Generate a DESIGN.md file at the project root that captures the current visual design system, so AI agents generating new screens stay on-brand.

DESIGN.md follows the official Google Stitch DESIGN.md format: YAML frontmatter carrying machine-readable design tokens, followed by a markdown body with exactly six sections in a fixed order. Tokens are normative; prose provides context for how to apply them. Sections may be omitted when not relevant, but do not reorder them and do not rename them. Section headers must match the spec character-for-character so the file stays parseable by other DESIGN.md-aware tools (Stitch itself, awesome-design-md, skill-rest, etc.).

The frontmatter: token schema

The YAML frontmatter is the machine-readable layer. It's what Stitch's linter validates and what the live panel renders tiles from. Keep it tight; every entry should correspond to a token the project actually uses.

---
name: <project title>
description: <one-line tagline>
colors:
  primary: "#b8422e"
  neutral-bg: "#faf7f2"
  # ...one entry per extracted color; key = descriptive slug
typography:
  display:
    fontFamily: "Cormorant Garamond, Georgia, serif"
    fontSize: "clamp(2.5rem, 7vw, 4.5rem)"
    fontWeight: 300
    lineHeight: 1
    letterSpacing: "normal"
  body:
    # ...
rounded:
  sm: "4px"
  md: "8px"
spacing:
  sm: "8px"
  md: "16px"
components:
  button-primary:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.primary}"
    textColor: "{colors.neutral-bg}"
    rounded: "{rounded.sm}"
    padding: "16px 48px"
  button-primary-hover:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.primary-deep}"
---

Rules that matter:

• Token refs use {path.to.token} (e.g. {colors.primary}, {rounded.md}). Components may reference primitives; primitives may not reference each other.
• Stitch validates colors as hex sRGB only (#RGB / #RGBA / #RRGGBB / #RRGGBBAA); OKLCH/HSL/P3 trigger a linter warning, not a hard error. YAML accepts the string either way and our own parser is format-agnostic. Choose based on project posture: (a) if the project has an "OKLCH-only" doctrine or uses Display-P3 values that don't round-trip through sRGB, put OKLCH directly in the frontmatter and accept the Stitch linter warning; (b) if the project wants strict Stitch compliance or plans to use their Tailwind/DTCG export pipeline, put hex in the frontmatter and keep OKLCH in prose as the canonical reference. Never split the source of truth without explicit reason.
• Component sub-tokens are limited to 8 props: backgroundColor, textColor, typography, rounded, padding, size, height, width. Shadows, motion, focus rings, backdrop-filter — none of those fit. Carry them in the sidecar (Step 4b).
• Scale keys are open-ended. Use whatever names the project already uses (warm-ash-cream, surface-container-low). Don't rename to Material defaults.
• Variants are naming convention, not schema. button-primary / button-primary-hover / button-primary-active as sibling keys.

The markdown body: six sections (exact order)

1. ## Overview
2. ## Colors
3. ## Typography
4. ## Elevation
5. ## Components
6. ## Do's and Don'ts

Optional evocative subtitles are allowed in the form ## 2. Colors: The [Name] Palette — Stitch's own outputs do this — but the literal word in each header (Overview, Colors, Typography, Elevation, Components, Do's and Don'ts) must be present. Do NOT add extra top-level sections (Layout Principles, Responsive Behavior, Motion, Agent Prompt Guide). Fold that content into the six spec sections where it naturally belongs.

When to run

• The user just ran /impeccable teach and needs the visual side documented.
• The skill noticed no DESIGN.md exists and nudged the user to create one.
• An existing DESIGN.md is stale (the design has drifted).
• Before a large redesign, to capture the current state as a reference.

If a DESIGN.md already exists, do not silently overwrite it. Show the user the existing file and STOP and call the AskUserQuestion tool to clarify. whether to refresh, overwrite, or merge.

Two paths

• Scan mode (default): the project has design tokens, components, or rendered output. Extract, then confirm descriptive language. Use when there's code to analyze.
• Seed mode: the project is pre-implementation (fresh teach, nothing built yet). Interview for five high-level answers, write a minimal DESIGN.md marked <!-- SEED -->. Re-run in scan mode once there's code.

Decide by scanning first (Scan mode Step 1). If the scan finds no tokens, no component files, and no rendered site, offer seed mode — don't silently switch. /impeccable document --seed forces seed mode regardless of code presence.

Scan mode (approach C: auto-extract, then confirm descriptive language)

Step 1: Find the design assets

Search the codebase in priority order:

1. CSS custom properties — grep for --color-, --font-, --spacing-, --radius-, --shadow-, --ease-, --duration- declarations in CSS files (usually src/styles/, public/css/, app/globals.css, etc.). Record name, value, and the file it's defined in.
2. Tailwind config — if tailwind.config.{js,ts,mjs} exists, read the theme.extend block for colors, fontFamily, spacing, borderRadius, boxShadow.
3. CSS-in-JS theme files — styled-components, emotion, vanilla-extract, stitches: look for theme.ts, tokens.ts, or equivalent.
4. Design token files — tokens.json, design-tokens.json, Style Dictionary output, W3C token community group format.
5. Component library — scan the main button, card, input, navigation, dialog components. Note their variant APIs and default styles.
6. Global stylesheet — the root CSS file usually has the base typography and color assignments.
7. Visible rendered output — if browser automation tools are available, load the live site and sample computed styles from key elements (body, h1, a, button, .card). This catches values that tokens miss.

Step 2: Auto-extract what can be auto-extracted

Build a structured draft from the discovered tokens. For each token class:

• Colors: Group into Primary / Secondary / Tertiary / Neutral (the Material-derived roles Stitch uses). If the project only has one accent, express it as Primary + Neutral — omit Secondary and Tertiary rather than inventing them.
• Typography: Map observed sizes and weights to the Material hierarchy (display / headline / title / body / label). Note font-family stacks and the scale ratio.
• Elevation: Catalogue the shadow vocabulary. If the project is flat and uses tonal layering instead, that's a valid answer — state it explicitly.
• Components: For each common component (button, card, input, chip, list item, tooltip, nav), extract shape (radius), color assignment, hover/focus treatment, internal padding.
• Spacing + layout: Fold into Overview or relevant Components. The spec does NOT have a Layout section.

Step 2b: Stage the frontmatter

From the auto-extracted tokens, draft the YAML frontmatter now (you'll write it at the top of DESIGN.md in Step 4). This is the machine-readable layer — what the live panel and Stitch's linter consume.

• Colors: one entry per extracted color. Key = descriptive slug (warm-ash-cream, editorial-magenta, not blue-800). Value = whichever format the project treats as canonical (OKLCH or hex — see the frontmatter rules above). Don't split the source of truth: one format in the frontmatter, don't redefine the same token in prose with a different value.
• Typography: one entry per role (display, headline, title, body, label). Typography is an object; include only the props that are real for the project (fontFamily, fontSize, fontWeight, lineHeight, letterSpacing, fontFeature, fontVariation).
• Rounded / Spacing: whatever scale steps the project actually uses, keyed by whatever scale name the project uses (sm / md / lg, or surface-sm, or numeric steps).
• Components: one entry per variant (button-primary, button-primary-hover, button-ghost). Reference primitives via {colors.X}, {rounded.Y}. If a variant needs a property Stitch's 8-prop set doesn't cover (shadow, focus ring, backdrop-filter), carry the full snippet in the sidecar instead.

Skip anything the project doesn't have. Empty scale keys or fabricated tokens pollute the spec.

Step 3: Ask the user for qualitative language

The following require creative input that cannot be auto-extracted. Group them into one AskUserQuestion interaction:

• Creative North Star: a single named metaphor for the whole system ("The Editorial Sanctuary", "The Golden State Curator", "The Lab Notebook"). Offer 2-3 options that honor PRODUCT.md's brand personality.
• Overview voice: mood adjectives, aesthetic philosophy in 2-3 sentences, anti-references (what the system should not feel like).
• Color character (for auto-extracted colors): descriptive names ("Deep Muted Teal-Navy", not "blue-800"). Suggest 2-3 options per key color based on hue/saturation.
• Elevation philosophy: flat/layered/lifted. If shadows exist, is their role ambient or structural?
• Component philosophy: the feel of buttons, cards, inputs in one phrase ("tactile and confident" vs. "refined and restrained").

Quote a line from PRODUCT.md when possible so the user sees their own strategic language carry forward.

Step 4: Write DESIGN.md

The file opens with the YAML frontmatter staged in Step 2b (schema documented at the top of this reference), then the markdown body using the structure below. Headers must match character-for-character. Optional evocative subtitles (e.g. ## 2. Colors: The Coastal Palette) are allowed.

---
name: [Project Title]
description: [one-line tagline]
colors:
  # ... staged frontmatter from Step 2b
---

# Design System: [Project Title]

## 1. Overview

**Creative North Star: "[Named metaphor in quotes]"**

[2-3 paragraph holistic description: personality, density, aesthetic philosophy. Start from the North Star and work outward. State what this system explicitly rejects (pulled from PRODUCT.md's anti-references). End with a short **Key Characteristics:** bullet list.]

## 2. Colors

[Describe the palette character in one sentence.]

### Primary
- **[Descriptive Name]** (#HEX / oklch(...)): [Where and why this color is used. Be specific about context, not just role.]

### Secondary (optional — omit if the project has only one accent)
- **[Descriptive Name]** (#HEX): [Role.]

### Tertiary (optional)
- **[Descriptive Name]** (#HEX): [Role.]

### Neutral
- **[Descriptive Name]** (#HEX): [Text / background / border / divider role.]
- [...]

### Named Rules (optional, powerful)
**The [Rule Name] Rule.** [Short, forceful prohibition or doctrine — e.g. "The One Voice Rule. The primary accent is used on ≤10% of any given screen. Its rarity is the point."]

## 3. Typography

**Display Font:** [Family] (with [fallback])
**Body Font:** [Family] (with [fallback])
**Label/Mono Font:** [Family, if distinct]

**Character:** [1-2 sentence personality description of the pairing.]

### Hierarchy
- **Display** ([weight], [size/clamp], [line-height]): [Purpose — where it appears.]
- **Headline** ([weight], [size], [line-height]): [Purpose.]
- **Title** ([weight], [size], [line-height]): [Purpose.]
- **Body** ([weight], [size], [line-height]): [Purpose. Include max line length like 65–75ch if relevant.]
- **Label** ([weight], [size], [letter-spacing], [case if uppercase]): [Purpose.]

