Command Explorer › style:
Directive Shorthand 3.2 · Domain · VOICE
style: — the reply's voice
Thirteen directives — every one a mode. One is Level 1 (plain); the other twelve are Level 2.
The style: directives
style:slang — The voice at its most informal — slang, contractions, fragments welcome; the facts stay exact.style:plain — Plain language: short, jargon-free, layman's terms.style:shop — Trade talk — the working vocabulary of the shop floor: direct, concrete, no polish.style:doctorate — Doctorate-level academic — the full scholarly register: precise terms, claims hedged where the evidence is hedged.style:candid — Say it straight — the honest read, unsoftened; disagreement and bad news delivered plainly.style:diplomatic — The same substance, tactfully framed — care taken where feelings or negotiations are in play.style:warm — Warm and personable — encouragement and humanity in the voice; the facts unchanged.style:dry — Dry and deadpan — flat affect and understatement; wit allowed, warmth withheld.style:clinical — Clinical and detached — neutral, precise, affect-free; the chart note, not the bedside manner.style:legal — Legal register — formal and precise: defined terms, obligations stated exactly.style:poetic — Poetic register — image, rhythm, and metaphor carry the meaning; the beauty is part of the point.style:kid — For a young reader — simple words, short sentences, wonder intact; never condescending, never scary.style:casual — The everyday default voice — natural, unforced, mid-register. The anchor the other voices depart from; style:off returns here.What this domain governs
The register the reply speaks in — and nothing else: not its form (re:), not its measure (scale:), never its content. One voice at a time: a second style directive replaces the first, and style:off (or style:casual) restores the default voice.
Every token in this domain completes the same silent instruction — speak in the voice of … — written in the specification, never typed by the user. The prefix names the thing the phrase governs; the name after the colon qualifies it.
Select a point — hover, tap, or tab to it — to see its coordinates and how each score is derived.
The domain's rules
- All modes: bare colors this reply, on makes it sticky, off restores the default; state changes are persisted and confirmed like any mode. The names are adjectives — the voice as you'd say it: candid, not candor; warm, not warmth. Groups: the Spectrum (slang · plain · shop · doctorate), Candor (candid · diplomatic), Warmth (warm · dry · clinical), Genre (legal · poetic · kid), and the anchor, casual. plain migrated from re: in 3.0; re:plain works as a deprecated alias for one major cycle.
The directives
| Token | Axis | Shortest | Level | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| style:slang | Spectrum | sl | 2 | The voice at its most informal — slang, contractions, fragments welcome; the facts stay exact. |
| style:plain | Spectrum | pl | 1 | Plain language: short, jargon-free, layman's terms. Bare form colors this reply; 'on' makes it sticky until 'off'. |
| style:shop | Spectrum | sh | 2 | Trade talk — the working vocabulary of the shop floor: direct, concrete, no polish. |
| style:doctorate | Spectrum | do | 2 | Doctorate-level academic — the full scholarly register: precise terms, claims hedged where the evidence is hedged. |
| style:candid | Candor | can | 2 | Say it straight — the honest read, unsoftened; disagreement and bad news delivered plainly. |
| style:diplomatic | Candor | di | 2 | The same substance, tactfully framed — care taken where feelings or negotiations are in play. |
| style:warm | Warmth | wa | 2 | Warm and personable — encouragement and humanity in the voice; the facts unchanged. |
| style:dry | Warmth | dr | 2 | Dry and deadpan — flat affect and understatement; wit allowed, warmth withheld. |
| style:clinical | Warmth | cl | 2 | Clinical and detached — neutral, precise, affect-free; the chart note, not the bedside manner. |
| style:legal | Genre | le | 2 | Legal register — formal and precise: defined terms, obligations stated exactly. |
| style:poetic | Genre | po | 2 | Poetic register — image, rhythm, and metaphor carry the meaning; the beauty is part of the point. |
| style:kid | Genre | ki | 2 | For a young reader — simple words, short sentences, wonder intact; never condescending, never scary. |
| style:casual | Anchor | cas | 2 | The everyday default voice — natural, unforced, mid-register. The anchor the other voices depart from; style:off returns here. |
Each directive page carries the detail: fired examples (typed, reply-targeted, and spoken), what the agent actually does under the hood, the honest fallback when a host lacks the capability, and the conformance test the directive must pass.
