onboard

Overview of onboard skill

What onboard does

The onboard skill helps design or improve onboarding flows, empty states, and first-run experiences so users reach value faster. It is aimed at product teams, designers, and AI users who need more than a generic “make onboarding better” prompt. In practice, onboard is most useful when you need structured thinking about activation: what new users must understand, what the key “aha moment” is, and how to reduce friction without over-explaining.

Who the onboard skill is best for

Use onboard if you are working on product onboarding, setup guidance, activation flows, welcome states, or empty-state UX. It is especially relevant for onboard for UI/UX Design tasks where the goal is not just prettier copy, but a clearer path from first visit to first success.

The real job-to-be-done

Most teams do not need more onboarding screens. They need a better path to first value. The onboard skill is built around that decision: identify what users are trying to do, what blocks them, what they must learn first, and what the product should reveal later.

What makes onboard different from a normal prompt

The main differentiator is its workflow. The skill does not jump straight into UI suggestions. It first requires design context, asks for the target “aha moment,” and checks user experience level before proposing onboarding changes. That makes onboard better suited to practical design decisions than a one-shot prompt that only rewrites a tooltip or checklist.

Important adoption caveat

This skill depends on prior context. Its own instructions explicitly require invoking /frontend-design first and, if no design context exists yet, running /teach-impeccable. If you skip that preparation, onboard usage will be weaker because the skill is designed to build on product, user, and interface context rather than invent it.

How to Use onboard skill

onboard install context and repository path

The onboard install decision is simple: this skill lives at .claude/skills/onboard in pbakaus/impeccable. There is only one source file, SKILL.md, so evaluation is fast. Start there rather than searching for extra rules or helper assets that are not present in this skill folder.

Read this file first

Read SKILL.md first and fully. For this skill, that is effectively the whole implementation. The most important section is MANDATORY PREPARATION, because it changes whether the skill can be used correctly at all.

Mandatory dependencies before onboard usage

Before using onboard, you should:

1. Invoke /frontend-design.
2. Follow its Context Gathering Protocol.
3. If no design context exists yet, run /teach-impeccable.
4. Gather two extra inputs: the target “aha moment” and users’ experience level.

If you ignore those dependencies, the skill may still produce ideas, but they are more likely to be generic and less tied to real user behavior.

What input onboard needs to work well

The best onboard usage starts with concise but specific product context:

• what the product does
• who the new user is
• what the first successful outcome looks like
• where users currently hesitate, drop off, or misunderstand
• what action matters most in the first session
• whether users are beginners, experts, or mixed
• time available for onboarding
• known alternatives or competitor habits users bring with them

This matches the skill’s own logic: challenge, user understanding, and success definition come before solution design.

Turn a rough goal into a strong onboard prompt

Weak input:

• “Improve our onboarding.”

Stronger input:

• “Use onboard for our team analytics app. New users sign up but often stop before connecting a data source. The aha moment is seeing their first live dashboard. Users are mid-level marketers with limited setup patience. Review the first-run flow, empty dashboard state, and setup guidance. Recommend the minimum onboarding needed to get them to a connected dashboard in under 10 minutes.”

The stronger version gives the skill what it actually needs to reason well: product, friction point, aha moment, user type, and success threshold.

Suggested workflow for onboard for UI/UX Design

A practical workflow is:

1. Gather product and user context.
2. Run /frontend-design.
3. Add the aha moment and user experience level.
4. Invoke onboard on a specific target such as signup flow, empty state, first project creation, or workspace setup.
5. Review whether the output improves time-to-value, not just clarity or polish.
6. Iterate with real constraints like screen count, required data, or compliance steps.

For onboard for UI/UX Design, this sequencing matters because onboarding quality depends on product flow decisions, not just microcopy.

Best targets to pass as the argument

The skill is user-invocable with argument-hint: "[target]", so pass a concrete target rather than a broad department-level ask. Good targets include:

• signup flow
• first-run checklist
• empty dashboard state
• invite teammates step
• connect integration onboarding
• first project creation

Concrete targets help the skill focus on one activation bottleneck at a time.

What the skill is likely to optimize for

Based on the source, onboard is built to optimize for:

• faster understanding
• reduced confusion
• earlier first success
• clearer prioritization of what users must learn now vs later
• onboarding that shows value instead of describing value

That “show, don’t tell” bias is important. If your current experience relies on explanation-heavy modals, the skill will likely push toward action-led learning.

