slopbuster — AI text humanizer for prose, code & academic writing

I built this because every "humanizer" I found did the same thing: swap "delve" for "explore" and call it a day. That's not humanization — that's find-and-replace with a marketing page.

slopbuster is what happens when you actually study how AI text differs from human text — across prose, code, and academic writing. 100+ patterns built from analyzing 1,000+ AI vs human content samples and peer-reviewed LLM detection research. Two-pass audit (because removing AI patterns without adding voice creates sterile text that's equally detectable — just by a different classifier). Three-tier weighted scoring. And a voice injection system, because the goal isn't just subtraction.

Install

npx skills add gabelul/slopbuster

One command. Auto-detects your agent, symlinks the skill. Update later with npx skills update.

<details> <summary>Manual install</summary>

# Claude Code
cp -r slopbuster ~/.claude/skills/

# Codex CLI
cp -r slopbuster ~/.codex/skills/

# Any other agent — copy into your agent's skill directory
cp -r slopbuster /path/to/agent/skills/

</details>

Usage

/slopbuster blog-post.md                              # auto-detect mode, standard depth
/slopbuster src/ --mode code                           # scan source files for AI patterns
/slopbuster paper.md --mode academic --field biomedical # academic with section awareness
/slopbuster doc.md --depth deep --voice-sample me.md   # calibrate to a specific voice
/slopbuster draft.md --score-only                       # just score, don't rewrite

No API calls. No dependencies. Pure pattern matching that runs locally.

Want your agent to follow slopbuster's rules on everything it writes, not just when you invoke the skill? See the setup guide for CLAUDE.md, Cursor, Codex, Windsurf, and other agent configs.

Before & after

Most humanizers do one pass: find patterns, replace them. Done. But removing AI patterns without adding voice produces sterile text that's equally detectable. slopbuster runs a second pass.

Before (3.8/10):

"In today's rapidly evolving digital landscape, it's crucial to understand that leveraging AI effectively isn't just about utilizing cutting-edge technology — it's about harnessing its transformative potential."

After first pass (6.2/10):

"Using AI effectively means picking specific tasks where it adds measurable value, rather than applying it broadly across an organization."

After second pass (8.4/10):

"AI works best when you pick one job and nail it. Salesforce cut support tickets 30% with Einstein AI. HubSpot writes first drafts in 2 minutes. The pattern? Specific task, measurable result."

The first pass removed the slop. The second pass added the soul.

What it catches

Text (24 patterns)

| Category | Count | Examples | |----------|-------|---------| | Content | 6 | Significance inflation ("pivotal moment"), promotional language ("nestled in the heart of"), vague attributions ("experts argue") | | Language | 6 | AI vocabulary (delve, tapestry, landscape), copula avoidance ("serves as" → "is"), synonym cycling, rule-of-three forcing | | Style | 6 | Em dash clusters, boldface overuse, emoji as structure, curly quotes, title case headings | | Communication | 9 | Chatbot artifacts ("I hope this helps!"), sycophancy ("Great question!"), filler phrases, hedging stacks, generic conclusions | | Structure | — | Opening/ending anti-patterns, rhythm tests, paragraph structure checks |

Code (80+ patterns)

This is what nobody else has. AI-generated code has its own tells — different from prose, but just as detectable:

| Domain | Count | Examples | |--------|-------|---------| | Comments | 18 | Tautological (// Increment counter), "we" language, philosophical prose, section banners | | Naming | 14 | Verbose compounds (userDataObject), Manager/Handler suffix abuse, acronym avoidance | | Commits | 10 | Vague verbs ("improve"), passive voice, past tense, "various" bundling | | Docstrings | 8 | Type redundancy, tautological summaries, happy-path-only docs | | Quality | 15+ | Broad exception catches, god functions, mock-heavy tests, boolean params | | LLM tells | 16 | Commented-out alternatives, perfectly symmetrical code, canonical placeholder values |

Academic (49 rules, 10 groups)