### Named Rules (optional)
**The [Rule Name] Rule.** [Short doctrine about type use.]

## 4. Elevation

[One paragraph: does this system use shadows, tonal layering, or a hybrid? If "no shadows", say so explicitly and describe how depth is conveyed instead.]

### Shadow Vocabulary (if applicable)
- **[Role name]** (`box-shadow: [exact value]`): [When to use it.]
- [...]

### Named Rules (optional)
**The [Rule Name] Rule.** [e.g. "The Flat-By-Default Rule. Surfaces are flat at rest. Shadows appear only as a response to state (hover, elevation, focus)."]

## 5. Components

For each component, lead with a short character line, then specify shape, color assignment, states, and any distinctive behavior.

### Buttons
- **Shape:** [radius described, exact value in parens]
- **Primary:** [color assignment + padding, in semantic + exact terms]
- **Hover / Focus:** [transitions, treatments]
- **Secondary / Ghost / Tertiary (if applicable):** [brief description]

### Chips (if used)
- **Style:** [background, text color, border treatment]
- **State:** [selected / unselected, filter / action variants]

### Cards / Containers
- **Corner Style:** [radius]
- **Background:** [colors used]
- **Shadow Strategy:** [reference Elevation section]
- **Border:** [if any]
- **Internal Padding:** [scale]

### Inputs / Fields
- **Style:** [stroke, background, radius]
- **Focus:** [treatment — glow, border shift, etc.]
- **Error / Disabled:** [if applicable]

### Navigation
- **Style, typography, default/hover/active states, mobile treatment.**

### [Signature Component] (optional — if the project has a distinctive custom component worth documenting)
[Description.]

## 6. Do's and Don'ts

Concrete, forceful guardrails. Lead each with "Do" or "Don't". Be specific — include exact colors, pixel values, and named anti-patterns the user mentioned in PRODUCT.md. **Every anti-reference in PRODUCT.md should show up here as a "Don't" with the same language**, so the visual spec carries the strategic line through. Quote PRODUCT.md directly where possible: if PRODUCT.md says *"avoid dark mode with purple gradients, neon accents, glassmorphism"*, the Don'ts here should repeat that by name.

### Do:
- **Do** [specific prescription with exact values / named rule].
- **Do** [...]

### Don't:
- **Don't** [specific prohibition — e.g. "use border-left greater than 1px as a colored stripe"].
- **Don't** [...]
- **Don't** [...]

Step 4b: Write DESIGN.json sidecar (extensions only)

The frontmatter owns token primitives (colors, typography, rounded, spacing, components). The sidecar at DESIGN.json carries what Stitch's schema can't hold: tonal ramps per color, shadow/elevation tokens, motion tokens, breakpoints, full component HTML/CSS snippets (the panel renders these into a shadow DOM), and narrative (north star, rules, do's/don'ts). It extends the frontmatter, it doesn't duplicate it.

Regenerate the sidecar whenever you regenerate DESIGN.md. If the user only asks to refresh the sidecar (e.g., from the live panel's stale-hint), preserve DESIGN.md and write only DESIGN.json.

Schema

{
  "schemaVersion": 2,
  "generatedAt": "ISO-8601 string",
  "title": "Design System: [Project Title]",
  "extensions": {
    "colorMeta": {
      "primary":        { "role": "primary",  "displayName": "Editorial Magenta", "canonical": "oklch(60% 0.25 350)", "tonalRamp": ["...", "...", "..."] },
      "warm-ash-cream": { "role": "neutral",  "displayName": "Warm Ash Cream",    "canonical": "oklch(96% 0.005 350)", "tonalRamp": ["...", "...", "..."] }
    },
    "typographyMeta": {
      "display": { "displayName": "Display", "purpose": "Hero headlines only." }
    },
    "shadows": [
      { "name": "ambient-low", "value": "0 4px 24px rgba(0,0,0,0.12)", "purpose": "Diffuse hover glow under accent elements." }
    ],
    "motion": [
      { "name": "ease-standard", "value": "cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 0.2, 1)", "purpose": "Default easing for state transitions." }
    ],
    "breakpoints": [
      { "name": "sm", "value": "640px" }
    ]
  },
  "components": [
    {
      "name": "Primary Button",
      "kind": "button | input | nav | chip | card | custom",
      "refersTo": "button-primary",
      "description": "One-line what and when.",
      "html": "<button class=\"ds-btn-primary\">GET STARTED</button>",
      "css": ".ds-btn-primary { background: #191c1d; color: #fff; padding: 16px 48px; letter-spacing: 0.05em; text-transform: uppercase; font-weight: 500; border: none; border-radius: 0; transition: background 0.2s, transform 0.2s; } .ds-btn-primary:hover { background: oklch(60% 0.25 350); transform: translateY(-2px); }"
    }
  ],
  "narrative": {
    "northStar": "The Editorial Sanctuary",
    "overview": "2-3 paragraphs of the philosophy — pulled from DESIGN.md Overview section.",
    "keyCharacteristics": ["...", "..."],
    "rules": [{ "name": "The One Voice Rule", "body": "...", "section": "colors|typography|elevation" }],
    "dos":   ["Do use ..."],
    "donts": ["Don't use ..."]
  }
}

What changed from schemaVersion 1. The old sidecar carried token primitive arrays (tokens.colors[], tokens.typography[], etc.). Those values now live in the frontmatter. The sidecar only carries metadata that can't live in the frontmatter — tonal ramps, canonical OKLCH when the hex is an approximation, display names, role hints — keyed by the frontmatter token name (colorMeta.<token-name>, typographyMeta.<token-name>). Components still carry full HTML/CSS because Stitch's 8-prop set can't hold them.

Component translation rules

The html and css fields must be self-contained, drop-in snippets that render correctly when injected into a shadow DOM. The panel applies them directly — no post-processing, no framework runtime.

1. Tailwind expansion. If the source uses Tailwind (className="bg-primary text-white rounded-lg px-6 py-3"), expand every utility to literal CSS properties in the css string. Do not reference Tailwind classes; do not assume a Tailwind CSS bundle is loaded. Each component is self-contained.
2. Token resolution. If the project exposes tokens as CSS custom properties on :root (e.g. --color-primary, --radius-md), reference them via var(--color-primary) — they inherit through the shadow DOM and stay live-bound. If tokens live only in JS theme objects (styled-components, CSS-in-JS), resolve to literal values at generation time.
3. Icons. Inline as SVG. Do not reference Lucide/Heroicons packages, icon fonts, or <img src="...">. A typical icon is 16-24px; copy the SVG path data directly.
4. States. Include :hover, :focus-visible, and (if meaningful) :active rules inline. A static default-only snapshot makes the panel feel dead. Hover + focus rules in the CSS make it feel alive.
5. Reset bloat. Extract only the component's distinctive CSS (background, color, padding, border-radius, typography, transition). Skip universal resets (box-sizing: border-box, line-height: inherit, -webkit-font-smoothing). The panel already has a neutral canvas; don't re-ship resets.
6. Scoped class names. Prefix every class with ds- (e.g. ds-btn-primary, ds-input-search) so component CSS doesn't collide with other components' CSS in the same shadow DOM.

What to include

Aim for a tight set of 5-10 components that best represent the visual system:

• Canonical primitives (always include if the project has them): button (each variant as a separate component entry), input/text field, navigation, chip/tag, card.
• Signature components (include if distinctive): hero CTA, featured card, filter pill, any custom pattern the user mentioned as important in PRODUCT.md.
• Skip the rest. Utility components, form building blocks, wrapper layouts — not worth documenting unless visually distinctive.

If the project has no component library yet (bare landing page, new project), synthesize canonical primitives from the tokens using best-practice defaults consistent with the DESIGN.md's rules. Every DESIGN.json has something to render, even on day zero.

Tonal ramps

For each color token, generate an 8-step tonalRamp array — dark to light, same hue and chroma, stepped lightness from ~15% to ~95%. The panel renders this as a strip under the swatch. If the project already defines a tonal scale (Material surface-container-low family, Tailwind-style blue-50..blue-900), use those values. Otherwise synthesize in OKLCH.

Narrative mapping

Pull directly from the DESIGN.md you just wrote:

• narrative.northStar → the **Creative North Star: "..."** line from Overview
• narrative.overview → the philosophy paragraphs from Overview
• narrative.keyCharacteristics → the bulleted **Key Characteristics:** list
• narrative.rules → every **The [Name] Rule.** [body] across all sections, tagged with section
• narrative.dos / narrative.donts → the bullet lists from Do's and Don'ts verbatim

Do not reword. The panel shows these as secondary collapsible context; the same voice that's in the Markdown carries through.

Step 5: Confirm, refine, and refresh session cache

1. Show the user the full DESIGN.md you wrote. Briefly highlight the non-obvious creative choices (descriptive color names, atmosphere language, named rules).
2. Mention that DESIGN.json was also written alongside — the live panel will now render this project's actual button/input/nav primitives instead of generic approximations.
3. Offer to refine any section: "Want me to revise a section, add component patterns I missed, or adjust the atmosphere language?"
4. Refresh the session cache. Run node {{scripts_path}}/load-context.mjs one final time so the newly-written DESIGN.md lands in conversation. Subsequent commands in this session will use the fresh version automatically without re-reading.

Seed mode

For projects with no visual system to extract yet. Produces a minimal scaffold, not a full spec.

Step 1: Confirm seed mode

Before interviewing: "There's no existing visual system to scan. I'll ask five quick questions to seed a starter DESIGN.md. You can re-run /impeccable document once there's code, to capture the real tokens and components. OK?"

If the user prefers to skip, stop. No file.

Step 2: Five questions

Group into one AskUserQuestion interaction. Options must be concrete.

1. Color strategy. Pick one:

   • Restrained — tinted neutrals + one accent ≤10%
   • Committed — one saturated color carries 30–60% of the surface
   • Full palette — 3–4 named color roles, each deliberate
   • Drenched — the surface IS the color

   Then: one hue family or anchor reference ("deep teal", "mustard", "Klim #ff4500 orange").

2. Typography direction. Pick one (specific fonts come later):

   • Serif display + sans body
   • Single sans (warm / technical / geometric / humanist — pick a feel)
   • Display + mono
   • Mono-forward
   • Editorial script + sans

3. Motion energy. Pick one:

   • Restrained — state changes only
   • Responsive — feedback + transitions, no choreography
   • Choreographed — orchestrated entrances, scroll-driven sequences

4. Three named references. Brands, products, printed objects. Not adjectives.

5. One anti-reference. What it should NOT feel like. Also named.

Step 3: Write seed DESIGN.md

Use the six-section spec from Scan mode. Populate what the interview answers; leave the rest as honest placeholders. The seed is a scaffold, not a fabricated spec.

