Banned phrases — why and which
Forty+ defaults, add your own. Why distro refuses to produce certain language.
We ship a list of 40+ phrases that never appear in drafts. These are the default SaaS-speak tells that make marketing copy sound like marketing copy.
The defaults (abbreviated)
Category 1 — filler verbs: unlock, leverage, utilize, harness, empower, enable
Category 2 — puffed-up adjectives: revolutionary, game-changer, paradigm shift, disruptive, transformative
Category 3 — corporate jargon: synergy, circle back, low-hanging fruit, thought leadership, best practices, leverage synergies
Category 4 — launch tells: excited to share, thrilled to announce, today I'm announcing, delighted, honored
Category 5 — generic hype: mind-blowing, must-see, don't miss out, level up, 10x, rocket science, literally
Why literally "literally"
Because nobody uses it literally anymore and it's a tell of weak writing. If you need to emphasize, be specific.
Adding your own
Customize → Voice → Banned phrases → Add. Include phrases that sound specifically not-you. For a lot of technical founders this includes corporate warmth like "I hope this finds you well" and "happy to chat."
How it's enforced
Banned phrases appear in every draft prompt as hard constraints. After generation, we scan the output for matches (case-insensitive, whole-word). If any are found, we regenerate with a more aggressive "ABSOLUTELY DO NOT USE" instruction. Third strike we flag it in the UI for you to rewrite manually.
False positives
The word "unlock" blocks outputs even when it's literal ("unlock your phone"). Edit the list if you write in a domain where these are real words. Banning is a trade-off.