ui-polish

name	ui-polish
description	Iterative UI/UX polishing for Stripe-level visual quality. Use when app already works and looks decent, wanting to elevate to world-class through multiple passes. Not for complete overhauls.

UI/UX Polish — Iterative Enhancement Workflow

When to Use: App already works and looks decent, you want to elevate it.

When NOT to Use: App is broken, styling is fundamentally wrong, or starting from scratch.

Key Insight: Asking for agreement ("don't you agree?") motivates better polish. Instructing to consider desktop vs mobile separately leads to much better outcomes.

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THE EXACT PROMPT — UI/UX Polish

This prompt is used so frequently it's worth putting on a Stream Deck button:

I still think there are strong opportunities to enhance the UI/UX look and feel and to make everything work better and be more intuitive, user-friendly, visually appealing, polished, slick, and world-class in terms of following UI/UX best practices like those used by Stripe, don't you agree? And I want you to carefully consider desktop UI/UX and mobile UI/UX separately while doing this and hyper-optimize for both separately to play to the specifics of each modality. I'm looking for true world-class visual appeal, polish, slickness, etc. that makes people gasp at how stunning and perfect it is in every way.  Think carefully and step-by-step; this is harder than it looks.

Best Models

Model	Configuration
Claude Code + Opus 4.7	Append "Think carefully and step-by-step; this is harder than it looks." (triggers adaptive thinking). Fixed-budget keywords like ultrathink are no-ops on 4.7
Claude Code + Opus 4.5/4.6	Append "Use ultrathink" (fixed extended-thinking budget)
Codex + GPT 5.2	High/Extra-High reasoning
Gemini CLI	Good

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Why This Prompt Works

Element	Effect
"don't you agree?"	Engages reasoning about whether improvements are possible
"desktop and mobile separately"	Prevents compromise solutions that are mediocre on both
"world-class", "Stripe"	Sets high anchor point
"makes people gasp"	Pushes toward exceptional quality
"Think carefully and step-by-step"	Triggers Opus 4.7 adaptive thinking for thorough analysis (pre-4.7, "ultrathink" was the equivalent fixed-budget keyword)

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Iteration Protocol

The Workflow

1. App already works and looks decent
   ↓
2. Run the polish prompt
   ↓
3. Agent makes incremental improvements
   ↓
4. Repeat many times (10+ iterations)
   ↓
5. Small improvements compound dramatically

Why Multiple Passes Work

• Each pass makes some incremental improvement (even if minor)
• These really add up after 10 iterations
• Multiple agents can work simultaneously on different areas
• Cumulative effect is dramatic

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What Typically Gets Improved

Visual Polish

• Spacing and padding consistency
• Typography hierarchy
• Color contrast and accessibility
• Shadow and depth effects
• Border radius consistency
• Hover/focus states

Interaction Design

• Button feedback
• Loading states
• Transitions and animations
• Error/empty state design

Desktop vs Mobile

Desktop Optimizations	Mobile Optimizations
Keyboard navigation	Touch target sizes
Hover states	Mobile-specific navigation
Multi-column layouts	Gesture support
Sidebar navigation	Performance
Power user shortcuts	Responsive breakpoints

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When to Use vs When NOT

USE When:

• App works correctly
• Basic styling is in place
• Want to elevate from "decent" to "world-class"
• Ready for iterative refinement

DON'T Use When:

• App is broken or buggy (fix bugs first)
• Styling is fundamentally wrong (need complete overhaul)
• No basic design system in place
• Starting from scratch

For complete overhauls, establish a design system and component library first.

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Tips

1. Don't skip iterations — Even when changes seem small, keep going
2. Review changes — Make sure improvements don't break things
3. Test on real devices — Desktop browser != mobile experience
4. Consider accessibility — WCAG compliance matters
5. Keep performance in mind — Pretty but slow is bad UX

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References

Topic	Reference
Additional prompts	PROMPTS.md
Improvement checklist	CHECKLIST.md