ghedev v1.0.2
📝 ghedev — Catch insensitive, inconsiderate writing.
Whether your own or someone else’s writing, ghedev helps you find gender favoring, polarizing, race related, or other unequal phrasing in text.
For example, when We’ve confirmed his identity is given, ghedev will warn
you and suggest using their instead of his.
Give ghedev a spin on the Online demo ».
Why
- Helps to get better at considerate writing
- Catches many possible offences
- Suggests helpful alternatives
- Reads plain text, HTML, MDX, or markdown as input
- Stylish
Install
$ npm install ghedev --globalUsing yarn:
$ yarn global add ghedevOr you can follow this step-by-step tutorial: Setting up ghedev in your project
Contents
- Why
- Install
- Contents
- Checks
- Integrations
- Ignoring files
- Control
- Configuration
- CLI
- API
- Workflow
- FAQ
- Further reading
- Contribute
- Origin story
- Acknowledgments
- License
Checks
ghedev checks things such as:
- Gendered work-titles (if you write
garbagemanghedev suggestsgarbage collector; if you writelandlordghedev suggestsproprietor) - Gendered proverbs (if you write
like a manghedev suggestsbravely; if you writeladylikeghedev suggestscourteous) - Ableist language (if you write
learning disabledghedev suggestsperson with learning disabilities) - Condescending language (if you write
obviouslyoreveryone knowsghedev warns about it) - Intolerant phrasing (if you write
masterandslaveghedev suggestsprimaryandreplica) - Profanities (if you write
butt🍑 ghedev warns about it)
…and much more!
Note: ghedev assumes good intent: that you don’t mean to offend!
See retext-equality and retext-profanities for
all rules.
ghedev ignores words meant literally, so “he”, He — ..., and the
like are not warned about.
Integrations
next
Ignoring files
The CLI searches for files with a markdown or text extension when given
directories (so $ ghedev . will find readme.md and path/to/file.txt).
To prevent files from being found, create an .ghedevignore file.
.ghedevignore
The CLI will sometimes search for files.
To prevent files from being found, add a file named .ghedevignore in one of the
directories above the current working directory (the place you run ghedev from).
The format of these files is similar to .eslintignore (which
in turn is similar to .gitignore files).
For example, when working in ~/path/to/place, the ignore file can be in
to, place, or ~.
The ignore file for this project itself looks like this:
# `node_modules` is ignored by default.
example.mdControl
Sometimes ghedev makes mistakes:
A message for this sentence will pop up.Yields:
readme.md
1:15-1:18 warning `pop` may be insensitive, use `parent` instead dad-mom retext-equality
⚠ 1 warningHTML comments in Markdown can be used to ignore them:
<!--ghedev ignore dad-mom-->
A message for this sentence will **not** pop up.Yields:
readme.md: no issues foundignore turns off messages for the thing after the comment (in this case, the
paragraph).
It’s also possible to turn off messages after a comment by using disable, and,
turn those messages back on using enable:
<!--ghedev disable dad-mom-->
A message for this sentence will **not** pop up.
A message for this sentence will also **not** pop up.
Yet another sentence where a message will **not** pop up.
<!--ghedev enable dad-mom-->
A message for this sentence will pop up.Yields:
readme.md
9:15-9:18 warning `pop` may be insensitive, use `parent` instead dad-mom retext-equality
⚠ 1 warningMultiple messages can be controlled in one go:
<!--ghedev disable he-her his-hers dad-mom-->…and all messages can be controlled by omitting all rule identifiers:
<!--ghedev ignore-->Configuration
You can control ghedev through .ghedevrc configuration files:
{
"allow": ["boogeyman-boogeywoman"]
}…you can use YAML if the file is named .ghedevrc.yml or .ghedevrc.yaml:
allow:
- dad-mom…you can also use JavaScript if the file is named .ghedevrc.js:
// But making it random like this is a bad idea!
exports.profanitySureness = Math.floor(Math.random() * 3)…and finally it is possible to use an ghedev field in package.json:
{
…
"ghedev": {
"noBinary": true
},
…
}The allow field should be an array of rules or undefined (the default is
undefined). When provided, the rules specified are skipped and not reported.
