Squidcopy For freelance copywriters who draft with Claude

Lock the brief. Then write.

For the drafts that come back with nothing under the words.

Squidcopy is a writing desk that won’t let the draft start until the brief is locked: reader, one idea, offer, one action. Then Claude writes from exactly that, and anything without proof gets labelled.

Start free: lock your first brief Try the demo

Free during open trial · 30 AI actions a day · No card

Sound familiar?

The draft comes back fluent. And says nothing.

You paste the brief into Claude or ChatGPT. A page comes back in seconds. It reads smoothly, and there’s nothing under the words: no clear reader, no single point, an ending that asks for three things.

So you rewrite it, line by line, and the fixing takes longer than the writing would have. Somewhere in there it added “3x your productivity”, a number that isn’t in anything you gave it. If that slips into client copy, it’s your name on it.

You know how to brief. So why does it keep happening?

Why it keeps happening

Nothing was decided before the first sentence.

A thin draft isn’t a word problem. It’s a decision problem: who is reading, the one thing they should believe, what they get and the one thing they should do. When those aren’t settled, the model fills the gap with whatever sounds likely.

You know this. You may even keep a briefing system. Then a deadline lands, the brief gets skipped “just this once”, and the chat window writes anyway. It can remind you. It can’t refuse.

You already brief before you write. On a deadline, you skip it. The desk won’t.

Try it here, no account

The draft button stays grey until all four are locked.

Tap each item to lock it. With all four locked, open the draft the desk wrote from this brief.

Sample brief · Shiftnote, a made-up rota app

Product facts in the brief: staff see the rota on their phone, ask for swaps in the app, the owner approves with one tap, the rota exports to PDF. No payroll. No customer data or results yet.

0 of 4 locked

Can’t draft yet. Missing: reader, one idea, offer, one action.

How it works

Claude can’t start until you’ve decided. And it can’t invent what you haven’t proven.

The gate

No draft without the four

Miss reader, one idea, offer or one action and the draft button stays locked. The server checks it too, so there’s no way around it on a deadline.

The proof rule

Claims get checked against your research

Each draft comes with its claims listed as supported, assumption or unsupported. No invented numbers, quotes or results, and your own prompts can’t switch that off.

The handoff

You state the evidence status

Not measured No action data yet. Not a win, not a loss.
Observed Some actions recorded. Not enough to credit this piece alone.
Proven Only with an agreed measurement window, method and comparison.

The first objection

“Isn’t this just Claude?”

Yes, the drafts are written by Claude. What you get here is the step you skip on a deadline. Your chat window reminds. The desk refuses.

Claude chatSquidcopy desk

The briefYou can skip it when you’re rushed.The draft button stays locked until it’s done.

Made-up proofA prompt can ask for “a 3x stat” and get one.Claims are checked against the brief; the rule runs on top of every prompt.

ContextPaste the brief into every new chat.Prompts pull {{reader}} and {{offer}} from the locked brief.

“Won’t a brief take longer than just writing?”Locking four items is work up front, and it’s the thinking clients pay you for. The desk keeps it from being skipped. We haven’t measured whether it saves time overall, so we won’t promise that.

“Will my clients think it’s AI?”The draft is where you start, not what you hand in. Six editing passes, one job each, and a human check that flags generated-copy patterns. Approve a draft and your persona learns from the lines you rewrote.

“AI copy is generic.”Generic usually means nobody decided. The desk makes you decide first, then drafts from that decision.

“I have my own prompts.”Bring them. Paste a prompt or import a SKILL.md. The no-invention rule still runs on top.

Why Squidcopy exists

Built by Ryan Do, a copywriter.

I started writing copy seriously in September 2026. I wanted every piece to reach the same standard, so I split copy into two parts: what a piece must have, and where you’re free to be creative.

Drafting with Claude, I still got stuck for ideas. When Claude did give me ideas, I couldn’t tell which one to pick. And for someone new to copywriting, a chat window wasn’t very clear to work in. Under all of it was one fear: that the reader wouldn’t find the copy worth reading.

So I built a desk where the must-haves get locked first, and the creative part rests on your research and on ideas that have already worked somewhere.

Goal Lock the reader, the offer and one action.
Research Product facts, customer quotes word for word, what competitors say.
Decision Put the ideas you like next to ideas with evidence, and pick one: aligned, taste-only or evidence-only.
Draft Claude writes from the locked brief and lists every claim with its label.
Edit & deliver Six passes, a check against the destination page, then the evidence status.

Pricing

Free while the trial is open.

Paid plans start after the trial. These are the prices we plan to charge, shown now so you can decide with all of it in front of you.

Open now

Open trial

$0 during the trial

The whole desk and every format
30 AI actions a day
Idea library, personas and your prompts
No card

Start free

Planned, after the trial

Solo

$19 / month

One writer, the whole desk
100 AI actions a day

Planned, after the trial

Pro

$49 / month

For writers with several clients
300 AI actions a day

Founding writers keep this price for good. Use the desk during the open trial and your Solo or Pro price stays $19 or $49 a month, even if prices go up later. Not right for you? Your first payment is refunded in full if you ask within 14 days.

Once you’re in

The rest of the desk.

Idea library

Taste and proof, kept apart

Save hooks you like as favor ideas, and posts that beat their own account as validated ideas, with the numbers. Someone else’s outlier never becomes proof for your client.

Personas

Learns from your fixes

Approve a draft and every line you rewrote is saved as “AI line → your line”. The next draft follows those pairs.

Formats

One brief, every format

Ad, email, opt-in page, sales page, video script. Change the format, never the reader, idea, offer or action.

Editing

Six passes, one job each

Trim, Clear, Specific, Credible, Voice, Grammar. Then check the copy against the destination page.

A fair objection

“Is my clients’ data safe with you?”

Only your account can open itEvery brief, quote and persona belongs to your account. We don’t sell your work or train models on it.

Claude sees it only when you clickA piece goes to Claude (Anthropic) only when you press an AI button. By default Anthropic doesn’t train on API data and deletes it within 30 days.

Delete means deleteDelete account removes the account and every brief, idea, quote, persona and prompt saved in it.

Read the privacy page

Questions

Before you sign in.

What happens when the trial ends?: We’ll email you at least 14 days before paid plans start. Nothing is charged automatically, since we never ask for a card, and your work stays yours.
What if I don’t pick a paid plan?: Your account and work stay. You can keep writing by hand and download your pieces; the AI buttons need a plan.
Can I get a refund?: Yes, for your first payment: ask within 14 days and it’s refunded in full. After that you can cancel any time, and the plan runs to the end of the month you paid for. Details are in the terms.
What counts as an AI action?: One press of an AI button: a draft, an editing pass, a check against the page. You get 30 in any 24 hours during the trial, 100 on Solo and 300 on Pro. Writing by hand on the desk doesn’t count.
Which AI writes the drafts?: Claude, by Anthropic. A piece goes to it only when you press an AI button.
Can I write copy in Vietnamese?: Yes. Each brief has a copy language, English or Vietnamese. The desk’s notes stay in English.
Where is my work stored?: In a database hosted by Neon in the United States, readable only through your account. The privacy page has the details.
How do I leave?: Delete your account from the account menu. It removes every brief, idea, quote, persona and prompt.

Lock your first brief

Lock one reader and one action
Record customer quotes word for word
One idea before any sentences
Edit one pass at a time, then deliver

Start free: lock your first brief

Get a second read

Send your filled-in brief for one review before the copy starts.