/prototype

name: prototype
description: Move an idea up the fidelity ladder (content-first → wireframe → low-fi → high-fi → code) with a validation plan at each level, plus user-journey mapping and usability-testing scripts. Use when the user wants to prototype, wireframe, map a user flow, or plan/run usability testing.
# `invocation:` was not a field Claude Code reads - unknown frontmatter keys are
# ignored without an error, so these six were auto-invocable the whole time they
# were marked user-only. This is the field that actually does it.
disable-model-invocation: true

Skill: Prototype & Research

Requirements

This skill needs the full UX/UI Agent Skills kit: the gates, the references and the design-system library. Install it with `npx ux-ui-agent-skills@3.1.0 init` or as the Claude Code plugin. `npx skills@1.7.6 add` copies the skill folder and nothing else. Installed that way, this skill runs in **guidance-only mode**: no gate runs, so it gives no verdict.

> **Step 0: is the kit here?** Check once: > `ls ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../../tokens >/dev/null 2>&1 && echo KIT_OK || echo KIT_MISSING` > On `KIT_MISSING`, open your reply with: "Guidance-only mode: the UX/UI Agent > Skills kit is not installed here, so no gate ran and nothing below is > measured." Then work from this file and general practice, under three rules. > Do not guess or cite the contents of a kit file you could not open. State no > measured number (no contrast ratio, no N/N, no "passes WCAG"): write "not > verified" where one would go. End with a line `Skipped (kit not installed):` > that names every gate script this file tells you to run, then the install > command above.

Guide work through the right fidelity level with validation.

Steps

1. Read `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../../workflows/prototyping.md` (5-level fidelity ladder, journey mapping template, usability-testing script, sample data). 2. Identify the current need and pick the **lowest** fidelity that answers it. Never skip levels:

• Content-first (info needs) → Wireframe (layout/nav) → Low-fi (task completion) → High-fi (visual/a11y) → Code (feasibility/perf).

3. For flows: produce a user-journey map with decision points, error paths, and edge cases. 4. For validation: define the usability test (tasks, success criteria, 5-user rule) using the script. 5. High-fi/code steps pull tokens (`${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../../tokens/*`), components (`${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../../components/*`), taste (`${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../../taste/*`), and a11y (`${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../../accessibility/*`).

Output

The artifact at the chosen fidelity + an explicit "what we validate next" plan.

Verification (before declaring done)

• The fidelity matches the question being answered; no level skipped.
• Flows include decision points, **error paths, and edge cases** (empty/loading/overflow), not just the happy path.
• A concrete validation step is named (tasks + success criteria), not "test later".
• High-fi/code artifacts pass the same token + a11y bar as `design-code` (no hardcoded values, contrast, states).