/dx-roaster

name: dx-roaster
description: 'Brutally honest developer-experience audit for a GitHub repo. Scores 10 DX dimensions (time-to-first-success, README clarity, visual proof, install, quick-start, docs, examples, community, trust, marketing), writes a shareable roast in the requested tone (brutal/honest/kind), produces a prioritized action plan ranked by impact × effort, and sketches an ideal README. Trigger when user says "roast my repo", "audit my README", "dx audit", "developer experience review", "score my GitHub project", "before launch checklist", or "make my repo shareable".'
author: OpenDirectory
version: 1.0.0

dx-roaster

Roasts a GitHub repo's developer experience. Produces four files: `roast.md`, `action-plan.md`, `ideal-readme.md`, `score.json`. Built for OSS maintainers and dev-tool founders preparing for Show HN, Product Hunt, or any launch where the first five minutes matter.

---

Critical rules (read before every run)

1. **Read all three reference files BEFORE scoring.** `references/scoring-rubric.md`, `references/roast-voice-guide.md`, `references/readme-template.md`. The rubric is non-negotiable — use the exact 10 dimensions.

2. **Score every dimension on the 0–10 scale. Never skip.** Missing data = score 0, not "N/A".

3. **Roast must cite specific findings.** Quote bad lines verbatim. Reference file paths. Cite line numbers when possible. Never write generic platitudes like "documentation could be better".

4. **Tone matters.** Default `honest`. Switch voice per `references/roast-voice-guide.md`. Brutal is funny but never personal. Kind is encouraging but still specific.

5. **Action plan is impact-ranked, not severity-ranked.** Use `impact × (1 / effort)`. A 5-minute fix that adds 10 points ranks above a 2-hour fix that adds 12 points.

6. **Never invent URLs.** When writing `ideal-readme.md`, use `<placeholder>` syntax for missing links. Roast will tell maintainer to fill in.

7. **Never name maintainers or contributors.** Roast the work, not the people.

8. **Output exactly four files** in `dx-roast/`. Do not write to other locations. Do not skip files.

---

Step 1: Intake

**Required:**

• `repo` — local path (default `.`) OR `https://github.com/owner/repo` URL

**Optional:**

| Parameter | Default | Description | |---|---|---| | `tone` | `honest` | `brutal` / `honest` / `kind` | | `output_dir` | `dx-roast/` | Where to write the 4 output files | | `compare_to` | none | Optional second repo URL for benchmark comparison |

If `repo` is a URL: clone to a temp dir using `git clone <url> /tmp/dx-roast-<short-hash>`. Scan from there. Delete temp dir after run.

If `repo` is `.` or local path: scan in place, do not modify anything.

---

Step 2: Discover

Read these files (each may be absent — note absence):

• `README.md` — full contents, structure (headings), code blocks, image refs, badge URLs
• `CONTRIBUTING.md`, `CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md`
• `.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/`, `.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md`, `.github/CODEOWNERS`
• `package.json` (description, homepage, repository, license, scripts), `pyproject.toml`, `Cargo.toml`, `go.mod`
• `LICENSE` (existence + type)
• `docs/` folder contents (just file names + sizes)
• `examples/` or `samples/` or `cookbook/` folder
• `.github/workflows/*.yml` (just names + brief CI presence check)

If `repo` is a URL, also fetch via `gh`:

gh api repos/<owner>/<repo> --jq '{stars: .stargazers_count, forks: .forks_count, watchers: .subscribers_count, pushed_at, description, homepage, topics, default_branch}'
gh api repos/<owner>/<repo>/commits --jq '.[0].commit.author.date' | head -1
gh api repos/<owner>/<repo>/contributors --paginate --jq '[.[] | .login] | length'

Catch and continue if any GitHub call fails.

---

Step 3: Score 10 dimensions

For each of the 10 dimensions in `references/scoring-rubric.md`, output `{score: 0–10, evidence: [...]}` where `evidence` is a list of 1–3 short strings citing what you found.

Example:

"visual_proof": {
  "score": 4,
  "evidence": [
    "Found 1 screenshot at line 89 (below the fold)",
    "No animated demo / gif",
    "No video"
  ]
}

Sum scores → total (0–100) → grade (A/B/C/D/F per rubric).

Save to `dx-roast/score.json` with this exact shape:

{
  "repo": "<owner/repo or local path>",
  "scanned_at": "<ISO 8601 timestamp>",
  "dimensions": {
    "time_to_first_success": { "score": 7, "evidence": ["..."] },
    "what_is_this_clarity": { "score": 5, "evidence": ["..."] },
    "visual_proof": { "score": 4, "evidence": ["..."] },
    "install_simplicity": { "score": 9, "evidence": ["..."] },
    "runnable_quick_start": { "score": 8, "evidence": ["..."] },
    "documentation_depth": { "score": 6, "evidence": ["..."] },
    "examples": { "score": 5, "evidence": ["..."] },
    "community_signals": { "score": 3, "evidence": ["..."] },
    "trust_signals": { "score": 7, "evidence": ["..."] },
    "marketing_signals": { "score": 4, "evidence": ["..."] }
  },
  "total": 58,
  "grade": "D",
  "tone": "honest"
}

---

Step 4: Write the roast

Read `references/roast-voice-guide.md`. Apply the requested tone. Write 250–500 words to `dx-roast/roast.md`.

**Required structure:**

# DX Roast: <repo name>

**Grade: <letter> (<total>/100)** · Tone: <tone>

<Paragraph 1: the verdict. What works + the big gap.>

<Paragraph 2: cite 2 specific findings with file references.>

<Paragraph 3: cite 2 more findings, tie to dimension scores.>

<Paragraph 4 (optional): a final twist or comparison to a known good repo.>

<Closing paragraph: point to `action-plan.md` for the path forward.>

Every roast must reference at least **3 specific findings** from `score.json` evidence arrays.

---

Step 5: Generate action plan

Compute `priority = impact / effort_minutes` for each candidate fix. Take top 5–10. Sort desc by priority.

For each fix, write to `dx-roast/action-plan.md`:

### N. <Fix in imperative voice, one line>

**Why:** <One-senten