Teaching Claude to Edit Like The Economist

The Problem: Portable Writing Standards

I work on projects across different contexts - work and home development. Each context has its own expectations, but good writing principles stay constant: be clear, be precise, be brief.

The friction came from context-switching. I had built up habits and checklists for writing on this blog that I wanted to transfer to my projects at work. Copy-pasting style guides between repositories was tedious. What I needed was a way to carry my editorial standards with me.

Claude Code’s plugin system was the solution.

Why The Economist?

The Economist has published a style guide for decades. Its principles are simple:

1. Clarity: Use active voice, simple words, direct statements
2. Precision: Replace vague claims with specific facts
3. Brevity: Cut redundant phrases, choose concise expressions
4. Consistency: Match the document’s existing conventions

These principles apply to technical documentation as well as they do to journalism. A README that says “the data was processed by the system” is harder to follow than one that says “the system processes the data.” A blog post claiming “many users experienced issues” is weaker than one stating “23% of users reported errors.”

The Economist’s standards gave me a foundation to build on.

How Claude Code Plugins Work

Claude Code plugins extend Claude’s capabilities through skills. Skills are markdown files that guide Claude’s behaviour. Claude loads relevant instructions when a skill matches the context—editing text or working with documentation.

The key concept is progressive disclosure. Rather than loading all rules upfront, the main skill file contains core principles and documentation references. Claude reads reference files only when needed, reducing context overhead.

A plugin structure looks like this:

economist-style-plugin/
├── .claude-plugin/
│   └── plugin.json              # Plugin metadata
├── skills/
│   └── economist-style/
│       ├── SKILL.md             # Main skill instructions
│       └── reference/
│           ├── CLARITY.md       # Detailed clarity rules
│           ├── PRECISION.md     # Weasel words & fillers
│           ├── DIALECT-CONVENTIONS.md
│           └── COMMON-ERRORS.md
└── README.md

The SKILL.md file defines the core workflow:

1. Detect the document’s existing dialect (British vs American English)
2. Review structure - is the main point buried?
3. Check clarity - passive voice, jargon, hedge words
4. Check precision - vague quantifiers, weasel words, fillers
5. Flag common errors - affect/effect, less/fewer, that/which

When Claude encounters a specific issue, it reads the relevant reference file for detailed patterns and examples.

What the Plugin Catches

Passive Voice

Passive constructions obscure who does what. The plugin flags them and suggests active alternatives:

Before:

The configuration was updated by the deployment script and the changes were applied to the cluster.

After:

The deployment script updated the configuration and applied the changes to the cluster.

Weasel Words

Vague qualifiers weaken statements. The plugin identifies them and prompts for specifics:

Before:

The new feature arguably improves performance and could potentially reduce costs significantly.

After:

The new feature improved response times by 40% and reduced server costs by $200/month.

Words like “arguably”, “potentially”, “significantly”, and “many” get flagged. The fix is always the same: replace the vague word with a concrete fact.

Filler Phrases

Some phrases add words without adding meaning:

Before:

In order to successfully implement the solution, it is important to note that the system requires configuration.

After:

The system requires configuration before implementation.

The plugin catches patterns like “in order to” (just use “to”), “it is important to note that” (delete entirely), and “successfully” (usually redundant - failure would be mentioned explicitly).

Dialect Consistency

The plugin detects a document’s dialect—British or American—and flags inconsistencies. If a document uses “colour” and “organise”, it shouldn’t switch to “color” and “organize”—the plugin respects existing patterns rather than imposing a preferred dialect.

A Complete Example

Here’s a paragraph before and after the plugin’s suggestions:

Before:

The data was analyzed by the research team and it was found that there were significant issues affecting many users. The team arguably made good progress in addressing the problems, and it is important to note that further improvements could potentially be made in the future.

After:

The research team analyzed the data and found three critical issues affecting 847 users (23%). The team resolved two issues in the first sprint; the third requires a database migration scheduled for Q2.

Changes made:

• Passive voice → active voice (“was analyzed by” → “analyzed”)
• Vague quantifier → specific number (“many users” → “847 users (23%)”)
• Weasel words removed (“arguably”, “potentially”)
• Filler phrase deleted (“it is important to note that”)
• Vague future → concrete plan (“could be made” → “scheduled for Q2”)

Portability

The plugin works across my projects: personal blog, work documentation, open-source contributions—applying consistent editorial standards. When I edit text in any repository, Claude applies The Economist’s principles automatically.

Install the plugin like so:

/plugin marketplace add TAJD/economist-style-guide-plugin
/plugin install economist-style@economist-style-plugins

The plugin activates whenever Claude edits text. No configuration is required.

Conclusion

Building this plugin solved my original problem and revealed how Claude Code’s plugin architecture enables portable expertise. Skills as markdown files, progressive disclosure for efficiency, automatic activation based on context—these patterns help codify expertise.

The Economist’s style guide is one application. The same approach works for any systematic editing process: accessibility guidelines, API documentation standards, academic writing conventions. If you can describe it in markdown, Claude can apply it.

The plugin is available at github.com/TAJD/economist-style-guide-plugin.