Agent skill

Brand Voice

by rampstackco in rampstackco/claude-skills

Develop or document a complete brand voice and tone system covering voice attributes, tone shifts by context, vocabulary preferences, grammar rules, and copy examples.

MITAuto-check passedWriting & Content

Install Brand Voice

skills CLI
$ npx skills add rampstackco/claude-skills --skill brand-voice -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install rampstackco/claude-skills brand-voice --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/rampstackco/claude-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/brand-voice .claude/skills/brand-voice && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
brand-voice
GitHub stars
940
Token cost
~2.2k tokens
SKILL.md length
1,091 words
Files
4 (incl. references)
Skills in repo
103
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Develop or document a complete brand voice and tone system covering voice attributes, tone shifts by context, vocabulary preferences, grammar rules, and copy examples.

  • Works in 9 steps: Pick the entry point.… → Audit existing copy if it exists.… → Layer 1: Voice attributes. Generate 5 to… → …
  • The user wants to define how a brand sounds
  • SKILL.md covers When to use, When NOT to use, Required inputs and The framework: 4 layers, plus 4 more sections
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Brand Voice is an agent skill from rampstackco/claude-skills. Develop or document a complete brand voice and tone system covering voice attributes, tone shifts by context, vocabulary preferences, grammar rules, and copy examples. Use this skill whenever the user wants to define how a brand sounds, write a voice and tone document, audit existing copy for voice consistency, train a team or AI assistant on brand voice, or refine the personality of brand writing. Triggers on brand voice, voice and tone, tone of voice, writing voice, brand personality, copy voice, voice…

Its SKILL.md is about 2.2k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 4 other files, including reference files (for example `README.md`, `references/voice-document-template.md` and `references/voice-frameworks.md`).

It sits in Writing & Content, covering Brand voice and tone. The repository describes itself as: Stack-agnostic Claude Skills covering the full website lifecycle: brand, design, content, SEO, dev, ops, growth, and research. Build, ship, audit, optimize. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • The user wants to define how a brand sounds
  • Write a voice and tone document
  • Audit existing copy for voice consistency
  • AI assistant on brand voice

Example prompts

  • “feels off”
  • “/brand-voice”

Workflow steps

9 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

  1. Pick the entry point. references/voice-frameworks.md has a "Choosing a framework" section that decides this. A brand starting from zero…
  2. Audit existing copy if it exists. Identify what is on-brand, what is off, what patterns recur.
  3. Layer 1: Voice attributes. Generate 5 to 8 candidates with "we are X, not Y" framing. Pick 3 to 5.
  4. Layer 2: Tone shifts. List 8 to 15 contexts the brand writes in. Note the tone shift for each.
  5. Layer 3: Vocabulary and grammar. Define preferences. Skip default rules unless they actually distinguish the brand.
  6. Layer 4: Examples. Build the paired-example library against the template's content-type list, to the floor stated in the Layer 4 section…
  7. Stress-test. Pick a fresh writing brief and apply the voice doc. Score the result with the stress test in references/voice-frameworks.md…
  8. Document. Use the template in references/voice-document-template.md.
  9. Distribute. Voice docs only work if they get used. Make the doc easy to reference inline (link to it from CMS templates, brief templates…

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 482c9bf. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md.

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Brand Voice loads about 2.2k tokens when it runs, and up to ~5.5k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 228 tokens; SKILL.md has 1,091 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~228
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~2.2k
With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them
~5.5k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from rampstackco/claude-skills at commit 482c9bf, republished under its MIT licence (© rampstackco). 1,091 words, ~2,226 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/brand-voice/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 3 other files; get the full folder from GitHub.
name
brand-voice
description
Develop or document a complete brand voice and tone system covering voice attributes, tone shifts by context, vocabulary preferences, grammar rules, and copy examples. Use this skill whenever the user wants to define how a brand sounds, write a voice and tone document, audit existing copy for voice consistency, train a team or AI assistant on brand voice, or refine the personality of brand writing. Triggers on brand voice, voice and tone, tone of voice, writing voice, brand personality, copy voice, voice document, voice guidelines, how should we write, voice training, voice audit. Also triggers when the user has copy that 'feels off' and the underlying issue is voice, even if not stated explicitly. On a voice consistency check, this skill owns defining and documenting the voice system; use `editorial-qa` when a specific draft needs checking against an existing system before it publishes.
category
brand
catalog_summary
Voice attributes, tone shifts, vocabulary, paired-example library
display_order
4

Brand Voice

Define how a brand sounds in writing. Document it in a way that anyone (writer, designer, founder, AI assistant) can apply it consistently.

