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botirkhaltaevbotirkhaltaev/botir-skills/skills/error-empty-states/SKILL.md

error-empty-states

Skill4 starsChanged 3 months agoApache-2.0View on GitHub

Design for empty states, error states, zero-data, offline, permission denied, and recovery CTAs. Use when screens have no content yet, loads fail, search returns nothing, the user is offline, or access is blocked. Triggers on: "empty state", "error state", "zero data", "blank screen", "offline UX", "permission denied", "no results", "recovery CTA", "failure messaging".

We split this skill into the rules it gives an agent

1 rule. About 0 are common, 0 are distinctive, and 1 is very specific to this project.

  • ≈0

    Common · estimate

    Many files like this have a rule of this kind.

  • ≈0

    Distinctive · estimate

    This author's own choices. Worth a look.

  • 1

    Very specific

    Tied to their project's names, files or tools. Probably skip.

  • Common
  • Distinctive
  • Very specific
  1. Very specific:

    Every screen needs intentional empty, error, loading, and success treatment.

    line 9

≈ “Common” is an estimate: at least 1 in 5 of the 308,232 skill files we read have a rule of the same kind, not the same words. “Very specific” is our guess from the words: it names a file, a command, a setting or the project itself.

Keep what fits and drop the rest. Your version, ready for your agents.
Files
SKILL.md

Error & Empty States

Every screen needs intentional empty, error, loading, and success treatment. Pattern summary also in interaction-design-patterns; first-run empties overlap onboarding-ux.

State picker

SituationTreat asPrimary goal
Never had dataFirst-use emptyTeach + CTA to create value
User deleted allCleared emptyConfirm + undo + create
Query matched nothingNo resultsExplain + refine/clear
Network/server failureErrorExplain + retry/recovery
No connectivityOfflineWhat's available + retry
Lacks entitlementPermission / planWhy + request/upgrade
WaitingLoadingSkeleton/progress + cancel if long

Message formula

What happened → Why (if useful) → What to do next (recovery CTA).

Reference Map

  • references/empty-and-zero-data.md — first-use, cleared, no results, zero-data
  • references/errors-offline-permissions.md — errors, offline, denied, recovery CTAs

Related Skills

  • For interaction pattern context → use interaction-design-patterns
  • For first-run / activation empties → use onboarding-ux
  • For field-level validation errors → use form-ux
  • For AI failure anti-patterns → use ai-ui-anti-patterns
  • For accessible error text → use a11y-accessibility-design
  • For microcopy → use ux-writing-content-design

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