error-messaging-and-empty-states

error-messaging-and-empty-states is a skill for Claude Code, Codex from mwd1234/ios-agentic-skills. It costs 40 tokens per session (509 once invoked), scanned A, original, MIT.

A guide for designing clear messages when an app fails or has nothing to show, including alerts, retry options, and permission instructions. An empty state is the screen shown when there is no content yet.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it when adding or reviewing network, sync, permission, and other failure flows, especially before submitting an app to Apple’s App Store.
Why use it?
It helps users understand what went wrong or why a screen is empty and tells them what to do next.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

Written for no agent in particular: nothing here depends on one.

Good fit Use it when adding or reviewing network, sync, permission, and other failure flows, especially before submitting an app to Apple’s App Store.

Compare 6 skills from other repositories ↓
Install with agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/mwd1234/ios-agentic-skills/error-messaging-and-empty-states
Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

Any agent
npx skills add mwd1234/ios-agentic-skills --skill error-messaging-and-empty-states
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/mwd1234/ios-agentic-skills

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for error-messaging-and-empty-states

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/mwd1234/ios-agentic-skills/error-messaging-and-empty-states/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/mwd1234/ios-agentic-skills/error-messaging-and-empty-states)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/mwd1234/ios-agentic-skills/error-messaging-and-empty-states"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/mwd1234/ios-agentic-skills/error-messaging-and-empty-states/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

agentmods 80×15 button for error-messaging-and-empty-states

Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/mwd1234/ios-agentic-skills/error-messaging-and-empty-states"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/mwd1234/ios-agentic-skills/error-messaging-and-empty-states.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 40 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 509 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5.1 $0.00040 $0.00509
Opus 5 $0.00020 $0.00254
Sonnet 5 $0.00008 $0.00102
Haiku 4.5 $0.00004 $0.00051

Measured 11d ago against content hash c05874df9fac, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-11, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

error-messaging-and-empty-states scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 11d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

.agent/skills/error-messaging-and-empty-states/SKILL.md · 93 lines

What it actually says

Error Messaging & Empty States

Design and audit user-visible errors and empty states so they are clear, actionable, and respectful of user intent.

When to use this skill

  • When adding new flows with failure modes
  • Before App Store submission
  • After user reports confusion or churn
  • When adding sync, network, or permission features

Core Principles (HIG-aligned)

  • Be specific: explain what failed
  • Offer a next action: retry, adjust, learn more
  • Avoid blame: no “you did X wrong”
  • Keep it short and human

Step 1: Inventory User-Facing Errors

Search for alerts and error views:

rg --type swift -g '!*Tests*' '\.alert\(' YourApp/Views/
rg --type swift -g '!*Tests*' 'ContentUnavailableView' YourApp/Views/

Check:

  • Title + message are both present
  • Primary action is clear
  • Secondary action cancels or dismisses

Step 2: Empty State Coverage

Empty states should explain:

  1. Why it’s empty
  2. What the user can do next

Examples:

  • “No patterns yet” + “Create your first pattern” button
  • “Nothing synced” + “Open on iPhone to sync”

Step 3: Permissions & Settings Errors

If a permission is denied:

  • Explain why it’s needed
  • Offer a path to Settings

Checklist:

  • Only request permissions on user action
  • Provide a Settings CTA after denial

Step 4: Network & Sync Failures

  • Use retry actions for transient failures
  • Surface offline state explicitly
  • Avoid repeated blocking alerts

Step 5: Error Copy Style Guide

  • Short, human, and actionable
  • Avoid technical jargon
  • Use the user’s language (localized)

Output Format

Category Issues Status
Alerts reviewed X ✅/❌
Empty states present X ✅/❌
Permission guidance X ✅/❌
Retry paths X ✅/❌
Localized error copy X ✅/❌
Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 11d ago First seen · 93 lines · 40 tokens per session scan A c05874df9fac

Subscribe to this mod's changes

error-messaging-and-empty-states is a skill published in the GitHub repository mwd1234/ios-agentic-skills (50 stars, last pushed 7mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 40 tokens to every session and 509 once invoked, about $0.0002 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.

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