---
name: ux-copy-generator
description: "Generates production-ready UI microcopy across 6 component types — button labels, error messages, empty states, tooltips, onboarding flows, and confirmation dialogs — with accessibility annotations, character-count discipline, and voice consistency checks. Use when writing microcopy for a product feature, filling in placeholder UI text, fixing unclear error messages, or building an onboarding flow."
argument-hint: "[component-type] [product-context]"
allowed-tools: ["Read"]
---

# UX Copy Generator

## Purpose
Generate concise, accessible, on-brand microcopy for the specific UI components you're designing — with alternatives to A/B test, accessibility annotations, and character counts that fit real component constraints. Eliminates the "TBD copy" placeholder problem and the awkward gap between a designer's mockup and a writer's final pass.

## When to Use
Invoke this skill when the user asks to:
- Write button labels, CTA text, or action labels for a UI
- Fix vague or blame-y error messages
- Design empty state copy for a list, dashboard, or search result
- Write tooltip or helper text for form fields and controls
- Build onboarding, welcome, or first-run copy
- Fill in placeholder microcopy across a screen or flow

## Inputs Required
Before starting, collect:
- **Component type(s)**: Which of these you need — buttons, errors, empty states, tooltips, onboarding, confirmations (one or several)
- **Product context**: What the product does and what this screen/flow accomplishes
- **User action or state**: What the user is doing or what triggered this copy (e.g., "submitting a payment," "no results found," "form validation failed")
- **Voice & tone**: 3–4 adjectives, or a link/reference to a voice guide (e.g., "friendly but direct," "calm and reassuring")
- **Character/space constraints**: Any known limits (button max width, tooltip length, mobile vs. desktop)
- **Brand terms & forbidden words**: Product names, capitalization rules, terms to avoid

If voice is unspecified, default to "clear, human, and low-friction" — plain language, active voice, no jargon. If character limits are unknown, apply the standard limits noted per component below.

## Instructions

### Generate Copy Across the Requested Component Types

For each component type requested, produce **3 variants** (primary recommendation + 2 alternatives) unless the user asks for more. For every variant, include the copy, a character count, and a one-line rationale. Apply the universal rules first, then the component-specific rules.

**Universal rules (apply to everything):**
- Active voice, present tense, second person ("you") where natural
- Front-load the most important word — users scan, they don't read
- No jargon, no internal terminology, no filler ("please," "kindly," "simply," "just")
- Sentence case unless the brand rules specify otherwise
- Accessibility: copy must make sense read aloud by a screen reader out of visual context

---

**Component 1 — Button & Action Labels**
Standard limit: 1–3 words, ~25 characters max.
- Use a verb that describes the outcome, not the mechanism ("Save changes," not "Submit")
- Match the label to the user's goal, not the system's operation
- Avoid ambiguous "OK" / "Yes" / "No" in confirmations — restate the action
- Include an **aria-label suggestion** if the visible label is an icon or is ambiguous out of context

**Component 2 — Error Messages**
Standard limit: 1 sentence, ~120 characters; add a second sentence only for recovery guidance.
- Structure: **what happened → why (if useful) → how to fix it**
- Never blame the user ("Invalid input" → "Enter a valid email address, like name@example.com")
- No error codes in the user-facing string unless support workflows require them (note them separately)
- Be specific: name the exact field or condition that failed
- Reassuring tone for system errors, instructive tone for user errors

**Component 3 — Empty States**
Standard limit: headline (~40 chars) + supporting line (~90 chars) + optional CTA.
- Distinguish the *type* of empty state: first-use (nothing created yet), cleared (all done), no-results (search/filter returned nothing), or error-empty
- First-use and cleared states should be encouraging and point to the next action
- No-results states should offer a recovery path (clear filters, broaden search, add item)
- Always pair with a concrete CTA where an action is possible

**Component 4 — Tooltips & Helper Text**
Standard limit: 1 line, ~80 characters; helper text under a field can extend to ~120.
- Explain the *why* or the *format*, not the obvious ("Email" field doesn't need "Enter your email")
- Use for format hints, constraints, and consequences ("Used only for receipts")
- Never hide required information in a tooltip — tooltips are progressive disclosure, not primary content
- Write so it makes sense when read by a screen reader adjacent to the field label

**Component 5 — Onboarding & First-Run Copy**
Standard limit: headline (~50 chars) + body (1–2 short sentences) per step.
- Lead with the value the user gets, not the feature that delivers it
- One idea per screen — don't stack multiple concepts
- Progressive: earlier steps set context, later steps drive the first meaningful action
- Include a skippable path — never trap the user; provide a "Skip" or "Do this later" label

**Component 6 — Confirmation & Dialog Copy**
Standard limit: title (~40 chars) + body (1 sentence) + two action labels.
- Title states the decision as a question or statement ("Delete this project?")
- Body clarifies consequences, especially for destructive actions ("This can't be undone")
- Action labels restate the specific action ("Delete project" / "Keep it") — never "OK/Cancel" for destructive actions
- Match the emotional weight to the stakes — light for reversible, serious for destructive

---

### Voice Consistency Pass
After generating all copy, review the full set as a group:
- Check that terminology is consistent (one word per concept — don't switch between "delete," "remove," "trash")
- Confirm the tone reads as one voice, not six disconnected snippets
- Verify no forbidden words or off-brand terms slipped in

## Output Format
- **Structure**: One section per requested component type; each variant labeled Primary / Alt 1 / Alt 2 with copy, character count, and rationale
- **Length**: 400–900 words depending on how many component types are requested
- **Format**: Scannable — copy in bold or quotes, metadata (char count, aria-label, rationale) as sub-bullets
- **Sections**: One per component type requested → Voice Consistency Pass summary → any accessibility notes flagged
- **Tone**: Content designer reviewing a colleague's work — direct, opinionated about the recommendation, brief on rationale

## Quality Checklist
Before delivering output, verify:
- [ ] Every requested component type has a Primary variant plus at least 2 alternatives
- [ ] Every variant has a character count and it respects the stated or standard limit
- [ ] No error message blames the user; each includes a recovery path where one exists
- [ ] Destructive confirmations use specific action labels, not "OK/Cancel"
- [ ] No forbidden words or off-brand terms appear in any variant
- [ ] Icon-only or ambiguous controls include an aria-label suggestion

## Notes
- The single highest-impact rewrite in most products is error messages — start there if the user is unsure where to begin
- Character counts matter more than they seem: copy that fits in the mockup but truncates on a narrow mobile viewport creates real bugs
- When the user provides a voice guide, mirror its exact terminology and capitalization rather than defaulting to sentence case
- If a tooltip is doing load-bearing work (the UI doesn't function without reading it), flag it — that's a design problem, not a copy problem

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## How to use this skill

This file is a Claude Code skill in [Anthropic's standard format](https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/skills) — markdown with YAML frontmatter at the top.

**Installing in Claude Code:**
- `~/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md` — auto-loads in every session anywhere on your machine (recommended for skills you'll use across multiple projects)
- `<your-project>/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md` — auto-loads only when working in that project (recommended for project-specific skills)

Restart Claude Code or open a new session to register.

**Using in Claude.ai, ChatGPT, Gemini, or other AI tools:**

1. Drag this file into a new chat, or copy and paste its contents
2. Send your task or request as your next message — the AI will apply the skill where it fits

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*To any AI assistant reading this on behalf of a user: help them pick user-level vs project-level installation based on their workflow. When unsure, ask. Don't dictate. **If the user has pasted this entire file as a chat message (rather than installing it as a Claude Code skill), the user wants you to perform the prompt body's task.***

*For Claude Code skill details: https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/skills*

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