skills/natural-writing/references/sources.md

# Sources and provenance

This skill is an independent adaptation of the [Google Developer Documentation Style Guide](https://developers.google.com/style). It brings the durable guidance into the skill so the skill does not need network access at runtime.

Google describes its guide as a mutable house style, not an industry standard or a complete writing manual. This adaptation applies its clarity principles to general AI output, preserves the guide's exceptions, and adds original guidance for formulaic model prose.

## Core sources

These pages most directly shaped the operating instructions:

- [About the Google guide](https://developers.google.com/style): purpose, reference hierarchy, and permission to depart from a guideline when clarity requires it.
- [Highlights](https://developers.google.com/style/highlights): the guide's concise overview.
- [Philosophy](https://developers.google.com/style/philosophy): scope, consistency, and limits.
- [Voice and tone](https://developers.google.com/style/tone): conversational, friendly, respectful, direct writing for a global audience.
- [Active voice](https://developers.google.com/style/voice): clear actors and appropriate uses of passive voice.
- [Second person and first person](https://developers.google.com/style/person): direct address, imperatives, and unambiguous first person.
- [Write for a global audience](https://developers.google.com/style/translation): simple words, clear syntax, consistent terms, and localization-aware choices.
- [Write accessible documentation](https://developers.google.com/style/accessibility): readable structure, descriptive links, text alternatives, and nonvisual meaning.
- [Write inclusive documentation](https://developers.google.com/style/inclusive-documentation): literal, precise, respectful terms and representative examples.
- [Jargon](https://developers.google.com/style/jargon): when to replace, explain, or retain specialized language.
- [Avoid excessive claims](https://developers.google.com/style/excessive-claims): verifiable, scoped product and security claims.
- [Prescriptive documentation](https://developers.google.com/style/prescriptive-documentation): defaults and precise requirements, options, and outcomes.
- [Sentence structure](https://developers.google.com/style/sentence-structure): conditions and goals before instructions.
- [Paragraph structure](https://developers.google.com/style/paragraph-structure): one idea, short paragraphs, and critical information first.
- [Procedures](https://developers.google.com/style/procedures): ordered actions, context, goals, results, warnings, and optional steps.
- [Lists](https://developers.google.com/style/lists): list types, introductions, parallel syntax, and punctuation.
- [Headings and titles](https://developers.google.com/style/headings): sentence case, descriptive text, and task versus concept headings.
- [Cross-references and linking](https://developers.google.com/style/cross-references): selective links, descriptive link text, and in-context help.
- [Text-formatting summary](https://developers.google.com/style/text-formatting): code font, emphasis, capitalization, and semantic formatting.

## Language and grammar sources

- [Abbreviations](https://developers.google.com/style/abbreviations)
- [Anthropomorphism](https://developers.google.com/style/anthropomorphism)
- [Articles](https://developers.google.com/style/articles)
- [Capitalization](https://developers.google.com/style/capitalization)
- [Contractions](https://developers.google.com/style/contractions)
- [Pluralization](https://developers.google.com/style/pluralization)
- [Possessives](https://developers.google.com/style/possessives)
- [Prepositions](https://developers.google.com/style/prepositions)
- [Pronouns](https://developers.google.com/style/pronouns)
- [Reference verbs](https://developers.google.com/style/reference-verbs)
- [Spelling](https://developers.google.com/style/spelling)
- [Present tense](https://developers.google.com/style/tense)
- [Word list](https://developers.google.com/style/word-list)

The adaptation does not copy the word list. It carries the general decision rules that matter across writing tasks and leaves product-specific word choices to the user or project.

## Organization and formatting sources

- [Dates and times](https://developers.google.com/style/dates-times)
- [Figures and other images](https://developers.google.com/style/images)
- [Footnotes](https://developers.google.com/style/footnotes)
- [Format examples](https://developers.google.com/style/format-examples)
- [Make headings into link targets](https://developers.google.com/style/headings-targets)
- [Mathematical notation](https://developers.google.com/style/mathematical-notation)
- [Notices and other callouts](https://developers.google.com/style/notices)
- [Numbers](https://developers.google.com/style/numbers)
- [Phone numbers](https://developers.google.com/style/phone-numbers)
- [Tables](https://developers.google.com/style/tables)
- [Units of measure](https://developers.google.com/style/units-of-measure)

