TasteTest (EmpathFlow)

The UX review that lives in your repo.

TasteTest acts like a real buyer.
It reads your codebase, builds empathy maps, checks against proven UX principles, and tells you whether your product feels fluid and professional.

Quick Start

Recommended: one-command onboarding

In any project you want to review:

npx @tysongreenan/tastetest init

That installs the lean skill set (buyer review + craft + motion), Cursor rules/commands, and a Claude Code skill. Deep packs stay optional.

Then open your AI agent and say:

Run EmpathFlow
or
Do a TasteTest review

Cursor: type /tastetest
Claude Code: use the tastetest skill, or the same phrases above

# Options
npx @tysongreenan/tastetest init                  # lean (default)
npx @tysongreenan/tastetest init --full           # + FRONTEND.md + skills/ packs
npx @tysongreenan/tastetest init --dir ./my-app   # explicit path
npx @tysongreenan/tastetest init --force          # overwrite existing files
npx @tysongreenan/tastetest init --dry-run        # preview

Manual / Python

python -m empathflow init --project /path/to/your/app

We dogfood this on our own homepage — see tastetest-report/report.md or the sample at the marketing site /report.

What it does

1. Orchestrator preflight — intent, preserve list, personas
2. Persona Managers (one per persona) negotiate priority — secondaries keep non-negotiables
3. Understands the product; journeys from all in-scope personas
4. Critiques with a secondary harm pass
5. Frontend Design asks managers for visual preferences before any design-system search or redesign
6. Scores craft, motion, fluidity; council consensus before implement
7. Produces a prioritized Markdown report

Missing personas or skipped priority council on a full review → NO-GO.

Locked structure

EMPATHFLOW.md          ← Core (always on)
playbook.md            ← Don’t Make Me Think + density
ANTI-SLOP.md           ← Craft / anti-template (UI)
MOTION.md              ← Emil motion rules
FRONTEND.md            ← Optional — design-system only (--full)
skills/                ← Deep packs (NOT default; --full)
  ui-ux-pro-max/ | motion/ | stop-slop-prose/
cli/ · docs/ · web/

What loads when

| User says | Load | |-----------|------| | Run EmpathFlow / TasteTest | EMPATHFLOW.md + playbook.md | | UI / craft / anti-slop | + ANTI-SLOP.md | | Animations / motion | + MOTION.md | | Design system / colors / type | + FRONTEND.md + skills/ui-ux-pro-max |

Priority of truth: EMPATHFLOW → ANTI-SLOP → MOTION → playbook → heavy packs (only when needed).

Default install: four thin files + Cursor/Claude wiring.
--full: also FRONTEND.md + skills/{ui-ux-pro-max,motion,stop-slop-prose}/.

# Design system from the premium pattern library (after --full)
python3 skills/ui-ux-pro-max/scripts/search.py \
  "developer tools SaaS" --design-system -p "TasteTest" -f markdown

Guided by Real UX Principles

• Steve Krug — Don’t Make Me Think
• Density: every block must earn its place
• Hierarchy: one primary action per view
• Craft restraint (anti-slop) and purposeful motion

See playbook.md for the short evaluation criteria agents use.

Project Status

This is V1.
Core vision, skill file, UX playbook, and structure are ready.

Marketing site

Quick homepage (Next.js + SmoothUI) lives in web/:

cd web
npm install
npm run dev

License

MIT