Output appears as it is produced rather than when it is finished, turning a wait into something the actor can read, judge, and interrupt while it forms.
Resources & references
- AI UX Playground — Streaming, Interrupt and Resume
- Shape of AI — Controls (pausing mid-stream)
- aiuxdesign.guide — Progressive Enhancement
To-do
The anchoring-on-early-text force overlaps the fixation risks documented on suggestion; check the literature there. Layout shift during arrival is a component-level concern to route to Storybook when a realisation lands.
Consequences
- the output is legible as it forms, so the actor can skim ahead of the machine, judge early — and stop early, which is what makes interruption meaningful mid-generation
- reading begins before the whole exists: early text anchors the actor's take even when later text qualifies or contradicts it
- the arrival rhythm is now part of the interface — pace, pauses, and re-layout as content lands are designed properties, not transport details
Related patterns
Precedes
- Abort — the output is legible as it forms, so the actor can skim ahead of the machine, judge early — and stop early, which is what makes interruption meaningful mid-generation
Enacts
- Temporality — makes generation's duration a legible, interruptible unfolding rather than a wait
Related
- Status feedback — the partial product is itself the progress signal — no separate indicator needed while it flows
- Transparent reasoning — reasoning traces stream the same way the answer does