The coordinates
Column key: F = Formality · T = Technicality · W = Warmth · D = Directness · A = Affect · O = Ornament.
Every score behind the chart above, with the derivation for each one — the conformance data for this page, readable with no interaction.
| Token | F | T | W | D | A | O | Derivations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| style:slang | 1 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 5 | Formality Gloss: 'the voice at its most informal' — the spectrum's floor. Technicality Slang is its own vernacular lexicon, but anti-technical: insider words, no terminology. Warmth Vernacular familiarity reads as mild warmth — above neutral, far from personable. Directness Slang, contractions, and fragments land without cushioning — said the way it would be said out loud. Affect Vernacular delivery is vivid and personality-forward — expressive by nature. Ornament Slang coinages are live figures but workaday ones — mid ornament. |
| style:plain | 4 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 1 | Formality Spec.md calls plain the spectrum's everyman point — above street slang, below any professional register. Technicality Gloss: 'jargon-free' — the technicality zero anchor, shared with kid. Warmth Gloss is silent on warmth — the neutral point. Directness Plain speaking is straightforward speaking: short sentences that say the thing plainly. Affect Gloss is silent on affect — the neutral point. Ornament Plain language avoids figurative machinery by definition — one step above the chart-note floor. |
| style:shop | 2 | 7 | 4 | 9 | 3 | 1 | Formality Gloss: 'no polish' — shop-floor dress sits near the informal end, above only slang. Technicality The gloss's 'working vocabulary of the shop floor' is a trade's insider terminology — high, below the scholarly and legal apparatus. Warmth Concrete trade talk offers no personable signal — just below neutral. Directness The gloss's own word is 'direct' — near the ceiling, below only candid's unsoftened. Affect Gloss: 'concrete' — matter-of-fact delivery; expressiveness low. Ornament No polish, trade idiom only — near the plain end, above the floor because idiom is a figure of the trade. |
| style:doctorate | 10 | 10 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | Formality Gloss: 'the full scholarly register', the spectrum's top end (spec.md) — the formality ceiling. Technicality Gloss: 'precise terms' at doctorate level — the technicality ceiling. Warmth The scholarly register is impersonal — well below neutral, above the withheld floors. Directness Gloss: 'claims hedged where the evidence is hedged' — hedging softens the landing, below neutral. Affect Scholarly restraint suppresses expressiveness — near the detached end. Ornament Guide: formality serves precision, 'never ornament for its own sake' — structure without imagery. |
| style:candid | 5 | 3 | 4 | 10 | 5 | 2 | Formality A candor voice, not a spectrum point: it occurs at any formality — the neutral point. Technicality 'Delivered plainly' (gloss) favors plain words over terminology. Warmth Unsoftened delivery adds no comfort — just below neutral warmth. Directness Gloss: 'unsoftened' — the directness ceiling. Affect Forthright is not theatrical: the gloss claims no expressiveness — neutral. Ornament Figures would cushion; plain delivery leaves them out — near the plain end. |
| style:diplomatic | 6 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 4 | Formality Tact is a practiced, courteous register — one step above the everyday default. Technicality Framing care favors words everyone at the table already shares — just below neutral. Warmth Gloss: 'care taken where feelings or negotiations are in play' — warmth deliberately deployed, below warm's personable ceiling. Directness Tactful framing is maximal softening short of evasion — near the cushioned floor, but the substance still lands. Affect Measured, not expressive: the gloss claims no display of feeling — neutral. Ornament Framing is a craft of phrasing — light figuration in the service of tact. |
