.vale.ini as the plugin reads it

Which rules apply to which text is Vale’s job, in .vale.ini. The plugin adds three things to how you already use that file: names for the text that is not a file, a package that carries the shipped rules, and a vocabulary the allow command writes to.

Lint names

A file lints under its own path, as always. Chat replies lint under the name reply.reply. Published text lints under <source>.<tool>.<field>.publish: a PR body is gh.pr.body.publish, a release title is gh.release.title.publish, a Jira call is mcp.jira.create_issue.description.publish, and the Artifact page is artifact.<file> with its real extension. Two [formats] lines map the made-up extensions to Markdown so Vale parses them as prose:

[formats]
reply = md
publish = md

The JustSaySo package carries those lines, so a project that loads the package needs none of its own.

Sections

Write the shared rules once in [*] and narrow per target:

[*]
BasedOnStyles = JustSaySo, ai-tells

[*.reply]
ai-tells.ParagraphLength = NO

[gh.*.title.publish]
ai-tells.SentenceLength = NO

A BasedOnStyles line in a section replaces the list from [*], so repeat the styles you want there. A Style.Rule = NO line turns one rule off for that target; a Style.Rule = error sets its level. A section with an empty BasedOnStyles exempts its paths from every style, which is how a repo keeps its docs and tests, which quote the banned words, out of the check. The full model, measured against Vale 3.24, is in The Vale engine.

The package

Packages = https://github.com/ifandelse/just-say-so/releases/download/v0.18.1/JustSaySo.zip

The JustSaySo package is the shipped banned-term bullets as Vale rules, plus a .vale.ini with the [formats] lines and [*.reply] and [*.publish] sections. Run vale sync after adding it. /just-say-so:init writes the line pinned at the plugin’s version, and the doctor warns when the pin and the plugin disagree.

The vocabulary

StylesPath = styles
Vocab = Project

/just-say-so:allow appends a term to styles/config/vocabularies/Project/accept.txt. An entry is a case-sensitive regular expression. A Vocab that names a directory which does not exist stops Vale with an error on every run; init writes the key and an empty file together, and the doctor warns when they have parted.