# Principle Experience First

> Apply when product, UX, or feature-scope tradeoffs come up. Choose user delight over implementation convenience; ship fewer polished features over more rough ones.

- Skill: `scriptedalchemy/principle-experience-first` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add scriptedalchemy/principle-experience-first`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/scriptedalchemy/principle-experience-first/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: ScriptedAlchemy (https://skillmd.com/u/scriptedalchemy)
- Updated: 2026-09-22
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/scriptedalchemy/principle-experience-first

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Before following this workflow, read [the Codex runtime contract](../../CODEX.md). It defines plugin paths, model configuration, delegation, and persistence.

# 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*.