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Software Behaviorby Joost van der Zwan
Index

04 · Field Kit

The Field Notes, as skills for your AI.

Every Field Note is also a skill: a small file that teaches your AI tool one research finding, the rules that follow from it, and where the evidence stops. Install it once. Your AI applies it when it designs, builds or reviews, and names the study.
Download the Field Kit

The kit holds every released skill and the design review. Skills in review join it once every figure is checked in the full paper.

Skills
7
Research papers
10
Kit version
1.0.0
Free to use and adapt
CC BY 4.0

How it works

01 · How it works

  1. 01

    Download a skill, or the whole kit.

    Each skill is a folder with one SKILL.md file: the finding, what to do, what not to do, the limits and the source.

  2. 02

    Add it to your AI tool.

    One short step per tool, listed below. No account, no plug-in.

  3. 03

    Work as usual.

    Your AI reads a skill only when the task matches it, applies the rule, and names the study, so you can check it.

02 · Flagship skill

studio-jz-design-review

Ask your AI to review a screen.

Give it a screenshot, a prototype or a flow. It checks what is on the screen against every released Field Note and the 15 Product Architect frameworks, and reports each finding with its source.

Download skill

What the skill makes your AI do

  1. 01

    Name the moments on the screen: first impression, reading, waiting, choosing, errors, onboarding, AI behavior.

  2. 02

    Load only the notes and frameworks whose triggers match.

  3. 03

    Check each rule against what is actually on the screen.

  4. 04

    Report every finding: what is on screen, the rule, the source, the fix and how sure.

  5. 05

    End with what the evidence does not cover.

Sample review · flight search screenIllustrative screen, real sources

  • On screen: A spinner and “Searching…” for about four seconds

    Rule: Show the real work during a wait

    Fix: List the real steps: “Checking 14 airlines”, “Comparing fares”

    Source: JZ-005 · Buell & Norton (2011) · High confidence

    How sure: High

  • On screen: “Recommended for you” with no way to change it

    Rule: Let people adjust the algorithm

    Fix: Add a control to adjust the ranking, even slightly

    Source: JZ-006 · Dietvorst et al. (2015, 2018) · High confidence

    How sure: High

  • On screen: The results page looks crowded at first sight

    Rule: The first look sets the score

    Fix: Sort layout and color first; test a 50 ms flash with five people

    Source: JZ-002 · Lindgaard et al. (2006) · Medium confidence

    How sure: Medium

Not covered

Whether people can complete the booking. That needs a usability test with real people.

03 · Every skill

One skill per Field Note.

Each one is free, versioned and checked against the full paper before it ships. Install one, or the whole kit at once.

  • JZ-002studio-jz-first-glance

    Homepages, landing pages, marketing pages, app start screens, store listings, hero sections and any first screen a new visitor sees

    1.0.0

    Download
  • JZ-003studio-jz-line-length

    Articles, documentation, help pages, blog posts, long-form reading, email bodies, terms and any column of body text

    1.0.0 · in review

    Read the note
  • JZ-004studio-jz-looks-or-rules

    Visual design of screens, forms, dashboards, kiosks and interfaces; design reviews of a mockup; choosing between a polished and a plain version

    1.0.0

    Download
  • JZ-005studio-jz-show-the-work

    Loading states, progress indicators, search and results screens, AI that is thinking or generating, background jobs and any wait of more than about a second

    1.0.0

    Download
  • JZ-006studio-jz-algorithm-miss

    Recommendations, forecasts, rankings, AI suggestions and generated drafts, autocomplete, and how a product behaves after its model gets something wrong

    1.0.0

    Download
  • JZ-007studio-jz-head-start

    Onboarding flows, setup checklists, progress bars, profile completion, loyalty programs and any multi-step goal a user has to finish

    1.0.0 · in review

    Read the note
  • Released notesstudio-jz-design-review

    Reviewing a screen, flow, prototype or screenshot

    1.0.0

    Download

04 · Install

Add it to the tool you use.

A skill is a folder. Put it where your tool looks for skills; it loads only when a task needs it.

  • Claude

    Customize → Skills

    Upload the zip of one skill and turn it on. Skills need code execution, under Settings → Capabilities.

  • Claude Code

    ~/.claude/skills/

    Unzip here for all projects, or into .claude/skills/ for one project.

  • Codex

    ~/.agents/skills/

    Unzip here for all projects, or into .agents/skills/ in one repository.

  • GitHub Copilot

    .github/skills/

    Unzip into your repository, so everyone on the team gets it.

  • Cursor

    .cursor/skills/

    Unzip into your project, so the skill travels with the code.

  • Gemini CLI

    ~/.gemini/skills/

    Unzip here for all projects, or into .gemini/skills/ for one project.

The whole kit unzips to one folder per skill; put each folder in the same place. Another tool? Every note is also plain markdown: open softwarebehavior.com/notes/jz-006.md and paste it into your chat. Install steps are checked against each tool’s own documentation at every release.

05 · Connect live

Field Kit connector

Or connect your AI to the notes, live.

For AI apps that support MCP connectors. Read-only, no account, always the latest version of every note.

https://www.softwarebehavior.com/mcp

Streamable HTTP · no sign-in · three read-only tools

search_notes

A question or topic in, the matching notes out, with finding, source and link.

get_note

A note code in, the full note out: finding, do, don’t, limits, sources.

review_design

A screen or flow described in, the rules that apply out, as a checklist with sources.

For AI tools and crawlers

Every note, readable by machines.

Each page links to a clean markdown version, so AI tools quote the research correctly and credit it.

/llms.txt

A short index of the site: the book, the frameworks, the notes and the Field Kit.

/llms-full.txt

All notes and frameworks in one markdown file.

/notes/jz-006.md

Each note as markdown, next to its page.

06 · License

Free, always. Keep the credit.

The Field Notes, the skills and the Field Kit are published under CC BY 4.0: use, share and adapt them, as long as the credit stays. Every skill cites the researchers in full and summarizes their finding; it never copies their text, figures or tables.

The book and the site design keep their own terms.

Credit line

Software Behavior Field Notes by Joost van der Zwan · Studio JZ · CC BY 4.0 · softwarebehavior.com

Research, notes and skills by Joost van der Zwan · Studio JZ

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What changed in the book, the latest episodes, one framework in practice.

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