Lead the file with:

<!-- SEED — re-run /impeccable document once there's code to capture the actual tokens and components. -->

Per-section guidance in seed mode:

• Overview: Creative North Star and philosophy phrased from the answers (color strategy + motion energy + references). Reference the user's anti-reference directly.
• Colors: Color strategy as a Named Rule (e.g. "The Drenched Rule. The surface IS the color."). Hue family or anchor reference. No hex values — mark as [to be resolved during implementation].
• Typography: the direction the user picked (e.g. "Serif display + sans body"). No font names yet — [font pairing to be chosen at implementation].
• Elevation: inferred from motion energy. Restrained/Responsive → flat by default; Choreographed → layered. One sentence.
• Components: omit entirely — no components exist yet.
• Do's and Don'ts: carry PRODUCT.md's anti-references directly plus the anti-reference named in Q5.

Seed mode writes a minimal frontmatter with name and description only — no colors, typography, rounded, spacing, or components yet. Real tokens land on the next Scan-mode run. Skip the DESIGN.json sidecar in seed mode for the same reason: nothing to render.

Step 4: Confirm and refresh session cache

1. Show the seed DESIGN.md. Call out that it is a seed (the marker is the literal commitment).
2. Tell the user: "Re-run /impeccable document once you have some code. That pass will extract real tokens and generate the sidecar."
3. Run node {{scripts_path}}/load-context.mjs once so the seed lands in conversation for the rest of the session.

Style guidelines

• Frontmatter first, prose second. Tokens go in the YAML frontmatter; prose contextualizes them. Don't redefine a token value in two places — the frontmatter is normative.
• Cite PRODUCT.md anti-references by name in the Do's and Don'ts section. If PRODUCT.md lists "SaaS landing-page clichés" or "generic AI tool marketing" as anti-references, the DESIGN.md Don'ts should repeat those phrases verbatim so the visual spec enforces the strategic line.
• Match the spec, don't invent new sections. The six section names are fixed. If you have Layout/Motion/Responsive content to document, fold it into Overview (philosophy-level rules) or Components (per-component behavior).
• Descriptive > technical: "Gently curved edges (8px radius)" > "rounded-lg". Include the technical value in parens, lead with the description.
• Functional > decorative: for each token, explain WHERE and WHY it's used, not just WHAT it is.
• Exact values in parens: hex codes, px/rem values, font weights — always the number in parens alongside the description.
• Use Named Rules: **The [Name] Rule.** [short doctrine]. These are memorable, citable, and much stickier for AI consumers than bullet lists. Stitch's own outputs use them heavily ("The No-Line Rule", "The Ghost Border Fallback"). Aim for 1-3 per section.
• Be forceful. The voice of a design director. "Prohibited", "forbidden", "never", "always" — not "consider", "might", "prefer". Match PRODUCT.md's tone.
• Concrete anti-pattern tests. Stitch writes things like "If it looks like a 2014 app, the shadow is too dark and the blur is too small." A one-sentence audit test beats a paragraph of principle.
• Reference PRODUCT.md. The anti-references section of PRODUCT.md should directly inform the Do's and Don'ts section here. Quote or paraphrase.
• Group colors by role, not by hex-order or hue-order. Primary / Secondary / Tertiary / Neutral is the spec ordering.

Pitfalls

• Don't paste raw CSS class names. Translate to descriptive language.
• Don't extract every token. Stop at what's actually reused — one-offs pollute the system.
• Don't invent components that don't exist. If the project only has buttons and cards, only document those.
• Don't overwrite an existing DESIGN.md without asking.
• Don't duplicate content from PRODUCT.md. DESIGN.md is strictly visual.
• Don't add a "Layout Principles" or "Motion" or "Responsive Behavior" top-level section. The spec has six, not nine. Fold that content where it belongs.
• Don't rename sections even slightly. "Colors" not "Color Palette & Roles". "Typography" not "Typography Rules". Tooling parsing depends on exact headers.
• Don't duplicate token values between frontmatter and prose. If a color is in colors.primary as hex, the prose can name it and describe its role but should not reassert a different hex. The frontmatter is normative.
• Don't invent frontmatter token groups outside Stitch's schema (no motion:, breakpoints:, shadows: at the top level). Stitch's Zod schema only accepts colors, typography, rounded, spacing, components. Anything else belongs in the sidecar's extensions.

UX Writing

The Button Label Problem

Never use "OK", "Submit", or "Yes/No". These are lazy and ambiguous. Use specific verb + object patterns:

For destructive actions, name the destruction:

• "Delete" not "Remove" (delete is permanent, remove implies recoverable)
• "Delete 5 items" not "Delete selected" (show the count)

Error Messages: The Formula

Every error message should answer: (1) What happened? (2) Why? (3) How to fix it? Example: "Email address isn't valid. Please include an @ symbol." not "Invalid input".

Error Message Templates

Don't Blame the User

Reframe errors: "Please enter a date in MM/DD/YYYY format" not "You entered an invalid date".

Empty States Are Opportunities

Empty states are onboarding moments: (1) Acknowledge briefly, (2) Explain the value of filling it, (3) Provide a clear action. "No projects yet. Create your first one to get started." not just "No items".

Voice vs Tone

Voice is your brand's personality—consistent everywhere. Tone adapts to the moment.

Never use humor for errors. Users are already frustrated. Be helpful, not cute.

Writing for Accessibility

Link text must have standalone meaning—"View pricing plans" not "Click here". Alt text describes information, not the image—"Revenue increased 40% in Q4" not "Chart". Use alt="" for decorative images. Icon buttons need aria-label for screen reader context.

Writing for Translation

Plan for Expansion

German text is ~30% longer than English. Allocate space:

Translation-Friendly Patterns

Keep numbers separate ("New messages: 3" not "You have 3 new messages"). Use full sentences as single strings (word order varies by language). Avoid abbreviations ("5 minutes ago" not "5 mins ago"). Give translators context about where strings appear.

Consistency: The Terminology Problem

Pick one term and stick with it:

Build a terminology glossary and enforce it. Variety creates confusion.

Avoid Redundant Copy

If the heading explains it, the intro is redundant. If the button is clear, don't explain it again. Say it once, say it well.

Loading States

Be specific: "Saving your draft..." not "Loading...". For long waits, set expectations ("This usually takes 30 seconds") or show progress.

Confirmation Dialogs: Use Sparingly

Most confirmation dialogs are design failures—consider undo instead. When you must confirm: name the action, explain consequences, use specific button labels ("Delete project" / "Keep project", not "Yes" / "No").

Form Instructions

Show format with placeholders, not instructions. For non-obvious fields, explain why you're asking.

Avoid: Jargon without explanation. Blaming users ("You made an error" → "This field is required"). Vague errors ("Something went wrong"). Varying terminology for variety. Humor for errors.

Remove unnecessary complexity from designs, revealing the essential elements and creating clarity through ruthless simplification.

Assess Current State

Analyze what makes the design feel complex or cluttered:

1. Identify complexity sources:

   • Too many elements: Competing buttons, redundant information, visual clutter
   • Excessive variation: Too many colors, fonts, sizes, styles without purpose
   • Information overload: Everything visible at once, no progressive disclosure
   • Visual noise: Unnecessary borders, shadows, backgrounds, decorations
   • Confusing hierarchy: Unclear what matters most
   • Feature creep: Too many options, actions, or paths forward

2. Find the essence:

   • What's the primary user goal? (There should be ONE)
   • What's actually necessary vs nice-to-have?
   • What can be removed, hidden, or combined?
   • What's the 20% that delivers 80% of value?

If any of these are unclear from the codebase, STOP and call the AskUserQuestion tool to clarify.

CRITICAL: Simplicity is not about removing features - it's about removing obstacles between users and their goals. Every element should justify its existence.

Plan Simplification

Create a ruthless editing strategy:

• Core purpose: What's the ONE thing this should accomplish?
• Essential elements: What's truly necessary to achieve that purpose?
• Progressive disclosure: What can be hidden until needed?
• Consolidation opportunities: What can be combined or integrated?

IMPORTANT: Simplification is hard. It requires saying no to good ideas to make room for great execution. Be ruthless.

Simplify the Design

Systematically remove complexity across these dimensions:

Information Architecture

• Reduce scope: Remove secondary actions, optional features, redundant information
• Progressive disclosure: Hide complexity behind clear entry points (accordions, modals, step-through flows)
• Combine related actions: Merge similar buttons, consolidate forms, group related content
• Clear hierarchy: ONE primary action, few secondary actions, everything else tertiary or hidden
• Remove redundancy: If it's said elsewhere, don't repeat it here

Visual Simplification

• Reduce color palette: Use 1-2 colors plus neutrals, not 5-7 colors
• Limit typography: One font family, 3-4 sizes maximum, 2-3 weights
• Remove decorations: Eliminate borders, shadows, backgrounds that don't serve hierarchy or function
• Flatten structure: Reduce nesting, remove unnecessary containers—never nest cards inside cards
• Remove unnecessary cards: Cards aren't needed for basic layout; use spacing and alignment instead
• Consistent spacing: Use one spacing scale, remove arbitrary gaps

Layout Simplification

• Linear flow: Replace complex grids with simple vertical flow where possible
• Remove sidebars: Move secondary content inline or hide it
• Full-width: Use available space generously instead of complex multi-column layouts
• Consistent alignment: Pick left or center, stick with it
• Generous white space: Let content breathe, don't pack everything tight

Interaction Simplification

• Reduce choices: Fewer buttons, fewer options, clearer path forward (paradox of choice is real)
• Smart defaults: Make common choices automatic, only ask when necessary
• Inline actions: Replace modal flows with inline editing where possible
• Remove steps: Can signup be one step instead of three? Can checkout be simplified?
• Clear CTAs: ONE obvious next step, not five competing actions

Content Simplification

• Shorter copy: Cut every sentence in half, then do it again
• Active voice: "Save changes" not "Changes will be saved"
• Remove jargon: Plain language always wins
• Scannable structure: Short paragraphs, bullet points, clear headings
• Essential information only: Remove marketing fluff, legalese, hedging
• Remove redundant copy: No headers restating intros, no repeated explanations, say it once

Code Simplification

• Remove unused code: Dead CSS, unused components, orphaned files
• Flatten component trees: Reduce nesting depth
• Consolidate styles: Merge similar styles, use utilities consistently
• Reduce variants: Does that component need 12 variations, or can 3 cover 90% of cases?

