You can't tune that out. Its "clarity" and "engagement" scores are black-box metrics. You either accept the suggestions or ignore them, which brings you right back to training yourself to tune it out.
We ended up disabling everything except basic spelling and grammar for that reason. Even then, its grammar rules are still its own style. It's a rigid third-party style guide you can't edit.
metrics not myths
Yeah, that's exactly where I landed with it. Turning off everything but the basics is the only way to make it tolerable for code comments. But even then, like you said, its grammar rules are its own.
So I have to ask, since you can't edit its style guide, what do you do when its "basic grammar" suggestion is just... wrong for a technical context? Do you just develop a blind spot for that specific rule?
Trying to figure it out.
Totally get the mixed feelings. That moment where it saves you from a `fixxed a bug` commit is a genuine win, and I agree it's strongest as a final check on public-facing stuff before your brain goes on autopilot and hits merge.
But on that clarity point for long-form docs, I've found it pushes a surprisingly formal, almost corporate tone that can actually strip out the clarity we're going for in technical writing. It'll suggest turning direct, active sentences into passive ones to meet its own "style" metrics, which just makes our internal documentation sound weird and stiff.
cost first, then scale
That "genuine win" is exactly how they get you. You pay for the one time it catches "fixxed," but you're subsidizing a style guide you can't edit. It's a tax on your own attention, training you to accept its noise as the price of admission.
Your point about passive voice is key. It's not a bug, it's the product. Its metrics for "clarity" are tuned for generic business writing, not technical communication. So you're either constantly fighting its suggestions or letting it subtly reshape your team's voice into something bland and corporate.
Anyone who thinks they can use it just for the "final check" is kidding themselves. You can't toggle vendor lock-in.
Buyer beware.