ASD-STE100 Checker Skill

Unofficial — not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by ASD. ASD-STE100 is a registered European Union Trade Mark (No. 017966390). This skill and the companion MCP/engine are an independent tool. They make no claim of official compliance or certification.

When to use

Use this skill when the user asks to:

• Check or rewrite manuals, procedures, warnings, maintenance text, or technical descriptions for STE-style clarity
• Review controlled language / Simplified Technical English wording
• Look up whether a word is approved and what alternatives exist
• Apply safe synonym fixes before a full rewrite
• Explain what a checker rule_id means and how to fix it
• Check only locally changed documentation files in a git working tree
• Judge Tier-3 semantic WARNINGs (pronouns, topic sentence, POS) via a review brief

Do not use this skill for creative writing, marketing copy, or general English editing unrelated to technical procedures/descriptions.

Core principles

• Prefer short sentences (procedures ≤ 20 words; descriptions ≤ 25 words).
• Use approved dictionary words; prefer project glossary terms when provided.
• Write procedures in active, imperative mood (one instruction per sentence).
• Avoid progressive/perfect/complex verb stacks; keep multi-word nouns ≤ 3 words.
• Name nouns instead of ambiguous pronouns; put the topic in the first descriptive sentence.
• Use each approved word in its approved part of speech only.
• One meaning per word; do not invent alternate senses.
• Preserve identifiers, measurements, part numbers, and safety information.

Strict workflow

1. Multi-file / PR-local docs: call ste_check_changed_files first (working tree vs HEAD, or pass base= for merge-base vs a branch; default globs *.md / *.txt / *.rst / *.adoc).
2. Classify the text as procedure or description (or leave as auto if unsure).
3. Check with MCP: ste_check_text (paste) or ste_check_file (path). Pass a glossary path when available.
4. Treat deterministic ERROR findings as authoritative. Do not dismiss ERROR results based on your own judgment (includes high-confidence STE-POS-MISMATCH).
5. WARNINGs are advisory (Tier-2 parse confidence or Tier-3 semantic heuristics). Prefer fixing them; leave with rationale only if unclear, unless the user asks to clear warnings too.
6. If unsure what a rule_id means, call ste_explain_finding(rule_id).
7. Optionally call ste_apply_safe_fixes first for unambiguous 1:1 synonyms (e.g. utilize → use), then recheck.
8. Call ste_suggest_rewrite to get a structured rewrite brief (prompt + capped findings + constraints + optional safe_fix_preview). It does not call an LLM — you (the host agent) rewrite from that brief.
9. If Tier-3 WARNINGs remain (STE-PRONOUN-AMBIG, STE-TOPIC-SENTENCE, or advisory STE-POS-MISMATCH), call ste_suggest_semantic_review, judge the brief, edit, then recheck.
10. Propose a minimal rewrite using the brief(s). Change only what ERROR findings require (and WARNINGs when requested).
11. Recheck the rewrite with ste_check_text.
12. Stop only when no ERROR findings remain, or explicitly list unresolved findings and why they remain.
13. Never claim certified compliance. Never claim compliance from your rewrite alone without a successful recheck.
14. Preserve part numbers, measurements, identifiers, warnings, cautions, and safety-critical wording unless a finding requires a synonym that does not change meaning.

Canonical loop: check → explain → suggest_rewrite → (optional semantic_review) → host rewrite → recheck.

Details: references/workflow.md

MCP tools

Tool	Use when
ste_check_text(text, text_type="auto", glossary=None, output="json")	Check pasted/generated text; primary loop tool
ste_check_file(path, text_type="auto", output="json")	Check a file on disk
ste_check_changed_files(globs=None, text_type="auto", glossary=None, output="json", base=None)	Check working-tree doc changes vs HEAD, or vs git merge-base HEAD <base>
ste_lookup_word(word)	Inspect status, meaning, alternatives, inflections, rule_ref
ste_explain_finding(rule_id)	Explain a finding’s rule (title, severity, STE ref, fix hints)
ste_apply_safe_fixes(text, glossary=None)	Apply only unambiguous 1:1 synonym replacements; returns text + diff
ste_suggest_rewrite(text, text_type="auto", glossary=None, max_findings=20)	Build a host-agent rewrite brief (prompt-return; no LLM API)
ste_suggest_semantic_review(text, text_type="auto", glossary=None, max_findings=20)	Tier-3-only semantic brief (prompt-return; no LLM API)

spaCy model (MCP)

Check tools do not take a spaCy model parameter. Set STE100_SPACY_MODEL in the MCP server environment before start (default en_core_web_sm).

When to use ste_suggest_rewrite

Call it after you have ERROR (or requested WARNING) findings and before you rewrite with your own LLM. Use prompt as the rewrite instructions; respect constraints. Optionally inspect safe_fix_preview — call ste_apply_safe_fixes only if you want those 1:1 synonyms applied.

When to use ste_suggest_semantic_review

Call it when the check returns Tier-3 findings (especially WARNINGs for pronouns or topic sentence). Use prompt for host judgment; clear POS ERRORs before claiming done. Semantic WARNINGs alone do not make compliant: false.

When to use ste_apply_safe_fixes

Call it before a manual rewrite when findings are mostly vocabulary synonyms with a single clear approved alternative. Do not use it for sentence splits, voice/mood changes, or ambiguous terms—rewrite those yourself, then recheck.

Tier-2 rule IDs

Rule ID	Meaning
STE-PASSIVE	Verbal passive in procedures (Rule 3.6)
STE-IMPERATIVE	Non-imperative procedural step (Rule 5.3)
STE-VERB-FORM	Progressive / perfect / complex verb stack (Rules 3.2 / 3.4)
STE-NOUN-CLUSTER	Multi-word noun longer than 3 words (Rule 2.1)

Tier-3 rule IDs

Rule ID	Meaning
STE-PRONOUN-AMBIG	Ambiguous pronoun (it / this / these / those / they)
STE-TOPIC-SENTENCE	Weak description opener (topic not clear)
STE-POS-MISMATCH	Approved POS clash (verb↔noun / adj↔noun); ERROR if high-confidence

Result shapes: references/result-format.md Project glossaries: references/terminology-profiles.md