NEVER:

• Remove necessary functionality (simplicity ≠ feature-less)
• Sacrifice accessibility for simplicity (clear labels and ARIA still required)
• Make things so simple they're unclear (mystery ≠ minimalism)
• Remove information users need to make decisions
• Eliminate hierarchy completely (some things should stand out)
• Oversimplify complex domains (match complexity to actual task complexity)

Verify Simplification

Ensure simplification improves usability:

• Faster task completion: Can users accomplish goals more quickly?
• Reduced cognitive load: Is it easier to understand what to do?
• Still complete: Are all necessary features still accessible?
• Clearer hierarchy: Is it obvious what matters most?
• Better performance: Does simpler design load faster?

Document Removed Complexity

If you removed features or options:

• Document why they were removed
• Consider if they need alternative access points
• Note any user feedback to monitor

Remember: You have great taste and judgment. Simplification is an act of confidence - knowing what to keep and courage to remove the rest. As Antoine de Saint-Exupéry said: "Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."

Shape the UX and UI for a feature before any code is written. This command produces a design brief: a structured artifact that guides implementation through discovery, not guesswork.

Scope: Design planning only. This command does NOT write code. It produces the thinking that makes code good.

Output: A design brief that can be handed off to /impeccable craft, or directly to /impeccable for freeform implementation. When visual direction probes are used, the images are supporting artifacts, not the primary output.

Philosophy

Most AI-generated UIs fail not because of bad code, but because of skipped thinking. They jump to "here's a card grid" without asking "what is the user trying to accomplish?" This command inverts that: understand deeply first, so implementation is precise.

Phase 1: Discovery Interview

Do NOT write any code or make any design decisions during this phase. Your only job is to understand the feature deeply enough to make excellent design decisions later.

This is a required interaction, not optional guidance. Ask these questions in conversation, adapting based on answers. Don't dump them all at once; have a natural dialogue. STOP and call the AskUserQuestion tool to clarify.

Interview cadence

Discovery must include at least one user-answer round unless PRODUCT.md, DESIGN.md, or an already-confirmed brief directly answers the needed design inputs. With a sparse prompt, do not synthesize a complete brief for confirmation on the first response.

• Use the harness's structured question tool when one exists. Otherwise, ask directly in chat and stop.
• Ask 2-3 questions per round, then wait for answers.
• Treat PRODUCT.md and DESIGN.md as anchors; they reduce repeated questions but do not replace shape for craft. Shape is task-specific.
• Round 1 should clarify purpose, audience/context, and success or emotional outcome.
• Round 2 should clarify content/data/states and scope/fidelity.
• Round 3 should clarify visual direction, constraints, and anti-goals when still unresolved.

Purpose & Context

• What is this feature for? What problem does it solve?
• Who specifically will use it? (Not "users"; be specific: role, context, frequency)
• What does success look like? How will you know this feature is working?
• What's the user's state of mind when they reach this feature? (Rushed? Exploring? Anxious? Focused?)

Content & Data

• What content or data does this feature display or collect?
• What are the realistic ranges? (Minimum, typical, maximum, e.g., 0 items, 5 items, 500 items)
• What are the edge cases? (Empty state, error state, first-time use, power user)
• Is any content dynamic? What changes and how often?

Design Direction

Force a visual decision on three fronts. Skip anything PRODUCT.md or DESIGN.md already answers; ask only what's missing.

• Color strategy for this surface. Pick one: Restrained / Committed / Full palette / Drenched. Can override the project default if the surface earns it (e.g. a drenched hero inside an otherwise Restrained product).
• Theme via scene sentence. Write one sentence of physical context for this surface — who uses it, where, under what ambient light, in what mood. The sentence forces dark vs light. If it doesn't, add detail until it does.
• Two or three named anchor references. Specific products, brands, objects — not adjectives like "modern" or "clean."

Scope

Always ask. Sketch quality and shipped quality are different outputs; don't guess between them.

• Fidelity. Sketch / mid-fi / high-fi / production-ready?
• Breadth. One screen / a flow / a whole surface?
• Interactivity. Static visual / interactive prototype / shipped-quality component?
• Time intent. Quick exploration, or polish until it ships?

Scope answers are task-scoped. Don't write them to PRODUCT.md or DESIGN.md — carry them through the design brief only.

Constraints

• Are there technical constraints? (Framework, performance budget, browser support)
• Are there content constraints? (Localization, dynamic text length, user-generated content)
• Mobile/responsive requirements?
• Accessibility requirements beyond WCAG AA?

Anti-Goals

• What should this NOT be? What would be a wrong direction?
• What's the biggest risk of getting this wrong?

Phase 1.5: Visual Direction Probe (Capability-Gated)

After the discovery interview, generate a small set of visual direction probes before writing the final brief when all of these are true:

• The work is net-new or directionally ambiguous enough that visual exploration will clarify the brief.
• The requested fidelity is mid-fi, high-fi, or production-ready. Skip for sketch-only planning.
• The current harness has built-in image generation capability (for example, Codex with a native image tool). Do not ask the user to set up external APIs, shell scripts, or one-off tooling just to do this.

When those conditions are met, this step is mandatory for Codex and any harness with built-in image generation. Use native image generation; in Codex, use the built-in image_gen tool via the imagegen skill. If image generation is unavailable, do not ask the user to install APIs or tooling. State in one line that the image step is skipped because the harness lacks native image generation, then proceed.

Use probes to explore visual lanes, not to replace the brief.

Do not skip probes because the final UI will be semantic, editable, code-native, responsive, or accessible. Those are implementation requirements, not reasons to avoid visual exploration.

What to generate

Generate 2 to 4 distinct direction probes based on the discovery answers, especially:

• Color strategy
• Theme scene sentence
• Named anchor references
• Scope and fidelity

The probes should differ in primary visual direction (hierarchy, topology, density, typographic voice, or color strategy), not just palette tweaks.

How to use the probes

• Treat them as direction tests, not final designs.
• Use them to pressure-test whether the brief is pointing at the right lane.
• Ask the user which direction feels closest, what feels off, and what should carry forward.
• If the probes reveal a mismatch, revise the brief inputs before finalizing the brief.

Important limits

• Do not skip discovery because image generation is available.
• Do not treat generated imagery as final UX specification, final copy, or final accessibility behavior.
• Do not use this step for minor refinements of existing work. It's for shaping a new surface or clarifying a big directional choice.

If image generation is unavailable, or the task doesn't benefit from it, skip this phase only with a one-line reason and proceed directly to the design brief.

Phase 2: Design Brief

After the interview and any required probes, synthesize everything into a structured design brief. Present it to the user for explicit confirmation before considering this command complete. Stop after asking for confirmation; do not proceed to craft or implementation in the same response unless the user has already approved the brief.

Brief Structure

1. Feature Summary (2-3 sentences) What this is, who it's for, what it needs to accomplish.

2. Primary User Action The single most important thing a user should do or understand here.

3. Design Direction Color strategy (Restrained / Committed / Full palette / Drenched) + the theme scene sentence + 2–3 named anchor references. Reference PRODUCT.md and DESIGN.md where they already answer, and note any per-surface overrides.

If you ran the Visual Direction Probe step, name which probe direction won and what changed in the brief because of it.

4. Scope Fidelity, breadth, interactivity, and time intent from the Scope section of the interview. Task-scoped — these don't persist beyond the brief.

5. Layout Strategy High-level spatial approach: what gets emphasis, what's secondary, how information flows. Describe the visual hierarchy and rhythm, not specific CSS.

6. Key States List every state the feature needs: default, empty, loading, error, success, edge cases. For each, note what the user needs to see and feel.

7. Interaction Model How users interact with this feature. What happens on click, hover, scroll? What feedback do they get? What's the flow from entry to completion?

8. Content Requirements What copy, labels, empty state messages, error messages, and microcopy are needed. Note any dynamic content and its realistic ranges.

9. Recommended References Based on the brief, list which impeccable reference files would be most valuable during implementation (e.g., spatial-design.md for complex layouts, motion-design.md for animated features, interaction-design.md for form-heavy features).

10. Open Questions Anything unresolved that the implementer should resolve during build.

STOP and call the AskUserQuestion tool to clarify. Ask for explicit confirmation of the brief before finishing. If the user disagrees with any part, revisit the relevant discovery questions. A shape run is incomplete until the brief is confirmed.

Once confirmed, the brief is complete. The user can now hand it to /impeccable, or use it to guide any other implementation approach. (If the user wants the full discovery-then-build flow in one step, they should use /impeccable craft instead, which runs this command internally.)

Product register

When design SERVES the product: app UIs, admin dashboards, settings panels, data tables, tools, authenticated surfaces, anything where the user is in a task.

The product slop test

Not "would someone say AI made this" — familiarity is often a feature here. The test is: would a user fluent in the category's best tools (Linear, Figma, Notion, Raycast, Stripe come to mind) sit down and trust this interface, or pause at every subtly-off component?

Product UI's failure mode isn't flatness, it's strangeness without purpose: over-decorated buttons, mismatched form controls, gratuitous motion, display fonts where labels should be, invented affordances for standard tasks. The bar is earned familiarity. The tool should disappear into the task.

Typography

• System fonts are legitimate. -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", system-ui, sans-serif gives you native feel on every platform. Inter is the common cross-platform default for a reason.
• One family is often right. Product UIs don't need display/body pairing. A well-tuned sans carries headings, buttons, labels, body, data.
• Fixed rem scale, not fluid. Clamp-sized headings don't serve product UI. Users view at consistent DPI, and a fluid h1 that shrinks in a sidebar looks worse, not better.
• Tighter scale ratio. 1.125–1.2 between steps is typical. More type elements here than on brand surfaces; exaggerated contrast creates noise.
• Line length still applies for prose (65–75ch). Data and compact UI can run denser — tables at 120ch+ are fine.

Color

Product defaults to Restrained. A single surface can earn Committed — a dashboard where one category color carries a report, an onboarding flow with a drenched welcome screen — but Restrained is the floor.

