blog-writing-guide

Name: blog-writing-guide
Author: getsentry

881stars45forks

How to install blog-writing-guide?

getsentry/skills/blog-writing-guide

$npx -y skills add getsentry/skills --skill blog-writing-guide

Installs into the current project.

Summary

Write, review, and improve blog posts for the Sentry engineering blog following Sentry's specific writing standards, voice, and quality bar. Use this skill whenever someone asks to write a blog post, draft a technical article, review blog content, improve a draft, write a product

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SKILL.md

1	# Sentry Blog Writing Skill
2
3	This skill enforces Sentry's blog writing standards across every post — whether you're helping an engineer write their first blog post or a marketer draft a product announcement.
4
5	The bar: Every Sentry blog post should be something a senior engineer would share in their team's Slack, or reference in a technical decision.
6
7	What follows are the core principles to internalize and apply to every piece of content.
8
9	## The Sentry Voice
10
11	We sound like: A senior developer at a conference afterparty explaining something they're genuinely excited about — smart, specific, a little irreverent, deeply knowledgeable.
12
13	We don't sound like: A corporate blog, a press release, a sales deck, or an AI-generated summary.
14
15	Be technically precise, opinionated, and direct. Humor is welcome but should serve the content, not replace it. Sarcasm works. One good joke per post is plenty.
16
17	Use "we" (Sentry) and "you" (the reader). This is a conversation, not a paper.
18
19	## Banned Language
20
21	Never use these. They are automatic red flags:
22
23	- "We're excited/thrilled to announce" — just announce it
24	- "Best-in-class" / "industry-leading" / "cutting-edge" — show, don't tell
25	- "Seamless" / "seamlessly" — nothing is seamless
26	- "Empower" / "leverage" / "unlock" — say what you actually mean
27	- "Robust" — describe what makes it robust instead
28	- "At [Company], we believe..." — just state the belief
29	- "Streamline" — everyone is streamlining, stop
30	- Filler transitions: "That being said," "It's worth noting that," "At the end of the day," "Without further ado," "As you might know"
31	- "In this blog post, we will explore..." — be direct, just start
32
33	## The Opening (First 2-3 Sentences)
34
35	The opening must do one of two things: state the problem or state the conclusion. Never start with background, company history, or hype.
36
37	Good: "Two weeks before launch, we killed our entire metrics product. Here's why pre-aggregating time-series metrics breaks down for debugging, and how we rebuilt the system from scratch."
38
39	Bad: "At Sentry, we're always looking for ways to improve the developer experience. Today, we're thrilled to share some exciting updates to our metrics product that we think you'll love."
40
41	## Structure: Follow the Reader's Questions
42
43	Structure every post around what the reader is actually wondering, not your internal narrative:
44
45	1. What problem does this solve? (1-2 paragraphs max)
46	2. How does it actually work? Not buttons-you-click, but underlying technology. (Bulk of the post — be specific)
47	3. What were the trade-offs or alternatives? (This separates good from great)
48	4. How do I use/try/implement this? (Concrete next steps)
49
50	For engineering deep-dives, also address:
51	5. What did we try that didn't work? (Builds trust)
52	6. What are the known limitations? (Shows intellectual honesty)
53
54	## Formatting for Skimmability
55
56	People scroll. Shorter paragraphs are almost always better for keeping people reading.
57
58	Break paragraphs at contrast points. When a sentence introduces a "but," "however," or shifts perspective, start a new paragraph. Don't bury the turn inside a block of text.
59
60	Bad:
61	> Traditional monitoring tracks requests and latency. That works for stateless HTTP services. AI agents are different. A single run might involve multiple LLM calls, tool executions, and handoffs.
62
63	Good:
64	> Traditional monitoring tracks requests and latency. That works for stateless HTTP services.
65	>
66	> AI agents are different. A single run might involve multiple LLM calls, tool executions, and handoffs.
67
68	The line break before the contrasting point creates visual emphasis. This is standard in online writing even though it breaks traditional paragraph rules.
69
70	One idea per paragraph. If a paragraph covers two distinct points, split it. Three-sentence paragraphs are fine. One-sentence paragraphs are fine for emphasis.
71
72	No em dashes. Use commas, periods, or line breaks instead. Em dashes are fine in print but create visual clutter in blog formatting.
73
74	## SEO for Developer Content
75
76	When targeting a competitive search query:
77
78	Lead generic, close specific. The first 50-60% of the post should be tool-agnostic educa

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6 picks

Type

blog-writing-guide

881stars45forks

View on GitHub

How to install blog-writing-guide?

getsentry/skills/blog-writing-guide

$npx -y skills add getsentry/skills --skill blog-writing-guide

Installs into the current project.

