onboarding-flow

name	onboarding-flow
description	Design onboarding that moves a new user from initial intent to first meaningful value with minimal friction and measurable activation.

Onboarding Flow

Use for signup, setup, first-run, migration, activation, and guided adoption experiences.

Procedure

1. Define the user's entry context and the first meaningful outcome that demonstrates product value.
2. Identify only the information, permissions, and setup required to reach that outcome.
3. Remove or defer steps that serve internal data collection more than user progress.
4. Design guidance around the user's task, with clear progress, recovery, and skip/resume behavior.
5. Account for empty states, permission denial, import failure, incomplete setup, and returning users.
6. Instrument activation and major drop-off points.
7. Validate with real users or behavior data where possible.

Quality gate

Onboarding succeeds when users reach value and understand what to do next, not when every setup field has been completed.