The deny field should be an array of rules or undefined (the default is
undefined). When provided, only the rules specified are reported.
You cannot use both allow and deny at the same time.
The noBinary field should be a boolean (the default is false).
When turned on (true), pairs such as he and she and garbageman or
garbagewoman are seen as errors.
When turned off (false, the default), such pairs are okay.
The profanitySureness field is a number (the default is 0).
We use cuss, which has a dictionary of words that have a rating
between 0 and 2 of how likely it is that a word or phrase is a profanity (not
how “bad” it is):
| Rating | Use as a profanity | Use in clean text | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | likely | unlikely | asshat |
| 1 | maybe | maybe | addict |
| 0 | unlikely | likely | beaver |
The profanitySureness field is the minimum rating (including) that you want to
check for.
If you set it to 1 (maybe) then it will warn for level 1 and 2 (likely)
profanities, but not for level 0 (unlikely).
CLI

Let’s say example.md looks as follows:
The boogeyman wrote all changes to the **master server**. Thus, the slaves
were read-only copies of master. But not to worry, he was a cripple.Now, run ghedev on example.md:
$ ghedev example.mdYields:
example.md
1:5-1:14 warning `boogeyman` may be insensitive, use `boogeymonster` instead boogeyman-boogeywoman retext-equality
1:42-1:48 warning `master` / `slaves` may be insensitive, use `primary` / `replica` instead master-slave retext-equality
1:69-1:75 warning Don’t use `slaves`, it’s profane slaves retext-profanities
2:52-2:54 warning `he` may be insensitive, use `they`, `it` instead he-she retext-equality
2:61-2:68 warning `cripple` may be insensitive, use `person with a limp` instead gimp retext-equality
⚠ 5 warningsSee $ ghedev --help for more information.
When no input files are given to ghedev, it searches for files in the current directory,
doc, anddocs. If--mdxis given, it searches formdxextensions. If--htmlis given, it searches forhtmandhtmlextensions. Otherwise, it searches fortxt,text,md,mkd,mkdn,mkdown,ron, andmarkdownextensions.
API
This package is ESM only:
Node 14+ is needed to use it and it must be imported instead of required.
npm:
$ npm install ghedev --saveThis package exports the identifiers markdown, mdx, html, and text.
The default export is markdown.
markdown(value, config)
Check Markdown (ignoring syntax).
Parameters
value(VFileorstring) — Markdown documentconfig(Object, optional) — See the Configuration section
Returns
VFile.
You are probably interested in its messages property, as
shown in the example below, because it holds the possible violations.
Example
import ghedev from 'ghedev'
ghedev('We’ve confirmed his identity.').messagesYields:
[
[1:17-1:20: `his` may be insensitive, when referring to a person, use `their`, `theirs`, `them` instead] {
message: '`his` may be insensitive, when referring to a ' +
'person, use `their`, `theirs`, `them` instead',
name: '1:17-1:20',
reason: '`his` may be insensitive, when referring to a ' +
'person, use `their`, `theirs`, `them` instead',
line: 1,
column: 17,
location: { start: [Object], end: [Object] },
source: 'retext-equality',
ruleId: 'her-him',
fatal: false,
actual: 'his',
expected: [ 'their', 'theirs', 'them' ]
}
]mdx(value, config)
Check MDX (ignoring syntax).
Note: the syntax for MDX@2, while currently in beta, is used in ghedev.
Parameters
value(VFileorstring) — MDX documentconfig(Object, optional) — See the Configuration section
Returns
Example
import {mdx} from 'ghedev'
mdx('<Component>He walked to class.</Component>').messagesYields:
[
[1:12-1:14: `He` may be insensitive, use `They`, `It` instead] {
reason: '`He` may be insensitive, use `They`, `It` instead',
line: 1,
column: 12,
location: { start: [Object], end: [Object] },
source: 'retext-equality',
ruleId: 'he-she',
fatal: false,
actual: 'He',
expected: [ 'They', 'It' ]
}
]html(value, config)
Check HTML (ignoring syntax).
