Quick answer: the best free editing skills are copy-editing from coreyhaines31/marketingskills, line-and-copy-editor from ghanemzadeh/claude-skills for nonfiction, professional-proofreader from sickn33’s collection, blader/humanizer for AI tells, and Anthropic’s brand-review for house style. No paid pack is built only for editing.
Most people who try editing with Claude paste a draft into a chat and type “fix this”. Then they get a rewrite they did not ask for, in a voice that is not theirs, with a fact or two quietly changed.
A skill fixes that. It tells Claude what kind of edit to do, which style guide to follow, and what it may not touch. This guide covers the editing skills worth installing in November 2026, free and paid, with the exact install command for each one (checked against each repo README), plus a multi-pass workflow you can run across a whole folder of files.
What are Claude Code skills for editing?
A Claude Code editing skill is a folder with a SKILL.md file that tells Claude how to edit: which pass to run (structural, line, copy or proofread), which style rules apply, and what output format to return. You put it in ~/.claude/skills/ (all projects) or .claude/skills/ (one repo), or install it from a plugin.
The file has YAML frontmatter with a name and a description. Claude reads the description and loads the skill when your request matches. The body holds the instructions, and the folder can hold reference files, such as your house style guide, a banned-word list or a checklist.
That last part is the reason skills beat prompts for editing. A prompt is gone after one chat. A skill carries your style rules into every session, and in a repo it travels with the content so every writer on the team gets the same editor.
Three ways to install one:
| Method | Command or action | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| skills CLI | npx skills add owner/repo | Pulling one or many skills from a GitHub repo |
| Plugin marketplace | /plugin marketplace add owner/repo then /plugin install name@marketplace | Bundles with updates |
| Manual | Copy the folder into ~/.claude/skills/ | Paid packs, your own skills |
If you are new to this, start with what Claude Code skills are and how to install Claude Code skills.
Takeaway: an editing skill is a reusable editor brief, stored as a file, that Claude loads on demand.
Structural edits vs line edits vs copy edits vs proofreading
Structural (developmental) editing fixes the shape of a piece: argument, order, missing sections. Line editing fixes sentences: rhythm, clarity, word choice. Copy editing enforces correctness and consistency against a style guide. Proofreading is the final check for typos and formatting. Each needs a different skill, or at least a different mode.
This matters more with AI than with human editors. Ask a model to “edit” and it will do all four at once, which is how you lose your voice. A good editing skill names one pass and forbids the others.
| Pass | Question it answers | What it may change | What it must not change | Example skill |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Structural | Does this piece work? | Section order, headings, cuts, gaps | Sentence wording (yet) | Your own skill, or a mode in Editing Assistant |
| Line edit | Does each sentence earn its place? | Word choice, sentence length, flow | Facts, structure, quotes | line-and-copy-editor |
| Copy edit | Is it correct and consistent? | Grammar, spelling, style guide points, terms | Voice, argument | copy-editing (alirezarezvani or coreyhaines31) |
| Proofread | Any errors left? | Typos, punctuation, broken links, formatting | Anything else | professional-proofreader |
| Fact-check | Is each claim true and sourced? | Flags only | The text itself | Your own skill |
Why the order matters
Run them top down. Proofreading a section you later cut is wasted work. Line editing a paragraph before a structural pass moves it is wasted work. So the multi-pass workflow later in this guide runs structure first and proofreading last, and each pass is a separate skill call.
How to tell a skill which pass it is
Put the pass name and its limits in the description and the first lines of the body. For example: “Use for proofreading only. Fix typos, punctuation and formatting. Do not reword sentences. Return a diff.” That one constraint stops most of the over-editing people complain about.
Takeaway: one pass per skill call, run in order from structure to proofread.
The best Claude Code editing skills on GitHub and in directories (free)
The strongest free options are coreyhaines31/marketingskills (copy-editing for marketing copy), alirezarezvani/claude-skills (copy-editing in a 43-skill marketing plugin), ghanemzadeh/claude-skills (line-and-copy-editor for nonfiction), sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills (professional-proofreader), blader/humanizer (AI-tell removal) and Anthropic’s Marketing plugin (brand-review against a style guide).
