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Agent skill

Onboarding Design

by Owl-Listener in Owl-Listener/designer-skills

Design the first-run experience — activation path, progressive disclosure, and time to first value.

MITAuto-check passed

Install Onboarding Design

skills CLI
$ npx skills add Owl-Listener/designer-skills --skill onboarding-design -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install Owl-Listener/designer-skills onboarding-design --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/designer-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/interaction-design/skills/onboarding-design .claude/skills/onboarding-design && 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
onboarding-design
GitHub stars
2.9k
Used in
1 other repo
Token cost
~1.1k tokens
SKILL.md length
615 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
107
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Design the first-run experience — activation path, progressive disclosure, and time to first value.

  • Works in 4 steps: Get to value fast: the sooner a user… → Orient, don't educate: show context and… → Build confidence: early wins matter more… → …
  • A users very first session
  • SKILL.md covers What You Do, Onboarding Goals (in priority…, Onboarding Patterns and Empty States as Onboarding, plus 4 more sections
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Onboarding Design is an agent skill from Owl-Listener/designer-skills. Design the first-run experience — activation path, progressive disclosure, and time to first value. Use for a user's very first session. For the mechanics of the signup form itself, use form-design.

Its SKILL.md is about 1.1k 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 users very first session

Example prompts

  • “/onboarding-design”

Workflow steps

4 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

  1. Get to value fast: the sooner a user experiences the core benefit, the less likely they are to churn
  2. Orient, don't educate: show context and next steps; don't teach every feature upfront
  3. Build confidence: early wins matter more than feature exposure
  4. Reduce setup friction: collect only what's needed now; defer the rest

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

Onboarding Design loads about 1.1k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 55 tokens; SKILL.md has 615 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~55
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1.1k

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). 615 words, ~1,116 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/onboarding-design/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
onboarding-design
description
Design the first-run experience — activation path, progressive disclosure, and time to first value. Use for a user's very first session. For the mechanics of the signup form itself, use `form-design`.

Onboarding Design

You are an expert in designing onboarding flows that orient users, build confidence, and accelerate time-to-value.

What You Do

You design the end-to-end first-run experience — from sign-up through the first meaningful action — so new users understand what the product does, why it matters to them, and how to get started.

Onboarding Goals (in priority order)

  1. Get to value fast: the sooner a user experiences the core benefit, the less likely they are to churn
  2. Orient, don't educate: show context and next steps; don't teach every feature upfront
  3. Build confidence: early wins matter more than feature exposure
  4. Reduce setup friction: collect only what's needed now; defer the rest

Onboarding Patterns

Progressive Onboarding

Teach features in context, at the moment they're relevant, rather than in a dedicated onboarding flow. Best for complex tools with many features and experienced users.

  • Tooltips on first use of a feature
  • Empty state prompts that explain what goes here
  • Contextual coach marks triggered by user actions
Setup Wizard / Steps

A linear sequence that walks users through required configuration before they can use the product. Best for products that can't function without initial setup (team tools, data integrations, configuration-heavy apps).

  • Keep steps minimal — every step loses some users
  • Show progress; make skipping possible for optional steps
  • Celebrate completion
Sample Data / Demo Mode

Pre-populate the product with example content so users experience a fully-functional product before adding their own data. Best for products where an empty state defeats comprehension (dashboards, project tools, CRMs).

  • Make it clear it's sample data
  • Make it easy to clear and start fresh
  • Use realistic, professional sample content
Interactive Product Tour

Guided walkthrough of the actual product UI, highlighting key areas. Best used sparingly for 3–5 core concepts; avoid encyclopedic tours.

  • Must be dismissable at any point
  • Don't lock users into the tour
  • Highlight what to do, not just what exists

Empty States as Onboarding

The empty state a new user sees is their first experience of the core loop. Design it intentionally:

  • Explain what this space is for
  • Give a clear first action ("Create your first project")
  • Show a preview of what it looks like populated (illustration or sample)
  • Don't show an empty table with column headers and nothing else
Show full SKILL.md (243 more words)Show less

Reducing Setup Friction

  • Defer collection: don't ask for profile photo, billing, and preferences before the user has experienced value
  • Progressive disclosure: ask for more as users advance, not upfront
  • Smart defaults: pre-configure sensible defaults so users can start immediately
  • Social/SSO sign-up: reduce registration friction with single-click sign-in
  • Skip/later options: make non-critical steps skippable; surface them later in-product

Measuring Onboarding Success

  • Activation rate: % of sign-ups who complete a defined "first value" action
  • Time to activation: how long from sign-up to first value action
  • Onboarding completion rate: % who complete setup steps
  • Day-7 / Day-30 retention: the downstream signal that onboarding quality predicts
  • Drop-off by step: where in the flow do users abandon?

Common Mistakes

  • Showing a feature tour before the user has any context for why they'd want those features
  • Collecting too much data upfront (profile, preferences, billing) before delivering value
  • Treating onboarding as a one-time event — returning users who missed onboarding, or who return after a gap, need re-orientation
  • Skipping empty state design — new users spend more time in empty states than any other state

Best Practices

  • Define the "aha moment" — the action or insight where users first feel the product's value — and design the entire flow to reach it as directly as possible
  • Instrument every step and measure drop-off; onboarding is the highest-leverage funnel to optimize
  • Test onboarding with users who match the real new-user profile, not internal team members
  • Re-test onboarding when core product changes; it breaks more often than it appears to

© 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/onboarding-design 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

Onboarding Design 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.

Onboarding Design compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Onboarding Design this skillOwl-Listener/designer-skills2.9k1 repos~1.1kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Onboardingsickn33/agentic-awesome-skills47k1 repos~1.8kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Onboarding ActivatorLeoYeAI/openclaw-master-skills2.2k—~5.3kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Onboardalirezarezvani/claude-skills28k—~1.3kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Codebase Onboardingaffaan-m/ECC276k3 repos~2kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Progressive Disclosure Disclosure Affordanceshashgraph-online/awesome-codex-plugins1.3k—~2.5kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0

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  • Onboarding

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Questions about Onboarding Design

What does Onboarding Design do?

Design the first-run experience — activation path, progressive disclosure, and time to first value. Onboarding Design is an agent skill from Owl-Listener/designer-skills. Design the first-run experience — activation path, progressive disclosure, and time to first value.

When should I use Onboarding Design?

Onboarding Design fits situations like: A users very first session.

How do I install Onboarding Design in Claude Code?

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

How do I install Onboarding Design in Codex?

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

Can I use Onboarding Design 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 onboarding-design -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/onboarding-design, .gemini/skills/onboarding-design, .github/skills/onboarding-design and .opencode/skills/onboarding-design in your project.

What does Onboarding Design need to run?

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

Does Onboarding Design 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 Onboarding Design 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 Onboarding Design use?

Onboarding Design 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 Onboarding Design use?

About 1.1k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 4.5k 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 Onboarding Design?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Onboarding Design: Onboarding (sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills, 47k stars), Onboarding Activator (LeoYeAI/openclaw-master-skills, 2.2k stars), Onboard (alirezarezvani/claude-skills, 28k stars) and Codebase Onboarding (affaan-m/ECC, 276k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Onboarding Design?

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.