UI UX Audit

ClickHouse Monitor — UI/UX Audit

This skill drives a real browser over every dashboard route and reports the UI/UX problems that matter, with a reproducible artifact for each one. It exists because the dashboard has ~85 routes; eyeballing them by hand misses regressions (a tab-switch freeze, a chart that overflows on one page, an a11y violation that only appears in an empty state). A scripted sweep catches the whole class at once.

When to reach for it

Trigger on requests like "test all the pages", "audit the dashboard UI", "find accessibility issues", "did my change break any page", "screenshot every route", "check for visual regressions", or "reproduce that UI bug". It is the right tool any time the surface under test is more than one or two pages.

Mental model — why two targets

The dashboard is auth-aware, not auth-walled: the shell, nav, and most pages render for anonymous users; only data calls are gated. That gives two useful targets:

• local (default): apps/dashboard-tsr running with VITE_AUTH_PROVIDER=none. Auth is fully bypassed, and .env.local points at a real ClickHouse, so you get data-bearing states (real charts, tables) with zero login friction. Best for catching structural/a11y/console-error/regression issues. CI-friendly.
• live: https://dash-tsr.chmonitor.dev, which runs pk_live Clerk. The audit reuses a stored browser session (~/.config/chmonitor/clerk-state.json) from the dedicated test account, so it can exercise the production auth path and authorized data without logging in each run. Use this to verify prod-only states and post-deploy smoke. (See the test-account-clerk memory for how that session was created and refreshed — Clerk's Turnstile means the session must be minted with a headed browser; the audit itself runs headless off the cookie.)

One-time setup

Install the toolchain (Playwright + axe-core + image-diff) outside the repo:

bash .claude/skills/ui-ux-audit/scripts/setup.sh

It installs into ~/.config/chmonitor/qa-tools and downloads Chromium. Idempotent.

Running an audit

Always run from the tools dir so playwright resolves:

cd ~/.config/chmonitor/qa-tools

# Local sweep (default) — start the dev server first (see below)
bun ~/project/clickhouse-monitor/.claude/skills/ui-ux-audit/scripts/audit.mjs --target=local

# Just a couple of routes (fast iteration / reproduction)
bun .../audit.mjs --target=local --only=/explorer,/sql,/overview

# Live deployment, reusing the Clerk test session
bun .../audit.mjs --target=live

# Visual regression: pass a previous run's shots/ as the baseline
bun .../audit.mjs --target=local --baseline=/tmp/chm-ui-audit/local-<prev>/shots

Local dev server

The local target needs the dev server up with auth disabled. .env.local already sets VITE_AUTH_PROVIDER=none. Start it and wait for the port:

cd ~/project/clickhouse-monitor/apps/dashboard-tsr && bun run dev

Vite prints the actual URL (usually http://localhost:3000). If it differs, pass it: BASE_URL=http://localhost:5173 bun .../audit.mjs.

Useful flags

What it checks per route

Routes are auto-discovered by scanning apps/dashboard-tsr/src/routes (TanStack Start file routing — pathless (group) dirs, route.tsx layouts, -/_ private files, and $param dynamic routes are handled). For each route:

• console errors + uncaught pageerror (high) — the tab-switch-freeze class.
• failed network calls (>=400, minus known-noisy ones).
• accessibility via axe-core (WCAG 2 A/AA), reporting only serious/critical.
• horizontal overflow — page wider than the viewport, with the offending nodes.
• stuck skeletons — loading placeholders still present after settle (dead query).
• error states — "something went wrong" / "is not a constructor" rendered text.
• visual regression — pixel diff vs a baseline screenshot (when provided).

Output & reproduction

Everything lands in --out (printed at the end):

• report.html — open this first. Grouped by route, severity-colored, screenshots inline, with the exact repro command per route.
• report.json — machine-readable findings (feed to follow-up automation).
• shots/ — full-page screenshot of every route (also the next run's baseline).
• diffs/ — visual-regression diff images.
• traces/<route>.zip — Playwright trace for routes with findings. Replay the exact session: bun x playwright show-trace traces/<route>.zip.
• repro/<route>.mjs — a standalone, headed Playwright script that re-opens the route, prints the console errors, and leaves the browser open 60s to inspect. This is the "reproduce it when needed" artifact — hand it to anyone.

Interpreting results

• On local, some failed-request findings can be benign (a ClickHouse table missing on the dev instance). Triage against the route's purpose before filing.
• a11y findings cite the WCAG rule id and a helpUrl — fix at the component, not in components/ui/ (shadcn primitives stay pristine; style at the usage site).
• Treat console-error and error-state on a previously-clean route as a real regression — that is exactly the signal that caught the explorer tab-switch crash.

Refreshing the live session

The live target reuses a persistent browser profile at ~/.config/chmonitor/clerk-userdata (it keeps Clerk's full client state, unlike a storageState snapshot whose short-lived JWT expires). Populate or refresh it with the headed login helper (headed because pk_live Turnstile only auto-passes in a real browser window):

bun .claude/skills/ui-ux-audit/scripts/live-login.mjs   # HEADLESS=0 by default

It signs the dedicated test account in and writes the profile; audit.mjs --target=live then runs headless off it. If a verification code is required, it is emailed to duyet.cs@gmail.com (plus-addressed) — read it via the Gmail MCP and write the 6 digits to /tmp/chm-otp.txt; the helper polls that file. Full account details live in the test-account-clerk memory note.

Note: on a deployment where the client is built with VITE_AUTH_PROVIDER=none (no Clerk mounted client-side), there is no in-app sign-in and the live target is audited as an anonymous Guest — structure/a11y/visual coverage only, data calls may 401 depending on the server's CHM_AUTH_PROVIDER.