Your first profile
Build a profile around a writing situation. A clear brief tells the agent which voice to use, what readers need and which conventions matter.
All names, topics and excerpts in these guides are synthetic teaching examples. Replace them with your own context in your private voice home.
1. Choose the scope
Names use lowercase words joined by hyphens and end in -en or -es. For example, explainer-en might cover public explanations of statistics; memo-en could cover internal decision memos. Use default-en or default-es for everyday text.
/vf-new explainer-en
Codex users send $vf-new explainer-en. The agent asks for purpose, readers, field, venues, topics, register, document types and exclusions. An existing profile is never overwritten.
A useful synthetic brief:
Purpose: explain statistical ideas through everyday situations.
Readers: curious adults without specialist training.
Field and venues: public education; a personal newsletter.
Document types: short essays and newsletter explanations.
Register: precise, conversational English.
Topics: sampling, averages, uncertainty, survey design.
Scope: public explanations; not research papers or logistics emails.
Leave conventions blank until you state them or analysis supports them. Avoid rules such as “always be engaging” or a guessed sentence limit. Start with sections 2 to 10 marked unknown. Unknown is a valid, useful starting point.
2. Approve the training topics
The agent proposes about fifteen topics suited to the brief. Approve, cut or add to the list before it saves topics.md. Choose varied subjects so that a rule can prove useful beyond one example.
A preference for opening explanations with a concrete situation could recur in sampling, maps and forecasts. A preference for a particular policy position is content, not a voice rule.
3. Pick your source of evidence
| What you have | What to do |
|---|---|
| No past text ready | Start a training round |
| Several texts you wrote | Analyze them, then train |
| A draft and your edited final version | Use Learn mode |
| A definite preference you want now | State a direct rule and approve its contract |
/vf-train explainer-en
Rewrite the passage as you would actually write it. Keep substantive corrections separate from style. The agent saves your rewrite exactly and proposes at most three lessons. Say yes, no or give better wording for each.
4. Understand what was saved
A round contains the passage, your rewrite, findings and decisions. An approved lesson starts as candidate in lessons.md. It does not silently become an active rule.
Promotion normally needs three unique rounds on at least two topics, or two rounds on two topics plus an analysis. You then approve the complete rule block. A rule you state directly uses your statement as evidence and does not need that training threshold.
/vf-status explainer-en
/vf-rules explainer-en
Status shows validation, section coverage, rounds, lessons and promotion readiness. Rules shows the approved specification. Read the rule contract.
5. Use it and keep learning
/vf-draft explainer-en a 300 word explanation of why a median can help when incomes vary widely. Use a hypothetical example and label it as such.
When you improve a real draft, teach the changes back through vf-learn. Keep at least a few recent texts out of all training for voice fidelity comparisons.
You can use a sparse profile immediately. Generic language and meaning rules still apply; an empty section does not give the agent a license to invent personal preferences.