When onboard is a strong fit

Use onboard skill when users mention:

• onboarding
• first-time users
• activation
• empty states
• getting started
• new user flows

It is a strong fit when the product works, but adoption is weaker than it should be because new users do not quickly understand what to do next.

When not to use onboard

Do not choose onboard if your task is mainly:

• visual redesign without onboarding implications
• isolated copy edits
• growth lifecycle email campaigns
• advanced feature education for established users
• backend setup or API integration docs

In those cases, a general design or content skill may be a better fit than the onboard skill.

onboard skill FAQ

Is onboard only for full onboarding flows?

No. onboard also fits narrower tasks like empty states, first-run guidance, or a single activation step that users fail to complete. You do not need a full multi-screen onboarding project to use it.

Is onboard beginner-friendly?

Yes, but only if you can provide basic product context. The skill itself is structured enough to guide the analysis, but it assumes you can explain the user, the core task, and the desired aha moment. Without that, results will be generic.

How is onboard better than an ordinary AI prompt?

A normal prompt often outputs familiar advice like “use tooltips, simplify steps, add progress indicators.” onboard is more useful when you need a disciplined review of what users are trying to achieve, what they need to learn first, and how onboarding should support activation rather than distract from it.

Does onboard require other skills?

Yes. The repository is explicit: onboard depends on /frontend-design, and sometimes /teach-impeccable, before use. That dependency is not optional in the intended workflow.

Is onboard useful outside SaaS products?

Usually yes, as long as there is a first-use learning curve and a definable first success moment. It can work for apps, internal tools, creator software, and other digital products where users need to get oriented quickly.

What is the main limitation of onboard?

The biggest limitation is that the skill has no supporting references, examples, or automation files in its folder. Its value comes from the reasoning framework in SKILL.md, so output quality depends heavily on the context you provide.

How to Improve onboard skill

Give onboard the aha moment up front

If you improve only one thing in your prompt, define the product’s aha moment clearly. Example:

• weak: “Help users get started”
• strong: “The aha moment is publishing their first branded page and seeing it live”

This sharpens the onboarding path because the skill can work backward from the moment that proves value.

Segment users by experience level

The source explicitly asks for users’ experience level. Do not skip this. Beginner, mixed, and expert audiences need different onboarding depth. A flow for power users should remove friction; a flow for novices may need progressive explanation and safer defaults.

Describe where users drop off

Better onboard results come from real friction points, not abstract dissatisfaction. Useful examples:

• “Users create an account but never import data.”
• “They open the empty workspace and do nothing.”
• “They start setup, then abandon at permissions.”

This helps the skill prioritize the right intervention instead of proposing broad improvements everywhere.

Define success as a user action

Do not ask for “better onboarding” without a measurable target. Give the skill one clear success event:

• first project created
• first teammate invited
• first integration connected
• first report exported

That keeps recommendations anchored to activation, which is where onboard is strongest.

Add constraints that affect design quality

Tell the skill what it cannot change:

• no extra screens
• must keep signup under 2 minutes
• compliance requires one permission step
• mobile-only flow
• mixed technical audience

Constraints improve output because they force tradeoffs. Without them, the skill may suggest unrealistic ideal-state onboarding.

Ask for sequence, not just ideas

A high-quality onboard guide request asks for order and rationale. For example:

• “Recommend the sequence of steps, what to reveal at each step, and what to defer until after first success.”

That produces more usable output than asking for a list of onboarding tips.

Compare current flow vs proposed flow

To improve the skill’s output after the first pass, provide your current sequence and ask for a delta:

• current steps
• observed problem at each step
• proposed changes
• expected impact on time-to-value

This makes iteration sharper than rerunning the same broad prompt.

Watch for common failure modes

The most common weak outputs with onboard are:

• too much explanation before action
• onboarding every feature instead of the core task
• no distinction between beginners and experienced users
• unclear success event
• polished UI advice without activation logic

If you see these, the problem is usually missing context, not the skill itself.

Use onboard iteratively on one surface at a time

Do not ask the skill to redesign your whole acquisition-to-retention journey in one pass. Better results come from scoped targets such as:

• welcome screen
• empty state
• setup wizard
• first task flow

Then combine the improvements into a broader onboarding system.

Pair onboard with evidence from real users

The onboard skill becomes much more credible when you feed it actual support tickets, session findings, or analytics drop-off points. Even a small amount of evidence helps the skill distinguish between what looks confusing and what is proven to block adoption.