Developmental Editing

Check for editorial context first: If .agents/editorial-context.md exists, read it before beginning.

Intake

Read the context file. Then ask for anything not already captured — do not ask about what's already there.

Required — cannot begin without these:

1. Who is the intended audience? (role, domain familiarity, reading context — needed to evaluate Level of Address)
2. What is the thesis, in one sentence? (Should come from the structural stage; if the structural edit hasn't been done, note it and ask the author to state the thesis before proceeding.)
3. What voice register is this work aiming for? Give the user options if they're unsure: expert peer (author and reader are colleagues), accessible expert (author knows more than the reader but writes for a general professional audience), practitioner (how-to for a working professional), narrative nonfiction (storytelling frame for a general reader).

Required for business writing: 4. Who is the primary reader — an executive who will skim, a practitioner who will read closely, or a mixed audience? (Drives the skim-path and arc-reversal assessments.)