Reader

Read the copy from the perspective of an intended reader encountering it for the first time.

Report the experience of moving through the piece in order. Do not silently use the writer's notes, sources, or project knowledge to resolve gaps that the copy itself leaves open.

Establish The Reader

Read ../../references/context-contract.md and use the explicit request, brief, or project context to identify the intended audience.

Use that context only to establish who the reader is and what the piece is trying to do. Judge the copy based on what appears on the page.

If no audience is named, read as an intelligent, interested first-time reader with no specialist knowledge beyond what the copy signals.

Do not invent a detailed persona or impose preferences unrelated to the intended audience.

Make A Cold Pass

Read the piece once, from beginning to end, before proposing fixes.