IronProse CLI — Fiction Writing Assistant

IronProse analyzes fiction prose for craft-level issues that weaken storytelling: repetition, weak verbs, passive voice, clichés, adverb overuse, show-don't-tell violations, and 100+ other rules tuned for creative writing.

Installation

# Install via npm (recommended)
npx ironprose --help

# Or install via cargo
cargo install ironprose-cli

Common Workflows

Analyze prose (always use JSON output)

# Full analysis — JSON is the only stable output format
ironprose analyze --file chapter-07.md --output json

# Pipe from stdin
cat draft.md | ironprose analyze --output json

# Raw JSON passthrough — zero translation loss, full API control
ironprose analyze \
  --json '{"text":"The dark night was very dark."}' \
  --output json

# Scores only — minimizes output tokens
ironprose analyze --file chapter-07.md --output json --score-only

Schema introspection — discover before you call

ironprose schema analyze   # see request/response shapes
ironprose schema rate      # see rating payload schema
ironprose schema           # dump full OpenAPI spec

Compare drafts

# Did the rewrite improve the prose?
ironprose compare \
  --original-file draft_v1.md \
  --revised-file draft_v2.md \
  --output json

Pipe from editor / stdin

pbpaste | ironprose analyze --output json

Rate diagnostics you disagree with

After analyzing text, rate any diagnostics that seem off. This directly improves the engine's calibration.

# JSON passthrough — preferred for agents
ironprose rate \
  --json '{"rule":"repetition","rating":"false_positive","diagnostic_id":"d-001","context":"Intentional repetition"}'

# Convenience flags — for humans or simple ratings
ironprose rate \
  --rule repetition \
  --rating false_positive \
  --diagnostic-id d-001 \
  --context "Intentional repetition for emphasis"

# Introspect the rate schema first
ironprose schema rate

Rules for rating:

• Always include --diagnostic-id when available (from the analyze response)
• Use false_positive when the flagged issue isn't actually present
• Use not_helpful when the issue exists but isn't worth flagging
• Use helpful to confirm good diagnostics

CLI Reference

Agents should use ironprose <command> --help to introspect exact arguments and flags for a specific command instead of relying purely on this document.

ironprose

IronProse CLI — prose analysis tools for writers

Usage: ironprose [OPTIONS] <COMMAND>

Commands:
  analyze     Analyze prose text for style, grammar, and craft issues
  compare     Compare original and revised text
  list-rules  List all available analysis rules
  schema      Dump the API schema for an endpoint (agent introspection)
  rate        Rate a diagnostic as helpful, not_helpful, or false_positive
  help        Print this message or the help of the given subcommand(s)

Options:
      --api-url <API_URL>  IronProse API base URL [env: IRONPROSE_API_URL=] [default: https://prose-mcp.fly.dev]
      --api-key <API_KEY>  API key for authenticated access (optional, free tier available) [env: IRONPROSE_API_KEY=]
  -h, --help               Print help
  -V, --version            Print version

Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Default
IRONPROSE_API_URL	API base URL	https://prose-mcp.fly.dev
IRONPROSE_API_KEY	API key for authenticated access	free tier (5000 words)