Agent skill · writing content · nousresearch
adversarial-ux-test
Roleplay a hostile user to find and triage UX pain points.
Why this skill is useful
Provides a structured approach to identifying UX pain points through roleplay, which the AI wouldn't generate on its own.
What it needs
About 6k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-08-07. 226,679 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
Adversarial UX Test Roleplay the worst-case user for your product — the person who hates technology, doesn't want your software, and will find every reason to complain. Then filter their feedback through a pragmatism layer to separate real UX problems from "I hate computers" noise. Think of it as an automated "mom test" — but angry. Why This Works Most QA finds bugs. This finds friction. A technically correct app can still be unusable for real humans. The adversarial persona catches: Confusing terminology that makes sense to developers but not users Too many steps to accomplish basic tasks Missing onboarding or "aha moments" Accessibility issues (font size, contrast, click targets) Cold-start problems (empty states, no demo content) Paywall/signup friction that kills conversion The pragmatism filter (Phase 3) is what makes this useful instead of just entertaining. Without it, you'd add a "print this page" button to every screen because Grandpa can't figure out PDFs. How to Use Tell the agent: You can provide a persona or let the agent generate one based on your product's target audience. Step 1: Define the Persona If no persona is provided, generate one by answering: 1. Who is the HARDEST user for this product? (age 50+, non-technical role, decades of experience doing it "the old way") 2. What is their tech comfort level? (the lower the better — WhatsApp-only, paper notebooks, wife set up their email) 3. What is the ONE thing they need to accomplish? (their core job, not your feature list) 4. What would make them give up? (too many clicks, jargon, slow, confusing) 5. How do they talk when frustrated? (blunt, sweary, dismissive, sighing) Good Persona Example "Big Mick" McAllister — 58-year-old S&C coach. Uses WhatsApp and that's it. His "spreadsheet" is a paper notebook. "If I can't figure it out in 10 seconds I'm going back to my notebook." Needs to log session results for 25 players. Hates small text, jargon, and passwords. …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills nousresearch/adversarial-ux-test