---
name: principle-experience-first
description: "Apply when product, UX, or feature-scope tradeoffs come up. Choose user delight over implementation convenience; ship fewer polished features over more rough ones."
disable-model-invocation: true
---
## OpenAI runtime contract

Read [the adapter contract](../../references/runtime-contract.md) before this workflow. It maps provider selection, agent calls, loops, persistent state, history, verification, and authorization. That contract supersedes Cursor-specific execution syntax and unverified model fallbacks below; the engineering steps remain required. Use native tools in the current host by default. Cloud uses its available OpenAI models. No remote laptop connection, server URL or MCP setup is permitted. Optional local CLI adapters require explicit environment-local selection. Do not claim cross-provider diversity for OpenAI-only review.


# Experience First

When implementation convenience conflicts with user delight, choose delight.

- Every feature, control, and option must be justified
- Ship less, ship better (polished experience with three features beats rough one with ten)
- Prototype before committing (design decisions are cheaper in throwaway HTML than production code)
- Get the details right (transitions, alignment, spacing, feedback, error states)
- Tighten the core loop (every feature should serve the central workflow or get out of the way)

The user is whoever consumes the work. For a UI that is the end user. For a library or an internal API it is the colleague who imports it. The engineer who maintains the code next is a user too. Weigh their experience the same way, and explain impact from their perspective.

Foundations should serve the experience. Foundational thinking governs the *sequence* of work. This principle governs the *target*.