Ask for the version an expert would ask for.

deeper rewrites any task with the method, sources and checks a top professional would use. Same scope. You approve before it runs.

npx skills add EazyAccessEA/deeper
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Evaluate the typesetting of my book manuscript and improve it. The inner margins look exceedingly large.the exported print PDFMeasure margins, gutter and measure in mmGet a printed proof copy

Red is what deeper inserted, word for word from its rewrite. Your scope stays the same.

Read the full /deeper prompt
Evaluate and improve the typesetting of my book manuscript the way a book typographer would. Same scope: the typesetting of this book, not a redesign or an edit of the text.

Start from the raw material, not a description of it. Ask me for and wait for: the source files (InDesign/Affinity/LaTeX/Word, with the fonts), the exported print PDF, the printer's or print-on-demand service's spec sheet (trim size, binding, page count, minimum gutter and safe-zone), and if possible a printed proof. We take as true that the inner margins are too large; check that claim against the binding. On a perfect-bound book, a thick spine eats part of the gutter, so a wide inner margin may be correct. Measure first, then decide.

Method:
- Build the page proportions deliberately. Use a canon (Van de Graaf / Tschichold or the classical 2:3:4:6 margin progression), adjusted for binding loss and page count, and make sure each spread reads as a single unit with the text blocks paired.
- Fix the measure at roughly 45 to 75 characters per line, set leading to the type size and measure, and hold a baseline grid across the book.
- Check the micro-typography: hyphenation and justification settings, rivers, widows and orphans, stacked hyphens, small caps and old-style figures where the text calls for them, real quotes and dashes, and optical margin alignment.
- Work inside the actual layout tool and its paragraph composer, not by eyeballing a PDF.

No specialist skills or agents are available in this setting; work without them.

Verification:
- Measure margins, gutter and measure in mm and characters on the PDF and report them against the printer spec and the chosen canon.
- Run a preflight (Acrobat Preflight or the printer's own checker) for fonts, bleed and safe zones.
- Get a printed proof copy. Pass: no text lost into the gutter when the book is opened normally, zero widows/orphans, no more than two consecutive hyphenated lines, no visible rivers on a random sample of 20 spreads, and the preflight clean. Any one of these failing is a fail.

Report what you found with numbers, what you changed and why, and what still needs my decision.
Compare the plain rewrite
I'm going to paste in the typesetting details of my book manuscript. Please evaluate them and tell me how to improve them. My main complaint is that the inner margins (the gutter) look far too large.

Details (I'll fill these in):
- Format: [print book / PDF / ebook]
- Trim size: [e.g. 5.5 × 8.5 in, A5]
- Page count: [approx.]
- Binding: [paperback perfect-bound / hardcover / spiral]
- Tool used: [Word, InDesign, Affinity Publisher, LaTeX, Vellum, Atticus...]
- Current margins: inside [ ], outside [ ], top [ ], bottom [ ]
- Body font and size / leading: [e.g. Garamond 11/14]
- Printer or service: [KDP, IngramSpark, local printer]
- Genre: [novel, non-fiction, poetry...]
[Optionally paste a sample page's settings or describe what you see.]

Please:
1. Check whether my inner margin really is too large, given my page count and binding. Explain how gutter needs grow with page count, and give a recommended inside/outside/top/bottom set in the units I use. Mention my printer's minimum if you know it, and say so if you're unsure.
2. Check whether the problem is a setting mistake rather than the value itself. Common ones: mirrored margins not turned on, a gutter added on top of an already wide inner margin, or the spread viewed in the wrong way.
3. Review the rest of the typesetting: font and size, leading, line length (characters per line), justification and hyphenation, widows and orphans, paragraph indents vs. spacing, chapter openings, running heads and page numbers, front matter.
4. Give me a prioritised list of changes, most visible first, each with the exact setting to change and where to find it in my tool.

Don't invent measurements I haven't given you. If something you need is missing, ask me for it before making a recommendation that depends on it.

/deeper uses typographer canons, the actual print PDF and the printer spec, then checks against measured numbers, preflight and a printed proof, while the plain rewrite relies on user-described settings with no external check.

Four questions before any rewrite.

  1. Expert moves

    What would a top professional in this field do that you didn't ask for? One or two moves, not a list of tips.

  2. Raw material

    What would they start from? The data, files and originals, not a summary of them. And one belief that material could disprove.

  3. Instruments

    Which methods and tools would they use? A test, a measurement, a real canon, plus the skills and agents you already have.

  4. Outside check

    What would show the result is right, other than you or the model? With a pass mark the best in the field would set.

Then one prompt you can copy, and a question: run it? If a task is too small for depth to matter, it says so in one line and stops.

Best on 4 of 5 blind tasks.

Five real tasks, each rewritten without the skill and by two versions of deeper, then scored in one pass by a judge that didn't know which was which. Version 1.1 stops adding work you didn't ask for and keeps every check.

Every prompt, score and reason
AverageNo skill1.01.1
Expert method2.64.65.0
Starts from raw material1.84.85.0
Check outside the model, with a pass mark1.03.84.8
Kept to the original scope2.22.84.0
Extra deliverables per task3.23.61.8

Runs where you already work.

The command above puts deeper in Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and about seventy other agents. Prefer something else? There's a Claude Code plugin, a copy-by-hand route, and a way to paste it into ChatGPT or any chat app.

All install routes