This skill produces a standalone voice document that can either live in the brand style guide or feed into it.


When to use

  • Defining brand voice for the first time
  • Auditing existing copy for voice consistency
  • Training a team, freelancer, or AI assistant on the brand voice
  • Refining a voice that exists but is inconsistent across applications
  • Adapting voice when a brand evolves (new audience, new positioning)

When NOT to use

  • Writing specific copy (use content-and-copy)
  • Brand visual identity work (use brand-identity)
  • Documenting a complete brand system (use brand-style-guide, which incorporates voice)
  • Initial brand exploration (use brand-ideation)

Required inputs

  • The brand and its positioning
  • The audience and what they need to hear
  • 5 to 10 examples of existing brand writing (if any)
  • 3 to 5 reference brands whose voice resonates with where this brand should go
  • Any voice attributes already specified in the brief

The framework: 4 layers

Voice has four layers, stacked. Each layer constrains the one below it.

Layer 1: Voice attributes

The constants. The personality traits that define how the brand sounds across every context.

Pick 3 to 5 attributes. Pair each with what it is NOT (the failure mode if overdone).

Common attribute pairings (NOT a menu - generate your own):

  • Confident, not arrogant
  • Direct, not blunt
  • Warm, not saccharine
  • Witty, not sarcastic
  • Smart, not academic
  • Honest, not harsh
  • Playful, not silly
  • Practical, not boring
  • Bold, not loud
  • Curious, not unfocused

The "not" half is what saves writers from overshooting. "Confident" alone produces swagger. "Confident, not arrogant" tells writers where the line is.

Layer 2: Tone shifts

Voice is constant. Tone adapts to context.

Map the major contexts the brand writes in. For each, document how voice expresses differently.

Common contexts:

ContextTone shift
OnboardingWarmer, more enthusiastic, slightly slower pace
Hero / marketingConfident, signature voice fully on
Product copy / UXDirect, helpful, brief
Error messagesCalm, matter-of-fact, no apology theater
Success statesBrief celebration, redirect to next action
Empty statesHelpful, slightly playful, suggest action
404 / not foundSelf-aware, light, points the way home
Account deletion / cancellationQuiet, respectful, no jokes
PricingDirect, transparent, confidence-inspiring
Legal / TOSPlain language version sits next to the legal version
Support / help centerPatient, thorough, no condescension
Crisis communicationCalm, factual, accountable
Product announcementsExcited but not breathless
Email subject linesSpecific, never click-bait

Voice stays consistent across all of these. Tone is what shifts.

Layer 3: Vocabulary and grammar

The granular dial settings.

Vocabulary preferences:

  • Words and phrases the brand uses
  • Words and phrases the brand avoids
  • Words the brand has redefined (if any) - e.g., a SaaS product calling its features "huddles" instead of "meetings"
  • Industry jargon: keep it (signals expertise) or strip it (signals approachability)
  • Sentence-opening preferences (some brands lean on imperatives, some on questions, some on statements)

Grammar and style:

  • Contractions (use them = casual, avoid them = formal)
  • Sentence length default (short = punchy, medium = considered, long = literary)
  • Punctuation marks favored or avoided (em dash is famously polarizing)
  • Pronouns ("we" / "you" / "I")
  • Capitalization style (title case, sentence case, all-lowercase deliberate)
  • Number formatting (spell out under ten, or always digits)
  • Oxford comma (use or skip)
  • Active vs passive voice (most brands prefer active)
Layer 4: Examples and patterns

Voice is taught through examples, not rules. Build a library.

For each major content type, show:

  • Bad example (off-voice)
  • Good example (on-voice)
  • Brief note on what changed

Cover the content types listed in the paired examples library of references/voice-document-template.md. The template owns that list, so there is one list to maintain rather than two that drift apart.

The floor is 15 paired examples. One pair per type in the template clears it. Past 25 the library gets harder to scan than to use, so treat 25 as the practical ceiling, not a hard cap. This is the most-used part of the voice doc in practice.


