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Agent skill

Cognitive Accessibility

by Owl-Listener in Owl-Listener/designpowers

A skill your agent uses when evaluating mental load, wayfinding, focus management, memory demands, or decision complexity in any interface — ensures designs work for people with cognitive…

MITAuto-check passedFrontend & Design

Install Cognitive Accessibility

skills CLI
$ npx skills add Owl-Listener/designpowers --skill cognitive-accessibility -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install Owl-Listener/designpowers cognitive-accessibility --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Owl-Listener/designpowers.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/cognitive-accessibility .claude/skills/cognitive-accessibility && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
cognitive-accessibility
GitHub stars
251
Token cost
~1.3k tokens
SKILL.md length
673 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
33
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

A skill your agent uses when evaluating mental load, wayfinding, focus management, memory demands, or decision complexity in any interface — ensures designs work for people with cognitive…

  • Works in 6 steps: Assess Cognitive Load → Reduce Extraneous Load → Wayfinding → …
  • Evaluating mental load
  • SKILL.md covers When to Use, Process, Integration and Quick Reference: COGA Guidelines
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Cognitive Accessibility is an agent skill from Owl-Listener/designpowers. Use when evaluating mental load, wayfinding, focus management, memory demands, or decision complexity in any interface — ensures designs work for people with cognitive differences, under stress, or managing divided attention

Its SKILL.md is about 1.3k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

It sits in Frontend & Design, covering Accessibility. The repository describes itself as: An agent design team you control: 10 agents that run an inclusive design process while you direct. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • Evaluating mental load
  • Focus management
  • Decision complexity in any interface — ensures designs work for people with cognitive differences
  • Managing divided attention

Example prompts

  • “/cognitive-accessibility”

Workflow steps

6 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.

  1. Assess Cognitive Load
  2. Reduce Extraneous Load
  3. Wayfinding
  4. Focus Management
  5. Error Recovery
  6. Document Cognitive Considerations

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit cb00757. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md.

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Cognitive Accessibility loads about 1.3k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 62 tokens; SKILL.md has 673 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~62
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1.3k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from Owl-Listener/designpowers at commit cb00757, republished under its MIT licence (© Owl-Listener). 673 words, ~1,310 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/cognitive-accessibility/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
cognitive-accessibility
description
Use when evaluating mental load, wayfinding, focus management, memory demands, or decision complexity in any interface — ensures designs work for people with cognitive differences, under stress, or managing divided attention

Cognitive Accessibility

The hardest accessibility barriers to see are cognitive ones. A screen reader user encounters a missing label and knows immediately. A person with a processing difference encounters an interface that demands too much of their working memory and just... leaves. This skill makes cognitive demands visible and manageable.

When to Use

  • Designing multi-step processes or forms
  • Creating navigation structures or information architecture
  • Evaluating whether an interface asks too much of the user
  • Designing for contexts of stress, distraction, or time pressure
  • Reviewing any interface for cognitive load

Process

Step 1: Assess Cognitive Load

For each screen or flow, evaluate three types of load:

Intrinsic load — complexity inherent to the task

  • How many concepts must the user understand simultaneously?
  • How many decisions must they make per screen?
  • Can the task be simplified without losing essential function?

Extraneous load — complexity added by poor design

  • Is information organised logically or scattered?
  • Are instructions clear and visible, or must the user remember them?
  • Is the interface consistent, or do similar things work differently in different places?

Germane load — effort spent learning the system

  • Can the user build a mental model from the interface structure?
  • Are patterns consistent so that learning one part teaches the next?
  • Does the interface reward exploration or punish mistakes?
Step 2: Reduce Extraneous Load

Extraneous load is design debt. Reduce it:

  • Show, do not ask people to remember. If a user needs information from Step 2 in Step 5, display it — do not expect them to recall it
  • Progressive disclosure. Show only what is needed now. Reveal complexity as it becomes relevant
  • Consistent patterns. Same action, same appearance, same location, every time
  • Clear defaults. Sensible pre-selections reduce decisions. Make the safe choice the easy choice
  • Chunking. Break long forms into sections of 3-5 related fields. Break long content into scannable sections
Step 3: Wayfinding

People need to know three things at all times:

  1. Where am I? (clear page titles, breadcrumbs, highlighted navigation)
  2. Where can I go? (visible navigation, clear calls to action)
  3. Where have I been? (visited link styles, progress indicators, history)

For multi-step processes:

  • Show progress (step 3 of 5)
  • Allow backward navigation without data loss
  • Show a summary of previous steps' inputs
  • Allow saving progress and returning later
Show full SKILL.md (298 more words)Show less
Step 4: Focus Management

Attention is a limited resource. Protect it:

