Claude Sonnet 5.5 (effort default (no --effort flag) · thinking on) on Rewrite a legalese policy in plain language without losing or inventing rules

AClaude Sonnet 5.5default · thinking on · Claude Code 2.1.299 (headless -p) · cloud · 2026-10-16 · by @bobsiopener

Trust 80%Fully autonomoussuccess · first tryCompare

Estimated cost: $0.06
Wall time: 17s
Human step-ins: 0
Outcome: Pass

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Exact prompt

# Task: plain-language rewrite Rewrite `inputs/policy.md` for employees as `policy_plain.md`. Requirements: - Flesch Reading Ease >= 60 (short sentences, common words). Word count 180–350. - Keep EVERY rule and number; add no new rules or numbers. Use a short intro, then bullet points or short headed sections, then a "Quick example" with one worked case that only uses numbers from the policy. - Second person ("you"). No legalese ("notwithstanding", "herein", "pursuant", "shall"). No network.

Rewrite a company policy in plain language for employees, reaching a Flesch reading-ease score of at least 60 in 180-350 words. Every rule and number must survive, nothing new may be added, and the worked example can only use numbers from the policy. Original benchmark task written for usecaserank.com (not based on a specific public post). Headless, offline run on a reproducible fixture. Each run's notes say how its cost was measured (estimates are marked).

Success criteria: 1. Flesch Reading Ease >= 60 (scorer's own heuristic syllable count). 2. 180–350 words. 3. All 14 key rules/facts from the policy present (attendance threshold, reimbursement cap and period, extra chair allowance with medical note, claim deadline, itemised receipt, ownership threshold, return deadline, excluded categories internet/utilities/decor, approval time, payroll timing). 4. No new numbers: every number must appear in the source policy (integers 0–3 allowed). 5. No legalese words (notwithstanding, herein, pursuant, shall, aforementioned, enumerated). 6. Second person: 'you/your' used at least 5 times. 7. Contains a 'Quick example' section.

Setup notes: Use Case Scout batch 3 case c11-plain-language-rewrite (offline fixture). Prepared with batch3/prepare.sh; hidden key/tests kept outside the agent's work dir. Prompt = TASK.md verbatim. Scored with the scout's scorer: `python score.py WORKDIR`. Tools: Read/Write/Edit/Glob/Grep/Bash, web disabled. Single run, no retries. Claude Code's own reported cost for claude-sonnet-5.5: $0.057549. Score: 7/7 checks. Cost is an ESTIMATE: measured tokens x pricing.json list price (Claude Pro subscription, nothing billed); input_tokens include cache reads and writes. Single run.

Estimated cost List-price estimate; not actually billed.

Metrics

Estimated cost: $0.06
Wall time: 17s
Human step-ins: 0
Turns: 5

Model usage
Model	Input tok	Output tok	Cost
AClaude Sonnet 5.5anthropic/claude-sonnet-5.5effort default (no --effort flag) · thinking on	77,288	1,910	$0.06

Reproduce this run

Use the use case prompt on the use case page.
Same setup: Claude Sonnet 5.5 (anthropic/claude-sonnet-5.5, effort default (no --effort flag) · thinking on) via Claude Code 2.1.299 (headless -p), cloud.
It counts as a success only if it meets every success criterion: 1. Flesch Reading Ease >= 60 (scorer's own heuristic syllable count). 2. 180–350 words. 3. All 14 key rules/facts from the policy present (attendance threshold, reimbursement cap and period, extra chair allowance with medical note, claim deadline, itemised receipt, ownership threshold, return deadline, excluded categories internet/utilities/decor, approval time, payroll timing). 4. No new numbers: every number must appear in the source policy (integers 0–3 allowed). 5. No legalese words (notwithstanding, herein, pursuant, shall, aforementioned, enumerated). 6. Second person: 'you/your' used at least 5 times. 7. Contains a 'Quick example' section.
Log model, tokens, wall time, human step-ins and the evidence log, then submit it as a reproduction. A different model? Submit a head-to-head rerun.

How runs are scored: Methodology.

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Automated checks

Trust 80% comes from these checks (how Trust % works).

Run date is not in the future : passed
Model is in the dated pricing table : passed
Cost recomputed from tokens matches : passed
Cached tokens are consistent : passed
Output throughput is plausible : passed
Autonomy matches step-ins : passed
Step-ins do not exceed turns : passed
Retries agree with first-try result : passed
Evidence log SHA-256 matches : passed
Evidence log is substantial : passed

Evidence log

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  "result": "I wrote the plain-language version to `policy_plain.md`.\n\nIt's about 275 words. My own rough Flesch Reading Ease estimate was about 67, against the 60 you asked for. That was a quick script of mine, not a standard readability tool, and I ran it before one small wording edit.\n\nIt has a short intro, headed bullet sections, and a \"Quick example\". It's written in \"you\" and has no legalese.\n\n- **Rules and numbers kept:** all of them are in, and nothing new is added. They are:\n  - fewer than 3 days on site\n  - USD 750 per rolling 24 months\n  - USD 300 extra for ergonomic seating with a medical recommendation\n  - 60 days to submit\n  - itemised receipt\n  - USD 200 ownership threshold\n  - 14 days to return items\n  - the excluded categories\n  - about 10 business days to approval\n  - payment in the next payroll cycle\n- **Example:** you buy a USD 300 ergonomic chair with a doctor's recommendation and submit on day 60. It uses only numbers from the policy. It shows the chair counting toward the extra seating allowance and that you'd return it within 14 days if you leave, since it costs over USD 200.",
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