What is papertowel linter ?

Papertowel is a Rust-based tool that scans code for AI-generated stylistic tells — slop words, over-comments, generic READMEs — and replaces them to make it look human-written.

How do you install and use papertowel?

Cargo install it, then `papertowel scan .` to check, `papertowel scrub .` to fix. Dry-run first.

Does papertowel hide AI code from open source reviewers?

It removes obvious fingerprints, fooling basic detectors, but won't fix bad logic or deep patterns — verify your code anyway.

🤖 AI Dev Tools

Papertowel: The Linter Erasing AI's Telltale Fingerprints From Code

Devs are rejecting solid code because it reeks of ChatGPT. Enter papertowel, a linter that wipes away those dead giveaways — and yes, it's gloriously ironic.

theAIcatchup Apr 10, 2026 3 min read

Command line output of papertowel scanning and scrubbing AI-generated code fingerprints

⚡ Key Takeaways

Papertowel scrubs AI code fingerprints like slop vocab and over-docs, letting quality shine over provenance. 𝕏
Irony abounds: AI-built tool helps hide AI assistance in purist dev communities. 𝕏
Real code quality trumps authorship — verify your work, don't fear the detectors. 𝕏

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theAIcatchup

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#AI code detection #AI code linter #LLM fingerprints #code provenance #code scrubbing #papertowel #papertowel linter

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Originally reported by dev.to

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