  • One primary action per screen. If everything is important, nothing is
  • Visual hierarchy guides attention. The most important element should be the most visually prominent
  • Minimise interruptions. Notifications, pop-ups, and auto-updates break concentration
  • Support return from interruption. If the user is interrupted, the interface should help them resume where they left off
  • Timed actions are hostile. If a timeout is necessary, warn before it expires and allow extension
Step 5: Error Recovery

Cognitive accessibility means mistakes are cheap:

  • Undo everything. Every action should be reversible
  • Confirm destructive actions. "Delete all items?" with a clear way to cancel
  • Preserve input. If a form submission fails, do not clear the fields
  • Forgive formatting. Accept phone numbers with or without dashes, dates in multiple formats
  • Provide clear recovery paths. After an error, the next step should be obvious
Step 6: Document Cognitive Considerations

For each screen or flow, note:

  • Decisions required: how many, how complex
  • Memory demands: what the user must remember vs. what is displayed
  • Wayfinding cues: how the user knows where they are
  • Recovery paths: how the user corrects mistakes
  • Simplification opportunities: what could be removed or deferred

Integration

  • Called by: Any design skill, especially ui-composition and interaction-design
  • Pairs with: accessible-content (language complexity), adaptive-interfaces (personalisation), inclusive-personas (cognitive diversity)
  • Reviewed by: designpowers-critique

Quick Reference: COGA Guidelines

GuidelineImplementation
Provide help and supportContextual help adjacent to complex interactions
Use clear languagePlain language, no jargon, short sentences
Make it easy to find thingsConsistent navigation, clear labels, search
Make tasks easy to completeFewer steps, clear progress, forgiving input
Avoid reliance on memoryDisplay information rather than requiring recall
Provide feedbackClear confirmation of actions and state changes
Prevent and support error correctionValidation, undo, confirmation for destructive actions

© Owl-Listener, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

Just SKILL.md in skills/cognitive-accessibility of Owl-Listener/designpowers.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit cb00757

Compare with similar skills

Cognitive Accessibility next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Cognitive Accessibility compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Cognitive Accessibility this skillOwl-Listener/designpowers251—~1.3kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Web Interface Guidelines Reviewervercel-labs/openreview1.7k98 repos~308Automated safety check: PassNone
Accessibility Reviewmarkmead/hyperui12k1 repos~1.1kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Web Animation DesignbaptisteArno/typebot.io11k2 repos~2.7kAutomated safety check: PassCustom licence
Accessibility Fixeribelick/ui-skills9.5k4 repos~1.2kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Wcag Audit PatternsvmDeshpande/ai-agent-automation17811 repos~610Automated safety check: PassApache-2.0

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Categories

Questions about Cognitive Accessibility

What does Cognitive Accessibility do?

A skill your agent uses when evaluating mental load, wayfinding, focus management, memory demands, or decision complexity in any interface — ensures designs work for people with cognitive…. Cognitive Accessibility is an agent skill from Owl-Listener/designpowers.

When should I use Cognitive Accessibility?

Cognitive Accessibility fits situations like: evaluating mental load; focus management; decision complexity in any interface — ensures designs work for people with cognitive differences; managing divided attention.

How do I install Cognitive Accessibility in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add Owl-Listener/designpowers --skill cognitive-accessibility -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/cognitive-accessibility in Owl-Listener/designpowers) into .claude/skills/cognitive-accessibility in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Cognitive Accessibility in Codex?

Run `npx skills add Owl-Listener/designpowers --skill cognitive-accessibility -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/cognitive-accessibility in Owl-Listener/designpowers) into .agents/skills/cognitive-accessibility in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Cognitive Accessibility in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add Owl-Listener/designpowers --skill cognitive-accessibility -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/cognitive-accessibility, .gemini/skills/cognitive-accessibility, .github/skills/cognitive-accessibility and .opencode/skills/cognitive-accessibility in your project.

What does Cognitive Accessibility need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Cognitive Accessibility is instructions for the agent only.

Does Cognitive Accessibility access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Cognitive Accessibility safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Cognitive Accessibility use?

Cognitive Accessibility is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Cognitive Accessibility use?

About 1.3k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 5.2k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Cognitive Accessibility?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Cognitive Accessibility: Web Interface Guidelines Reviewer (vercel-labs/openreview, 1.7k stars), Accessibility Review (markmead/hyperui, 12k stars), Web Animation Design (baptisteArno/typebot.io, 11k stars) and Accessibility Fixer (ibelick/ui-skills, 9.5k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Cognitive Accessibility?

Owl-Listener (a GitHub user) maintains it in Owl-Listener/designpowers, which has 251 GitHub stars. The repository holds 33 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on June 23, 2026.

Source: Owl-Listener/designpowers on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.