Hicks Law
hashgraph-online/awesome-codex-plugins
A skill your agent uses whenever a design has many options the user must choose among — menus, navigation, pickers, plan tiers, settings panels, action toolbars, lists of templates, anything that…
Apply Hick's Law — decision time grows with the number of simultaneous choices.
MITAuto-check passed
Install Hicks Law
$ npx skills add Owl-Listener/designer-skills --skill hicks-law -a claude-codeProject install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.
$ gh skill install Owl-Listener/designer-skills hicks-law --agent claude-codeProject scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Owl-Listener/designer-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/interaction-design/skills/hicks-law .claude/skills/hicks-law && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.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/
Install the "hicks-law" agent skill from https://github.com/Owl-Listener/designer-skills/tree/main/interaction-design/skills/hicks-law into .claude/skills/hicks-law/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "hicks-law", then confirm the skill loads.Claude Code copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$skill-installer install https://github.com/Owl-Listener/designer-skills/tree/main/interaction-design/skills/hicks-lawType this inside Codex. $skill-installer <name> installs a curated skill from openai/skills. The installer writes to $CODEX_HOME/skills (default ~/.codex/skills). Restart Codex if the skill does not show up.
$ npx skills add Owl-Listener/designer-skills --skill hicks-law -a codexProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.codex/skills/.
$ gh skill install Owl-Listener/designer-skills hicks-law --agent codexProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Owl-Listener/designer-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .agents/skills && cp -r skills-src/interaction-design/skills/hicks-law .agents/skills/hicks-law && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.agents/skills/ instead of .agents/skills for a personal install.
Codex skills documentation · loads skills from .agents/skills/
Install the "hicks-law" agent skill from https://github.com/Owl-Listener/designer-skills/tree/main/interaction-design/skills/hicks-law into .agents/skills/hicks-law/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "hicks-law", then confirm the skill loads.Codex copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ npx skills add Owl-Listener/designer-skills --skill hicks-law -a cursorProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.cursor/skills/.
$ gh skill install Owl-Listener/designer-skills hicks-law --agent cursorProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Owl-Listener/designer-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .cursor/skills && cp -r skills-src/interaction-design/skills/hicks-law .cursor/skills/hicks-law && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.cursor/skills/ instead of .cursor/skills for a personal install.
Cursor skills documentation · loads skills from .cursor/skills/, .agents/skills/, .claude/skills/, .codex/skills/
Install the "hicks-law" agent skill from https://github.com/Owl-Listener/designer-skills/tree/main/interaction-design/skills/hicks-law into .cursor/skills/hicks-law/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "hicks-law", then confirm the skill loads.Cursor copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ gemini skills install https://github.com/Owl-Listener/designer-skills.git --path interaction-design/skills/hicks-law--scope user (default) or --scope workspace; --path is the subfolder of the repo that holds the skill; --consent skips the security confirmation prompt.
$ npx skills add Owl-Listener/designer-skills --skill hicks-law -a gemini-cliProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.gemini/skills/.
$ gh skill install Owl-Listener/designer-skills hicks-law --agent gemini-cliProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Owl-Listener/designer-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .gemini/skills && cp -r skills-src/interaction-design/skills/hicks-law .gemini/skills/hicks-law && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.gemini/skills/ instead of .gemini/skills for a personal install, then run /skills reload.
Gemini CLI skills documentation · loads skills from .gemini/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "hicks-law" agent skill from https://github.com/Owl-Listener/designer-skills/tree/main/interaction-design/skills/hicks-law into .gemini/skills/hicks-law/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "hicks-law", then confirm the skill loads.Gemini CLI copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ gh skill install Owl-Listener/designer-skills hicks-lawInstalls for Copilot at project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Preview a skill first with gh skill preview. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).
$ npx skills add Owl-Listener/designer-skills --skill hicks-law -a github-copilotProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.copilot/skills/.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Owl-Listener/designer-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .github/skills && cp -r skills-src/interaction-design/skills/hicks-law .github/skills/hicks-law && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.copilot/skills/ instead of .github/skills for a personal install. Commit .github/skills so cloud agent and code review can use it.
