An 80,000-word anti-AI-flavor design method: making Slop.md your agent's default rulebook
pols.dev has published a ~87,000-character Markdown file that names every tired AI-generated web design cliché and offers a constructive alternative. The official site provides install commands for Claude, Codex, Cursor, and more, with a direct download if you just want to drop the rules into any agent.
When AI writes landing pages, pricing sections, or hero areas, it tends to reach for the same tired defaults: purple gradients, glowing capsule buttons, icon tiles, fake macOS windows, and the Inter font family. Slop.md calls these patterns out by name, turning them into a comprehensive "read before you design, check before you ship" rulebook. Installing it takes seconds: pick your agent, append the file to its rules with a curl command, or just download the markdown.
From the same family as our Impeccable guide
We recently covered Impeccable, a front-end design skill for tools like Cursor, Claude Code, and Codex. It ships with 23 commands (think /typeset, /critique), can catch slop in your PRs via npx impeccable detect, and it learns your project's token and component conventions.
Impeccable and pols.dev's Slop.md go after the same problem: the bad design habits baked into AI-generated UI. The difference is the approach:
Ask for actions in chat ("change font" / "critique" / "make bold")
Want CI detection and design system awareness
Need live page editing that writes back to source
Prefer a single standing rule over remembering commands
Dedicated install paths for Claude / Cursor / Codex…
Want a default that explicit user instructions can override
You can also stack them: Slop.md lays the foundation ("don't write these"), Impeccable handles the UI iteration workflow. This article focuses on what pols.dev brings to the table.
A general rulebook, not a site generator
The file opens with three ground rules: treat it as a set of constraints; confirm you've read it all before starting, and audit your work against it before finishing; when the user gives a specific instruction that conflicts, the user wins.
Here's the structure: it starts by defining AI slop, then names bad defaults in dense detail, and moves on to positive formulas and compositional rules in the second half. Structure-wise, it's over 140 second-level headings, but you don't need to memorize the table of contents — just pick up the "avoid / prefer" pattern. The whole thing is about 87KB, so we are not pasting the full text here. Instead, the download and the official source link are at the bottom of this page.
Some of the easiest patterns to trip over
One card stuffed with icon tiles, category pills, tag rows, pricing, and a glowing button — that pile-up is a dead giveaway.
A CSS-drawn empty macOS window presented as a "product screenshot" always looks like a template, never like a product.
Glowing gradients on buttons, backgrounds, and headline text together are the ID card of generated pages.
The hero + three feature cards + pricing + testimonials + footer CTA structure, repeated verbatim with only colors and copy changed.
Give the page one memorable visual anchor instead of making every block "premium."
A fake window only works when it's showing a real interface; an empty shell is just slop.
Skip the Google defaults; overused free display fonts quickly become the new default face.
Static is equally a failure; but don't hide your content behind an intro animation.
Install taste: pick your agent, copy the command
Just like the official site, the only difference between the five commands is the target rules file. Here's the interactive control (not a screenshot). For the full rulebook, use the download below — don't expect us to paste 80-odd-thousand characters at the end of this article.
Append to Claude's memory / rules file
curl -fsSL pols.dev/slop.md >> ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md
Append to Codex's AGENTS file
curl -fsSL pols.dev/slop.md >> ~/.codex/AGENTS.md
Write as the no-slop rule in Cursor's rules directory
curl -fsSL pols.dev/slop.md >> ~/.cursor/rules/no-slop.md
Append to OpenCode's AGENTS
curl -fsSL pols.dev/slop.md >> ~/.config/opencode/AGENTS.md
Append to Amp's AGENTS
curl -fsSL pols.dev/slop.md >> ~/.config/amp/AGENTS.md
- Pick your agent in the switcher above, then click the snippet to copy the curl command (mind the path)
- Or click "Download full slop.md" and drop the file into any project rules
- Ask your agent to confirm it has read the file before starting, and to self-check against it before finishing
- When you have explicit design instructions, they override the file's defaults
- For a command-driven workflow / CI detection, add Impeccable on top
First public release, and it's a long read
The author says this is the first product they're shipping publicly, and feedback is welcome. The site has more ideas brewing, like "paste a URL to get a slop score," but the rulebook itself is the most solid and portable piece right now. At ~87,000 characters, the full file will take up a real chunk of your context window, so in a project you might summarize it or reference specific sections.
Primary sources
Website: pols.dev
Full rules (download, not embedded): slop.md on this site · Official source
Demo: @aaayandev video
Related guide on this site: Impeccable explained
The purple glow buttons and fake windows AI always puts in your web pages, now on a banned list in an 87,000-character rulebook
pols.dev calls out these bad defaults one by one and packages them into a rules file you can drop straight into Claude, Codex, Cursor, and other agents.
↓ Read in one page · a small animation is included
AI-generated landing pages, pricing sections, and hero areas have a habit of landing on the same defaults: purple-blue gradients, glowing buttons, icon tile cards, CSS-drawn fake macOS windows, and the Google Fonts collection. pols.dev has turned these into a rules file: the agent reads it before it starts designing, self-checks before it finishes, and the output site is still written by the agent itself.
Character count is ours; "80K+" is how pols.dev puts it.
The file opens with its own ground rules: read it as a rulebook; confirm after reading before you start; audit yourself item by item before delivery. If you give an explicit instruction, that overrides the file's default.
The file structure is: first define what counts as an AI slop smell, then name specific bad defaults, and finish with positive formulas. Here are four pairs from the 140+ list that are the most common:
A CSS-drawn empty macOS window posing as a product screenshot
A window with an actual product; an empty shell is still a template
Icon tiles, category pills, pricing, and a glowing button crammed into one card
Keep one distinct visual hook; you don't need every block to be elaborate
Buttons, backgrounds, and headline text glowing together is the ID card of a generated page
Skip the Google shelf; hot free fonts become the new default face quickly
Hero, three feature cards, pricing, testimonials, footer CTA, repeated with only colors and words changed
Don't let the page feel dead, but don't hide your content behind an intro animation
pols.dev switches the install command based on your agent; the core idea is appending this rulebook to its memory file. The curl commands are directly copyable in the article, or you can just download the markdown and drop it into a project — same effect.
| Agent | Rules file (append or create) |
|---|---|
| Claude | ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md |
| Codex | ~/.codex/AGENTS.md |
| Cursor | ~/.cursor/rules/no-slop.md |
| OpenCode | ~/.config/opencode/AGENTS.md |
| Amp | ~/.config/amp/AGENTS.md |
a product page
spits out a draft
these pages look the same?!
- × Purple-blue gradient glow buttons
- × Fake macOS windows for screenshots
- × Stacks of icon tile cards
- × Google Fonts collection
>> ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md
Check off before delivery
No third-party tests yet
Members can copy or download the full Markdown, and let their AI subscribe and ask.
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