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Design — is it beautiful?
Brief 77

Show, Don't Tell

Are the benefits and the how-it-works shown — product shots, demos, diagrams, before-and-afters — or buried in paragraphs a visitor has to take on faith?

SHOWCASE.md4 phases7 lenses~3.4k chars

Free & open · no signup · read-only — it ends by asking · nothing leaves your machine

What it does

You are working inside this repo. Mission: judge whether this product shows its value and its mechanics — through screenshots, demos, diagrams, annotated examples, before-and-afters — or only describes them in prose a visitor has to trust. A benefit shown converts; a benefit asserted gets skimmed.

Read-only pass. Run the app or read the pages, assets, and components that render the public surfaces; your only write is the report file.

What it looks for

7 lenses it looks through

Phase 2 sweeps the codebase through every one of these, citing file and line for each finding.

1

Prose where a picture belongs

benefits described in a wall of text that one screenshot or clip would land instantly

2

The product, unseen

does a visitor ever watch the actual thing working before committing, or only read words about it

3

How it works, undiagrammed

mechanisms and flows told step-by-step in text where a simple diagram or numbered visual would carry it

4

Show the outcome

is the after-state, result, or payoff pictured, or only promised

5

Annotated over raw

screenshots and demos that point at what matters, versus bare images a newcomer can't parse

6

Stale or fake visuals

placeholder shots, lorem-ipsum demos, or images drifted from the current UI, which cost more trust than they earn

7

Weight and accessibility

heavy media that blocks first paint, autoplay that startles, and visuals with no alt or caption for those who can't see them

The deliverable

What lands in your repo

One structured report at the repo root — or in reports/, if you keep one — the same shape every time, ready for a teammate — or the optional Studio — to act on.

SHOWCASE.md
1
Show-vs-tell map
key claims · shown or told today · the visual that would prove it
2
Findings
each: lens · location · what a visitor can't currently see · the asset to add or fix · effort
3
Top 3 visuals to make
the highest-leverage things to picture, in order
4
Media hygiene
what to annotate, caption, compress, or retire
One file. Evidence-backed. It ends by asking before touching anything. · see a real SHOWCASE.md ↗
How it works

What it makes the agent do

Every Goal Prompt follows the same four steps, so results are consistent and repeatable — no matter which one you run.

1
Phase 1

Inventory what's shown

Walk the marketing and product surfaces.

2
Phase 2

Audit through 7 lenses

Cite the surface and the exact asset or passage for every finding.

3
Phase 3

Curate

Rank by persuasion-per-pixel.

4
Phase 4

Report

Create SHOWCASE.md at repo root.

Get started

Three ways to run this Goal Prompt

01 · COPY

Paste it in

Copy it and paste it into your agent inside the repo you want checked.

02 · INSTALL

As a slash command

Install the goal plugin once — two commands — then just type /goal:show-dont-tell.

1/plugin marketplace add GhostlyGawd/goal-prompts
2/plugin install goal@goal-prompts

Or install only this Goal Prompt as /goal-show-dont-tell:

curl -fsSL https://goal-prompts.vercel.app/install | BRIEF=77 sh
03 · AGENT

From an agent (MCP)

Let an agent fetch it mid-conversation, or pull the raw Goal Prompt by URL.

https://goal-prompts.vercel.app/raw/77.md
Transparency

The exact prompt

Nothing hidden — this is the whole Goal Prompt, verbatim. Read it in a minute, edit it, or copy it as-is.

Read the full brief (3,411 characters)
# Goal: Show, Don't Tell

You are working inside this repo. Mission: judge whether this product shows its value and its mechanics — through screenshots, demos, diagrams, annotated examples, before-and-afters — or only describes them in prose a visitor has to trust. A benefit shown converts; a benefit asserted gets skimmed.

Read-only pass. Run the app or read the pages, assets, and components that render the public surfaces; your only write is the report file.

## Phase 1 — Inventory what's shown
- Walk the marketing and product surfaces: landing, features, docs home, pricing, empty states.
- Catalogue the visual evidence present: product screenshots, GIFs and video, diagrams, annotated UI, sample output, before/after, example galleries, live demos.
- For each key claim of value, note whether it is shown, told, or both — and where the biggest "trust me" paragraphs sit with nothing to look at.

## Phase 2 — Audit through 7 lenses
Cite the surface and the exact asset or passage for every finding.
1. **Prose where a picture belongs** — benefits described in a wall of text that one screenshot or clip would land instantly
2. **The product, unseen** — does a visitor ever watch the actual thing working before committing, or only read words about it
3. **How it works, undiagrammed** — mechanisms and flows told step-by-step in text where a simple diagram or numbered visual would carry it
4. **Show the outcome** — is the after-state, result, or payoff pictured, or only promised
5. **Annotated over raw** — screenshots and demos that point at what matters, versus bare images a newcomer can't parse
6. **Stale or fake visuals** — placeholder shots, lorem-ipsum demos, or images drifted from the current UI, which cost more trust than they earn
7. **Weight and accessibility** — heavy media that blocks first paint, autoplay that startles, and visuals with no alt or caption for those who can't see them

## Phase 3 — Curate
- Rank by persuasion-per-pixel: which single visual, added or fixed, would move the most understanding.
- Separate "needs a new asset" (design work) from "has an asset, used wrong" (placement, annotation, caption).
- Flag any visual that would mislead if shipped — a demo of a feature that doesn't exist yet is a promise, not a proof.

## Phase 4 — Report
Create `SHOWCASE.md` at repo root:
1. **Show-vs-tell map** — key claims · shown or told today · the visual that would prove it
2. **Findings** — each: lens · location · what a visitor can't currently see · the asset to add or fix · effort
3. **Top 3 visuals to make** — the highest-leverage things to picture, in order
4. **Media hygiene** — what to annotate, caption, compress, or retire

Start the report with today's date. If `SHOWCASE.md` already exists from a previous run, read it first and lead with what changed since.

## Rules
- A benefit the visitor can see beats one they have to believe
- Every finding names the passage that should be shown or the asset that fails
- Prefer one honest screenshot over a paragraph of adjectives
- No marketing or product surface to show the product on in this repo? Say so in a one-paragraph null report and stop — a null result is a valid finding.
- If a `reports/` directory exists at the repo root, write the report there instead of the root.
- Before asking, present the top findings as a ranked list in plain words
- Report only — end by asking which visuals to make

House rules for this Goal Prompt

  • A benefit the visitor can see beats one they have to believe
  • Every finding names the passage that should be shown or the asset that fails
  • Prefer one honest screenshot over a paragraph of adjectives
  • No marketing or product surface to show the product on in this repo? Say so in a one-paragraph null report and stop — a null result is a valid finding.
  • If a reports/ directory exists at the repo root, write the report there instead of the root.
  • Before asking, present the top findings as a ranked list in plain words
  • Report only — end by asking which visuals to make
Keep exploring

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Runs inside these playbooks — curated sequences you can launch with one paste: