setup skill

Set up Vale in this repository

When to use this

The repository has no .vale.ini, or has one that does not resolve. If a working config already exists, the user probably wants fix or triage instead — check before writing anything.

Prerequisites

1. vale ls-config — if it resolves, a config already exists. Fix what it reports rather than starting over, and say that is what you are doing.
2. Know where the prose lives. Ask if it is not obvious.

Workflow

1. Install if vale --version fails: brew install vale, choco install vale, or a binary from https://docs.vale.sh/topics/installation.md.

2. Find the prose. docs/, content/, *.md at the root. Do not point Vale at the whole repository: vendored directories, changelogs and generated reference pages produce alerts nobody will act on, and the first run is what decides whether the team keeps it.

3. Write .vale.ini in the repository root:

StylesPath = styles
MinAlertLevel = suggestion

Packages = Microsoft

[*.md]
BasedOnStyles = Vale, Microsoft

Match the section glob to the formats actually present — [*.{md,mdx}], [*.adoc], [*.rst]. A section that matches nothing lints nothing, and Vale will not warn you about it.

4. Ask before choosing the style package. Microsoft and Google disagree about things teams care about — contractions, headings, the Oxford comma. It is their editorial decision, not a default you pick for them. The https://vale.sh/explorer listing has the rest.

5. Add StylesPath to .gitignore. It is build output.

6. vale sync, then lint one file to confirm the setup resolves.

7. Report the first run honestly.

Vale setup summary
==================
Config:      .vale.ini  ([*.md] → Vale, Microsoft)
Styles:      styles/ (gitignored), 1 package synced
First run:   docs/ → 0 errors, 214 warnings, 1,988 suggestions

A large corpus commonly produces thousands of suggestions on day one. Say the number, and offer triage. Do not quietly raise MinAlertLevel to make it look smaller.

Do not

• Do not commit the StylesPath directory.
• Do not pick the style package without asking.
• Do not set MinAlertLevel = error to make the first run look clean. Nothing has been decided by hiding the output.