GitHub Copilot skills documentation · loads skills from .github/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "hicks-law" agent skill from https://github.com/Owl-Listener/designer-skills/tree/main/interaction-design/skills/hicks-law into .github/skills/hicks-law/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "hicks-law", then confirm the skill loads.GitHub Copilot copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ npx skills add Owl-Listener/designer-skills --skill hicks-law -a opencodeOpenCode documents no install command of its own. Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.config/opencode/skills/.
$ gh skill install Owl-Listener/designer-skills hicks-law --agent opencodeProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Owl-Listener/designer-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/interaction-design/skills/hicks-law .opencode/skills/hicks-law && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.config/opencode/skills/ instead of .opencode/skills for a personal install.
OpenCode skills documentation · loads skills from .opencode/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "hicks-law" agent skill from https://github.com/Owl-Listener/designer-skills/tree/main/interaction-design/skills/hicks-law into .opencode/skills/hicks-law/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "hicks-law", then confirm the skill loads.OpenCode copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
Facts
- Skill name
hicks-law- GitHub stars
- 2.9k
- Used in
- 1 other repo
- Token cost
- ~665 tokens
- SKILL.md length
- 346 words
- Files
- 1
- Skills in repo
- 107
- Repo updated
- First seen
- Licence
- MIT
At a glance
Apply Hick's Law — decision time grows with the number of simultaneous choices.
- A screen offers too many options at once
- SKILL.md covers What You Do, The Principle, The Formula (for context) and Where to Apply It, plus 2 more sections
- Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md
What it does
Hicks Law is an agent skill from Owl-Listener/designer-skills. Apply Hick's Law — decision time grows with the number of simultaneous choices. Use when a screen offers too many options at once. For how many items survive in memory afterwards, use millers-law.
Its SKILL.md is about 670 tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.
The repository describes itself as: Designer Skills Collection: agentic skills, commands, and plugins for design — from research to systems, UI, interaction, and delivery. The licence is MIT.
When your agent uses it
- A screen offers too many options at once
Example prompts
- “/hicks-law”
What it can do on your machine
Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 9a6930c. 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
Hicks Law loads about 665 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 52 tokens; SKILL.md has 346 words of instructions outside code blocks.
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/designer-skills at commit 9a6930c, republished under its MIT licence (© Owl-Listener). 346 words, ~665 tokens.
Download SKILL.mdSave it as
.claude/skills/hicks-law/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).- name
- hicks-law
- description
- Apply Hick's Law — decision time grows with the number of simultaneous choices. Use when a screen offers too many options at once. For how many items survive in memory afterwards, use `millers-law`.
Hick's Law
You are an expert in cognitive load and decision-making in interface design.
What You Do
You apply Hick's Law to reduce decision time and cognitive burden by controlling the number and complexity of choices presented at any moment.
The Principle
The time it takes to make a decision increases logarithmically with the number of choices. Doubling the number of options does not double decision time — but each added option still costs something. The practical design implication:
- Presenting fewer options at once speeds up decision-making
- Grouping and progressive disclosure reduce apparent complexity without hiding functionality
- The quality and clarity of options matters as much as the count — ambiguous or overlapping options are harder to choose from than a larger set of distinct ones
The Formula (for context)
RT = a + b × log₂(n + 1) — where RT is reaction time, n is the number of choices, and a/b are empirically measured constants. The formula applies best to simple, equal-probability choices (keyboard shortcuts, menu items); it is less predictive for complex real-world decisions.
Where to Apply It
- Navigation menus: limit top-level items; group secondary items
- Toolbars and action bars: surface the most common actions; tuck the rest in overflow menus
- Onboarding flows: present one decision per step rather than multiple questions on a single screen
- Form fields: reduce optional fields; present required fields first
- Pricing tables: three tiers is the conventional sweet spot; more creates analysis paralysis
- Search results and feeds: pagination and progressive loading prevent the full count from overwhelming decision
Common Mistakes
- Conflating "fewer options" with "less functionality" — the goal is reducing simultaneous choices, not removing features
- Applying it to justify hiding important options users need frequently
- Ignoring choice quality: five clear, distinct options can be easier to choose from than three vague ones
Best Practices
- Group related options before reducing count — categorization reduces apparent complexity more than removal
- For high-frequency actions, consider defaulting or smart defaults to skip the choice entirely
- Use progressive disclosure: show defaults, let users reveal advanced options
- Test decision time directly in usability studies when navigation or menu depth is in question
© 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 interaction-design/skills/hicks-law of Owl-Listener/designer-skills.
