanford), and Reinhart et al. 2025 (PNAS). Wikipedia's editor-maintained [Signs of AI writing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Signs_of_AI_writing) catalogue and AI-detection vendor reports round out the sources.
---
## Configuration
Create a `.wscrc.json` to customize detectors. All tools (API, MCP, CLI) support it.
```json
{
"$schema": "https://wsc.theserverless.dev/schema.json",
"detectors": {
"weaselWords": {
"enabled": true,
"add": ["synergy", "leverage"],
"remove": ["very"]
},
"longSentences": { "maxWords": 25 },
"adverbs": { "enabled": false }
}
}
```
Every field is optional. Missing fields use defaults. JSON Schema provides autocompletion in VS Code.
---
## API Usage
### `POST /api/check`
Analyze text for writing style issues. Accepts optional `config` object.
```bash
curl -X POST https://wsc.theserverless.dev/api/check \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"text":"The code was written very quickly."}'
```
**Response:**
```json
{
"summary": {
"total": 2,
"weaselWords": 1,
"passiveVoice": 1,
"duplicateWords": 0,
"longSentences": 0,
"nominalizations": 0,
"hedging": 0,
"adverbs": 0
},
"issues": {
"weaselWords": [{ "word": "very", "index": 21, "line": 1, "column": 22, "context": "..." }],
"passiveVoice": [{ "phrase": "was written", "index": 9, "line": 1, "column": 10, "context": "..." }],
"duplicateWords": [],
"longSentences": [],
"nominalizations": [],
"hedging": [],
"adverbs": []
},
"meta": { "characterCount": 34, "wordCount": 6, "sentenceCount": 1, "processingTimeMs": 2 }
}
```
**With config:**
```bash
curl -X POST https://wsc.theserverless.dev/api/check \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"text":"The code was written very quickly.", "config":{"detectors":{"weaselWords":{"enabled":false}}}}'
```
### `GET /api/check`
Returns API documentation as JSON.
### `GET /api/detectors`
Returns the list of all 8 detectors with descriptions, configurability, and word counts.
### `GET /health`
Runs a smoke test with known text and returns `{"status":"healthy"}` or `503`.
**Limits:** Max 100,000 characters per request. CORS enabled for all origins.
---
## MCP Server
The Writing Style Checker is available as an [MCP](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/) server, letting AI assistants check your writing directly.
### Tools
| Tool | Description |
|------|-------------|
| `check_text` | Analyze text for all 8 writing style issues. Accepts optional `config`. |
| `fix_duplicates` | Remove duplicate adjacent words and return cleaned text |
| `list_word_lists` | Return info about all detector word lists |
| `check_file` | *(Local only)* Read a file from disk and analyze it. Auto-discovers `.wscrc.json`. |
### Remote MCP Server
Connect any MCP client to the hosted server - no installation required.
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"writing-style-checker": {
"type": "url",
"url": "https://wsc.theserverless.dev/mcp"
}
}
}
```
### Local MCP Server (stdio)
Install via npm for local usage. Includes `check_file` for analyzing files on disk with auto-discovery of `.wscrc.json`.
```bash
npx wsc-mcp
```
**Claude Desktop / Claude Code config:**
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"writing-style-checker": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["wsc-mcp"]
}
}
}
```
See the [`wsc-mcp` npm page](https://www.npmjs.com/package/wsc-mcp) for full documentation.
---
## CLI
Check files from the command line.
```bash
# Check all markdown files
npx wsc-lint check "**/*.md"
# Read from stdin
echo "The code was written very quickly." | npx wsc-lint check --stdin
# JSON output for scripting
npx wsc-lint check "**/*.md" --format json
# GitHub Actions annotations
npx wsc-lint check "**/*.md" --format github
# Create a config file
npx wsc-lint init
```
See the [`wsc-lint` README](cli/README.md) for full documentation.
---
## GitHub Action
```yaml
- uses: theserverlessdev/wsc@v1
with:
files: '**/*.md'
max-warnings: 20
```
| Input | Default | Description |
|-------|---------|-------------|
| `files` | `**/*.md` | Glob pattern for files to check |
| `config` | — | Path to `.wscrc.json` config file |
| `max-warnings` | unlimited | Max warnings before failing |
| `only-changed` | `false` | Only check files changed in this PR |
---
## Privacy
The web editor runs **in your browser** - we never send text to any server. The API and MCP endpoints only process text you explicitly send to them.
---
## Project Structure
```
.
├── src/
│ ├── core/ # Shared detection engine
│ │ ├── detector.ts # 8 detection algorithms
│ │ ├── words.ts # Word/phrase lists (800+ entries)
│ │ ├── config.ts # Config types, merging, validation
│ │ ├── config-node.ts # Node-only: file loading, discovery
│ │ ├── analyzer.ts # Unified analyzeText() entry point
│ │ └── index.ts # Public API exports
│ ├── docs/ # Documentation content (Markdown files)
│ ├── mcp/
│ │ └── handler.ts # MCP JSON-RPC 2.0 handler
│ ├── lib/
│ │ ├── App.svelte # Main editor page component
│ │ ├── stores/theme.ts # Theme store (light/dark/system)
│ │ └── components/ # UI components (StatsBar, ConfigPanel, etc.)
│ ├── routes/
│ │ ├── +layout.svelte # Shared layout (header, nav, footer)
│ │ ├── api/check/+server.ts # HTTP API endpoint
│ │ ├── mcp/+server.ts # MCP endpoint
│ │ ├── health/+server.ts # Health check endpoint
│ │ ├── docs/+page.svelte # Documentation page
│ │ └── words/+page.svelte # Word library browser
│ └── styles/
│ └── main.scss # Global styles (light + dark themes)
├── mcp-server/ # Standalone stdio MCP server (npm: wsc-mcp)
├── cli/ # CLI tool (npm: wsc-lint)
├── action/ # GitHub Action (composite)
├── tests/ # 341 tests across 18 files
├── static/
│ ├── schema.json # JSON Schema for .wscrc.json
│ ├── llms.txt # AI/LLM discovery file
│ └── llms-full.txt # Detailed LLM context
├── wrangler.toml # Cloudflare Workers config
└── svelte.config.js # SvelteKit configuration
```
---
## Local Development
```bash
git clone https://github.com/theserverlessdev/wsc.git
cd wsc
npm install
npm run dev
```
Visit `http://localhost:5173`. The API is at `/api/check`, MCP at `/mcp`, health at `/health`.
### Commands
| Command | Description |
|---------|-------------|
| `npm run dev` | Start dev server |
| `npm run build` | Build for production |
| `npm run check` | Type check with svelte-check |
| `npm test` | Run all 341 tests |
| `npm run test:coverage` | Coverage report |
## Deployment
Deployed as a Cloudflare Worker at `wsc.theserverless.dev`.
```bash
npm run build
npx wrangler deploy
```
---
## Contributing
See [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) for development setup, testing, and pull request guidelines.
For substantial changes, please [open an issue](https://github.com/theserverlessdev/wsc/issues) first.
## Acknowledgements
- [Matt Might](https://matt.might.net/) for the [original shell scripts](https://matt.might.net/articles/shell-scripts-for-passive-voice-weasel-words-duplicates/)
- Built with [SvelteKit](https://svelte.dev/) and [Svelte 5](https://svelte.dev/blog/svelte-5-is-alive), deployed on [Cloudflare Workers](https://workers.cloudflare.com/)
- Logo made with [DiffusionBee](https://diffusionbee.com/)
## License
[MIT](LICENSE)