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interaction-designby Seth Hobson

Interaction Design Skill.

A Claude Code and Codex skill for UX research: microinteractions, motion, transitions, and user-feedback patterns.

  • UX & Research
wshobson/agents · plugins/ui-design/skills/interaction-design/SKILL.mdSKILL.md
--- name: interaction-design description: Design and implement microinteractions, motion design, transitions, and user feedback patterns. Use when adding polish to UI interactions, implementing loading states, or creating delightful user experiences. --- ## When to Use This Skill ## Core Principles ## Quick Start: Button Microinteraction ## Interaction Patterns ## CSS Animation Patterns ## Accessibility Considerations
Front matter and section headings read from the upstream file on 2026-09-14 · 7,572 characters in full

01 What it does

What the interaction-design Skill Does in Claude Code and Codex

Summary, workflow and outputs, all read from the skill's SKILL.md.

From the SKILL.mdRead 2026-09-14 · not a recorded run

In the Skill's Own Terms

This skill designs and implements microinteractions, motion design, transitions, and user feedback patterns to enhance usability and delight users. It provides specific timing guidelines: 100-150ms for micro-feedback like hovers and clicks, 200-300ms for small transitions such as toggles and dropdowns, 300-500ms for medium transitions including modals and page changes, and 500ms+ for complex choreographed animations.

The skill covers loading states with skeleton screens and progress indicators, gesture-based interactions like swipe-to-dismiss, page transitions, and feedback patterns such as ripple effects. It emphasizes purposeful motion that communicates rather than decorates, using four principles: feedback to confirm actions, orientation to show element movement, focus to direct attention, and continuity to maintain context during transitions.

What it produces

  • Button microinteractions with hover, tap, and spring animations
  • Skeleton screens with pulsing animation for loading states
  • Toggle components with smooth spring-based state transitions
  • Page transitions with opacity and vertical movement using AnimatePresence
See the example prompt ↗

How It Works

  1. 01
    Follow Timing Guidelines by Interaction Scale

    Use 100-150ms for micro-feedback like hovers and clicks, 200-300ms for small transitions like toggles, 300-500ms for medium transitions like modals, and 500ms+ for complex animations.

  2. 02
    Select Appropriate Easing Functions

    Use ease-out (decelerate) for entering elements, ease-in (accelerate) for exiting elements, ease-in-out for moving between states, and spring for playful overshoot effects.

  3. 03
    Respect Accessibility Preferences

    Check for prefers-reduced-motion media query and reduce animation durations to 0.01ms when users have requested reduced motion, ensuring animations don't cause discomfort.

02 Find your fit

When to Use the interaction-design Skill

Use the interaction-design skill in Claude Code or Codex when the job is UX research of this kind. Fit and limits below are taken from the skill's own file.

Good Fit

  • Adding microinteractions to enhance user feedback on buttons, toggles, and interactive elements
  • Implementing smooth page and component transitions between views or states
  • Designing loading states and skeleton screens that preserve layout during data fetching
  • Creating gesture-based interactions like swipe-to-dismiss or drag-and-drop
  • Building notification and toast systems with enter and exit animations

Know the Boundaries

  • Animating width, height, top, or left properties, which causes janky performance
  • Overusing will-change for optimization, which can hurt performance

03 Inside the skill

Rules the interaction-design Skill Gives Claude Code and Codex

3 concrete instructions, defaults and limits the SKILL.md sets for the agent — the part of the file that changes the result.

  1. Animate Only Transform and Opacity

    Use transform and opacity properties exclusively for smooth 60fps animations. Never animate width, height, top, or left as these cause janky animations.

  2. Motion Must Communicate, Not Decorate

    Every animation should serve a purpose: confirming actions occurred, showing where elements move, directing attention to changes, or maintaining context.

  3. Use Consistent Timing Scale

    Apply the same timing values and easing functions consistently across the entire application to create a cohesive feel.

04 Put it to work

Install interaction-design in Claude Code or Codex

One npx skills add command, then a first task in your agent and a checklist for the result.

Add interaction-design to Claude Code, Codex or Your Agent

Run in your project; the installer asks which agent to add it to.

Terminal
npx skills add https://github.com/wshobson/agents --skill interaction-design

Generic skills CLI form for plugins/ui-design/skills/interaction-design/SKILL.md; the repository may document its own path.

Give the Skill a First UX Research Task

Written in the skill's own terms; replace the bracketed parts with your material.

Starter prompt
Add microinteractions to the [component name] in [file path]. Implement hover and tap feedback on the submit button, add a skeleton screen for the loading state, and create a smooth toggle animation for the [setting name] switch. Make sure all animations respect prefers-reduced-motion and run at 60fps.

Source: written from the SKILL.md in the skill's own terms.

Check the First Result

What the SKILL.md itself says a correct result looks like:

  • Test that users can interrupt and cancel long animations

In OpenDesign import interaction-design from its SKILL.md link: Plugins → Add → Skill → Import from link, then pick it in the top bar.

05 Open source, traceable

Source, License and Verification

Where this page's facts come from, and when they were last checked.

Repository
github.com/wshobson/agents Branch main
Skill file
plugins/ui-design/skills/interaction-design/SKILL.md Content checksum recorded at verification; commit 4236bb9
License
MIT From LICENSE.
Repository stars
39,635 GitHub snapshot taken 2026-09-14 for the whole wshobson/agents repository, which contains 18 skills in this catalog. Not a rating or usage count for interaction-design.
Verified by OpenDesign
2026-09-14 Source file, path, license text and star count were checked. Not bundled in OpenDesign main (checked 2026-08-28); a live run has not been recorded on this page.

Inside the SKILL.md

  1. When to Use This SkillLists eight scenarios including microinteractions, transitions, loading states, gestures, notifications, drag-and-drop, scroll animations, and hover states
  2. Core PrinciplesDefines purposeful motion with four principles and provides timing guidelines and easing functions for different interaction types
  3. Quick Start: Button MicrointeractionShows a complete Framer Motion button example with hover, tap, and spring animation
  4. Interaction PatternsProvides code examples for loading states, state transitions, page transitions, feedback patterns like ripple, and gesture interactions like swipe-to-dismiss
  5. CSS Animation PatternsDemonstrates keyframe animations for fadeIn, pulse, and spin, plus CSS transitions for hover effects
  6. Accessibility ConsiderationsShows how to detect and respect prefers-reduced-motion in both CSS and JavaScript
  7. Best PracticesLists seven rules including performance-first approach, reduced motion support, consistent timing, spring animations, interruptibility, progressive enhancement, and device testing
  8. Common IssuesIdentifies five pitfalls including janky animations, over-animation, blocking interactions, memory leaks, and improper will-change usage
The Skill's Own Description
“Design and implement microinteractions, motion design, transitions, and user feedback patterns. Use when adding polish to UI interactions, implementing loading states, or creating delightful user experiences.”

Front-matter description from SKILL.md. The full file is about 7,572 characters. Read the full file on GitHub.

06 Before you install

Questions About the interaction-design Skill

Answers come from the SKILL.md as read on 2026-09-14, not from a recorded run.

Which animation library does this skill use?

The skill primarily uses Framer Motion for React components, demonstrated in examples like AnimatePresence for page transitions and motion components for gestures. It also covers pure CSS animations using keyframes and transitions, showing both approaches work together.

Interaction Design

Run interaction-design on a Real UX Research Task.

Download OpenDesign, import interaction-design from its SKILL.md link, paste the prompt above, and read the plan before the result.

Terminal
npx skills add https://github.com/wshobson/agents --skill interaction-design

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