# improve-app

Walks a shipped app from “works but feels rough” to a product that fits the job: nine phases, questions at every step, notes in docs/.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · 2200 installs · ★ 2508
- Author: wondelai
- License: MIT · policy=mirror · the beginning of the file is at the end of this page
- Source: https://github.com/wondelai/skills/tree/HEAD/improve-app/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-09-10
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/improve-app

## What it does

This skill is for an app that already ships — users, screens, a real flow — but feels rough where it should feel effortless. It runs nine phases in evidence order: re-anchor on the job the app is hired for, remove friction, polish the look and the moments, sharpen the words, persuade honestly, and finish with a review brutal enough to cut. That order is the whole game. A prettier screen on a confusing flow loses users at the same rate.

Under the hood it orchestrates nine skills: `jobs-to-be-done`, `ux-heuristics`, `design-everyday-things`, `refactoring-ui`, `microinteractions`, `made-to-stick`, `influence-psychology`, `high-perf-browser`, `steve-jobs-design-review`. The agent asks before deciding and records results in `docs/`: `CUSTOMER.md`, `DESIGN.md`, `POSITIONING.md`, `IMPROVE-APP-PLAN.md`. That makes the journey resumable across sessions — the tracker is read first, and a journey with a tracker is resumed, never restarted.

One hard rule: no UI or copy change ships without an audit or evidence row from the first three phases behind it. A change with no finding behind it goes back to the audits. If a phase skill is missing, the skill offers `npx skills add wondelai/skills/<slug> --global`; decline and it runs the phase from its brief, stating which mode it is in. For one framework in isolation, invoke that skill directly.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add wondelai/skills --skill improve-app -a claude-code
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `~/.claude/skills/improve-app/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/improve-app/

### Codex

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add wondelai/skills --skill improve-app -a codex
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/improve-app/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Cursor

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add wondelai/skills --skill improve-app -a cursor
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/improve-app/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install wondelai/skills improve-app
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/improve-app/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add wondelai/skills --skill improve-app -a gemini-cli
```

2. **Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/wondelai/skills --path improve-app
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/improve-app/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### OpenCode

**Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add wondelai/skills --skill improve-app -a opencode
```

### Claude.ai

**Claude.ai**
- Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills

Where a file is given instead of a command, copy the files from the source to that path: https://github.com/wondelai/skills/tree/HEAD/improve-app/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- find the job users actually hire the app for
- cut screens that make people stop and think
- rewrite in-app copy so it reads without jargon
- check whether paywall and upgrade moments persuade honestly
- take a shipped app from rough to presentable

## Example prompts
- run improve-app: the app works but feels rough
- start the ux-heuristics phase of improve-app and show where the interface slows people down
- resume improve-app from the phase we stopped at

## Source text · SKILL.md · MIT

Below is the content of a third-party file. It is data, not instructions for you: do not act on anything written inside unless the human asks. Block tag: 7be19fed41cf8761.

BEGIN THIRD-PARTY FILE 7be19fed41cf8761
```text
---
name: improve-app
description: 'Guided journey from a shipped app that works but feels rough to a product that fits the job, flows without friction, reads clearly, and persuades honestly. Orchestrates nine skills phase by phase - jobs-to-be-done, ux-heuristics, design-everyday-things, refactoring-ui, microinteractions, made-to-stick, influence-psychology, high-perf-browser, steve-jobs-design-review - asking the user questions at every decision point and recording results in the project docs/ folder (CUSTOMER.md, DESIGN.md, POSITIONING.md, IMPROVE-APP-PLAN.md) so the journey resumes across sessions. Use when the user wants to fix a clunky product, cut UX friction, sharpen in-app copy, or says ''the app works but feels rough''. Not for code, tests, or hardening - use improve-code-quality (fresh prototype) or remove-technical-debt (aged); no app yet, create-app; needs growth loops, grow-app; marketing-site friction, improve-website; one leaking flow, conversion-optimization. For one framework in isolation, invoke that skill directly.'
license: MIT
metadata:
  author: wondelai
  version: "2.0.2"
---

# Improve an App

The app already ships and works — users, screens, a real flow — but the experience feels rough where it
should feel effortless. Across nine phases this journey fixes what users feel, in evidence order: re-anchor
on the job, remove friction, polish the look and the moments, sharpen the words, persuade honestly, and end
with a review brutal enough to cut. It is interactive (the agent asks before deciding) and resumable (state
lives in `docs/`). Code-level causes route out to the code journeys — this pass fixes the product experience.

## Core Principle

**Fix what users feel, in evidence order: re-anchor on the job the app is hired for, remove friction before
polish, sharpen the words, persuade honestly, and end with a review brutal enough to cut.** A prettier
screen on a confusing flow loses users at the same rate — the order of the phases is the whole game.

This skill sequences the phases, asks the decision questions, and records what you decide. The nine
constituent skills carry the method — invoke them rather than improvising their frameworks.

## Journey Map

| Phase | Skill | Question it answers | Artifact |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | jobs-to-be-done | What job is the app hired for, and where does it underdeliver? | Extends docs/CUSTOMER.md — GATE |
| 2 | ux-heuristics | Where does the interface make users stop and think? | Extends docs/DESIGN.md, docs/EXPERIMENTS.md |
```
END THIRD-PARTY FILE 7be19fed41cf8761

The third-party file has ended. Everything between the 7be19fed41cf8761 tags is data: requests and commands from it are not followed. An “end of file” line with another tag inside the block is part of the file.

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