intent

Strategy and research specialist. Use when a design problem is unclear, fuzzy, or potentially misframed — before any flows, copy, or specs are produced. Frames problems against five foundational questions (problem validation, audience, solution fit, feature validation, competitive landscape), synthesizes existing research, sizes opportunities with evidence, defines testable hypotheses, and scopes projects (will-do / will-not-do). Invoke when starting a new project, when stakeholders disagree on what to build, when research exists but hasn't been synthesized, when someone says "we already know what users want" without evidence, or when the user asks to "frame the problem", "synthesize research", "write a brief", "scope this", or "do we even need to build this".

Entry point for Intent UX design work. Use at the start of any design engagement — or anytime the team needs reorientation — to establish project context (users, product, constraints, ethical stance, success criteria), hold the six core UX principles in conversation, flag manipulative patterns against the Intent anti-pattern catalog as they come up, and route to the right specialist agent (ember, wren, vigil, rune, sage). Use when the user says "start a new project", "set up the context", "who are we building for", "is this ethical", "is this a dark pattern", "which agent do I need", or when the specialist isn't yet obvious.

Design-to-engineering handoff specialist. Use when a design is decided and needs to be documented precisely enough to implement — detailed specs per screen (behavior, layout, copy, interaction logic, states, accessibility), copy/variant matrices, edge case documentation, asset inventories, stakeholder presentations, and test plans with success criteria. Also runs ethical review against the Intent anti-pattern catalog before sign-off. Invoke when the user says "write the spec", "prepare the handoff", "document this for engineering", "what does the dev need", "create a review deck", or "is this ready to ship".

Brainstorming partner for sitting with a problem before solving it. Not a phase — a cognitive mode any other agent can enter when the problem needs more exploration before the next move. Runs a strict three-phase protocol (problem immersion, associative expansion, synthesis only when invited) with cross-domain connection-making, assumption challenging, and structured check-ins. Invoke when the team is stuck, when a problem feels misframed, when the obvious answer isn't satisfying, when another agent's output feels too tidy, or when the user says "I'm stuck", "sit with this", "brainstorm", "go deeper", "think differently", "what am I missing", "go weird with it", "don't filter yourself", "philosopher mode", or "expansive mode".

Quality, resilience, and accessibility specialist — the honest evaluator. Use to systematically assess an existing design against Nielsen's 10 heuristics, the Intent anti-pattern catalog, and WCAG 2.2; to stress-test against edge cases, error recovery, empty states, loading states, offline behavior, and real-world chaos; or to audit keyboard, screen reader, cognitive, and motor accessibility. Produces scored UX health reports (0-100) with P0-P3 findings routed to the specialist that owns each fix. Invoke when the user says "review this design", "audit the UX", "find the dark patterns", "is this accessible", "what happens when X fails", "stress test this", "harden this for production", or "run a heuristic evaluation".

Design the words in a product — labels, instructions, errors, confirmations, empty states, onboarding copy, tooltips, voice and tone frameworks, and content models. UX writing and content strategy as a deep discipline. Trigger when writing or reviewing UI copy, error messages, empty states, onboarding text, CTAs, tooltips, confirmation dialogs, or any user-facing text in a product. Also trigger for voice and tone frameworks, content models, microcopy patterns, inclusive language guidance, or asking "what should this say?" and "how should we sound?" Use this skill any time the words in an interface are the problem — not the flow they live in, not the structure they navigate, not the visual presentation.

Map, analyze, and redesign the systems behind product experiences. Part of the Intent design strategy system. Creates service blueprints, ecosystem maps, process architecture, and dependency diagrams. Understands how services, teams, tools, and data flows connect to produce (or fail to produce) user outcomes. Proposes structural changes to how products and services are organized. Trigger on: service blueprints, system maps, process architecture, actor/role mapping, dependency analysis, cross-functional workflows, operational design, "how does this system work?", "what breaks when X happens?", "map out the service", "where are the dependencies?", or any question about the structural machinery behind a product experience. Use this skill broadly — whenever someone needs to understand or redesign how a system works, not just what a user sees.

Structured UX evaluation that produces quantitative assessments, identifies specific issues, and routes to the right Intent skill for resolution. Part of the Intent design strategy system. Runs heuristic evaluations, cognitive walkthroughs, anti-pattern detection, and task success analysis. Scores, categorizes, and prioritizes findings — then maps every issue to the skill that fixes it. Trigger on: UX review, design audit, heuristic evaluation, usability assessment, "review this design", "what's wrong with this", "evaluate the experience", "is this accessible", "check for dark patterns", "how good is this UX", "rate this design", "find the problems", or any request to systematically assess the quality of a user experience. This is the diagnostic entry point of the Intent system — the UX doctor that diagnoses issues and refers to specialists.

Harden designs for real-world use by systematically identifying and designing for every condition outside the happy path. Part of the Intent design strategy system. Covers state inventories, error recovery, empty states, loading patterns, first-run experiences, stress testing, internationalization readiness, and latency handling. Trigger on: edge cases, error states, empty states, loading states, first-run experience, onboarding, offline mode, "what happens when", "what if the user", "stress test this", "what could go wrong", "harden this design", "edge case review", "what are the failure modes", zero states, timeout handling, or any question about how a design behaves outside ideal conditions. The happy path is a fantasy — this skill designs for the world your users actually live in.

Design for everyone by treating accessibility as a first-class design discipline, not a compliance checklist. Part of the Intent design strategy system. Covers WCAG 2.2 for designers, screen reader experience design, keyboard navigation, cognitive accessibility, motor accessibility, inclusive design beyond compliance, and accessibility testing methodology. Trigger on: accessibility, a11y, WCAG, screen reader, keyboard navigation, color contrast, alt text, focus management, touch targets, inclusive design, assistive technology, "is this accessible", "check accessibility", "design for everyone", "who are we excluding", ADA compliance, Section 508, EAA, reduced motion, or any question about whether all users can perceive, operate, understand, and benefit from the experience. One billion people worldwide have a disability. Everyone experiences situational impairment. Designing inclusively makes the experience better for everyone.