| style:warm | 4 | 3 | 10 | 5 | 8 | 4 | Formality Personable sits below the professional line — everyday dress, slightly informal. Technicality Humanity in the voice favors plain, shared words over terminology. Warmth Gloss: 'warm and personable — encouragement and humanity in the voice' — the warmth ceiling. Directness Gloss: 'the facts unchanged' — warmth neither sharpens nor softens the substance: neutral. Affect 'Encouragement and humanity' (gloss) are expressed feeling — high, below poetic's fuller expressiveness. Ornament Some color serves the person rather than the imagery — light-to-mid ornament. |
| style:dry | 5 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 3 | Formality Deadpan occurs at any register and the gloss claims none — neutral. Technicality The guide has dry state things plainly — plain statement leans away from terminology, just below neutral. Warmth Gloss: 'warmth withheld' — withheld is the definition; wit keeps it one step above clinical's floor. Directness Guide: no cushioning enthusiasm — understatement states the substance and stops; high directness. Affect Gloss: 'flat affect' — one step above clinical's affect-free floor. Ornament Wit and irony are small figures — a little machinery, no lyricism. |
| style:clinical | 7 | 8 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | Formality The gloss's chart note is a professional document — formal, below the legal and scholarly registers. Technicality Gloss: 'precise'; guide: terms used 'in their technical senses' — high, below the scholarly ceiling. Warmth Gloss: 'not the bedside manner' — the warmth floor. Directness Findings stated plainly and without evaluation (guide) — direct, with nothing cushioning them. Affect Gloss: 'affect-free' — the affect floor. Ornament A chart note admits no figuration — the ornament floor. |
| style:legal | 9 | 9 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 1 | Formality Gloss: 'formal' by definition — one step below the scholarly ceiling. Technicality Gloss: 'defined terms, obligations stated exactly' — a full technical apparatus, one step below doctorate. Warmth Exact obligations carry no personable signal — near the withheld end. Directness Exact is not blunt: conditions and definitions do the work cushioning does elsewhere — above neutral only. Affect The legal voice suppresses affect near-totally — one step above the affect-free floor. Ornament Formulaic precision, not figuration — near the plain end. |
| style:poetic | 5 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 10 | Formality Poetry spans registers and the gloss claims none — neutral. Technicality The gloss gives the meaning to image and metaphor, not terminology — near the plain end. Warmth Beauty offered to a reader is a warm act, short of personable address. Directness Meaning carried by image arrives indirectly — low directness. Affect Image and rhythm are feeling's vehicles — near the expressive ceiling. Ornament Gloss: 'image, rhythm, and metaphor carry the meaning' — the ornament ceiling. |
| style:kid | 2 | 0 | 9 | 6 | 8 | 6 | Formality Simple words for a young reader sit low on formality — above street slang, because the voice is guided and careful. Technicality Gloss: 'simple words'; guide: 'words a child already owns' — the jargon floor, SHARED with plain: a tie at the domain minimum. Warmth Gloss: 'wonder intact; never condescending, never scary' — reader care is the point, one step below warm's ceiling. Directness Short sentences land directly, tempered so nothing frightens — above neutral, below plain speaking. Affect Wonder is expressed, not merely described — high affect. Ornament Stories and familiar images are how a young reader is reached (guide) — mid-high ornament. |
| style:casual | 5 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 3 | Formality Gloss: 'mid-register' — the formality middle by definition. Technicality The everyday default uses everyday words — low terminology; the baseline the other voices depart from. Warmth A natural, unforced voice is mildly warm — the everyday baseline sits just above neutral. Directness Gloss: 'unforced' — neither sharpened nor cushioned: the neutral point. Affect Natural expressiveness is the constructed middle of the axis. Ornament Everyday speech carries light, ordinary figuration — low ornament. |