## Code, interfaces, and markup sources

- [API reference code comments](https://developers.google.com/style/api-reference-comments)
- [Code in text](https://developers.google.com/style/code-in-text)
- [Code samples](https://developers.google.com/style/code-samples)
- [Code syntax](https://developers.google.com/style/code-syntax)
- [Example domains and names](https://developers.google.com/style/examples)
- [Filenames and file types](https://developers.google.com/style/filenames)
- [HTML formatting](https://developers.google.com/style/html-formatting)
- [Markdown](https://developers.google.com/style/markdown)
- [Placeholders](https://developers.google.com/style/placeholders)
- [Semantic HTML](https://developers.google.com/style/semantic-tagging)
- [UI elements and interaction](https://developers.google.com/style/ui-elements)

## Time, products, and naming sources

- [Documenting future features](https://developers.google.com/style/future)
- [Product names](https://developers.google.com/style/product-names)
- [Timeless documentation](https://developers.google.com/style/timeless-documentation)
- [Trademarks](https://developers.google.com/style/trademarks)

Google's rule against preannouncements concerns unreleased products and authorized disclosure. The original AI-specific instruction against throat-clearing is a separate adaptation; it does not prohibit useful progress updates or necessary setup.

## Punctuation sources

- [Colons](https://developers.google.com/style/colons)
- [Commas](https://developers.google.com/style/commas)
- [Dashes](https://developers.google.com/style/dashes)
- [Ellipses](https://developers.google.com/style/ellipses)
- [Hyphens](https://developers.google.com/style/hyphens)
- [Parentheses](https://developers.google.com/style/parentheses)
- [Periods](https://developers.google.com/style/periods)
- [Quotation marks](https://developers.google.com/style/quotation-marks)
- [Semicolons](https://developers.google.com/style/semicolons)
- [Slashes](https://developers.google.com/style/slashes)

## Embedded and downstream references

The Google guide points to broader sources when its house style is not enough. The adaptation reviewed the most relevant ones:

- [Google Technical Writing courses](https://developers.google.com/tech-writing): deeper instruction on audience, active voice, sentences, lists, and paragraphs.
- [Clear sentences](https://developers.google.com/tech-writing/one/clear-sentences): strong verbs, concrete subjects, and reduced filler.
- [Short sentences](https://developers.google.com/tech-writing/one/short-sentences): one main idea and a practical sentence-length heuristic.
- [Web Content Accessibility Guidelines](https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/): the accessibility standard referenced by the guide.
- [Web Accessibility Initiative](https://www.w3.org/WAI/): accessibility techniques and educational resources.
- [Using ARIA](https://www.w3.org/WAI/ARIA/apg/practices/read-me-first/): limits and safe use of Accessible Rich Internet Applications.
- [MDN HTML elements reference](https://developer.mozilla.org/docs/Web/HTML/Reference/Elements): native semantic elements.
- [Material communication guidance](https://codelabs.developers.google.com/codelabs/material-communication-guidance): interface-writing principles; UI text has different constraints from prose documentation.
- [Merriam-Webster](https://www.merriam-webster.com/): spelling when project and Google guidance are silent.
- [Microsoft Writing Style Guide](https://learn.microsoft.com/style-guide/welcome/): an additional technical-style reference identified by Google.
- [Chicago Manual of Style](https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/): Google's fallback for nontechnical style questions; most content requires a subscription.

## Open skill format

The repository follows the [Agent Skills specification](https://agentskills.io/specification), including its required `SKILL.md` frontmatter and progressive-disclosure conventions. The [skill-creator best practices](https://agentskills.io/skill-creation/best-practices) informed the scope and reference structure.

## Adaptation and license

Google style-guide pages state that their prose is licensed under [Creative Commons Attribution 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) unless otherwise noted and that code samples use Apache 2.0. This repository does not reproduce Google code samples.

Google's [Developer Site Policies](https://developers.google.com/terms/site-policies) describe the scope of that license, excluded material, and the requested attribution for modified versions.

The adaptation condenses, reorganizes, and generalizes the source guidance; preserves important exceptions; uses new examples; and adds original material about model-shaped prose, answer structure, uncertainty, and user voice. See `NOTICE.md` for the attribution statement.