Hooked UxCAUTION

Wondel.ai Agent Skills — Business, Marketing, UX & Coding Frameworks from Bestselling Books. 50 skills + 12 guided journeys for Claude Code, Codex, Cursor & other agentskills.io agents.

The instruction file, verbatim from the audited commit — this is the text the model reads, and the surface the audit's instruction layer examines. Quoted here so you can judge it without cloning anything.

---
name: hooked-ux
description: 'Design habit-forming product loops using the Hook Model (Trigger, Action, Variable Reward, Investment). Use when the user mentions "users arent coming back", "habit formation", "engagement loops", "habit zone", or "the manipulation matrix". Also trigger when designing notification or re-engagement strategies, building streaks or progress systems, or analyzing why users stop after signup. Covers ethics evaluation and onboarding for habits. For friction reduction and B=MAP, see improve-retention. For viral sharing, see contagious.'
license: MIT
metadata:
  author: wondelai
  version: "1.5.1"
---

# Hook Model Framework

Framework for building habit-forming products. Habits are not created — they are built through successive cycles through the Hook.

## Core Principle

**The Hook Model** = a four-phase loop that connects the user's problem to your solution frequently enough to form a habit, moving usage from deliberate to automatic.

```
Trigger → Action → Variable Reward → Investment
    ↑                                      │
    └──────────────────────────────────────┘
```

## Scoring

**Goal: 10/10.** When reviewing or creating product engagement mechanics, score the loop by the four Quick Diagnostic rows (internal trigger, dead-simple action, variable reward, investment loads next trigger): each row earns 2 (fully satisfied), 1 (partial), or 0 (absent), then `score = round(total / 8 × 10)`. Then apply the ethics gate: if the Manipulation Matrix places the product as Dealer (or it hits any "When NOT to Use" condition), cap the score at 3 regardless of mechanics. Bands: 9-10 = complete loop, internal trigger identified, ethics clear; 5-6 = loop runs but leans on external triggers or predictable rewards; <=3 = broken loop or extractive design. Always state the current score and the specific diagnostic rows blocking 10/10.

## The Four Phases

### 1. Trigger

**Core concept:** The actuator of behavior. Triggers are external (environment-driven: notifications, emails, ads) or internal (emotion-driven) — and the goal is to migrate users from external to internal triggers.

**Why it works:** Every habit starts with a cue. External triggers get users started, but internal triggers — boredom, loneliness, uncertainty, FOMO — drive unprompted usage because the emotion itself fires before any reminder can.

**Key insights:**
- Map your product to the specific negative emotion it resolves (boredom, loneliness, confusion, FOMO)
- Effective external triggers are well-timed, actionable, and lead to the simplest possible next action
- If users still need external prompts after ~30 days, no internal trigger has formed

**Product applications:**

| Context | Application | Example |
|---------|-------------|---------|
| **Onboarding** | External triggers establish the first loop | Welcome email with one clear action |
| **Retention** | Map product to internal emotional trigger | Instagram resolves boredom; Google resolves confusion |
| **Re-engagement** | External triggers bridge gaps until habit forms | Push: "Your friend just posted a photo" |

**Copy patterns:**
- "Don't miss what happened while you were away" (FOMO trigger)
- "Your friend just..." (social trigger bridging to internal)
- "Pick up where you left off" (routine trigger)

**Ethical boundary:** Don't build triggers that fire on vulnerable emotional states (depression, addiction, grief) — those users can't exercise the autonomy the loop assumes.

See [references/triggers.md](references/triggers.md) when mapping triggers — the emotion-to-product mapping exercise and the external-to-internal transition plan.

### 2. Action

**Core concept:** The simplest behavior done in anticipation of a reward, guided by the Fogg Behavior Model: Behavior = Motivation + Ability + Trigger, all converging at the same moment.

**Why it works:** Increasing motivation is hard and unreliable; reducing friction (increasing ability) is easier and more effective. Every extra step, field, or decision is a drop-off point.

**Key insights:**
- Six elements of simplicity: time, money, physical effort, brain cycles, social deviance, non-routine
- The action is the simplest behavior in anticipation of reward — not the full task
- Hick's Law: more choices = slower decisions; reduce options to increase action rate

**Product applications:**

| Context | Application | Example |
|---------|-------------|---------|
| **Signup flow** | Minimize fields and steps | One-click Google/Apple sign-in |
| **Core action** | Completable in seconds | Twitter: type 280 characters and post |
| **Progressive disclosure** | Ask for more only after initial reward | Duolingo: play first, create account later |

**Copy patterns:**
- "Just one tap to..." (emphasizes simplicity)
- "No credit card required" (money/risk simplicity)
- Buttons should be verbs: "Post", "Save", "Share" — not "Submit" or "Continue"

**Ethical boundary:** When you simplify an action, don't strip the cost or consequence with it — a one-tap purchase must still surface the price and the commitment.

See [references/product-applications.md](references/product-applications.md) when adapting the loop to your context — action and investment patterns for B2B SaaS, e-commerce, health, and productivity tools.

### 3. Variable Reward

**Core concept:** The phase that keeps users coming back. Anticipation of reward — not the reward itself — creates dopamine, and rewards must be variable (unpredictable) to sustain engagement.

**Why it works:** The brain's dopamine system responds most strongly to anticipation of uncertain rewards — the slot machine effect. Three reward types — tribe (social), hunt (resources), self (mastery) — tap fundamental human drives.

**Key insights:**
- Tribe = social validation; Hunt = search for resources/information; Self = personal mastery
- Predictable rewards lose power; finite variability eventually becomes predictable — aim for infinite variability
- Autonomy is critica

CAUTIONgrade B · trust 89/100 Install with care. The audit found things worth knowing before you trust its output.

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Findings (5)

.agents/skills/37signals-way

.agents/skills/architecture-optimization

.agents/skills/blue-ocean-strategy

.agents/skills/clean-architecture

.agents/skills/clean-code

Gates applied: no_behavioural_pass.