Voice is rules, not a mood: a principle you can write a button from, not an adjective. This is the rulebook every Sift string comes from, whether a person writes it or Claude does. The principles set the register, the dictionary fixes the words, the forbidden list sets the floor, and the microcopy rules cover each element and state. Built from the research, not from taste. On this stage only text changes, never the markup.
Sift sounds like a trusted analyst colleague who shows their work: plain, exact, and honest about limits. Not a salesperson, so no overclaiming. Not a cheerleader, so no celebration.
Grounded in personas.md O10 ("one bad synthesis experience destroys trust permanently") and the emotion the product designs for, "Confidence and calm instead of overload" (CLAUDE.md).
Four rules you can write a button from. Each carries a line that keeps it, a line that breaks it, and the source it comes from.
State plainly what the evidence shows and let the number carry the weight; never claim more certainty than the evidence gives, and say so out loud when it is thin.
Name themes and problems in the customer's plain language, the way it was actually said; never re-dress feedback in product or marketing vocabulary.
Say it once, in a level voice; carry weight with plain statements and hierarchy, never with exclamation, celebration, or alarm.
Every screen and state tells the reader what to do next; an error, an empty, or a wait names the one action that moves forward, so the reader is never stranded.
One concept, one word. The terms are the IA core entities and the research vocabulary, not new inventions. This settles the twelve divergences the Step 1 inventory surfaced; each DIV-n points back to microcopy.md.
| Use this | Not this | Why |
|---|---|---|
| feedback; feedback item / item | signal item, a signal (as a count) | Core entity "Feedback item". Keep the countable unit to one word. (DIV-1) |
| signal (only in "low signal" and "signal rank") | signal as a count; "signal volume / usage" | "signal" carries evidence strength, not raw count. "low signal" is the locked confidence badge, D2. (DIV-1) |
| source (types: live connection, batch import) | integration, connector | Core entity "Source". You connect sources; the Sources screen lists them. (DIV-2) |
| connect (a source) | add a source | One verb to bring a source in. (DIV-3) |
| theme | cluster, topic, tag | Core entity "Theme"; the synthesis output the reader reads. |
| evidence; feedback item; citation | the three as synonyms | Chain: theme, to evidence items, to one feedback item; a citation is the numbered pointer. |
| brief; evidence brief (first mention, public title) | report, summary, deck | Core entity "Evidence brief". Short form in-app, full form to introduce it. (DIV-10) |
| build (a brief) | create, generate, make a brief | One verb to make a brief. "generate" stays only for the share link. (DIV-5) |
| priority; Set priority; Recommended priority | "rank / ranking" as the noun | Core entity "Prioritization". "signal rank" is the sort; "priority" is the decision. (DIV-12) |
| workspace | account (as the team container), org, tenant | Core entity "Workspace". A person signs up and gets a workspace. (DIV-7) |
| confidence: n=X plus low signal | score, rating, "AI confidence %" | D2 day-one scope: count plus the badge. No invented score. |
| scrub / scrubbed (PII) | redact, strip, mask, anonymize | "PII scrubbed by default" is the locked product phrase (CLAUDE.md). (DIV-6) |
| Log in / Log out; Sign up; Start free (Home only) | Sign in; Sign out for log out; Register | Sessions log in and out; acquisition signs up; the marketing entry is "Start free". (DIV-7) |
| Create workspace (the sign-up action) | Create your account | Sign-up creates a workspace, the product's unit. (DIV-7) |
| Try again | Retry, Retry sync, Retry authorization | One recovery label; the screen makes the object obvious. (DIV-4) |
| Turn customer feedback into decisions you can defend. (tagline) | "Feedback synthesis for product teams"; "Customer feedback, synthesized" | One value line for public surfaces, one short descriptor ("Customer feedback synthesis") for footers. (DIV-8) |
You. The reader is "you", second person and direct: "your feedback", "you can review this in Data and privacy".
Sift. The product is "Sift", third person, for what it does: "Sift clusters your feedback".
We. Only the company and its people, that is support, legal, and planned downtime: "we could not build the picture this time", "we expect to be back shortly". Never "I".
