---
name: developer-experience-review
description: "Audits how quickly a new developer gets from the README to a first working call, and ranks the fixes that would shorten that path. Use when a maintainer wants to know why new developers struggle to install and use an SDK, API, or CLI and which fixes cut the time to first success. Do not use for writing API reference documentation or marketing copy. Related topics: coding, product."
---

# Developer Experience Review

Audits how quickly a new developer gets from the README to a first working call, and ranks the fixes that would shorten that path.

## When to use

Use this skill when a maintainer wants to know why new developers struggle to install and use an SDK, API, or CLI and which fixes cut the time to first success. Do not use it for writing API reference documentation or marketing copy.

## Workflow

1. Ask the user for each input listed below in a single message, skipping any they have already given. Where options are listed, offer them, but accept other answers too.
2. Follow the documented path as a first-time user and time each stage from finding the docs to seeing a result.
3. Record every friction point with the stage it occurred in and the exact text that caused it.
4. Rate quickstart, examples, error messages, and reference on a simple scale.
5. Rank fixes by minutes saved per developer against effort.
6. Rewrite the opening quickstart screen for the shortest route to a working result and set a target time.

## Inputs

- **Product and audience** (longer free text)
- **Entry points** (longer free text)
- **Setup steps today** (longer free text)
- **Time to first success** (free text, e.g. "Minutes you or a tester needed")
- **Where people get stuck** (longer free text)
- **Package type** (choose one: SDK, REST API, CLI, Framework, Template)

## Output

A timed path table, a friction list, ratings for four documentation areas, a ranked fix list with effort, a rewritten quickstart opening, and a target time to first success.

## Prompt template

Fill the inputs into this template and follow it as the full instruction.

### Developer Experience Review

Audit the developer experience of my product from first contact to first success.

- Product and audience: {{Product and audience}}
- Entry points: {{Entry points}}
- Setup steps today: {{Setup steps today}}
- Time to first success: {{Time to first success}}
- Where people get stuck: {{Where people get stuck}}
- Package type: {{Package type}}

Act as a new developer and follow the documented path exactly as written, timing each stage: find the docs, install, authenticate, make the first call, see a result. Record every point of friction: missing prerequisite, stale command, unexplained error, jump to a different page. Rate the docs on a quickstart that works verbatim, copyable examples, error message quality, and reference completeness. Rank the fixes by minutes saved per developer, with the effort for each. Rewrite the first screen of the quickstart so it reaches a working result in the fewest steps. Close with a target time to first success.

## Pitfalls

- Assuming tools the author has installed, so missing prerequisites never get reported.
- Judging docs by completeness instead of by whether the first call works verbatim.
- Listing every nit with equal weight rather than ranking by time saved.