dash-guard

A Claude Code mod that refuses prose Claude writes with an em dash, an en dash or a double hyphen used as punctuation, and tells Claude which lines to rewrite. Part of claude-plugins.

What it does

• Checks Write and Edit on Markdown and text files, and any MCP tool you name (a document, an email, a message).
• Leaves code alone: code files, fenced blocks, inline code, HTML comments, and CLI flags such as git reset --hard.
• Lines that already had a dash before the edit are not reported, so old files can still be edited.
• /dash-guard off|on for the session.
• It is a style rule, not a safety check: if the mod fails, the write goes through.

Settings

| Setting | Default | What it does | |---|---|---| | banned | all three | Comma separated: em, en, double | | tools | empty | A regular expression of MCP tool names to check too, such as ^mcp__notion__.*(create\|update).*$ |

What it reads and does

• Reads: the text Claude is about to write with Write and Edit, the current file for an Edit (to tell new dashes from ones already there), and the text of MCP tools named in the tools setting.
• Does: refuses a write that adds an em dash, an en dash or a double hyphen in prose, and tells Claude which lines to rewrite.
• Hooks: tool.call on Write, Edit and the matching MCP tools may refuse that one call; it never changes a call's input. command.run answers its own /dash-guard command and no other.
• Privacy: see PRIVACY.md.
• Never: sends anything anywhere (no network calls, no telemetry).

Install

Needs Claude Code 2.1.287 or later (mods). Tested on 2.1.289.

/plugin marketplace add mutlumehmet/claude-plugins
/plugin install dash-guard@mehmetmutlu

A mod runs inside Claude Code with your permissions. Read the code before you install any mod. Settings are asked for at install, or later with /plugin configure dash-guard@mehmetmutlu.

Known gaps

• Chat replies are not checked, only what is written to files and tools.
• A shell heredoc (cat > file) goes around it.

About

Made by Mehmet Mutlu, part of claude-plugins. More of his work at mehmetmutlu.dev.

License

MIT