# principle-experience-first

A principle skill that shifts priority toward the user when product, UX, or feature-scope tradeoffs come up. Useful when deciding what to cut.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · 5100 installs · ★ 2737
- Author: backnotprop
- License: MIT · policy=mirror · the beginning of the file is at the end of this page
- Source: https://github.com/backnotprop/pstack/tree/HEAD/skills/principle-experience-first/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-10-24
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/principle-experience-first

## What it does

The skill sets one rule: when implementation convenience conflicts with user delight, choose delight. Every feature, control, and option must be justified, and three polished features beat ten rough ones.

The user is not only the end user of a UI. For a library or internal API, it's the colleague who imports it. The engineer who maintains the code next is a user too. The skill requires weighing their experience the same way and explaining impact from their perspective.

Prototyping gets explicit attention: design decisions are cheaper in throwaway HTML than in production code. The core loop matters as well, since every feature should serve the central workflow or get out of the way.

\`disable-model-invocation: true` in the frontmatter means the model will not trigger the skill by itself. You call it explicitly when a product or UX tradeoff appears.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add backnotprop/pstack --skill principle-experience-first -a claude-code
```

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

### Codex

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add backnotprop/pstack --skill principle-experience-first -a codex
```

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

### Cursor

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add backnotprop/pstack --skill principle-experience-first -a cursor
```

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

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install backnotprop/pstack principle-experience-first
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/principle-experience-first/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add backnotprop/pstack --skill principle-experience-first -a gemini-cli
```

2. **Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/backnotprop/pstack --path skills/principle-experience-first
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

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

### OpenCode

**Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add backnotprop/pstack --skill principle-experience-first -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/backnotprop/pstack/tree/HEAD/skills/principle-experience-first/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- decide what to sacrifice when cutting scope
- stop implementation convenience from overriding user experience
- account for the maintainer's perspective in design choices
- validate a design hypothesis before production code

## Example prompts
- Apply principle-experience-first to choosing between two feature variants
- Which features should I cut to make the core flow better?
- Evaluate this decision from the perspective of the library user

## 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: 14e921f70d8d7400.

BEGIN THIRD-PARTY FILE 14e921f70d8d7400
```text
---
name: principle-experience-first
description: "Apply when product, UX, or feature-scope tradeoffs come up. Choose user delight over implementation convenience; ship fewer polished features over more rough ones."
disable-model-invocation: true
---

# Experience First

When implementation convenience conflicts with user delight, choose delight.

- Every feature, control, and option must be justified
- Ship less, ship better (polished experience with three features beats rough one with ten)
- Prototype before committing (design decisions are cheaper in throwaway HTML than production code)
- Get the details right (transitions, alignment, spacing, feedback, error states)
- Tighten the core loop (every feature should serve the central workflow or get out of the way)

The user is whoever consumes the work. For a UI that is the end user. For a library or an internal API it is the colleague who imports it. The engineer who maintains the code next is a user too. Weigh their experience the same way, and explain impact from their perspective.

Foundations should serve the experience. Foundational thinking governs the *sequence* of work. This principle governs the *target*.
```
END THIRD-PARTY FILE 14e921f70d8d7400

The third-party file has ended. Everything between the 14e921f70d8d7400 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.

© backnotprop · MIT · https://github.com/backnotprop/pstack/tree/HEAD/skills/principle-experience-first/SKILL.md

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From the same set: [backnotprop/pstack](https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/by/backnotprop/pstack.md) — 44 cards

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