• State-rich semantic vocabulary: hover, focus, active, disabled, selected, loading, error, warning, success, info. Standardize these.
• Accent color used for primary actions, current selection, and state indicators only — not decoration.
• A second neutral layer for sidebars, toolbars, and panels (slightly cooler or warmer than the content surface).

Layout

• Predictable grids. Consistency IS an affordance — users navigate faster when the structure is expected.
• Familiar patterns are features. Standard navigation (top bar, side nav), breadcrumbs, tabs, and form layouts have established user expectations. Don't reinvent for flavor.
• Responsive behavior is structural (collapse sidebar, responsive table, breakpoint-driven columns), not fluid typography.

Components

Every interactive component has: default, hover, focus, active, disabled, loading, error. Don't ship with half of these.

• Skeleton states for loading, not spinners in the middle of content.
• Empty states that teach the interface, not "nothing here."
• Consistent affordances across the surface. Same button shape. Same form-control vocabulary. Same icon style.

Motion

• 150–250 ms on most transitions. Users are in flow — don't make them wait for choreography.
• Motion conveys state, not decoration. State change, feedback, loading, reveal — nothing else.
• No orchestrated page-load sequences. Product loads into a task; users don't want to watch it load.

Product bans (on top of the shared absolute bans)

• Decorative motion that doesn't convey state.
• Inconsistent component vocabulary across screens. If the "save" button looks different in two places, one is wrong.
• Display fonts in UI labels, buttons, data.
• Reinventing standard affordances for flavor (custom scrollbars, weird form controls, non-standard modals).
• Heavy color or full-saturation accents on inactive states.

Product permissions

Product can afford things brand surfaces can't.

• System fonts and familiar sans defaults (Inter, SF Pro, system-ui stacks).
• Standard navigation patterns: top bar + side nav, breadcrumbs, tabs, command palettes.
• Density. Tables with many rows, panels with many labels, dense information when users need it.
• Consistency over surprise. The same visual vocabulary screen to screen is a virtue; delight is saved for moments, not pages.

Additional context needed: target platforms/devices and usage contexts.

Adapt existing designs to work effectively across different contexts - different screen sizes, devices, platforms, or use cases.

Assess Adaptation Challenge

Understand what needs adaptation and why:

1. Identify the source context:

   • What was it designed for originally? (Desktop web? Mobile app?)
   • What assumptions were made? (Large screen? Mouse input? Fast connection?)
   • What works well in current context?

2. Understand target context:

   • Device: Mobile, tablet, desktop, TV, watch, print?
   • Input method: Touch, mouse, keyboard, voice, gamepad?
   • Screen constraints: Size, resolution, orientation?
   • Connection: Fast wifi, slow 3G, offline?
   • Usage context: On-the-go vs desk, quick glance vs focused reading?
   • User expectations: What do users expect on this platform?

3. Identify adaptation challenges:

   • What won't fit? (Content, navigation, features)
   • What won't work? (Hover states on touch, tiny touch targets)
   • What's inappropriate? (Desktop patterns on mobile, mobile patterns on desktop)

CRITICAL: Adaptation is not just scaling - it's rethinking the experience for the new context.

Plan Adaptation Strategy

Create context-appropriate strategy:

Mobile Adaptation (Desktop → Mobile)

Layout Strategy:

• Single column instead of multi-column
• Vertical stacking instead of side-by-side
• Full-width components instead of fixed widths
• Bottom navigation instead of top/side navigation

Interaction Strategy:

• Touch targets 44x44px minimum (not hover-dependent)
• Swipe gestures where appropriate (lists, carousels)
• Bottom sheets instead of dropdowns
• Thumbs-first design (controls within thumb reach)
• Larger tap areas with more spacing

Content Strategy:

• Progressive disclosure (don't show everything at once)
• Prioritize primary content (secondary content in tabs/accordions)
• Shorter text (more concise)
• Larger text (16px minimum)

Navigation Strategy:

• Hamburger menu or bottom navigation
• Reduce navigation complexity
• Sticky headers for context
• Back button in navigation flow

Tablet Adaptation (Hybrid Approach)

Layout Strategy:

• Two-column layouts (not single or three-column)
• Side panels for secondary content
• Master-detail views (list + detail)
• Adaptive based on orientation (portrait vs landscape)

Interaction Strategy:

• Support both touch and pointer
• Touch targets 44x44px but allow denser layouts than phone
• Side navigation drawers
• Multi-column forms where appropriate

Desktop Adaptation (Mobile → Desktop)

Layout Strategy:

• Multi-column layouts (use horizontal space)
• Side navigation always visible
• Multiple information panels simultaneously
• Fixed widths with max-width constraints (don't stretch to 4K)

Interaction Strategy:

• Hover states for additional information
• Keyboard shortcuts
• Right-click context menus
• Drag and drop where helpful
• Multi-select with Shift/Cmd

Content Strategy:

• Show more information upfront (less progressive disclosure)
• Data tables with many columns
• Richer visualizations
• More detailed descriptions

Print Adaptation (Screen → Print)

Layout Strategy:

• Page breaks at logical points
• Remove navigation, footer, interactive elements
• Black and white (or limited color)
• Proper margins for binding

Content Strategy:

• Expand shortened content (show full URLs, hidden sections)
• Add page numbers, headers, footers
• Include metadata (print date, page title)
• Convert charts to print-friendly versions

Email Adaptation (Web → Email)

Layout Strategy:

• Narrow width (600px max)
• Single column only
• Inline CSS (no external stylesheets)
• Table-based layouts (for email client compatibility)

Interaction Strategy:

• Large, obvious CTAs (buttons not text links)
• No hover states (not reliable)
• Deep links to web app for complex interactions

Implement Adaptations

Apply changes systematically:

Responsive Breakpoints

Choose appropriate breakpoints:

• Mobile: 320px-767px
• Tablet: 768px-1023px
• Desktop: 1024px+
• Or content-driven breakpoints (where design breaks)

Layout Adaptation Techniques

• CSS Grid/Flexbox: Reflow layouts automatically
• Container Queries: Adapt based on container, not viewport
• clamp(): Fluid sizing between min and max
• Media queries: Different styles for different contexts
• Display properties: Show/hide elements per context

Touch Adaptation

• Increase touch target sizes (44x44px minimum)
• Add more spacing between interactive elements
• Remove hover-dependent interactions
• Add touch feedback (ripples, highlights)
• Consider thumb zones (easier to reach bottom than top)

Content Adaptation

• Use display: none sparingly (still downloads)
• Progressive enhancement (core content first, enhancements on larger screens)
• Lazy loading for off-screen content
• Responsive images (srcset, picture element)

Navigation Adaptation

• Transform complex nav to hamburger/drawer on mobile
• Bottom nav bar for mobile apps
• Persistent side navigation on desktop
• Breadcrumbs on smaller screens for context

IMPORTANT: Test on real devices, not just browser DevTools. Device emulation is helpful but not perfect.

NEVER:

• Hide core functionality on mobile (if it matters, make it work)
• Assume desktop = powerful device (consider accessibility, older machines)
• Use different information architecture across contexts (confusing)
• Break user expectations for platform (mobile users expect mobile patterns)
• Forget landscape orientation on mobile/tablet
• Use generic breakpoints blindly (use content-driven breakpoints)
• Ignore touch on desktop (many desktop devices have touch)

Verify Adaptations

Test thoroughly across contexts:

• Real devices: Test on actual phones, tablets, desktops
• Different orientations: Portrait and landscape
• Different browsers: Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Edge
• Different OS: iOS, Android, Windows, macOS
• Different input methods: Touch, mouse, keyboard
• Edge cases: Very small screens (320px), very large screens (4K)
• Slow connections: Test on throttled network

Remember: You're a cross-platform design expert. Make experiences that feel native to each context while maintaining brand and functionality consistency. Adapt intentionally, test thoroughly.

Interactive live variant mode: select elements in the browser, pick a design action, and get AI-generated HTML+CSS variants hot-swapped via the dev server's HMR.

Prerequisites

A running dev server with hot module replacement (Vite, Next.js, Bun, etc.), OR a static HTML file open in the browser.

The contract (read once)

Execute in order. No step skipped, no step reordered.

1. live.mjs — boot.
2. Navigate to the URL that serves pageFile (infer from package.json, docs, terminal output, or an open tab). If you can't infer it confidently, tell the user once to open their dev/preview URL. Never use serverPort as that URL — it's the helper, not the app.
3. Poll loop with the default long timeout (600000 ms). After every event or --reply, run live-poll.mjs again immediately. Never pass a short --timeout=.
4. On generate — read screenshot if present; load the action's reference; plan three distinct directions; write all variants in one edit; --reply done; poll again.
5. On accept / discard — the poll script already cleaned up; just poll again.
6. On exit — run the cleanup at the bottom.

Harness policy:

• Claude Code: run the poll as a background task (no short timeout). The harness notifies you when it completes, so the main conversation stays free. Do not block the shell.
• Cursor: run the poll in the foreground (blocking shell — not a background terminal, not a subagent). Cursor background terminals and subagents do not reliably resume the chat with poll stdout.
• Codex: run the poll in the foreground (blocking shell — not a background task, not a subagent). Codex background exec sessions do not reliably surface poll stdout back into the conversation at the moment events arrive, so a "fire-and-forget" background poll will stall live mode.
• Other harnesses: foreground unless you know stdout reliably returns to this session.

Chat is overhead. No recap, no tutorial output, no pasting PRODUCT / DESIGN bodies. Spend tokens on tools and edits; on failure, one or two short sentences.

Start

node {{scripts_path}}/live.mjs

Output JSON: { ok, serverPort, serverToken, pageFiles, hasProduct, product, productPath, hasDesign, design, designPath, migrated }. pageFiles is the list of HTML entries the live script was injected into. Keep PRODUCT.md and DESIGN.md in mind for variant generation — DESIGN.md wins on visual decisions; PRODUCT.md wins on strategic/voice decisions. When DESIGN.md is missing, identity is not absent — extract it from CSS variables, computed styles, and sibling components on the page (see Step 4 Phase A). Identity preservation is the default; departure from existing identity requires an explicit trigger from PRODUCT.md anti-references or the user's freeform prompt. If migrated: true, the loader auto-renamed legacy .impeccable.md to PRODUCT.md; mention this once and suggest /impeccable document for the matching DESIGN.md.

serverPort and serverToken belong to the small Impeccable live helper HTTP server (serves /live.js, SSE, and /poll). That port is not your dev server and is usually not the URL you open to view the app. The browser page is whatever origin serves one of the pageFiles entries (Vite / Next / Bun / tunnel / LAN hostname).