Star counts and last-push dates below come from the GitHub API on 2026-11-01. Stars measure attention, not quality, so read any SKILL.md before you install it.
1. copy-editing (coreyhaines31/marketingskills)
- Source: https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills
- Price: Free (open source)
- GitHub: 57,803 stars, last push 2026-10-31
- What it does: The README describes it as the skill for when you “want to edit, review, or improve existing marketing copy, or refresh outdated content.” It sits next to copywriting, page-cro and other marketing skills, so it fits landing pages and emails better than manuscripts.
- Install:
npx skills add coreyhaines31/marketingskills --skill copy-editing
# or the plugin route, in an interactive Claude Code session:
/plugin marketplace add coreyhaines31/marketingskills
/plugin install marketing-skillsThe README notes /plugin only works in the interactive CLI. Elsewhere, use npx skills or claude plugin install marketing-skills@marketingskills.
2. copy-editing (alirezarezvani/claude-skills)
- Source: https://github.com/alirezarezvani/claude-skills (skill path
marketing-skill/skills/copy-editing/) - Price: Free
- GitHub: 29,110 stars, last push 2026-10-31
- What it does: A copy-editing skill inside the repo’s marketing bundle. Its claudemarketplaces.com listing frames it around grammar, spelling, punctuation and consistency.
- Install:
/plugin marketplace add alirezarezvani/claude-skills
/plugin install marketing-skills@claude-code-skillsThe README describes this plugin as 43 marketing skills, so you get copywriting and content strategy too.
3. line-and-copy-editor (ghanemzadeh/claude-skills)
- Source: https://github.com/ghanemzadeh/claude-skills
- Price: Free (MIT, per its listing)
- GitHub: 2 stars, last push 2026-10-12
- What it does: Built for nonfiction manuscripts. It combines line editing with copy editing and ships reference files, including a style-guide template and a pre-delivery checklist. The star count is tiny, so treat it as a template to study and adapt.
- Install (from the README):
git clone https://github.com/ghanemzadeh/claude-skills.git
cp -r claude-skills/line-and-copy-editor ~/.claude/skills/4. professional-proofreader (sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills)
- Source: https://github.com/sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills (listed on claudemarketplaces.com as
sickn33/antigravity-awesome-skills/professional-proofreader; the repo has since been renamed) - Price: Free
- GitHub: 48,969 stars, last push 2026-11-01
- What it does: A proofreading skill inside a catalog the README describes as 2,884+
SKILL.mdplaybooks. The folder holds aSKILL.mdand areferencesdirectory. - Install: The repo ships its own installer (
npx agentic-awesome-skills, with per-agent flags listed in the README and a Claude Code setup page at aaskills.tech). For one skill, copyingskills/professional-proofreader/into~/.claude/skills/is simpler.
5. humanizer (blader/humanizer)
- Source: https://github.com/blader/humanizer
- Price: Free
- GitHub: 63,282 stars, last push 2026-10-28
- What it does: Strips patterns readers associate with AI writing, based on Wikipedia’s “Signs of AI writing” guide. Use it as a late pass on drafts that started in a model.
- Install (from the README):
/plugin marketplace add blader/humanizer
/plugin install humanizer@humanizer
# older Claude Code versions:
npx skills add blader/humanizer --global --agent claude-codeMore on this pass in Claude Code skills for humanizing AI writing.
6. brand-review (Anthropic Marketing plugin)
- Source: https://github.com/anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins (
marketing/skills/brand-review) - Price: Free
- GitHub: 34,325 stars, last push 2026-11-01
- What it does: Its frontmatter says it reviews content “against your brand voice, style guide, and messaging pillars, flagging deviations by severity with specific before/after fixes,” and screens for “unsubstantiated claims, missing disclaimers, and other legal flags.” That makes it the closest official thing to a house-style copy editor.
- Install:
claude plugin marketplace add anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins
claude plugin install marketing@knowledge-work-pluginsSee Claude Code skills for brand voice.
