// Produce a scored heuristic critique of the UI using Nielsen's 10 + 6 design laws + optional persona walkthroughs. Outputs a machine-parseable scorecard. Invoke when the user asks for heuristic on their UI, or mentions 'heuristic' alongside design / UI / frontend work.
| name | heuristic |
| description | Produce a scored heuristic critique of the UI using Nielsen's 10 + 6 design laws + optional persona walkthroughs. Outputs a machine-parseable scorecard. Invoke when the user asks for heuristic on their UI, or mentions 'heuristic' alongside design / UI / frontend work. |
Context: this sub-skill is one lens of the broader ui-craft skill. If the ui-craft skill is also installed, read its SKILL.md first for Discovery + Anti-Slop + Craft Test, then apply the specific lens below.
Score the UI at the target the user described against Nielsen's 10 + 6 design laws. Load the ui-craft skill.
Step 1 — Load the methodology. Read references/heuristics.md for the full rubric, scoring definitions, design law details, and the required output format. Do NOT invent a new format or a new scale.
Step 2 — Walk Nielsen's 10 heuristics. Score each 1-5 per the rubric:
For every heuristic, write a concrete finding — quote text, count elements, name the broken flow. Vague findings are rejected.
Step 3 — Audit the 6 design laws. PASS / FAIL each with a specific detail:
Step 4 — Persona walkthrough (if --persona= present). If the args include --persona=<name>, load references/personas.md and run the matching walkthrough checklist. Supported: priya, jordan, adaeze, kwame, margo, all. Output the walkthrough as a | Checklist item | Pass/Fail | Finding | Impact | table. Without the flag, skip this step.
Step 5 — Rank findings by impact tag. Impact order: blocks-conversion > adds-friction > reduces-trust > minor-polish. Include at most 5 findings in the ranked list; cut anything at minor-polish unless there are no higher-impact findings.
Step 6 — Output. Use the exact scorecard format in references/heuristics.md:
## Heuristic Scorecard table## Design Law Audit table## Persona Walkthrough table (only if --persona= was passed)## Top findings (ranked by impact) — numbered list, 3-5 itemsKnob awareness: knob-agnostic. Usability is not a knob — a 2 is a 2 whether CRAFT_LEVEL is 3 or 9. Do not soften scores based on CRAFT_LEVEL.
Output contract:
Do NOT edit code. This is a scored critique.
Use for UI design and implementation work to avoid generic AI-looking interfaces. Provides anti-slop rules, a required discovery phase before coding, and guidance for layout, typography, color, motion, accessibility, dashboards, tables, landing pages, theming, and polish. Trigger when editing UI code or reviewing and refining components, pages, screens, layouts, animations, responsive behavior, or design systems.
Use for UI design and implementation work to avoid generic AI-looking interfaces. Provides anti-slop rules, a required discovery phase before coding, and guidance for layout, typography, color, motion, accessibility, dashboards, tables, landing pages, theming, and polish. Trigger when editing UI code or reviewing and refining components, pages, screens, layouts, animations, responsive behavior, or design systems.
Write or update the project's durable design brief at .ui-craft/brief.md. Invoke when the user asks for brief on their UI, or mentions 'brief' alongside design / UI / frontend work.
Technical UI audit — a11y, performance, responsive. Produces a prioritized findings table. Invoke when the user asks for audit on their UI, or mentions 'audit' alongside design / UI / frontend work.
UX critique — hierarchy, clarity, anti-slop. No code changes unless asked. Invoke when the user asks for critique on their UI, or mentions 'critique' alongside design / UI / frontend work.
Pre-ship gate — runs detector, verifies brief and tokens, applies the 10-pass finish bar, ranks findings by feedback hierarchy. Invoke when the user asks for finalize on their UI, or mentions 'finalize' alongside design / UI / frontend work.