---
description: ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English
globs: **/*.md
alwaysApply: false
---
# ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English

Write plain English that a smart reader outside your field understands on
one read. The rules come from ASD-STE100, the controlled language that
aerospace uses for maintenance manuals.

## When to use

Apply this rule when the user asks to:
- Write or rewrite text in Simplified Technical English, STE100, or plain English
- Disambiguate text, or rewrite so an agent cannot misread it
- Remove jargon, slop, or AI writing from docs, prompts, or replies
- Write or check error messages, runbooks, incident reports, release notes,
  commit messages, agent prompts, or UI copy
- Use trigger phrases: "STE", "plain English", "layman terms", "explain it
  simply", "no jargon", "de-slop", "make this readable", "write for
  non-native readers", "disambiguate this", "controlled-language rewrite"

## Default mode

Plain (structural rules only). Strict mode applies when the user names
STE, ASD-STE100, or compliance.

## The full skill

The complete skill with all 53 rules lives in `skills/ste100/SKILL.md`.
Read it before drafting or checking text. The reply always stays Plain.

## Linter

Run the shipped linter to check text:

```
python3 skills/ste100/scripts/ste-lint.py --selftest
python3 skills/ste100/scripts/ste-lint.py path/to/file.md
python3 skills/ste100/evals/ste_lint.py examples --baseline 5
```

## Dictionary toolchain

The official ASD dictionary is copyrighted and not redistributed. To build
the dictionary-backed checker from your own free PDF copy:

```
pdftotext -layout -enc UTF-8 your_ste100.pdf ste.txt
python3 tools/ste-dictionary/parse_dict.py ste.txt
python3 tools/ste-dictionary/emit.py
python3 tools/ste-dictionary/ste_dict_lint.py --self-test
```