Directory listings worth a look
- Editing Assistant on claudskills.com (https://claudskills.com/skills/editing-assistant/): modes for typos, grammar, flow, headings and citations. Install by saving its
SKILL.mdto~/.claude/skills/editing-assistant/. - proofread and revision-editing on claudskills.com: the proofread entry targets
.tex,.qmd,.typand.mdfiles, handy for academic and docs repos. - ComposioHQ/awesome-claude-skills (78,504 stars, last push 2026-09-18): a curated list, useful for browsing rather than installing directly.
Directory pages copy skills from GitHub. Always install from the original repo so you get updates and can read the source.
Takeaway: for marketing copy, start with coreyhaines31 copy-editing; for manuscripts, adapt line-and-copy-editor; for house style, use brand-review.
Paid editing skills and packs: what you get for the money
No paid pack found in research is dedicated only to editing. Paid options are broad bundles that include copy editing among other skills: Inflectual’s Master Marketing Skills Bundle ($167), SuperSkills ($50) and the Contra Ultimate Claude SEO & AEO Skills Pack ($39, shown against $79). A paid course on editing skills exists, with pricing not public.
| Product | Where | Price (checked 2026-11-01) | What it is | Editing relevance | Install |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Master Marketing Skills Bundle (Inflectual) | https://inflectual.gumroad.com/l/master-marketing-claude-skills-bundle | $167 one-time | 167 marketing skills | Includes copy work; contents beyond the listing unconfirmed | Download, copy folders to ~/.claude/skills/ |
| SuperSkills | https://superskills-one.vercel.app | $50 one-time | Vendor says 139 skills across categories | Mostly engineering; marketing category present | Copy into .claude/ or the vendor CLI |
| Ultimate Claude SEO & AEO Skills Pack | https://contra.com/products/fE9zVnna-the-ultimate-claude-seo-and-aeo-skills-pack | $39 (shown against $79) | SEO and answer-engine skills | Useful for on-page edits, not proofreading | Download and copy |
| Ink & Code: Editing with Claude Skills | https://future-fiction-academy.teachable.com/l/pdp/ink-code-editing-with-claude-skills | Pricing not public (could not confirm on the live page) | Course on building developmental, line, copy and proofreading skills | Directly about editing | Course, not a pack |
Skill counts are vendor claims and are unconfirmed. Before you pay, ask the seller for one sample SKILL.md. If the editing skill is 30 lines of generic advice, the free repos above do the same job.
Takeaway: for editing alone, free skills cover the work; a paid bundle makes sense when you want the wider marketing set in one download.
Free vs paid editing skills compared (and vs Grammarly and Hemingway)
Free GitHub skills are readable, editable and updated in public. Paid packs bundle more skills but you often cannot inspect them first. Grammarly and Hemingway are better for live, as-you-type checks in a browser or doc. Claude Code skills are better for rule-heavy, multi-file, repo-based editing with your own style guide.
Free vs paid
| Factor | Free (GitHub) | Paid packs |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | $0 | $39 to $167 in this guide |
| Inspect before install | Yes | Usually no |
| Updates | Public commits | Vendor dependent |
| Editing depth | Varies; copy-editing skills exist | Bundled with many unrelated skills |
| Support | Issues on GitHub | Seller email |
Claude Code skills vs Grammarly vs Hemingway
| Need | Claude Code skill | Grammarly | Hemingway Editor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Typos and grammar as you type | No (you run it) | Yes | Partial |
| Readability grade and sentence highlights | If you write it into the skill | Some | Yes, core feature |
| Your house style rules | Yes, as reference files | Style guides on business plans (check current plan) | No |
| Structural edits | Yes | Limited | No |
| Fact-check flags | Yes, with web access | No | No |
| Batch edit 50 Markdown files | Yes | No | No |
| Works in Google Docs and email | No | Yes | Web and desktop app |
Product features change, so check Grammarly’s and Hemingway’s current plan pages before deciding. The practical split for most writers: keep Grammarly or Hemingway for live drafting, and use Claude Code skills for the repo-level passes those tools cannot do.
