How to proofread a document

Goal

Correct spelling, grammar and punctuation in a document while preserving the author’s voice.

Basic recipe 

open --raw draft.md | proof | save -f draft.md

This overwrites draft.md in place with the corrected version. The corrections are conservative — only mechanical errors are fixed; style and word choice are left alone.

Variations

Strict mode — also fix awkward phrasing 

open --raw draft.md | proof --strict | save -f draft.md

--strict additionally rewrites clunky word order and unclear constructions. Use this when proofreading your own first drafts, not for editing someone else’s voice.

Diff-first review

If you want to see what would change before overwriting:

open --raw draft.md | proof | save -f draft.proofed.md
diff draft.md draft.proofed.md

Then merge manually if you disagree with any change.

Per-paragraph proofreading

For long documents, run paragraph-by-paragraph so the model has tight context and you can review smaller diffs:

open --raw draft.md
  | paragraphs
  | each {|p| $p | proof}
  | str join "\n\n"
  | save -f draft.proofed.md

paragraphs is from analyze.nu — it splits text on blank lines.

Within a polish loop

proof is one of the critics that polish runs automatically. If you are already polishing a draft, you do not need a separate proof step:

open --raw draft.md | polish --level light > polished.md

--level light runs only proof plus the Lix readability check.

Language matters

proof matches the source language. A Danish text gets Danish-rule corrections (compound nouns, comma rules); an English text gets English. You do not need to tell it the language — the LLM detects it.

What proof does not do

  • It does not change word choice or sentence structure (unless --strict).
  • It does not adjust register or tone — use tone for that.
  • It does not translate.
  • It does not verify facts — use factcheck for that.
  • tone for register/style shifts
  • rw for freeform rewriting under your own instruction
  • polish for the full critic loop