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prosesmasher

What prosesmasher is
prosesmasher is a free, MIT-licensed command-line tool for deterministic prose linting in Markdown and short-form text. It checks lexical policy, rhetorical heuristics, flow and readability, with optional document-structure checks. Its AI-style detection looks for familiar boilerplate without calling an LLM. You can use general-en, article-en, substack-en, email-en or tweet-en presets, or define checks in editable JSON. Built-in lexical defaults can be added, removed or replaced for a custom style guide and terminology management. The CLI prints text or machine-readable JSON, including evidence for failed checks and optional details. The README describes use in CI, editor tooling, content pipelines and shared house-style checks. English has the strongest support, while heuristic coverage outside English is partial. Installation is documented through GitHub releases with cargo-binstall or from source with Cargo.
Who it suits
It suits writers and teams enforcing shared prose rules through CI, editors or content pipelines. English-focused workflows needing configurable terminology checks and machine-readable results are a natural fit.
What it does well
- Free and MIT licensed
- No LLM required
- Five shipped language presets
- Editable JSON configuration
- Text and JSON output
What to know first
- English has strongest support
- Other-language heuristics are partial
- Does not rewrite or fact-check text
- Opinionated checks can produce false positives
Verdict
prosesmasher provides configurable, deterministic linting for teams that want rules enforced in automated workflows. It flags issues rather than rewriting prose, so editorial review remains necessary.
Facts from prosesmasher's own pages
- AI detection approach
- It detects familiar AI-style boilerplate without calling an LLM. · github.com, 9 Oct 2026
- Checks
- It checks lexical policy, rhetorical heuristics, flow and readability, and optional document structure. · github.com, 9 Oct 2026
- Configuration
- Users can check content with a preset or editable JSON configuration and can add, remove, or replace built-in lexical defaults. · github.com, 9 Oct 2026
- Customization
- Users can configure checks with JSON or choose among five shipped presets: general-en, article-en, substack-en, email-en, and tweet-en. · github.com, 9 Oct 2026
- Installation
- The README documents installation from GitHub releases with cargo-binstall or from source with Cargo; the cargo-binstall path is precompiled-only. · github.com, 9 Oct 2026
- Language support
- English has the strongest heuristic and lexical support, while heuristic coverage outside English is partial. · github.com, 9 Oct 2026
- License
- The repository identifies the project as MIT licensed. · github.com, 9 Oct 2026
- Limitations
- The tool does not rewrite text, fact-check, or provide semantic review by an LLM, and its opinionated checks can produce false positives. · github.com, 9 Oct 2026
- No LLM required
- The README says the tool can catch familiar AI-style patterns without calling an LLM. · github.com, 9 Oct 2026
- Output
- The CLI supports text and machine-readable JSON output, including failed checks with evidence and optional check details. · github.com, 9 Oct 2026
- Presets
- Shipped presets are general-en, article-en, substack-en, email-en, and tweet-en. · github.com, 9 Oct 2026
- Purpose
- Prosesmasher is a command-line tool for deterministic prose linting of Markdown and short-form text. · github.com, 9 Oct 2026
- Use cases
- The README describes use in CI, editor tooling, content pipelines, and shared house-style checks for documents and short-form copy. · github.com, 9 Oct 2026
Where prosesmasher stands on Freedom251
- Writing Style Checkers#28 of 29