Style guide
Define your publication's editorial voice and AI writing guidelines.
Style guide
The style guide defines how the AI writes articles for a specific site. Every field you configure is used as instructions during article generation, so the AI follows your editorial voice, structure, and rules.
Configure the style guide
Navigate to Sites → select your site → Style Guide. Each field shapes a different aspect of the generated content.
Tone
Set the default tone for articles. Available options:
- Neutral -- Balanced, fact-focused reporting without opinion
- Analytical -- Data-driven analysis with in-depth commentary
- Casual -- Conversational, approachable language for general audiences
- Formal -- Professional, structured prose for institutional publications
- Journalistic -- Traditional news style with inverted pyramid structure
Structure
Define the preferred article structure as a text description. The AI uses this to organize sections and headings.
Example: "Breaking news lead, background context, expert analysis, future implications"
Word count
Set the default target article length:
- 500 words -- Short-form news updates and summaries
- 1,000 words -- Standard articles with full coverage
- 2,000 words -- Long-form deep dives and investigative pieces
Vocabulary preferences
Specify words or phrases to prefer in generated content. This helps maintain consistency across articles.
Example: "Use 'artificial intelligence' on first mention, then 'AI' for subsequent references. Prefer 'data' over 'information' when discussing statistics."
Forbidden words
List words or phrases the AI should never use. Common entries include competitor brand names, informal slang, and overused buzzwords.
Example: "game-changer, revolutionary, disruptive, unprecedented, synergy"
Keywords
SEO keywords to naturally include when relevant. The AI weaves these into the article without keyword stuffing.
Example: "AI, machine learning, technology, innovation, automation"
Writing rules
Custom rules the AI follows during generation. These are freeform editorial guidelines.
Example: "Always include publication dates for cited sources. Use data and statistics when available. End every article with a key takeaways section."
Example style guide
Here is a complete style guide for a tech news publication:
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Tone | Journalistic |
| Structure | Breaking news lead, background context, expert analysis, future implications |
| Word count | 1,000 |
| Keywords | AI, machine learning, technology, innovation |
| Forbidden words | game-changer, revolutionary, disruptive |
| Writing rules | Include publication dates for all cited sources. Use data and statistics when available. Prefer active voice. Keep paragraphs to 2-3 sentences. |
Be specific in your style guide. "Use short paragraphs of 2-3 sentences" produces better results than "be concise". The more concrete your instructions, the more consistently the AI follows them.
How the style guide is applied
The style guide is applied every time an article is generated for this site. This includes:
- Articles generated from briefs (both manual and scheduled)
- Articles generated from the trend detail panel
- AI sidebar actions (rephrase, expand, summarize) within the editor
Briefs inherit the site's style guide by default, but individual briefs can override specific fields. For example, a brief for a casual blog post can set its own tone to "Casual" even if the site default is "Journalistic".
Changes to the style guide apply to all future articles. Previously generated articles are not retroactively updated. To apply new style rules to an existing article, use the AI sidebar's rephrase or tone shift actions.
What's next?
- Manage sites -- Create and configure sites
- Advanced configuration -- Webhooks, publishing targets, and other settings
- Style and tone -- Override style settings at the brief level