unhappy
SkillMediaState-first design pass — inventories and implements all non-happy states (loading, empty, error, partial, conflict, offline) before the happy path, and refactors impossible boolean state to proper state machines. Use when starting a new screen, reviewing an existing one for edge-case gaps, or when the user says \"handle the error state\" / \"add loading states\" / \"what happens when data is missing\". Invoke when the user asks for unhappy on their UI, or mentions 'unhappy' alongside design / UI / frontend work.
Available today. Use it from your connected AI after setup.
No other account needed.
Connect ahel once, and every AI you use reads what you have installed.
Then ask your AI: use the unhappy skill
What this skill tells your AI
The instructions your AI receives, as published by educlopez/ui-craft in .codex/skills/unhappy/SKILL.md and read by ahel’s review.
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.
Design every non-happy state for the UI at $ARGUMENTS. Load the ui-craft skill and read references/state-design.md.
Step 1 — Inventory. List every data source and interactive surface in the target. For each, enumerate its states:
| Surface | idle | loading | empty | error | partial | conflict | offline |
|---|
Mark each cell as designed (exists in code), missing (must add), or N/A (not applicable — e.g., a read-only view has no conflict state).
Step 2 — Fill the missing states. For each missing state, either stub it inline or add a follow-up task comment. Use references/state-design.md for:
- Skeleton sizing (match final layout, 200ms delay, 5s upper bound)
- Empty-state copy (why empty + next action + visual)
- Error-state contract (specific cause + one-click recovery + support ID)
- Offline handling (queue writes + reconcile on reconnect)
Step 3 — Audit the happy path. Flag every spot where the happy path assumes resource presence without checking. Fix with early-returns, state guards, or discriminated-union state handling. Booleans like isLoading && !error && data that allow impossible states are findings — refactor to a proper state machine or reducer.
Step 4 — Optimistic UI + reconciliation. For offline-likely actions (saves, sends, edits, toggles), implement optimistic UI with reconciliation on reconnect. Queue writes locally. Surface any rejected writes — never swallow them.
Knob gating (CRAFT_LEVEL):
| CRAFT_LEVEL | Required states to stub |
|---|---|
| ≤ 4 | idle, loading, error |
| 5-7 | idle, loading, empty, error, success |
| 8+ | all six — add partial, conflict, offline |
If CRAFT_LEVEL is unknown, default to 7.
Convergence note: To iterate until all required states are present, load skills/ui-craft/references/loops.md and run preset state-coverage (budget = the default loop budget defined in loops.md): after stubbing the highest-priority missing required state, re-inventory until all knob-required states are present or budget exhausted. Emit the pre-flight cost notice before iteration 1.
Output: edit the code directly. After each file, print the Review Format table from SKILL.md:
| Before | After | Why |
|---|---|---|
no loading state on <ProjectList> | skeleton rows matching final layout, 200ms delay | prevents "is it broken?" perception; avoids CLS |
| generic "Error" toast | inline error with specific cause + retry + support ID | recoverability (heuristic 9) |
One row per state added. No full diffs.
Next step: /harden — implement the states you just designed (rung 1).
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- GitHub stars
- 326
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- 17
- Last commit
- Sep 2026
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unhappy- Source
- github.com/educlopez/ui-craft