# Friction as a Feature

Essay by Emil Kowalski (https://emilkowal.ski)

A natural filter for bad ideas.

Topics: Craft
Source: https://emilkowal.ski/ui/friction-as-a-feature

## For agents

Nothing to install. This is a reference: cite it, or fetch the source when
the reasoning matters.

Read it at: https://emilkowal.ski/ui/friction-as-a-feature

The full text is not reproduced here. It belongs to its author. What is
above is the author's own summary and the topics it covers.

Skills in this library that act on the same ground:

- emil-design-eng (https://stackskills.dev/md/emil-design-eng): The design-engineering house style behind Sonner and Vaul.
- prototype (https://stackskills.dev/md/prototype): Builds several genuinely different UI variants behind a live picker.
- apple-design (https://stackskills.dev/md/apple-design): Apple's interface and motion principles, translated for the web.
- better-ui (https://stackskills.dev/md/better-ui): Concentric radius, optical alignment, surface depth, hit areas.
- better-interface (https://stackskills.dev/md/better-interface): Every better-* skill as a single review pass.

## The short version

Friction was quietly doing a second job: it made you decide what was worth building before you built it. AI removed that cost, so the filter now has to be applied on purpose.

## Verification

- Source link: Resolved (HTTP 200) (pass)
- Reading copy: Plain markdown for agents at /md/friction-as-a-feature (pass)
- Attribution: Credited to Emil Kowalski (pass)

Full page: https://stackskills.dev/library/friction-as-a-feature