Better Error States
Tell people what broke and what to do about it.
What it adds
Error states that explain what failed, whether it's the user's fault, and what to try next.
What your agent is told to do
4
What your agent is told to do
4-
1
Find every place the app can fail: failed fetches, 404s, 500s, permission denials, validation errors, offline.
-
2
Distinguish them. 'Not found', 'not allowed', 'we broke', and 'you're offline' need different copy and different actions — a generic 'Something went wrong' is a dead end.
-
3
Always offer a way forward: retry, go back, or contact support.
-
4
Never show a raw exception, stack trace, or status code to a user. Log those; show a human sentence.
Edge cases it handles
4
Edge cases it handles
4- A retry must actually re-run the failed request, not reload the whole page.
- Repeated failures must not spam the user with identical errors.
- An error inside a small widget must not take down the whole page — scope the boundary.
- Offline is not a server error. Detect it and say so.
Definition of done
7
Definition of done
7- Every failure mode has its own state and its own copy.
- No raw exceptions or status codes are shown to users.
- Every error offers a next action.
- A widget-level failure does not blank the page.
- Errors are logged where developers can see them.
- The feature matches the existing design system.
- No existing functionality is broken.
Related features
Beautiful Empty States
Beautiful Empty States
Replace blank screens with useful, contextual empty states.
What it does
Every list, table, and dashboard in your app has a "nothing here yet" state. Most
apps ship a blank rectangle — and it is often the very first thing a new user sees.
An empty state should say what belongs here, why it is empty, and what to do next.
How it works
- 1 Inventory the empty cases first. List every collection view in the app and
- 2 Distinguish the three kinds of empty. They are not the same, and must not
- 3 Build one reusable empty-state component from the existing design system,
Copy the prompt
No account needed
Add this feature to my app:
https://addthisfeature.com/x/beautiful-empty-states
Media Aspect Ratio System
Media Aspect Ratio System
Give every thumbnail, avatar, and hero a shared, reserved shape so nothing jumps.
What it does
A small set of named aspect ratios applied to every image and video surface, with reserved space, a defined fit, and a defined fallback.
How it works
- 1 Catalogue the media surfaces already in the app — list thumbnails, card covers, avatars, hero banners, video embeds, attachment previews — and reduce them to a handful of named ratios rather than a per-component value.
- 2 Reserve the box before the media loads so the ratio holds space from first paint. Layout that settles after an image arrives moves whatever the user was about to click.
- 3 Set the fit per content type, not per component: faces and product shots crop to fill from a sensible focal point, diagrams and screenshots fit whole with padding, because cropping a diagram loses the content it exists to show.
Copy the prompt
No account needed
Add this feature to my app:
https://addthisfeature.com/x/media-aspect-ratio-system
Opening Hours Display
Opening Hours Display
Say whether you are open right now and when you next open.
What it does
A live open or closed state alongside the weekly hours, with holiday closures folded in.
How it works
- 1 Lead with the current state in plain words and follow it with the next transition: open until a time, or closed until a day and time. The weekly table is supporting detail, not the headline.
- 2 Store hours as intervals against the business's own zone, and keep holiday and one-off closures as overrides that win over the regular week rather than as edits to it.
- 3 Compute the state on the server for the first render so the page does not briefly claim the wrong thing, then let the page update itself as the clock crosses a boundary without a reload.
Copy the prompt
No account needed
Add this feature to my app:
https://addthisfeature.com/x/opening-hours-display
How it works
-
1
Copy the link
Grab the Markdown instruction URL for this feature.
-
2
Give it to your AI
Paste it into Claude Code, Cursor, v0, Lovable — whatever you build with.
-
3
It inspects, then implements
Your agent reads your existing app first, then adds the feature to fit it.
Works with your stack
These instructions are written to adapt. They tell the agent to detect your framework, match your existing design system, and reuse what you already have — rather than assuming a particular stack.
Need it tighter than that? Customize the feature and tell it exactly what you're running.