unship

name	unship
description	Compare AI agent-made UI variants locally in a real app, then keep one and clean up unused temporary code.
category	development
risk	critical
source	community
source_repo	mbenhard/unship
source_type	community
date_added	2026-06-07
author	Marcus Benhard
tags	["ui-variants","frontend","local-first","coding-agents"]
tools	["claude-code","antigravity","cursor","gemini-cli","codex-cli","opencode"]
license	MIT
license_source	https://github.com/mbenhard/unship/blob/main/LICENSE
plugin	{"targets":{"codex":"blocked","claude":"blocked"}}

Unship

Overview

Unship is a local workflow for comparing AI-generated UI alternatives in the real application instead of accepting one generated version at a time. It adds temporary source-level variants, shows a local browser picker, and then cleans up the unused options after the user chooses.

This skill is for frontend iteration with coding agents. It is not production A/B testing, analytics, feature flagging, or a hosted experiment service.

When to Use This Skill

• Use when the user wants to compare multiple UI, layout, copy, state, flow, or design-system alternatives.
• Use when a coding agent should create several temporary options in real source code and let the user judge them in the running local app.
• Use when the user chooses a visible option and wants the losing temporary code removed before shipping.

Do Not Use This Skill When

• The user needs production experiments, traffic splitting, analytics, or feature flags.
• The app cannot safely render inactive hidden variants because of duplicate active IDs, global scripts, analytics triggers, focus traps, destructive actions, or autoplay side effects.
• The user has not authorized local source edits.

How It Works

1. Install or reuse Unship

Prefer the project-local binary when it exists:

./node_modules/.bin/unship doctor --json --no-update-check

Otherwise install a reviewed, exact CLI version into the project and then run the local binary:

npm install --save-dev @unship/cli@<reviewed-version>
./node_modules/.bin/unship doctor --json --no-update-check

If setup is needed for the local picker, run:

./node_modules/.bin/unship setup --json

Patch only the smallest development-only mount point required to load the picker in the local preview.

2. Create temporary variants

Inspect the relevant page, component, route, or rendered artifact. Add the smallest source-level comparison that lets the user judge real options in context.

Use Unship markup:

<section data-unship-pick="Hero">
  <div data-unship-option="Current">...</div>
  < = >...
  ...