Parameters
value(VFileorstring) — HTML documentconfig(Object, optional) — See the Configuration section
Returns
Example
import {html} from 'ghedev'
html('<p class="black">He walked to class.</p>').messagesYields:
[
[1:18-1:20: `He` may be insensitive, use `They`, `It` instead] {
message: '`He` may be insensitive, use `They`, `It` instead',
name: '1:18-1:20',
reason: '`He` may be insensitive, use `They`, `It` instead',
line: 1,
column: 18,
location: { start: [Object], end: [Object] },
source: 'retext-equality',
ruleId: 'he-she',
fatal: false,
actual: 'He',
expected: [ 'They', 'It' ]
}
]text(value, config)
Check plain text (as in, syntax is checked).
Parameters
value(VFileorstring) — Text documentconfig(Object, optional) — See the Configuration section
Returns
Example
import {markdown, text} from 'ghedev'
markdown('The `boogeyman`.').messages // => []
text('The `boogeyman`.').messagesYields:
[
[1:6-1:15: `boogeyman` may be insensitive, use `boogeymonster` instead] {
message: '`boogeyman` may be insensitive, use `boogeymonster` instead',
name: '1:6-1:15',
reason: '`boogeyman` may be insensitive, use `boogeymonster` instead',
line: 1,
column: 6,
location: Position { start: [Object], end: [Object] },
source: 'retext-equality',
ruleId: 'boogeyman-boogeywoman',
fatal: false,
actual: 'boogeyman',
expected: [ 'boogeymonster' ]
}
]Workflow
The recommended workflow is to add ghedev to package.json and to run it with
your tests in Travis.
You can opt to ignore warnings through ghedevrc files and control comments.
A package.json file with npm scripts, and additionally using
AVA for unit tests, could look like so:
{
"scripts": {
"test-api": "ava",
"test-doc": "ghedev",
"test": "npm run test-api && npm run test-doc"
},
"devDependencies": {
"ghedev": "^1.0.0",
"ava": "^0.1.0"
}
}If you’re using Travis for continuous integration, set up something like the
following in your .travis.yml:
script:
- npm test
+- ghedev --diffMake sure to still install ghedev though!
If the --diff flag is used, and Travis is detected, lines that are not changes
in this push are ignored.
Using this workflow, you can merge PRs if it has warnings, and then if someone
edits an entirely different file, they won’t be bothered about existing
warnings, only about the things they added!
FAQ
This is stupid!
Not a question. And yeah, ghedev isn’t very smart. People are much better at this. But people make mistakes, and ghedev is there to help.
ghedev didn’t check “X”!
See contributing.md on how to get “X” checked by ghedev.
Why is this named ghedev?
It’s a nice unisex name, it was free on npm, I like it! :smile:
Further reading
No automated tool can replace studying inclusive communication and listening to
the lived experiences of others.
An error from ghedev can be an invitation to learn more.
These resources are a launch point for deepening your own understanding and
editorial skills beyond what ghedev can offer:
- Using complex sentences and uncommon vocabulary can lead to less inclusive content. This is described as literacy exclusion in this article by Harver. This is critical to be aware of if your content has a global audience, where a reader’s strongest language may not be the language you are writing in.
Contribute
See contributing.md in http://github.com/ghepes/ghepes for ways
to get started.
See support.md for ways to get help.
This project has a Code of conduct. By interacting with this repository, organization, or community you agree to abide by its terms.
Origin story
Thanks to @iheanyi for raising the problem and @sindresorhus for inspiring me (@wooorm) to do something about it.
When ghedev launched, it got some traction on twitter and producthunt. Then there was a lot of press coverage.
Acknowledgments
Preliminary work for ghedev was done in 2015. The project was authored by @wooorm.
Lots of people helped since!