Rule reference · Clarity
Negative-only constraints
Fires when: 3+ prohibitions and no positive requirement.
Prohibitions narrow the space of answers without pointing to a good one. The model avoids the banned behaviors and fills the gap with guesses.
Keep the prohibitions that matter, and add the positive behavior next to each one: instead of refunds, offer a replacement; instead of dates, say when the customer will hear back.
Example that triggers it
Reply to the customer message below. Do not mention refunds. Never promise a delivery date. Don't use technical jargon.
<message>
{{message}}
</message>info 3 prohibitions and no positive requirement.
Why it matters. A list of "don't"s says what to avoid but not what good output looks like.
Fix. For each prohibition, add what the model should do instead.
Quality 84/100 · 32 tokens · 3 findings
Fixed version
Reply to the customer message below in under 120 words.
- Offer a replacement instead of a refund.
- Say that our team will confirm the delivery date by email within 2 business days.
- Use plain language that a non-technical reader understands.
<message>
{{message}}
</message>Quality 90/100 (+6) · 60 tokens · 1 findings
Resolved by the fix
missing_objective: No clear objective or task was found.negative_only_constraints: 3 prohibitions and no positive requirement.missing_output_format: No output format is specified.
Scores, token counts (GPT-4.1 tokenizer), and findings on this page are computed by the engine when the site is built.
How it affects the score
Each finding subtracts a fixed penalty from 100: critical 30, warning 10, info 3. This rule counts against the Clarity dimension. See the scoring model for the full formula.
Other clarity rules
- Vague language: "something", "stuff", "etc", "and so on".
- Hedged instructions: "try to", "if possible", "maybe".
- Long sentences: A prose sentence over 40 words.