---
id: "action-codify-voice"
type: "action-item"
source_timestamps: ["00:13:30", "00:14:06"]
tags: ["prompt-engineering", "content-creation"]
related: ["concept-icm"]
speakers: ["Jake Van Clief"]
action: "Create a dedicated markdown file defining your specific voice, tone, and formatting constraints."
outcome: "Consistent AI outputs across all projects without needing to repeatedly prompt the model with stylistic instructions."
---
# Codify Voice and Tone in Markdown

## Action

Create a dedicated markdown file (e.g., `voice-and-tone.md`) that explicitly defines:

- Writing style and register
- Formatting constraints (headings, lists, emphasis)
- Teaching methodology / explanatory posture
- Prohibited words, clichés, or rhetorical moves
- Examples of 'good' and 'bad' outputs

Reference this file from your primary agent prompt so [[entity-claude]] (or any agent operating in your [[concept-icm]] vault) consistently matches your style without repetitive manual prompting.

## Expected Outcome

- Consistent AI outputs across all projects
- One place to evolve style — every downstream skill inherits
- Eliminates the 'I'll just tell it the style each time' tax

## Concrete Instance Of

[[framework-skill-creation]] — voice/tone files are a special case of a structured skill (Goal: 'write in our voice'; Constraints: the rules; Assumptions: the audience).