If output is { ok: false, error: "config_missing" | "config_invalid", path }, this project hasn't been configured for live mode (or its config is stale). See First-time setup at the bottom.

Poll loop

LOOP:
  node {{scripts_path}}/live-poll.mjs   # default long timeout; no --timeout=
  Read JSON; dispatch on "type"

  "generate"  → Handle Generate; reply done; LOOP
  "accept"    → Handle Accept; LOOP
  "discard"   → Handle Discard; LOOP
  "prefetch"  → Handle Prefetch; LOOP
  "timeout"   → LOOP
  "exit"      → break → Cleanup

Handle generate

Event: {id, action, freeformPrompt?, count, pageUrl, element, screenshotPath?, comments?, strokes?}.

Speed matters — the user is watching a spinner. Minimize tool calls by using the wrap helper and writing all variants in a single edit.

1. Read the screenshot (if present)

event.screenshotPath is only sent when the user placed at least one comment or stroke before Go. When present, it's an absolute path to a PNG of the element as rendered with the annotations baked in. Read it before planning — annotations encode user intent not recoverable from element.outerHTML alone.

When screenshotPath is absent, don't ask for one and don't go looking for the current rendering. The omission is deliberate: without annotations, a screenshot would anchor the model on the existing design and fight the three-distinct-directions brief. Work from element.outerHTML, the computed styles in event.element, and the freeform prompt if present.

event.comments and event.strokes carry structured metadata alongside the visual. Treat the screenshot as primary; use the structured data for specifics worth quoting (e.g. the exact text of a comment).

Reading annotations precisely:

• Comment position is load-bearing. Its {x, y} is element-local CSS px (same coord space as element.boundingRect). Find the child under that point and apply the comment text LOCALLY to that sub-element. A comment near the title is about the title, not a global description.
• Comments and strokes are independent annotations unless clearly paired by overlap or tight proximity. Don't let the visual weight of a prominent stroke override the precise location of a textually-specific comment elsewhere.
• Strokes are gestures — read them by shape. Closed loop = "this thing" (emphasis / focus); arrow = direction (move / point to); cross or slash = delete; free scribble = emphasis or delete depending on context. A loop around region X means "pay attention to X," not "only change pixels inside X."
• When a stroke's intent is ambiguous (circle or arrow? emphasis or move?), state your reading in one sentence of rationale rather than silently guessing. If the uncertainty materially changes the brief, ask one short clarifying question before generating.

2. Wrap the element

node {{scripts_path}}/live-wrap.mjs --id EVENT_ID --count EVENT_COUNT --element-id "ELEMENT_ID" --classes "class1,class2" --tag "div" --text "TEXT_SNIPPET"

Flag mapping — keep them separate, don't collapse into --query:

• --element-id ← event.element.id
• --classes ← event.element.classes joined with commas
• --tag ← event.element.tagName
• --text ← first ~80 chars of event.element.textContent (trim, single-line). Pass this every call. When the picked element shares classes + tag with sibling components (a list of <Card>s, repeating sections), this is what disambiguates which branch in source to wrap. Without it, wrap silently lands on the first match and may rewrite the wrong element.

The helper searches ID first, then classes, then tag + class combo. If event.pageUrl implies the file (e.g. / is usually index.html), pass --file PATH to skip the search. --query is a fallback for raw text search only — do not use it for normal element lookups.

If --text matches multiple candidates equally well, wrap exits with { error: "element_ambiguous", candidates: [...] } and fallback: "agent-driven" — read the candidate line ranges, decide which one matches the picked element from page context, and write the wrapper manually per the fallback flow.

Output on success: { file, insertLine, commentSyntax }.

Fallback errors. Wrap only writes into files it judges to be source (tracked by git, not marked GENERATED, not listed in config's generatedFiles). If it can't land on a source file, it errors without writing — accepting a variant into a generated file is silent data loss. Three shapes:

• { error: "file_is_generated", file, hint } — user-supplied --file points at a generated file.
• { error: "element_not_in_source", generatedMatch, hint } — element exists only in a generated file (the next build would wipe any edits).
• { error: "element_not_found", hint } — element isn't in any project file; likely runtime-injected (JS component, data-driven render).

All three carry fallback: "agent-driven". Follow Handle fallback below.

3. Load the action's reference

If event.action is impeccable (the default freeform action), use SKILL.md's shared laws plus the loaded register reference (brand.md or product.md). Do not load a sub-command reference. Freeform is not a pass to skip parameters: you still follow the composition budget and the freeform bias in §7 Parameters below. Sub-command files list MUST-have signature knobs; freeform has no such file, so sizing knobs from surface weight and primary axes is entirely on you.

Any other event.action (bolder, quieter, distill, polish, typeset, colorize, layout, adapt, animate, delight, overdrive): Read reference/<action>.md before planning. Each sub-command encodes a specific discipline; skipping its reference produces generic output. Those files may require specific params; layer them on top of the §7 budget, not instead of it.

4. Plan three variants — identity first, then mode, then axes

The wrong frame for live mode is "show three different design directions." Live runs on an existing surface — the brand has already been chosen. The job is variation within identity, not selection between identities. Failure mode: three editorial-typographic variants on a brief that wasn't editorial. Bigger failure mode: three off-brand variants the user can't accept because they don't look like their product.

Four phases. Do them in order.

Phase A: Extract the identity (non-skippable)

The existing surface has an identity already. Read it before planning anything. Sources, in priority order:

1. DESIGN.md if loaded — read the visual system fields (palette, type pairing, motion, components). This is the authoritative answer.
2. CSS custom properties in the page's stylesheets (:root { --color-...; --font-...; ... }) — these are de-facto tokens.
3. Computed styles on the picked element and its parent — colors, fonts, spacing scales, corner radii.
4. Sibling components on the page — what visual rhetoric do existing components use? (Asymmetric or centered? Dense or airy? Bold or quiet?)

Write down what you see in one sentence. The sentence describes the surface that's actually on screen — it is not aspirational, not opinionated, not edited toward what the brand "should" be. Capture, in roughly this order:

• The dominant surface color and accent color, by hex or token name (use the actual values, not categories like "warm" or "neutral").
• The type pairing — the actual font names loaded, primary first.
• The layout topology — how the dominant elements are arranged (stacked / side-by-side / grid / asymmetric / overlay).
• The surface treatment — corners, borders, shadows, density of decoration.
• The voice tone you read off the copy itself, not off the aesthetic feel.

Be specific. "Modern" is not a color, "elegant" is not a type pairing, "clean" is not a layout. If you can't extract a real value for an axis, skip it rather than fabricate. The point is to record what is, not to describe what you wish it were.

Do not include adjectives that name an aesthetic family ("editorial-leaning", "terminal-flavored", "brutalist") — those are conclusions, not data. They belong to Phase C lane selection in departure mode, not to identity description. Letting them sneak into Phase A is how the identity-lock collapses into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

This sentence is the identity lock. Every variant must be readable as the same brand if rendered side by side. Skipping this phase is the primary cause of off-brand variants. Absence of DESIGN.md is never an excuse — extract from CSS and computed styles instead.

Phase B: Pick mode (default vs departure)

Default mode — the existing identity is preserved. Variants vary expression axes within it. This is the right mode for ~90% of live sessions. The user picked an element on a real product they're shipping; they expect variants of their hero, not three different brands' heroes.

Departure mode — the existing identity is rejected. Variants propose alternatives consistent with PRODUCT.md voice. Trigger only when at least one is true:

• PRODUCT.md anti-references explicitly call out the current surface ("the current index.html is itself an example"; "diffuse away from this"; "the page on screen is the failure"). Generic anti-references that describe what to avoid in general do not trigger departure mode — only ones that point at this surface specifically.
• The user's freeform prompt explicitly asks for departure ("rebuild this from scratch", "what if it weren't editorial at all", "show me something completely different").

If you're unsure, you're in default mode. The cost of being wrong about default is "three on-brand variants with similar feel" — recoverable, the user picks none. The cost of being wrong about departure is "three off-brand variants" — unrecoverable, the user is annoyed.

Phase C: Plan three variants

Default mode. Each variant commits to a different primary axis of difference, while preserving the identity sentence. The six axes:

1. Hierarchy — which element commands the eye?
2. Layout topology — stacked / side-by-side / grid / asymmetric / overlay
3. Typographic system — pairing logic, scale ratio, case/weight strategy within the available faces
4. Color strategy — which existing palette role carries the surface (Restrained / Committed / Full palette / Drenched). Use the brand's existing palette tokens, not new colors.
5. Density — minimal / comfortable / dense
6. Structural decomposition — merge, split, progressive disclosure

Three variants → three DIFFERENT axes. The trio reads as the same brand at three angles. Do not introduce new fonts, new palette hues, or new aesthetic-family signals — those belong to departure mode.

Departure mode. Each variant anchors to a different aesthetic lane, drawn from non-monoculture options. Lanes (illustrative, not exhaustive):

• Tech-minimal (Stripe / Linear / Vercel-restraint)
• Brutalist-utility (system fonts, raw HTML defaults, Craigslist-energy)
• Terminal-native (actual code surface, syntax-highlighted UI as the design)
• Industrial-signage (dimensional type, arrow systems, ISO standards, wayfinding)
• Technical-drawing (isometric line art, callout numbers, blueprint blue, exploded-view diagrams)
• Drenched-saturated (Liquid Death / Mailchimp full-palette / single-hue commitment)
• Swiss-grid-rigorous (visible grid as voice, tight type, accumulated systems)

Avoid the reflex-reject lanes in brand.md. Don't trade one monoculture for another. Editorial-typographic is currently a reflex-reject lane — three variants that all read as "magazine cover" is the second-order training reflex, the trap one tier deeper than SaaS-cream.

Phase D: Squint test

Default mode squint. Read each variant's identity sentence and compare to the locked identity from Phase A. If any variant has drifted to a different palette, type voice, or visual rhetoric, it has crossed into departure mode by accident — rework. Then check that each variant commits to a different primary axis. Three "tighter density" variants is failure.

Departure mode squint. Two passes, family before sentence:

1. Family pass. Label each variant with one design-family word: editorial / brutalist / terminal / signage / drenched / swiss / technical-drawing / tech-minimal. If any two variants share a family label, rework. This pass is non-negotiable in departure mode and catches the editorial-monoculture failure that the sentence pass misses.
2. Sentence pass. Write three one-sentence descriptions side by side. If two of them rhyme ("both feature big type" / "both are stacks of sections" / "both center the CTA"), rework the offender.

