A key action is prompted within the first session

If the UI does not point new users at the core value action, most will not find it. They will open the navigation, poke at settings, possibly create an empty project, and leave without experiencing what the product actually does. The user-experience taxon treats this as the activation gap: a product that works perfectly is worthless if first-session users cannot locate the feature that delivers the value they signed up for. Unguided empty dashboards are the single most common cause of first-session churn.

Replace the empty dashboard with a prominent empty-state card that names the core action and links straight to it. In src/app/(app)/dashboard/page.tsx, branch on whether the user has any items and render a CTA with headline, one-line description, and a primary button.

{projects.length === 0 && (
  <Card className="text-center p-12">
    <h2 className="text-xl font-semibold">Create your first project</h2>
    <p className="text-muted-foreground mt-2">Get started in under a minute.</p>
    <Button className="mt-4" asChild><Link href="/projects/new">Create project</Link></Button>
  </Card>
)}

• ID: saas-onboarding.first-run.key-action-prompted-first-session

• Severity: high

• What to look for: Identify the core value action of your application. Count all CTAs, prompts, and guidance elements visible to new users on first login. For each, classify whether it guides toward the core value action.

• Pass criteria: The UI guides new users toward the core value action within the first session — via a prompt, CTA button, empty state CTA, onboarding checklist item, or tooltip. The action is reachable within no more than 2 clicks from the landing page after signup.

• Fail criteria: No prompt exists to guide users toward the core value action. New users must independently discover what to do first. The core action requires navigating through menus with no guidance.

• Skip (N/A) when: The project is an API-only backend, a developer library, or a CLI tool with no user-facing UI.

• Detail on fail: "No guided CTA toward the core value action found in first-run screens. New users land on an empty dashboard with a navigation menu but no prompt for what to do first."

• Remediation: In src/app/(app)/dashboard/page.tsx, add a prominent empty-state CTA:

  {projects.length === 0 && (
    <Card className="text-center p-12">
      <h2 className="text-xl font-semibold">Create your first project</h2>
      <p className="text-muted-foreground mt-2">Get started in under a minute.</p>
      <Button className="mt-4" asChild><Link href="/projects/new">Create project</Link></Button>
    </Card>
  )}