Open UX

Cited UX rules agents can list, fetch, and audit against.

Stop inventing UX guidance from memory. Open UX is a shared, open-source catalog of UX rules with citations, plus tools so an agent can find the right criteria and apply them to work it already has.

Hosted: open-ux.dev · License: MIT

What it is

A curated, machine-readable store of UX guidelines and a small tool surface so an agent can:

1. Browse situations — pick a compose job (Situation Card) that matches the work
2. Fetch criteria — get cited rules for that job (rule, pass_when, fail_when)
3. Apply locally — the client judges the artifact; the host never takes the file and never returns pass/fail

There is no server-side LLM. One shared catalog for every caller — an account unlocks the hosted API; it does not give you a private rulebook.

What it is not

• A generative design copilot or “does this look good?” scorer
• A WCAG / accessibility compliance checker (we do not claim conformance, contrast audits, or screen-reader naming)
• A closed corpus — the catalog and server are open source; you can self-host the same tools

Features

• Cited catalog — one JSON file per rule, with sources you can follow
• Public catalog site — browse rules in the browser at /catalog
• Agent tools — list / search / get guidelines; suggest situations; audit by need (job or ids)
• Hosted or self-host — waitlist + API key on the hosted service, or stdio locally with no auth
• Privacy-minded hosted mode — we do not store UI payloads or prompts; see Privacy. How we cite rules: Sources

Quick start

Hosted

1. Request access at open-ux.dev/invite
2. After approval, redeem your invite for a bearer API key (uxmcp_…)
3. Point your MCP client at the hosted /mcp endpoint with that key
4. Call list_guidelines or audit with a job (no file upload)

Tools return 401 without a key.

Self-host

pip install open-ux
python -m open_ux validate-catalog
python -m open_ux stdio
OPEN_UX_MODE=hosted python -m open_ux http

The wheel includes the catalog. A change to catalog/ or the package source on master publishes a new PyPI patch so pip and hosted carry the same rules.

Browse the local site at http://127.0.0.1:8080/catalog. Point MCP clients at local stdio, or at hosted /mcp with a uxmcp_ key.

Contribute from this repo

python -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e "packages/mcp[dev]"
python -m open_ux validate-catalog
python -m open_ux stdio

Tests

cd packages/mcp && python -m pytest

Claude plugin

Pack in clients/claude. It connects to the catalog; it does not ship a second copy of the rules. .cursor and .claude in this repo are mounts (symlinks) into that pack.

claude plugin marketplace add 3dyonic/open-ux
claude plugin install open-ux@open-ux

Enable, then paste a key from open-ux.dev/invite.

Cursor uses the same pack (.cursor-plugin/ + mcp.json). Set OPEN_UX_API_KEY under Plugins → Configure. Submit: cursor.com/marketplace/publish.

Agent tools

audit accepts optional query (orders the pack) and limit (default 10, max 50). It does not take a file target and does not return a host verdict. If nothing matches, you get an empty list and a note.

Catalog layout

catalog/
  rules/{category}/{source}/   one JSON file per rule
  index.json                   generated index
  jobs.json                    Situation tree
  schema.json                  rule schema
  MANIFEST.md                  human map (no rule bodies)

Rules are never forked per tenant. Soft size budget ~50–100 KB; hard ceiling ~384 KB. Details: catalog/README.md.

Repository layout

packages/mcp      Python server (FastMCP)
catalog/          shared rules + schema
clients/claude    thin Claude plugin
docs/             privacy, assets

Python package: open-ux · npm / plugin scope: @3dyonic/open-ux

Hosted vs self-host

Privacy on the hosted product: open-ux.dev/privacy (Eng constraints also in docs/PRIVACY.md). How we write and cite catalog rules, and how to ask us to change or remove one: open-ux.dev/sources.

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome. Keep the catalog cited — every rule should point at a real source. Prefer small, reviewable PRs: one concern per change (catalog rows, server behavior, or docs).

Before opening a PR:

python -m open_ux validate-catalog
cd packages/mcp && python -m pytest

License

MIT