When the primary axis is color or theme, forbid the trio from sharing theme + dominant hue. Two dark-plus-one-dark is not distinct. Aim for three color worlds, not three shades of the same.

For action-specific invocations, each variant must vary along the dimension the action names:

• bolder — amplify a different dimension per variant (scale / saturation / structural change). Not three "slightly bigger" variants.
• quieter — pull back a different dimension (color / ornament / spacing).
• distill — remove a different class of excess (visual noise / redundant content / nested structure).
• polish — target a different refinement axis (rhythm / hierarchy / micro-details like corner radii, focus states, optical kerning).
• typeset — different type pairing AND different scale ratio each. Not three riffs on one pairing.
• colorize — different hue family each (not shades of one hue). Vary chroma and contrast strategy.
• layout — different structural arrangement (stacked / side-by-side / grid / asymmetric). Not spacing tweaks.
• adapt — different target context per variant (mobile-first / tablet / desktop / print or low-data). Don't make three mobile layouts.
• animate — different motion vocabulary (cascade stagger / clip wipe / scale-and-focus / morph / parallax). Not three staggered fades.
• delight — different flavor of personality (unexpected micro-interaction / typographic surprise / illustrated accent / sonic-or-haptic moment / easter-egg interaction).
• overdrive — different convention broken (scale / structure / motion / input model / state transitions). Skip overdrive.md's "propose and ask" step — live mode is non-interactive.

5. Apply the freeform prompt (if present)

event.freeformPrompt is the user's ceiling on direction — all variants must honor it — but still explore meaningfully different interpretations. The interpretations stay within whichever mode you picked in Phase B.

In default mode, the prompt narrows the axes you choose, not the identity. "Make it feel more confident" → variant 1 amplifies hierarchy (one element commands the eye), variant 2 commits the existing accent color (Committed strategy on the brand's hue), variant 3 tightens density and removes decorative slack. Three different axes, same brand.

In departure mode, the prompt narrows the lanes you draw from, not the families. "Make it feel like a newspaper front page" would itself be a departure-mode prompt; honor it but pick three meaningfully different newspaper-adjacent lanes (broadsheet vs. tabloid vs. trade journal), and run the family pass to confirm they don't collapse into one.

When the prompt and PRODUCT.md anti-references conflict (the prompt asks for X, the anti-references ban X), the anti-references win — they describe the brand's standing position, the prompt is one moment.

6. Write all variants in a single edit

Complete HTML replacement of the original element for each variant, not a CSS-only patch. Consider the element's context (computed styles, parent structure, CSS variables from event.element).

Write CSS + all variants in ONE edit at the insertLine reported by wrap. Colocate scoped CSS as a <style> tag inside the variant wrapper — <style> works anywhere in modern browsers and this ensures CSS and HTML arrive atomically (no FOUC).

<!-- Variants: insert below this line -->
<style data-impeccable-css="SESSION_ID">
  @scope ([data-impeccable-variant="1"]) { ... }
  @scope ([data-impeccable-variant="2"]) { ... }
</style>
<div data-impeccable-variant="1">
  <!-- variant 1: full element replacement (single top-level element) -->
</div>
<div data-impeccable-variant="2" style="display: none">
  <!-- variant 2: full element replacement -->
</div>
<div data-impeccable-variant="3" style="display: none">
  <!-- variant 3: full element replacement -->
</div>

Each variant div contains exactly one top-level element — the full replacement for the original. Use the same tag as the original (e.g. <section> if the user picked a <section>). Loose siblings (heading + paragraph + div as direct children of the variant div) break the outline tracking and the accept flow, which both assume one child.

The first variant has no display: none (visible by default). All others do. If variants use only inline styles and no scoped CSS, omit the <style> tag entirely. Use @scope for CSS isolation (Chrome 118+ / Firefox 128+ / Safari 17.4+).

One edit, all variants — the browser's MutationObserver picks everything up in one pass.

Author every :scope rule with a descendant combinator. The @scope boundary is the variant wrapper <div data-impeccable-variant="N">, not the element you're designing. A bare :scope { background: cream; } styles the wrapper, not the inner replacement, so the cream lands on a display: contents shell while the actual element keeps page defaults. Always step in: :scope > .card, :scope > section, :scope .hero-title, etc. The fake test agent's CSS in tests/live-e2e/agent.mjs is a faithful template — every rule starts :scope > ....

JSX / TSX target files. Wrap <style> content in a template literal so the CSS { / } aren't parsed as JSX expressions, and use className= / style={{…}} on every variant element. Keep data-impeccable-* attributes as-is — they're plain strings:

<style data-impeccable-css="SESSION_ID">{`
  @scope ([data-impeccable-variant="1"]) { ... }
  @scope ([data-impeccable-variant="2"]) { ... }
`}</style>
<div data-impeccable-variant="1">
  {/* variant 1 */}
</div>
<div data-impeccable-variant="2" style={{ display: 'none' }}>
  {/* variant 2 */}
</div>

The wrap script already gives you a single-rooted JSX wrapper — a <div data-impeccable-variants="…"> outer element with the marker comments tucked inside. Drop the variants block above into the "Variants: insert below this line" comment and the source stays valid TSX.

7. Parameters (composition-sized, 0–4 per variant)

Each variant can expose coarse knobs alongside the full HTML/CSS replacement. The browser docks a small panel to the right of the outline with one control per parameter. The user drags/clicks and sees instant feedback: there is zero regeneration cost because the knob toggles a CSS variable or data attribute that the variant's scoped CSS is already authored against.

What “optional” does not mean. Parameters are not nice-to-have decoration on large work. The word meant “omit controls that are redundant or cosmetic,” not “default to zero because three variants were enough work.”

When to add. As soon as the variant’s scoped CSS has a meaningful continuous or stepped axis: density, color amount, type scale, motion intensity, column weight, and so on. If you can imagine the user muttering “a bit tighter” or “a touch more accent” without wanting a full regeneration, wire that axis. Not micro-margins or one-off nudges; those are not parameters.

Freeform (action is impeccable) bias. You did not load reference/bolder.md (etc.), so you must choose 1–2 signature-like axes yourself. Prefer knobs that sit on the same dimensions as your three directions (e.g. all three riffs on editorial density → expose density or a steps “air / snug / packed”; two directions differ mostly in chroma → add color-amount). A hero, section, or other large surface that ships with 0 params needs a one-line reason in your head (e.g. “truly a fixed-point A/B/C comparison, no shared dial”), not a default habit.

Budget scales with the element's visual weight, not token budget. Knobs need real estate to read as tunable; three sliders on a single control are noise.

• Leaf / tiny — a single button, icon, input, bare heading, solitary paragraph: 0 params.
• Small composition — labeled input, simple card, short callout (≤ ~5 visual children): 0–1 params when one dominant axis is obvious; otherwise 0.
• Medium composition — section component, nav cluster, dense card, short feature block (6–15 visual children): target 2; 1 is acceptable if the block is simple; 0 only when variants are truly fixed points.
• Large composition — hero section, full page region, spread layout, strong internal structure (16+ visual children or multiple sub-sections): target 2–3; up to 4 when several independent axes (e.g. structure steps + density + one accent) are all authored in scoped CSS.

When in doubt, ask whether a dial exists before defaulting to zero. The user can always request more variants, but the point of live mode is instant tuning without another Go. Crowding the panel is bad; under-shipping knobs on a dense composition is the more common failure for freeform. Count by visual children, not DOM depth; a shallow-but-wide hero is still large.

Hard cap per variant — at most four parameters so the panel stays legible; rare fifth only if the reference explicitly allows it.

How to declare. Put a JSON manifest on the variant wrapper:

<div data-impeccable-variant="1" data-impeccable-params='[
  {"id":"color-amount","kind":"range","min":0,"max":1,"step":0.05,"default":0.5,"label":"Color amount"},
  {"id":"density","kind":"steps","default":"snug","label":"Density","options":[
    {"value":"airy","label":"Airy"},
    {"value":"snug","label":"Snug"},
    {"value":"packed","label":"Packed"}
  ]},
  {"id":"serif","kind":"toggle","default":false,"label":"Serif display"}
]'>
  ...variant content...
</div>

Three kinds:

• range — smooth slider. Drives a CSS custom property --p-<id> on the variant wrapper. Author CSS with var(--p-color-amount, 0.5). Fields: min, max, step, default (number), label.
• steps — segmented radio. Drives a data attribute data-p-<id> on the variant wrapper. Author CSS with :scope[data-p-density="airy"] .grid { ... }. Fields: options (array of {value, label}), default (string), label.
• toggle — on/off switch. Drives BOTH a CSS var (--p-<id>: 0|1) and a data attribute (present when on, absent when off). Use whichever is more convenient. Fields: default (boolean), label.

Signature params per action. For named sub-commands, read that action’s reference/<action>.md for one or two MUST params (e.g. layout → density). Those are non-negotiable when the design can express them. Freeform has no file-level MUST; the Freeform (impeccable) bias in this section is the stand-in. If the user’s action is both stylized and sub-command (e.g. colorize), the sub-command’s MUST list takes precedence for its axes; still respect the Hard cap and add no redundant duplicate knobs.

Reset on variant switch. User dials density on v1, flips to v2, v2 starts at v2's declared defaults. Known limitation; preservation across variants may land later.

On accept, the browser sends the user's current values in the accept event. live-accept.mjs writes them as a sibling comment:

<!-- impeccable-param-values SESSION_ID: {"color-amount":0.7,"density":"packed"} -->

The carbonize cleanup step (see below) reads that comment and bakes the chosen values into the final CSS. For steps/toggle attribute selectors: keep only the branch matching the chosen value, drop the others, collapse :scope[data-p-density="packed"] .grid to a semantic class rule. For range vars: either substitute the literal or keep the var with the chosen value as its new default.

8. Signal done

node {{scripts_path}}/live-poll.mjs --reply EVENT_ID done --file RELATIVE_PATH

RELATIVE_PATH is relative to project root (public/index.html, src/App.tsx, etc.) — the browser fetches source directly if the dev server lacks HMR.

Then run live-poll.mjs again immediately.

