Add Better Onboarding & First-Run UX Improvements

[Nitya-003]

Summary

PromptShell already has great features, but the onboarding flow can be made smoother and more intuitive for first-time users. Currently, users must manually run promptshell --config and walk through the setup, but many new users don’t know when or why they should run it.
Improving the first-run experience will significantly reduce confusion and make the tool feel more polished.

Proposed Enhancements

1. Auto-trigger Configuration on First Launch: When a user runs promptshell for the very first time, PromptShell should:

• Detect missing config
• Automatically start the --config wizard
  OR
• Ask:
  “No configuration found. Would you like to run setup now? (Y/n)”

This removes friction and makes onboarding seamless.

2. Add Clear Status Indicators in the Setup Wizard: During the configuration wizard:

• Show which step the user is on
  (e.g., Step 1/4: Choose Mode)
• Show selected options dynamically
• Display estimated VRAM requirements when selecting local models

This improves clarity and reduces user guesswork.

3. Provide Quick Preset Configurations: Add presets to speed up setup:

• Privacy Mode (Local-only)
  Automatically selects local models & disables cloud APIs
• Performance Mode (Cloud Preferred)
  Selects Groq/OpenAI with recommended models
• Custom Mode
  Manual configuration (current behavior)

4. Validate API Keys During Setup: To avoid runtime failures, PromptShell should:

• Ping the selected provider's endpoint
• Verify API key format and authentication
• Warn users immediately if the key is invalid

5. Add promptshell doctor Command: A diagnostic command that checks:

• Model availability (local + API)
• Config file validity
• Path issues
• LLM connectivity
• Missing dependencies

Useful for debugging and supporting users.

🎯 Expected Benefits

• Better first impression & user retention
• Reduced setup errors & confusion
• Smoother onboarding for beginners
• More predictable behavior for advanced users

[Kirti-Rathi]

Really good points. Onboarding definitely needs some improvement, and this gives a solid direction.

I’ll take this up and start iterating on it. If you want to jump in on any part of it, happy to chat!