Takeaway: these tools overlap less than they look; pick by where your content lives.
Using AP, Chicago and house style guides as skill references
Put your style rules in a references/ file inside the skill folder and tell the skill to check every edit against it. AP and Chicago are copyrighted and subscription based, so do not paste the manuals in. Write your own summary of the rules you follow, plus your house exceptions.
A folder layout that works:
.claude/skills/house-copy-editor/
SKILL.md
references/
style-summary.md # your notes: AP or Chicago base, serial comma yes/no
house-exceptions.md # product names, capitalization, banned words
checklist.md # what to check before returningAnd the core of SKILL.md:
---
name: house-copy-editor
description: Copy edit Markdown drafts against our house style. Use when asked to copy edit, proofread against style, or check consistency. Does not rewrite for voice.
---
1. Read references/style-summary.md and references/house-exceptions.md.
2. Fix grammar, spelling, punctuation, number style, capitalization and term consistency.
3. Do not change claims, quotes, structure or tone.
4. Return a change table: line, before, after, rule applied.
5. List anything that needs a human decision instead of guessing.What to put in the style summary
- Base guide: “AP for news-style posts” or “Chicago for long-form.”
- The points you get wrong most: serial comma, numerals vs words, title case vs sentence case, dates, percent vs %.
- Product and brand names, written exactly.
- A banned vocabulary list.
The “rule applied” column is the useful part. It turns the edit into something you can review in a minute and argue with when the skill is wrong. Anthropic’s brand-review skill follows the same idea with severity-ranked flags. To build your own from scratch, see how to build a Claude Code skill.
Takeaway: the style guide is a reference file; the skill is the editor that enforces it.
Fact-check passes and readability checks
A fact-check skill should flag, never fix. It lists every factual claim, marks each as sourced, unsourced or contradicted, and links the source it checked. A readability skill reports sentence length, passive voice and jargon, and only rewrites when you ask.
A fact-check pass that does not invent
Models can produce plausible sources. So the skill instructions should require:
- Extract claims: numbers, dates, names, prices, quotes.
- For each, find the source in the draft or search for it.
- Output a table: claim, status (confirmed / unconfirmed / wrong), source URL.
- Never change the claim in the text. A human decides.
Every URL in the output still needs a human click. The skill shortens the job; it does not replace the check.
Readability you can measure
You can ask the skill to run a script (Claude Code can execute it) that counts average sentence length, sentences over 25 words and passive constructions, then report the numbers before and after the line edit. Scripts give the same count every time, which a model eyeballing a draft will not. The humanizer pass fits here too; this site runs a detect-ai-tells script on every post before publishing.
Takeaway: facts get flags, readability gets numbers, and you make the calls.
A multi-pass editing workflow, including batch edits across a repo
Run five separate passes in order: structure, line, copy, fact-check, proofread. Commit to git between passes so each change is reviewable. For many files, ask Claude Code to loop over a folder with one skill at a time, or use subagents for parallel files, and review the diff.
| Step | Skill | Prompt | Output you review |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Structural (your own or Editing Assistant) | “Structural pass on draft.md. Suggest only.” | Outline notes |
| 2 | line-and-copy-editor | ”Line edit section 2 only.” | Diff |
| 3 | house-copy-editor | ”Copy edit draft.md against house style.” | Change table |
| 4 | fact-check | ”Fact-check pass, flags only.” | Claim table |
| 5 | professional-proofreader | ”Final proofread, no rewording.” | Diff |
Batch editing files in a repo
This is where Claude Code is different from a chat window or Grammarly. Your content is files, so you can say:
“Run house-copy-editor on every .md file in content/blog/ changed since main. Make the edits, then list files touched.”
Then:
git diff --stat
git diff content/blog/Rules that keep batch edits safe:
- Work on a branch. Never batch edit on main.
- One pass per run. Mixing passes makes the diff unreadable.
- Start with five files, review, then run the rest.
- Put “do not change frontmatter, links or code blocks” in the skill.
- Keep a human approval step before merge.