Show full SKILL.md (433 more words)Show less

Workflow

  1. Pick the entry point. references/voice-frameworks.md has a "Choosing a framework" section that decides this. A brand starting from zero begins with archetypes there, then dimensions, then attributes, and rejoins this workflow at step 2. Everything below assumes copy exists to audit.
  2. Audit existing copy if it exists. Identify what is on-brand, what is off, what patterns recur.
  3. Layer 1: Voice attributes. Generate 5 to 8 candidates with "we are X, not Y" framing. Pick 3 to 5.
  4. Layer 2: Tone shifts. List 8 to 15 contexts the brand writes in. Note the tone shift for each.
  5. Layer 3: Vocabulary and grammar. Define preferences. Skip default rules unless they actually distinguish the brand.
  6. Layer 4: Examples. Build the paired-example library against the template's content-type list, to the floor stated in the Layer 4 section above.
  7. Stress-test. Pick a fresh writing brief and apply the voice doc. Score the result with the stress test in references/voice-frameworks.md: 1 to 5 against each attribute, and anything scoring below 3 on any attribute is off-voice. Below 3 means the doc is incomplete, not that the copy needs another pass.
  8. Document. Use the template in references/voice-document-template.md.
  9. Distribute. Voice docs only work if they get used. Make the doc easy to reference inline (link to it from CMS templates, brief templates, AI assistant prompts).

Failure patterns

  • Generic attributes ("friendly, professional, approachable"). Every brand says this. Means nothing. Pick attributes that genuinely distinguish.
  • No "we are NOT" pairings. Without the rejection, attributes drift toward extremes.
  • Voice doc with no examples. Rules without examples cannot be applied.
  • Examples that are obviously bad and obviously good. Real voice work shows nuanced shifts, not cartoonish before/after.
  • Skipping tone shifts. Treating voice as one-size-fits-all leads to a brand that sounds wrong in error states or legal contexts.
  • Documenting aspirational voice. If the brand does not actually sound this way today and has no plan to shift, the doc is fiction.
  • Voice without distribution. A perfect doc that no one references is worth nothing.

Output format

Default output is a markdown document at voice.md in the brand folder. Sections:

  1. Voice attributes (with we-are-not pairings)
  2. Tone shifts by context
  3. Vocabulary preferences
  4. Grammar and style rules
  5. Paired examples library (the most-used section)
  6. Anti-patterns (specific phrases or constructions to avoid)
  7. References (the brands and writers we are inspired by)

This doc can stand alone or feed into brand-style-guide.


Reference files

© rampstackco, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 3 other files (references) in skills/brand-voice of rampstackco/claude-skills.

  • SKILL.md
  • README.md
  • references/voice-document-template.md
  • references/voice-frameworks.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 482c9bf

Compare with similar skills

Brand Voice next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Brand Voice compared with similar skills
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Khazix WeChat Article WriterKKKKhazix/khazix-skills21k2 repos~2.9kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
BrandOhh-889/skyroc79513 repos~733Automated safety check: PassMIT
Writing Guidelinesvercel-labs/agent-skills32k7 repos~309Automated safety check: PassNone
Unslop AI Writing Cleanuptheclaymethod/unslop512—~1.7kAutomated safety check: PassMIT

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Questions about Brand Voice

What does Brand Voice do?

Develop or document a complete brand voice and tone system covering voice attributes, tone shifts by context, vocabulary preferences, grammar rules, and copy examples. Brand Voice is an agent skill from rampstackco/claude-skills. Develop or document a complete brand voice and tone system covering voice attributes, tone shifts by context, vocabulary preferences, grammar rules, and copy examples.

When should I use Brand Voice?

Brand Voice fits situations like: the user wants to define how a brand sounds; write a voice and tone document; audit existing copy for voice consistency; AI assistant on brand voice.

How do I install Brand Voice in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add rampstackco/claude-skills --skill brand-voice -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/brand-voice in rampstackco/claude-skills) into .claude/skills/brand-voice in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Brand Voice in Codex?

Run `npx skills add rampstackco/claude-skills --skill brand-voice -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/brand-voice in rampstackco/claude-skills) into .agents/skills/brand-voice in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Brand Voice in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add rampstackco/claude-skills --skill brand-voice -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/brand-voice, .gemini/skills/brand-voice, .github/skills/brand-voice and .opencode/skills/brand-voice in your project.

What does Brand Voice need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Brand Voice is instructions for the agent only.

Does Brand Voice access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Brand Voice safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Brand Voice use?

Brand Voice is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Brand Voice use?

About 2.2k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 8.9k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full. Its references folder adds about 3.3k tokens, read only when the agent opens those files.

What are the alternatives to Brand Voice?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Brand Voice: Avoid AI Writing (conorbronsdon/avoid-ai-writing, 4.9k stars), Khazix WeChat Article Writer (KKKKhazix/khazix-skills, 21k stars), Brand (Ohh-889/skyroc, 795 stars) and Writing Guidelines (vercel-labs/agent-skills, 32k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Brand Voice?

rampstackco (a GitHub organization) maintains it in rampstackco/claude-skills, which has 940 GitHub stars. The repository holds 103 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 7, 2026.

Source: rampstackco/claude-skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.