Capitalize the nav destinations as proper section names: Synthesis, Sources, Briefs, Account. Lowercase the same words as common nouns: "your synthesis", "a source".
Confidence is lowercase n=42. Thousands take a comma: 3,750, 5,000.
PII is uppercase, as are CSV, OAuth, SSO, GDPR, CCPA, SOC 2, DPA. Product names stay as given: Intercom, Zendesk, Gong, Salesforce. Time reads "2 days ago".
What Sift never writes. Without this list the model default returns with every new prompt: enthusiasm, exclamation marks, emoji, and celebration. Each row gives the fix.
| Never | Was, then should be | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Stock error cliches | "Something went wrong." to "Could not load this page." | Vague and evasive; name what failed. Principle 1. (DIV-9) |
| "Oops" / "Uh-oh" / "Whoops" | "Oops, something went wrong!" to "Could not load this page." | Jokey on a trust surface. Principle 3. |
| Greetings and celebration | "Welcome aboard!" to "Your workspace is ready." | Sift states the fact and the next step. Principle 3. |
| The word "successfully" | "Saved successfully." to "Saved." | If it saved, say so; the word is filler. Principle 3. |
| Exclamation marks in system copy | "Intercom connected!" to "Intercom connected." | Level voice. Principle 3. |
| Emoji in system messages | "Import complete." plus a check emoji, to "Import complete." | Calm under density; no decoration in copy. Principle 3. |
| Motivational or marketing tone in-app | "Start your journey to better decisions." to "Connect a source to see your first synthesis." | In-app copy points at the next step. Principle 4. |
| Overclaiming the AI | "AI identified your top priority." to "Onboarding is confusing. n=42." | Let the evidence make the claim. Principle 1. |
| Hype adjectives (powerful, seamless, effortless) | "Powerful, seamless synthesis." to "Feedback clustered into ranked themes, each with the evidence behind it." | Specifics earn trust; adjectives ask for it. Principle 1. |
| "just" / "simply" as minimizers | "Just connect a source." to "Connect a source." | Minimizers presume it is easy. Principle 3. |
| Blaming the reader | "You entered an invalid email." to "Enter a work email." | Say what to fix, not what they did wrong. Principle 4. |
| Filler "please" | "Please try again." to "Try again." | Plain instruction. Principle 3. |
The rule for each kind of element, and the tone for each state. Each rule is checked against the principles and the dictionary above, and each carries one real line from the product.
| State | Tone rule | One line |
|---|---|---|
| Success (base) | State the fact, point at the next step. No celebration. | "Share link ready." |
| Empty | Say why, give the one action. | "No sources connected" plus "Connect a source". |
| Loading | Silent skeleton, or name what runs. No chatter. | "Synthesizing your feedback ..." |
| Error | What happened, what to do, one reassuring fact. No joke, no apology. | "Synthesis failed ... Try again". |
| Low signal / thin | Admit the weakness plainly, keep it open. | "Thin evidence ... a lead to watch, not a decision." |
| Redacted / withheld | Name the reason and what still holds. | "scrubbed beyond display ... the theme still stands". |
| Dangerous | Warn before, name what cannot be undone; confirm verb is the act. | "Disconnect Intercom". |
The full per-screen text inventory lives in microcopy.md. Its payload, the divergences the one table surfaced and the canon each resolves to:
| DIV | Canon | Instead of |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | feedback / feedback item / item | signal item; signal as a count |
| 2 | source | integration, connection (as the source) |
| 3 | Connect a source | Add source |
| 4 | Try again | Retry / Retry sync / Retry authorization |
| 5 | build a brief | create / generate / new brief |
| 6 | scrub / scrubbed | redact / strip / mask |
| 7 | Log in / Log out; Sign up; Create workspace | Sign in; Sign out; Create your account |
| 8 | Turn customer feedback into decisions you can defend. | three different taglines |
| 9 | Could not load this page | Something went wrong |
| 10 | brief (evidence brief at first mention) | report / summary |
| 11 | "nothing to synthesize yet" vs "No sources connected" | two near-identical titles |
| 12 | priority (Set priority / Recommended priority) | mixing priority with "rank" |