Microcopy
The tiny functional words inside an interface: button labels, error messages, tooltips, empty states, the hint under the field.
See it
What it is
Microcopy is the functional text living inside the interface rather than around it: button labels, form hints, error messages, empty states, confirmation dialogs, the line explaining why the password wants a symbol. Tiny word count, enormous blast radius. 'Delete' versus 'Delete forever' is the difference between a support ticket and no support ticket.
Reach for it anywhere a person can hesitate, guess wrong, or panic. Good microcopy is specific ('Card declined by your bank, try another card') instead of generic ('Something went wrong'), and it labels buttons with the verb of the outcome ('Send invite') instead of 'Submit' or 'OK'.
Gotcha: microcopy that reads fine in a doc breaks in the box. Every string has to survive the real component at every width and in every language (German runs roughly 30 percent longer), so write against the actual UI, not a spreadsheet.
Ask AI for it
Rewrite all microcopy in this interface: every button label, empty state, error message, tooltip, and form hint. Rules: label buttons with the verb of the outcome ('Send invite', never 'Submit' or 'OK'); make each error say what happened, why, and the exact next action; write empty states that explain the payoff and offer one action; use second person, present tense, sentence case, no exclamation marks, no 'oops' or 'whoops'. Cap button labels at 3 words and errors at 2 sentences. Return a table of location, old string, new string.