Section-specific guidance that knows Methods sections use passive voice (and should keep it), Discussion sections should open with interpretation (not restatement), and Abstracts can't afford a single filler word:

Group A: Meaning & accuracy (hard boundaries — never break these)
Group B: Generic filler (kill "moreover," "plays a crucial role," meta-language)
Group C-D: Punctuation habits and sentence patterns
Group E-F: Voice, reasoning, deep AI syntax (abstract noun subjects, nominalization chains)
Group G-J: Creative grammar, metaphor architecture, logical closure, subject variety

Scoring

Three-tier weighted system. Not all AI patterns are equal — "delve" is a dead giveaway, "Additionally" is just suspicious.

| Tier | Weight | What it catches | |------|--------|----------------| | Tier 1 | 3 pts | Dead giveaways: "delve," "tapestry," "navigate the landscape," sycophancy, chatbot artifacts | | Tier 2 | 2 pts | Corporate tells: "synergy," "leverage," copula avoidance, significance inflation, rule-of-three | | Tier 3 | 1 pt | Weak signals: "Additionally," "Furthermore," em dash clusters, mild hedging |

Human-ness scale (0-10):

0-3: Obviously AI (multiple cliches, robotic structure)
4-5: AI-heavy (some human touches, needs work)
6-7: Mixed (could go either way)
8-9: Human-like (natural voice, minimal patterns)
10: Indistinguishable from skilled human writer

Target: 8+ for anything going public.

Depth levels

| Depth | What happens | Best for | |-------|-------------|----------| | quick | Single pass, obvious patterns only, no scoring | Fast edits, social copy, Slack messages | | standard | Full pattern scan + two-pass audit + score + changelog | Anything going public | | deep | Full scan + voice calibration against a writer's sample | Ghostwriting, brand voice matching |

File structure

slopbuster/
├── SKILL.md                    # Master orchestrator — routes, modes, process
├── rules/
│   ├── text-content.md         # 6 content patterns
│   ├── text-language.md        # 6 language patterns
│   ├── text-style.md           # 6 style patterns
│   ├── text-communication.md   # 9 communication/filler/hedging patterns
│   ├── text-structure.md       # Structural anti-patterns + restructuring frameworks
│   ├── code-comments.md        # 18 comment anti-patterns
│   ├── code-naming.md          # 14 naming anti-patterns
│   ├── code-commits.md         # 10 commit message anti-patterns
│   ├── code-docstrings.md      # 8 docstring anti-patterns
│   ├── code-quality.md         # Error handling + API design + test patterns
│   ├── code-llm-tells.md       # 16 structural code tells
│   └── academic.md             # 49 rules, 10 groups, section-specific
├── guides/
│   ├── voice-and-soul.md       # Soul injection — not just pattern removal
│   └── style-template.md       # Build-your-own voice profile for deep mode
└── scoring.md                  # Three-tier weighted scoring system

Supported tools

Works with any AI coding agent that supports skills. Pure markdown — no runtime, no API calls.

| Agent | Status | |-------|--------| | Claude Code | Supported | | Codex CLI | Supported | | Cursor | Supported | | OpenCode | Supported | | Gemini CLI | Supported | | VS Code Copilot | Supported | | Kiro | Supported | | Pi | Supported | | Windsurf | Supported | | Cline | Supported |

Plus 40+ more agents via the Skills CLI.

pixelslop — the visual counterpart. Catches AI-generated image slop.
stitch-kit — design superpowers for coding agents via Google Stitch MCP.

Sources

Built from analyzing 1,000+ AI vs human content samples, cross-referenced against peer-reviewed LLM detection research (Kobak et al. 2025, Liang et al. 2024, Juzek & Ward COLING 2025), and Wikipedia's Signs of AI writing (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Contributing

Found a new AI pattern? Have a rule that catches something we miss? See CONTRIBUTING.md.

License

MIT — use freely. See LICENSE.

Built by Gabi @ Booplex.com — because I got tired of reading my own AI-assisted output and cringing.

Slopbuster

Install / Use

README