UX × Technology
Making Codebases Understandable
Exploring how technical codebase structures could become easier to understand.
Codebases contain a huge amount of information, but understanding an unfamiliar repository can be difficult — especially for designers, junior developers and people beginning to work with AI-assisted development tools.
Using the open-source project Gitingest as a starting point, I want to explore how repository structures and technical context could become easier to understand and prepare for AI-assisted workflows.
This project will focus on translating technical complexity into a clearer interaction model.
How might we help designers and less technical users understand and prepare a codebase for AI-assisted workflows?
As I move further into Design Engineering, understanding codebases and developer workflows is becoming increasingly important.
This project allows me to explore Developer Experience from the perspective of someone moving between design and engineering.
It is therefore both a UX project and part of my own transition toward working more closely with code.
Questions I Want to Investigate
- How do people understand an unfamiliar repository?
- Which files matter?
- How do users decide what context an AI tool needs?
- Where does technical terminology become a barrier?
- How could repository structure become more visual and understandable?
Planned Process
This case study will evolve as the project progresses — each stage will be documented here as it happens.
Where This Project Stands
- 01 Project identified Completed
- 02 Repository exploration Planned
- 03 User observation Planned
- 04 Problem definition Planned
- 05 Interaction exploration Planned
- 06 Prototype Planned
- 07 Testing Planned
- 08 Implementation Planned
Repository maps, interaction concepts and early prototypes will be added here as the exploration begins.
Skills I'm Developing
This project is currently in progress. I am documenting the process as it develops. Research findings, prototypes, testing results and implementation details will be added throughout the project.