Writing style

Shape the voice, tone, length, and format of what the AI writes: your author voice, project style rules, style agents like Change Tone and Trim, and reusable house styles.

Writing style is how the AI’s writing sounds and looks: its voice, tone, length, and format. In Multilo you set it in layers — your own voice for everything, style rules for a project, a quick instruction for one request, and agents that rewrite existing text in a new tone or length. Set the layers once and you stop repeating “make it sound like me” and “British spelling, please” in every chat.

Style guides the AI; it doesn't lock it

Style instructions are followed closely, but they aren’t a guarantee. For the rules that must never be broken — such as never inventing a citation — use strict integrity mode and check with Claim Check.

Where writing style comes from

Layer	Where it lives	Applies to	Use it for
Your voice	`.multilo/voice.md`	Chat, inline suggestions, and every agent	Sounding like you
Project style rules	`.multilo/AGENTS.md`	Chat and every agent in the project	Spelling, register, terms, length, and format
A request	Your message	That request only	“Shorter”, “as bullet points”
Style agents	Agents — Change Tone, Trim, Translate, and more	The document you run them on	Rewriting existing text
Skills and custom agents	Your skills and the Agents Library	Whenever you use them	A full house style you reuse

The layers work together: your voice decides how you sound, the project rules decide what’s correct here, and a request or agent changes one piece of writing.

Your author voice

Multilo can learn your voice from samples of your own work — an earlier paper, an approved chapter — and store a description of it in .multilo/voice.md. From then on, chat, inline suggestions, and every agent write in that voice: your sentence rhythm, your register, your habits. Set it up from Settings, or when you create a project.

voice.md is a plain text file, so you can read it and adjust it. Short, concrete notes work best:

.multilo/voice.md

# My voice
- Short, direct sentences. Avoid "it is important to note that".
- "We" in Methods and Discussion; no first person in the Introduction.
- Hedge with "suggests" or "indicates", not "proves".
- Plain words over jargon when both are accurate.

See author voice & integrity.

Project style rules

Rules that belong to this piece of work — a journal’s house style, your department’s format — go in the project’s AGENTS.md. Multilo loads it into chat and every agent in the project:

.multilo/AGENTS.md

# Style
- British spelling; Oxford comma.
- Formal academic register; no contractions.
- Headings in sentence case, numbered (1, 1.1, 1.1.1).
- Paragraphs under 150 words; one idea per paragraph.
- Write "respondents", never "subjects".

Keep it short and specific. See store instructions and memories.

Built-in style agents

When text already exists and needs a different tone, length, or language, run a style agent instead of rewriting it by hand. They keep your facts and citations:

Agent	What it changes	Use it when
Change Tone	Rewrites in a Professional, Conversational, Polite, Persuasive, or Creative tone. Facts, structure, citations, and intent stay; no new ideas are added.	Cover letters, lay summaries, replies to reviewers, grant pitches
Trim	Cuts 10%, 20%, 25%, 30%, or 35% by removing repetition, filler, and wordy phrasing. Evidence, conclusions, citations, structure, and your voice stay.	You’re over a word limit
Translate	Translates into Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, French, German, Arabic, Urdu, or Hindi, keeping terminology, citations, equations, numbers, and tables.	A summary or paper in another language
Conciseness, humanizing, plain language	Tightens wordy prose, rewrites text that sounds machine-written, or explains it for a wider audience.	Polishing a draft; public-facing writing

Run a style agent

Open the document
Open the document you want to change. Select a passage to work on just that part, or select nothing to work on the whole document.
Choose the agent
Open Agents and choose Change Tone, Trim, Translate, or another style agent.
Set the option and run
Pick the tone, percentage, or language, then run it. Review the changes in the bar above the chat box and keep or undo each one.

Change the style for one request

For a single piece of writing, just say what you want in the request. It applies to that answer only:

Rewrite this paragraph for a general audience, in under 100 words, without changing the claim.

Summarize the Results as five bullet points, each one sentence long.

If you find yourself asking for the same thing in every chat, move it into AGENTS.md or voice.md.

Create a reusable style

For a full house style you use across projects — a journal’s style guide, a lab’s report format — package it once.

As a skill

A skill is a folder with a SKILL.md file. The AI reads its description and loads it only when a task calls for it, so a style skill doesn’t affect unrelated work. Ask for one with /createskill, or write it yourself:

journal-style/SKILL.md

---
name: journal-style
description: >-
  Apply the Journal of Organizational Studies house style. Use when the user
  asks to format or edit a manuscript for that journal.
---
# Journal of Organizational Studies style
- Abstract: structured, at most 250 words.
- Active voice; first person plural allowed.
- Numbers: words for one to nine, numerals from 10.
- Headings: sentence case, no numbering.

Run it by name from the / menu, for example /journal-style. See authoring skills.

As a custom agent

If the style is a pass you run on finished text, make it a custom agent you can run in one click:

/createagent a "House style" agent that edits a section to my lab's style: British spelling, active voice, sentence-case headings, and paragraphs under 150 words, without changing claims or citations

It appears in the Agents Library with a YOURS chip, and supports MODES for a light or a thorough pass.

Choose the right feature

You want	Use	Why it fits
Everything the AI writes to sound like you	`voice.md`	It applies to chat, suggestions, and every agent
One project’s spelling, register, and format rules	`AGENTS.md`	It applies to every chat and agent in that project
A different style for one answer	Say it in your request	It changes only that answer
Existing text in a new tone, length, or language	Change Tone, Trim, or Translate	They rewrite what’s there and keep your citations
A house style you reuse across projects	A skill	It loads only when a task needs it
A style pass you run on finished sections	A custom agent	One click, with MODES for depth
Never to invent a citation	Strict integrity mode	It’s a rule, not a style preference

How writing style works

Voice and integrity are loaded once and applied everywhere the AI writes: chat, inline suggestions, and every agent, including the Full Draft Writer.
AGENTS.md is loaded into chat and every agent in its project. Open another project and its own rules apply.
Skills load only when a task matches their description, so they don’t shape unrelated answers.
Style agents change only the text you run them on, and you review every change before keeping it.
Credits: style instructions are part of what the model reads, so they add a little to each request. Keep them short. See credits.

If two layers disagree — say voice.md uses “I” and AGENTS.md forbids it — the AI may follow either. Remove the conflict.

Author voice & integrityLearn your voice and set integrity rules.Store instructions and memoriesAGENTS.md and agent memory.Custom agentsBuild your own style pass.Inline AI suggestionsSuggestions that follow your voice.