Open the folder on GitHubat commit 9a6930c
Used in 1 other repository
We found 2 copies of this SKILL.md (exact, near-identical or edited) in other folders, from 1 other GitHub owner. This page covers the copy in Owl-Listener/designer-skills, which our catalogue first saw on October 7, 2026.
Compare with similar skills
Hicks Law 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.
| Skill | Stars | Used in | Tokens | Auto-check | Licence | Repo updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hicks Law this skillOwl-Listener/designer-skills | 2.9k | 1 repos | ~665 | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Hicks Lawhashgraph-online/awesome-codex-plugins | 1.3k | — | ~3.4k | Automated safety check: Pass | Apache-2.0 | |
| Hicks Law Defaultshashgraph-online/awesome-codex-plugins | 1.3k | — | ~2.8k | Automated safety check: Pass | Apache-2.0 | |
| Hicks Law Menushashgraph-online/awesome-codex-plugins | 1.3k | — | ~1.5k | Automated safety check: Pass | Apache-2.0 | |
| Hicks Law Pricinghashgraph-online/awesome-codex-plugins | 1.3k | — | ~2.5k | Automated safety check: Pass | Apache-2.0 | |
| Bio Copy Number Subclonal Copy NumberGPTomics/bioSkills | 1.2k | 2 repos | ~3.5k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT |
Similar skills
Hicks Law Defaults
hashgraph-online/awesome-codex-plugins
A skill your agent uses when the question is what to pre-select in a list of options — radio groups, dropdowns, configuration UIs, plan pickers, sign-up flows, settings.
Hicks Law Menus
hashgraph-online/awesome-codex-plugins
A skill your agent uses when designing menus, dropdowns, navigation, command palettes, or any interface where the user picks from a list.
Hicks Law Pricing
hashgraph-online/awesome-codex-plugins
A skill your agent uses when designing pricing tables, plan pickers, tier selectors, or any conversion surface where the choice itself is the conversion event.
Bio Copy Number Subclonal Copy Number
GPTomics/bioSkills
Resolve subclonal copy number, whole-genome doubling, and copy-number tumor evolution from bulk sequencing with Battenberg, TITAN, and MEDICC2.
Prime Numbers
parcadei/Continuous-Claude-v3
Problem-solving strategies for prime numbers in graph number theory
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Questions about Hicks Law
What does Hicks Law do?
Apply Hick's Law — decision time grows with the number of simultaneous choices. Hicks Law is an agent skill from Owl-Listener/designer-skills. Apply Hick's Law — decision time grows with the number of simultaneous choices.
When should I use Hicks Law?
Hicks Law fits situations like: A screen offers too many options at once.
How do I install Hicks Law in Claude Code?
Run `npx skills add Owl-Listener/designer-skills --skill hicks-law -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (interaction-design/skills/hicks-law in Owl-Listener/designer-skills) into .claude/skills/hicks-law in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.
How do I install Hicks Law in Codex?
Run `npx skills add Owl-Listener/designer-skills --skill hicks-law -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (interaction-design/skills/hicks-law in Owl-Listener/designer-skills) into .agents/skills/hicks-law in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.
Can I use Hicks Law 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/designer-skills --skill hicks-law -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/hicks-law, .gemini/skills/hicks-law, .github/skills/hicks-law and .opencode/skills/hicks-law in your project.
What does Hicks Law need to run?
SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Hicks Law is instructions for the agent only.
Does Hicks Law 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 Hicks Law 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 Hicks Law use?
Hicks Law 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 Hicks Law use?
About 665 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 2.7k 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 Hicks Law?
Skills that share tags, products or a category with Hicks Law: Hicks Law (hashgraph-online/awesome-codex-plugins, 1.3k stars), Hicks Law Defaults (hashgraph-online/awesome-codex-plugins, 1.3k stars), Hicks Law Menus (hashgraph-online/awesome-codex-plugins, 1.3k stars) and Hicks Law Pricing (hashgraph-online/awesome-codex-plugins, 1.3k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.
Who maintains Hicks Law?
Owl-Listener (a GitHub user) maintains it in Owl-Listener/designer-skills, which has 2,871 GitHub stars. The repository holds 107 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on September 5, 2026.
Source: Owl-Listener/designer-skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.