Content teams who keep blogs in Markdown (Astro, Hugo, Next.js) get the most from this. For marketing-wide setups, see Claude Code skills for content writers and Claude Code skills for marketers.
Takeaway: passes plus git turn AI editing into reviewable changes rather than mystery rewrites.
Common mistakes with AI editing skills
The usual failures are asking for “edit” with no pass named, installing skills you have not read, letting a skill touch facts, batch editing without git, and treating a clean output as a finished draft.
- No pass named. You get a rewrite. Name the pass and the limits.
- Too many overlapping skills. Three copy-editing skills with similar descriptions compete. Keep one per pass.
- Unread installs. A skill can run scripts. Read
SKILL.mdand any scripts first. - Style guide in the prompt, not the folder. It drifts by the next session.
- Fixing facts silently. Make fact-check flag-only.
- No diff review. If you did not read the diff, you did not edit.
- Paying for counts. A pack with 2,000 skills may have one thin editing skill.
Takeaway: most problems come from vague scope, not weak models.
FAQ
What is the best Claude Code skill for editing?
For marketing copy, copy-editing from coreyhaines31/marketingskills is the most widely starred option (57,803 stars on 2026-11-01). For manuscripts, line-and-copy-editor is a better template. For house style, Anthropic’s brand-review.
Is there a Claude Code skill for proofreading?
Yes. professional-proofreader in sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills and the proofread entry on claudskills.com both target proofreading. Tell the skill not to reword.
Can Claude replace a copy editor?
No. It handles mechanical consistency and first-pass checks well, but judgment calls, legal review and fact verification still need a person.
Can Claude Code follow AP or Chicago style?
It can follow rules you write down. Summarize the rules you use in a reference file rather than relying on its memory of either manual.
Is Claude better than Grammarly for editing?
Different jobs. Grammarly checks as you type across apps. Claude Code skills apply your own rules across files and can do structural and fact-check passes.
How is this different from Hemingway Editor?
Hemingway highlights readability issues in one document. A Claude skill can report similar metrics, then edit, across a repo, against your style guide.
What is the difference between line editing and copy editing?
Line editing improves how sentences read. Copy editing makes them correct and consistent with a style guide.
What does a structural edit check?
Argument, order, missing or repeated sections, and whether the piece answers the reader’s question.
Where do I put an editing skill?
~/.claude/skills/<name>/SKILL.md for all projects, or .claude/skills/<name>/SKILL.md inside a repo to share with your team.
How do I install a skill from GitHub?
npx skills add owner/repo, or /plugin marketplace add owner/repo then /plugin install. Check the README for the exact plugin name.
Will an editing skill change my voice?
It will if you let it. Say “do not change tone” and ask for a diff or change table.
Can I edit many files at once?
Yes. Ask Claude Code to run one skill over a folder on a git branch, then review the diff before merging.
Are paid Claude skill packs worth it for editing?
None in this research focuses on editing alone. Ask for a sample skill before buying.
Does Claude make up facts while editing?
It can. Use a flag-only fact-check pass and click every source.
Can I use the same skill in Claude.ai?
Skills follow the same SKILL.md format across Claude surfaces, but install steps differ. This guide covers Claude Code.
Sources and methodology
- GitHub stars and push dates: GitHub API, 2026-11-01, for coreyhaines31/marketingskills, alirezarezvani/claude-skills, ComposioHQ/awesome-claude-skills, blader/humanizer, anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins, ghanemzadeh/claude-skills, sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills.
- Install commands: each repo’s README on 2026-11-01.
- Skill descriptions: SKILL.md frontmatter or README text, quoted where marked.
- Directories: claudemarketplaces.com, claudskills.com.
- Prices: Gumroad, Contra and SuperSkills product pages, checked 2026-11-01. Course price could not be confirmed.
- No skill was benchmarked for this post. Comparisons describe documented features, not tested results.
Your next step
Pick one pass you do badly by hand. Install the matching free skill, add a style summary to its references/ folder, and run it on one draft with a diff. Expand to the other passes once that one earns your trust. For adjacent jobs, see Claude Code skills for copywriters and Claude Code skills for SEO.
