---

name: developer-experience description: | Guide for improving developer experience and creating self-service platforms. Use when designing golden paths, creating getting-started guides, reducing developer friction, or building internal platforms.

Developer Experience

When to use this skill

Use this skill when:

• Designing developer onboarding experiences
• Creating golden paths for common workflows
• Building self-service platform capabilities
• Reducing friction in developer workflows
• Writing getting-started documentation

Golden Path Design

Principles

• Opinionated but not restrictive
• Works out of the box with minimal configuration
• Covers 80% of use cases well
• Easy to discover, hard to miss

Components

• Templates: Starter projects with best practices
• CLI tools: Automate common tasks
• Documentation: Clear, task-focused guides
• Examples: Working code for common patterns

Friction Log Process

Observation

1. Shadow developers doing real tasks
2. Note every hesitation, confusion, or workaround
3. Time how long each step takes
4. Record what documentation they consult

Analysis

• Categorize friction points (tooling, docs, process)
• Identify patterns across multiple observations
• Prioritize by frequency × severity
• Distinguish symptoms from root causes

Action

• Quick wins: Fix in days, high impact
• Medium-term: Requires design, weeks
• Strategic: Platform changes, months

Self-Service Design

Day 1 Experience

• New developer can deploy in < 1 hour
• No tickets or approvals needed
• Immediate feedback on success/failure
• Clear next steps after initial success

Day 50 Experience

• Common tasks are still easy
• Edge cases are documented
• Escape hatches exist for advanced needs
• Platform grows with team needs

Documentation Standards

Getting Started Guides

• Prerequisites clearly listed
• Copy-paste commands that work
• Expected output shown
• Troubleshooting for common issues

Reference Documentation

• Complete API coverage
• Examples for every feature
• Search-friendly structure
• Kept in sync with code

DX Checklist

• New developer can get started without help
• Golden path covers common use cases
• Friction points are documented and prioritized
• Self-service for common operations
• Documentation is discoverable and accurate
• Feedback mechanisms exist
• Metrics track developer productivity