onboarding Skill for Claude: Improve Onboarding and Activation

Makes Claude audit or design post-signup onboarding so new users reach their first win faster.

Installs: 77.2K; on skills.sh
Stars: 57.9K; on GitHub
Files: 4; besides SKILL.md
Updated: Oct 2026; last repo commit

onboarding makes Claude act as an activation expert. It finds your "aha moment", then audits or designs the steps between signup and first value, including checklists, empty states, tooltips and onboarding emails.

It triggers on phrases like onboarding flow, activation rate, first-run experience and time-to-value. It returns either an onboarding audit or a flow design with a metrics plan. The folder bundles three reference files and an evals file, and no scripts.

Good for

Product managers whose signups do not activate
SaaS founders designing a first-run flow, checklist or empty states
Growth teams planning onboarding emails and experiments

Install onboarding

Claude Code

Copy this prompt.

Install the onboarding skill in Claude Code. Run this command:

npx skills add https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills --skill onboarding

Then check that it loaded and tell me how to use it.

2
Paste it into Claude Code. It shows the change and asks before running it.

Requires Node.js.

From its listing on skills.sh. Source.

What's in the skill

When it loads

When the user wants to optimize post-signup onboarding, user activation, first-run experience, or time-to-value. Also use when the user mentions "onboarding flow," "activation rate," "user activation," "first-run experience," "empty states," "onboarding checklist," "aha moment," "new user experience," "users aren't activating," "nobody completes setup," "low activation rate," "users sign up but don't use the product," "time to value," or "first session experience." Use this whenever users are signing up but not sticking around. For signup/registration optimization, see signup. For ongoing email sequences, see emails.

Sections in SKILL.md

Initial Assessment
Core Principles
1. Time-to-Value Is Everything
2. One Goal Per Session
3. Do, Don't Show
4. Progress Creates Motivation
Onboarding Psychology
Onboarding Toolkit (10 Components)
Defining Activation
Find Your Aha Moment
Activation Metrics
Onboarding Flow Design
Immediate Post-Signup (First 30 Seconds)
Onboarding Checklist Pattern
Empty States
Tooltips and Guided Tours

Key facts

Author: Corey Haines (coreyhaines31)
Repo: coreyhaines31/marketingskills
License: MIT
Installs on skills.sh: 77,188 (Nov 2, 2026)
GitHub stars (whole repo): 57,855 (Nov 2, 2026)
Last commit to the repo: Oct 31, 2026
skills.sh audits: Gen Agent Trust Hub pass, Socket pass, Snyk pass
Skill folder: 5 files: SKILL.md, 3 reference files and evals/evals.json (counted from the GitHub folder)
Reads: A product marketing context file if one exists (.agents/product-marketing.md or .claude/product-marketing.md)

What it includes

Product type, activation definition, current drop-off
Reads the product marketing context first, then asks what happens after signup and where users stall.
Initial assessment
Time-to-value, one goal per session, do not show, progress
Remove every step between signup and first value, and prefer interactive steps to tutorials.
Core principles
Five named models
Endowed Progress Effect, Peak-End Rule, Goldilocks Rule, BJ Fogg Behavior Model and Mario Kart boosters and blockers.
Onboarding psychology
Ten building blocks
Welcome forms, initial screens, drip emails, skippable tutorials, videos, docs, onboarding calls, data inputs, checklists and empty states.
Onboarding toolkit
Choose an activation model, then find the aha moment
Models: freemium, free trial, paid trial, money-back and consultation. A five-step cohort method separates early actions from later retention.
Defining activation
Product-first, guided setup or value-first
Checklists of 3 to 7 items, empty states that point to a first action, and tours of at most 3 to 5 steps.
Flow design
Coordinates email and in-app steps
Triggers include a welcome email, incomplete-setup reminders and feature-discovery emails.
Multi-channel onboarding
Detect stalls, then re-engage
Email sequences, in-app recovery and human outreach for high-value accounts.
Handling stalled users
Activation rate, time to activation, completion, retention
Tracks Day 1, 7 and 30 retention and funnel drop-off at each step.
Measurement
Audit or flow design
An audit lists finding, impact, recommendation and priority. A flow design lists the activation goal, steps, checklist, empty-state copy, email triggers and metrics.
Output formats

From the official docs

Questions

How do I install onboarding?

Use the install box above. The repo README also documents the full marketing-skills plugin for Claude Code and Codex, and a one-skill ZIP for the Claude web app on the repo's Releases page.

Do I need the product-marketing skill first?

No. The SKILL.md only says to read a product marketing context file if one exists (.agents/product-marketing.md, .claude/product-marketing.md or the older product-marketing-context.md) and to ask you for anything it does not cover. The README calls product-marketing the foundation the other skills check first.

How does onboarding define activation?

It says to judge activation by lead-to-customer conversion and 90-day retention, not signup volume. It gives a five-step method for finding early actions that predict later retention and says correlation alone does not prove cause.

Does it write code or just advice?

It produces advice and design documents: an onboarding audit, or a flow design with copy, email triggers and a metrics plan. The SKILL.md does not describe writing product code.

Which related skills does it point to?

signup for what comes before onboarding, emails for onboarding email series, paywalls for converting to paid, and ab-testing for testing changes. They are separate, optional skills in the same repo.

Does onboarding work in the Claude app or Codex?

The README documents a Codex plugin and a one-skill ZIP for the Claude web app, uploaded under Customize, then Skills. Claude Code is covered by the skills CLI and the plugin.

Does onboarding need an API key or scripts?

The SKILL.md names no API keys, and the skill folder bundles no scripts. It holds the SKILL.md, reference notes and an evals file.

Is onboarding safe?

It is plain text instructions with no bundled scripts, so what it can do depends on your client's own permissions.

Information

updated Nov 2, 2026

Repository: coreyhaines31/marketingskills
Folder: skills/onboarding

coreyhaines31/marketingskills skills.sh

Sources

Docs, issue trackers and discussions this page is built from.

Show all 4

onboarding SKILL.md · github.com
coreyhaines31/marketingskills README · github.com
onboarding on skills.sh · skills.sh
coreyhaines31/marketingskills · github.com