This skill should be used when the user is building or reviewing error states, validation errors, permission errors (403), session expiry warnings, offline handling, concurrent edit conflicts, rate limiting, or server error (500) recovery flows. Covers the full taxonomy of SaaS failure modes and graceful degradation patterns.
npx claudepluginhub oborchers/fractional-cto --plugin saas-design-principlesThis skill uses the workspace's default tool permissions.
Error handling in SaaS extends far beyond "something went wrong" modals. A production-ready application must account for every failure mode with specific, actionable responses.
Generates design tokens/docs from CSS/Tailwind/styled-components codebases, audits visual consistency across 10 dimensions, detects AI slop in UI.
Records polished WebM UI demo videos of web apps using Playwright with cursor overlay, natural pacing, and three-phase scripting. Activates for demo, walkthrough, screen recording, or tutorial requests.
Delivers idiomatic Kotlin patterns for null safety, immutability, sealed classes, coroutines, Flows, extensions, DSL builders, and Gradle DSL. Use when writing, reviewing, refactoring, or designing Kotlin code.
Error handling in SaaS extends far beyond "something went wrong" modals. A production-ready application must account for every failure mode with specific, actionable responses.
Surface inline, below the specific field, with red borders and actionable text.
Never use toasts for validation errors. Toasts stack, auto-dismiss before reading, and force users to hunt for the relevant field.
Must explain what the user can't do, why, and what they can do about it.
| Bad | Good |
|---|---|
| "Access denied" | "Only workspace admins can manage billing. Request access from @admin-name" |
| "Contact your administrator" | Show who has the required permission + a "Request Access" button |
| "Forbidden" | Suggest alternative actions the user CAN take |
Three response options to offer:
Special care required. Jared Spool documented a case where a user completed a purchase, opened another tab, returned to find "Your session expired" — with no clarity on whether the purchase completed.
The principle: Always clearly communicate what was saved and what was lost.
Requirements:
For additional session management guidance (adaptive MFA, auth flows), see the authentication skill.
The deepest technical-UX intersection. Figma's approach: model documents as property-level maps.
Resolution strategy:
UI requirements:
Graceful degradation is mandatory.
Rules:
Working implementations in examples/:
examples/error-states.md — Permission denied (403), offline banner with action queue, server error (500) with retry, and rate limiting (429)When reviewing or building error handling: