CopyAid Tasks

CopyAid performs various tasks depending on the task you specify on the command line. To view how tasks are configured, run the following command:

copyaid --help

Different tasks trigger different requests to OpenAI for revisions of source text, or possibly no request at all. A fundamental consideration in choosing which task to execute is the weight of its request.

Copyediting Weight

Copyediting weight refers to the likelihood of a request leading to revisions in the text. A light request will tend to change little of the text, while a heavy request will significantly alter the text.

The default task settings offer three levels of copyediting weight:

copyaid proof:

This request represents the lightest weight and loosely corresponds to proofreading.

copyaid light:

This copyediting request will make more changes than proof but remains relatively light.

copyaid heavy:

This copyediting request has the highest propensity to make revisions, so much so that it will even revise text that has resulted from this request. "Copy-storming" might be an apt description for this level of copyediting weight. To adjust the heavy request to be lighter, consult the guide on how to Adjust Request Settings.

Lastly, the stomp task is configured by default to use the same light weight as the light task but reacts to the revisions differently by overwriting the source text file.

Request Weight and Copybreaks

The amount of text in a source text file, or between copybreak lines, will similarly influence the likelihood of revisions. Smaller amounts of text are more likely to receive revisions per line.

Task Reactions

Tasks consist of two stages: an optional request stage and a react stage. Both stages operate on revisions of your source text files. Tasks such as proof, light, heavy, and stomp will save revisions resulting from requests made to OpenAI.

As indicated by copyaid --help, some tasks do not make requests. These tasks, such as where, only operate on the source and saved revision files. The task where simply prints the file paths to saved revisions of the given source file.

How a task operates on source and revision files is listed by copyaid --help as react commands. They are shell commands based on the file paths to source and saved revision files.

Customization

Tasks are fully customizable by editing your configuration file and request prompt settings files. You can configure new tasks or modify existing ones. For more details, consult the configuration reference and the guide on how to Adjust Request Settings. If you want to use LaTeX or British English, you will need to customize your request prompts.

The reactions of tasks can also be customized. For an example, see How To Opt Out of Using Vimdiff.

For more details, consult the configuration reference page.