policy-drafter

---
name: policy-drafter
description: Writes the boring policies a real business needs - governed, versioned, owned, enforceable - and refuses to invent legal wording it cannot source.
---

# The boring documents a real business needs, written properly

A governed policy: version, owner, review date, scope, numbered rules, escalation thresholds, sign-off block.

## Claude does

1. Demand four inputs first: {POLICY_TOPIC}, {COMPANY_NAME}, a named {POLICY_OWNER} (a person, not a department), and the sites or countries covered. An unowned policy is not a policy.
2. Apply the three-sentence scope test: purpose in 1-2 sentences, scope in at most 3. If it will not fit, split it into two policies and say which.
3. Pick one of four Process Street archetypes: simple checklist, complex linear checklist, watertight process, flow diagram. Name the choice and why: a conduct policy is not a checklist.
4. Write the governance header: version, last-updated date, review schedule, named owner. Then purpose, scope, applicability, definitions.
5. Write rules as numbered steps, imperative verb first, present tense, active voice, one action each. If a step contains "and", split it.
6. Add the approval and escalation table: each level with its own SLA and monetary or complexity threshold. Then exception handling: who grants one, how it is logged.
7. Set the review cadence: monthly compliance check, quarterly stakeholder review, annual audit.
8. Refuse to guess. Statutory notice periods, legal minimums, insurance limits and anything jurisdiction-specific get marked `[CONFIRM WITH ADVISER]`, never a number.

## Then Codex does

Codex takes the approved outline and does the bulk work: expanding each rule into prose, regenerating it per site or country, building the glossary, and writing a one-page plain-English summary and a staff acknowledgement form. Repetitive formatting at volume. Claude fills {POLICY_TOPIC}, {COMPANY_NAME}, {POLICY_OWNER}, {JURISDICTIONS} and {APPROVED_OUTLINE} into CODEX.md first.

```
codex exec --sandbox danger-full-access --skip-git-repo-check -C "<working folder>" - < CODEX.md
```

## Claude checks

1. Every step starts with an imperative verb and holds one action. A step containing "and" is a reject.
2. Scope still three sentences or fewer after expansion. Codex pads it.
3. Every `[CONFIRM WITH ADVISER]` marker survived. An unsourced legal figure is the worst failure here: authoritative-looking and invented.
4. A named owner on every version; version number and date changed.
5. Hand it to someone who has never done the job. If they cannot follow it, it fails.
6. Any check fails: quote the failing line, send it back, rerun. Never patch it yourself.

## Rules

- One policy per document. Scope beyond three sentences means split it.
- No step without a verb. No rule without an owner. No document without a review date.
- Never fill in a legal figure, notice period or statutory right from memory.
- Public information only.
- Never invent a fact, a number or a quote.
- Anything sent in someone's name says whose name it is.

## If Codex is not installed

Claude writes the expansion, per-site versions and summary itself, and says so.

## Built from

- w95/awesome-claude-corporate-skills - https://github.com/w95/awesome-claude-corporate-skills - 189 stars via api.github.com; its sop-builder gives the governance header, SLAs, thresholds, review cadence.
- Process Street, 16 Steps to Writing SOPs - https://www.process.st/writing-standard-operating-procedures/ - the four archetypes, verb-first steps, fresh-eyes gate.
- Anthropic, Skill authoring best practices - https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/agents-and-tools/agent-skills/best-practices - the authoring spec.

# The boring documents a real business needs - Codex task

You are expanding an approved policy outline into finished documents. You have no memory of the conversation that produced it. Everything you need is below.

## You are given

- `{POLICY_TOPIC}` - the subject of the policy, for example "expenses", "remote working", "data retention".
- `{COMPANY_NAME}` - the business the policy belongs to. Use it verbatim.
- `{POLICY_OWNER}` - one named person accountable for the policy. Not a department.
- `{JURISDICTIONS}` - the countries or sites this policy covers, comma separated. One output document per entry.
- `{APPROVED_OUTLINE}` - the agreed structure: governance header, purpose, scope, definitions, numbered rules, approval and escalation table, exception handling, review cadence. Markers reading `[CONFIRM WITH ADVISER]` are deliberate.

## Produce

Write into the working folder:

1. `policy-{POLICY_TOPIC}-<jurisdiction>.md`, one file per entry in `{JURISDICTIONS}`, with `<jurisdiction>` replaced by that entry lowercased and hyphenated. Each carries, in this order: a governance header table (version, last updated, review schedule, owner), purpose (1-2 sentences), scope (max 3 sentences), who it applies to, definitions, numbered rules, approval and escalation table with a stated SLA and threshold per level, exception handling, review cadence, sign-off block.
2. `glossary.md` - every defined term used across the documents, alphabetical, one line each.
3. `summary-one-page.md` - plain English, under 400 words, no jargon, aimed at a new starter.
4. `acknowledgement-form.md` - name, role, date, signature line, and one sentence confirming what is being acknowledged.

## Rules

- Every numbered rule starts with an imperative verb, present tense, active voice.
- One action per rule. If a rule would contain "and", split it into two numbered rules.
- Scope stays at or under three sentences in every output file. Do not pad it.
- Copy every `[CONFIRM WITH ADVISER]` marker through unchanged. Never replace one with a number, a notice period, a statutory right or a legal citation. Inventing one is a failure of the task.
- Do not add rules that are not in `{APPROVED_OUTLINE}`. Expand wording only.
- Do not add sections, appendices or extra files beyond the four listed.
- British English. No em dash characters.
- Every document names `{POLICY_OWNER}` and carries a version number and date.

## Return

Print, and nothing else:

- The list of files written, with the byte size of each.
- The rule count per file.
- The exact scope sentence count per file.
- Every line still containing `[CONFIRM WITH ADVISER]`, quoted with its file and line number.
- Any rule containing the word "and", quoted with its file and line number, under the heading `SPLIT CANDIDATES`. If there are none, print `SPLIT CANDIDATES: none`.