Improve onboarding experience for new `pace` users

[simonsan]

Overview

The current onboarding experience for new users of the pace CLI tool is not as intuitive or welcoming as it could be. New users are immediately faced with a ParentDirNotFound error when attempting to record a new activity without having a pace.toml configuration file in place. This issue aims to outline and propose enhancements to streamline the initial setup process, making pace more accessible and user-friendly for first-time users.

Objectives

• Simplify Initial Setup: Ensure users can easily set up pace without encountering errors.
• Enhance User Guidance: Provide clear instructions and guidance throughout the setup process.

Proposed Enhancements

1. Support PACE_HOME Environment Variable and OS-Dependent Directories

   • Check for a PACE_HOME environment variable to determine a custom configuration location.
   • Use the directories crate to find suitable OS-dependent directories for storing pace.toml when PACE_HOME is not set.
   • Ensure the chosen configuration directory exists or is created upon the first run.

2. Interactive pace setup Command

   • Develop an interactive pace setup command to guide users through creating a global pace.toml.
   • Use the dialoguer crate for creating terminal prompts to gather user preferences.
   • POSTPONED Introduce Real-Time Configuration Validation in pace setup config #9

Further Onboarding Experience Improvements

• Provide a quick start guide post-setup with basic commands and usage tips. #11
• Implement First Activity Wizard for Enhanced User Onboarding #12
• Enhance error messages to include suggestions for corrective actions.
• Add access to comprehensive documentation directly from the CLI. #13
• Introduce update notifications to inform users about new features and improvements.

Request for Comments (RFC)

I invite all contributors and users to provide feedback on these proposed enhancements. Your insights are valuable to ensure we make pace as user-friendly and robust as possible. Specifically, I'm looking for feedback on:

• Additional setup configurations that might be beneficial during the pace setup process.
• Suggestions for improving the quick start guide and first activity wizard.
• Ideas for making error messages more helpful and actionable.

Conclusion

Improving the onboarding experience is crucial for growing pace's user base and ensuring new users can start tracking their activities with minimal friction. By implementing these enhancements, we can make pace not only more accessible to newcomers, but also a delight to use right from the start.

[simonsan]

Feedback

maybe, when you install the app, it can create a temp env variable, starter directory and a project in it called "tutorial" or "walkthrough"
and then say 'install successful, next suggested commands are: 'run tutorial' or something like that