Summary

Files · 1

View on GitHub

SKILL.md

1	# Sentry Blog Writing Skill
2
3	This skill enforces Sentry's blog writing standards across every post — whether you're helping an engineer write their first blog post or a marketer draft a product announcement.
4
5	The bar: Every Sentry blog post should be something a senior engineer would share in their team's Slack, or reference in a technical decision.
6
7	What follows are the core principles to internalize and apply to every piece of content.
8
9	## The Sentry Voice
10
11	We sound like: A senior developer at a conference afterparty explaining something they're genuinely excited about — smart, specific, a little irreverent, deeply knowledgeable.
12
13	We don't sound like: A corporate blog, a press release, a sales deck, or an AI-generated summary.
14
15	Be technically precise, opinionated, and direct. Humor is welcome but should serve the content, not replace it. Sarcasm works. One good joke per post is plenty.
16
17	Use "we" (Sentry) and "you" (the reader). This is a conversation, not a paper.
18
19	## Banned Language
20
21	Never use these. They are automatic red flags:
22
23	- "We're excited/thrilled to announce" — just announce it
24	- "Best-in-class" / "industry-leading" / "cutting-edge" — show, don't tell
25	- "Seamless" / "seamlessly" — nothing is seamless
26	- "Empower" / "leverage" / "unlock" — say what you actually mean
27	- "Robust" — describe what makes it robust instead
28	- "At [Company], we believe..." — just state the belief
29	- "Streamline" — everyone is streamlining, stop
30	- Filler transitions: "That being said," "It's worth noting that," "At the end of the day," "Without further ado," "As you might know"
31	- "In this blog post, we will explore..." — be direct, just start
32
33	## The Opening (First 2-3 Sentences)
34
35	The opening must do one of two things: state the problem or state the conclusion. Never start with background, company history, or hype.
36
37	Good: "Two weeks before launch, we killed our entire metrics product. Here's why pre-aggregating time-series metrics breaks down for debugging, and how we rebuilt the system from scratch."
38
39	Bad: "At Sentry, we're always looking for ways to improve the developer experience. Today, we're thrilled to share some exciting updates to our metrics product that we think you'll love."
40
41	## Structure: Follow the Reader's Questions
42
43	Structure every post around what the reader is actually wondering, not your internal narrative:
44
45	1. What problem does this solve? (1-2 paragraphs max)
46	2. How does it actually work? Not buttons-you-click, but underlying technology. (Bulk of the post — be specific)
47	3. What were the trade-offs or alternatives? (This separates good from great)
48	4. How do I use/try/implement this? (Concrete next steps)
49
50	For engineering deep-dives, also address:
51	5. What did we try that didn't work? (Builds trust)
52	6. What are the known limitations? (Shows intellectual honesty)
53
54	## Formatting for Skimmability
55
56	People scroll. Shorter paragraphs are almost always better for keeping people reading.
57
58	Break paragraphs at contrast points. When a sentence introduces a "but," "however," or shifts perspective, start a new paragraph. Don't bury the turn inside a block of text.
59
60	Bad:
61	> Traditional monitoring tracks requests and latency. That works for stateless HTTP services. AI agents are different. A single run might involve multiple LLM calls, tool executions, and handoffs.
62
63	Good:
64	> Traditional monitoring tracks requests and latency. That works for stateless HTTP services.
65	>
66	> AI agents are different. A single run might involve multiple LLM calls, tool executions, and handoffs.
67
68	The line break before the contrasting point creates visual emphasis. This is standard in online writing even though it breaks traditional paragraph rules.
69
70	One idea per paragraph. If a paragraph covers two distinct points, split it. Three-sentence paragraphs are fine. One-sentence paragraphs are fine for emphasis.
71
72	No em dashes. Use commas, periods, or line breaks instead. Em dashes are fine in print but create visual clutter in blog formatting.
73
74	## SEO for Developer Content
75
76	When targeting a competitive search query:
77
78	Lead generic, close specific. The first 50-60% of the post should be tool-agnostic educa

People who liked this also viewed

6 picks

Type