Aborting an in-flight session

If wrap or generation fails after the browser has flipped to GENERATING (e.g. wrap landed on the wrong source branch and you've already reverted it, or generation hit an unrecoverable error), tell the browser so its bar resets to PICKING:

node {{scripts_path}}/live-poll.mjs --reply EVENT_ID error "Short reason"

Don't run live-accept --discard for this — that's a pure file mutator, the browser doesn't see it, and the bar gets stuck on the GENERATING dots forever (the user has to refresh). --discard is only correct when the browser initiated the discard (user clicked ✕ during CYCLING) and the agent is just running source-side cleanup the browser already triggered.

Handle fallback

When wrap returns fallback: "agent-driven", the deterministic flow doesn't apply. Pick up here.

The goal is the same: give the user three variants to choose from AND persist the accepted one in a place the next build won't wipe. The difference is that you have to pick the right source file yourself.

Step 1: Identify where the element actually lives

Use the error payload:

• element_not_in_source with generatedMatch: "public/docs/foo.html" — the served HTML is generated. Find the generator (grep for writers of that path, e.g. scripts/build-sub-pages.js, an Astro/Next template) and locate the template or partial that emits this element.
• element_not_found — the element is runtime-injected. Look for the component that renders it (React/Vue/Svelte), the JS that assembles it, or the data source that feeds it.
• file_is_generated with file: "..." — user pointed at a generated file explicitly. Same resolution as element_not_in_source.

Read the candidate source until you're confident where a change to the element would belong. If the change is purely visual, that source might be a shared stylesheet, not the template.

Step 2: Show three variants in the DOM for preview

The browser bar is waiting for variants. Even without a wrapper in source, you still need to show something:

1. Manually write the wrapper scaffold into the served file (the one the browser actually loaded). Use the same structure live-wrap.mjs produces — <!-- impeccable-variants-start ID --><div data-impeccable-variants="ID" data-impeccable-variant-count="3" style="display: contents">…</div><!-- end -->.
2. Insert your three variant divs inside it, same shape as the deterministic path.
3. Signal done with --reply EVENT_ID done --file <served file>. The browser's no-HMR fallback will fetch and inject.

This served-file edit is temporary — next regen wipes it, and that's fine. The real work happens on accept.

Step 3: On accept, write to true source

When the accept event arrives (_acceptResult.handled will usually be false here because accept also refuses to persist into generated files — see Handle accept for the carbonize branch), extract the accepted variant's content and write it into the source you identified in Step 1:

• Structural change → edit the template / component source.
• Visual-only change → add or update rules in the appropriate stylesheet; remove the inline <style> scope.
• Data-driven → update the data source or the render logic.

Then remove the temporary wrapper from the served file if it's still there.

Step 4: On discard, clean up the served file

Remove the wrapper you inserted in Step 2. Nothing else to do.

Handle accept

Event: {id, variantId, _acceptResult}. The poll script already ran live-accept.mjs to handle the file operation deterministically; the browser DOM is already updated.

• _acceptResult.handled: true and carbonize: false — nothing to do. Poll again.
• _acceptResult.handled: true and carbonize: true — post-accept cleanup is required before the next poll. See the "Required after accept (carbonize)" section below. The event._acceptResult.todo field and a stderr banner both list the steps explicitly; neither is decorative.
• _acceptResult.handled: false, mode: "fallback" — the session lived in a generated file and the script refused to persist there. You've already written the accepted variant into true source during Handle fallback Step 3; just clean up the temporary wrapper in the served file if any, and poll again.
• _acceptResult.handled: false without mode — manual cleanup: read file, find markers, edit.

Required after accept (carbonize)

When _acceptResult.carbonize === true, the accepted variant was stitched into source with helper markers and inline CSS so the browser can render it immediately with no visual gap. That stitch-in is temporary. The agent must rewrite it into permanent form before doing anything else. Skipping this leaves dead @scope rules for unaccepted variants, a pointless data-impeccable-variant wrapper, and impeccable-carbonize-start/end comment noise in the source file — all of which accumulate across sessions.

Do these five steps in the current thread, synchronously, before the next poll. Do not poll again until the file is clean.

1. Locate the carbonize block in the source file (_acceptResult.file). It's bracketed by <!-- impeccable-carbonize-start SESSION_ID --> and <!-- impeccable-carbonize-end SESSION_ID --> and contains a <style data-impeccable-css="SESSION_ID"> element. If the variant declared parameters, an <!-- impeccable-param-values SESSION_ID: {...} --> comment sits alongside the style tag with the user's chosen values — read it first; it drives steps 3 and 4 below.
2. Move the CSS rules into the project's real stylesheet. Which stylesheet depends on the project (e.g. public/css/workflow.css for this repo, or the component's co-located CSS file for a Vite/Next project — pick whichever already owns styling for the surrounding element).
3. Bake in parameter values while rewriting selectors. For @scope ([data-impeccable-variant="N"]) wrappers: retarget to real, semantic classes on the accepted HTML (.why-visual--v2 .v2-label { … }). For :scope[data-p-<id>="VALUE"] selectors: keep only the branch matching the chosen value from the param-values comment; drop the others (they're dead after accept). For var(--p-<id>, DEFAULT) in the CSS: either substitute the literal value, or if the param is still useful as a knob going forward, leave the var and update its initial declaration to the chosen value.
4. Unwrap the accepted content. Delete the <div data-impeccable-variant="N" style="display: contents"> that wraps it. Drop data-impeccable-params and any data-p-* attributes from it — those are live-mode plumbing, not source.
5. Delete the inline <style> block, the <!-- impeccable-param-values --> comment if present, and both <!-- impeccable-carbonize-start/end --> markers. Also drop any @scope rules for variants other than the accepted one — those are dead code now.

Then poll again.

A background agent may be used for the rewrite, but the current thread is responsible for verifying the five steps are complete before issuing the next poll. In practice, inline is usually faster and less error-prone.

Handle discard

Event: {id, _acceptResult}. The poll script already restored the original and removed all variant markers. Nothing to do. Poll again.

Handle prefetch

Event: {pageUrl}. The browser fires this the first time the user selects an element on a given route, as a latency shortcut — it signals the user is likely about to Go on a page you haven't read yet.

Resolve pageUrl to the underlying file:

• Root / → the pageFile returned by live.mjs (usually public/index.html or equivalent).
• Sub-routes (e.g. /docs, /docs/live) → the generated or source file for that route. Use your knowledge of the project layout (multi-page static sites often resolve /foo → public/foo/index.html; SPAs may map all routes to a single entry).

Read the file into context, then poll again. No --reply — this is speculative pre-work; Go will come later. If you can't confidently resolve the route to a file, skip and poll again.

Dedupe is the browser's job (one prefetch per unique pathname per session) — trust it. If the same file shows up twice from different routes mapping to the same file, the second Read is cached anyway.

Exit

The user can stop live mode by:

• Saying "stop live mode" / "exit live" in chat
• Closing the browser tab (SSE drops, poll returns exit after 8s)
• The browser's exit button

When the poll returns exit, proceed to cleanup. If the poll is still running as a background task, kill it first.

Cleanup

node {{scripts_path}}/live-server.mjs stop

Stops the HTTP server and runs live-inject.mjs --remove to strip localhost:…/live.js from the HTML entry. To stop the server but keep the inject tag (for a quick restart), use stop --keep-inject. config.json persists for future sessions.

Then:

• Remove any leftover variant wrappers (search for impeccable-variants-start markers).
• Remove any leftover carbonize blocks (search for impeccable-carbonize-start markers).

First-time setup (config missing or invalid)

If live.mjs outputs { ok: false, error: "config_missing" | "config_invalid", path }, write config.json at the reported path.

Schema:

{
  "files": ["<path-or-glob>", "<path-or-glob>", ...],
  "exclude": ["<optional-glob>", ...],
  "insertBefore": "</body>",
  "commentSyntax": "html",
  "cspChecked": true
}

files is the inject target — the HTML files the browser actually loads, not necessarily source. Each entry is either a literal path ("public/index.html") or a glob pattern ("public/**/*.html"). Tracked or generated doesn't matter here; wrap has its own generated-file guard and routes accepts through the fallback flow.

exclude (optional) is a list of glob patterns matching files to skip, even if a files glob would have included them. Use for email templates, demo fixtures, or any HTML that isn't a live page.

cspChecked tracks whether the CSP detection step below has already run. Absent on first setup; set to true after CSP is checked (whether patched, declined, or not needed).

Hard-excluded paths (cannot be overridden). **/node_modules/** and **/.git/** are never matched regardless of what the user writes. These are vendor/metadata directories and injecting into them would silently instrument third-party code.

Glob syntax. ** matches any number of path segments (including zero), * matches any characters except /, ? matches a single character except /. Paths are always relative to the project root with forward slashes.

Pick an anchor that exists in every file (</body> almost always works). Use insertAfter if the anchor should match after a specific line.

For multi-page sites, prefer a glob over a literal file list. New pages added later are picked up automatically on the next live-inject.mjs run; no config maintenance needed.

For multi-page sites whose pages are rebuilt by a generator (Astro, static-site generators, custom scripts like build-sub-pages.js), the inject survives only until the next regeneration. Re-run live.mjs after each build. Accept is unaffected — it writes to true source via the fallback flow.

Drift-heal warning

On every live.mjs boot, after inject, the project is scanned for HTML files under common page-source roots (public/, src/, app/, pages/). If any exist that aren't covered by the resolved files list, the output includes a configDrift field:

{
  "ok": true,
  "serverPort": 8400,
  "pageFiles": [ "..." ],
  "configDrift": {
    "orphans": ["public/new-section/index.html", "public/docs/new-command.html"],
    "orphanCount": 2,
    "hint": "2 HTML file(s) exist but aren't in config.files. Consider adding them, or use a glob pattern like \"public/**/*.html\"."
  }
}

When configDrift is present, surface it to the user once per session before entering the poll loop:

Noticed N HTML file(s) in the project that aren't in config.files:

• public/new-section/index.html
• public/docs/new-command.html

Add them, or switch files to a glob like ["public/**/*.html"] and let it track new pages automatically?

Don't auto-update the config — let the user decide. configDrift is null when there's no drift.

CSP detection (first-time only)

If config.cspChecked === true, skip this entire section. You already asked this user once; the answer sticks.

Otherwise, run the detection helper:

node {{scripts_path}}/detect-csp.mjs

Output: { shape, signals } where shape is one of append-arrays, append-string, middleware, meta-tag, or null. The shape is named by patch mechanism, so one template covers many frameworks.

• null — no CSP; skip to writing config.json with cspChecked: true.
• append-arrays — CSP defined as structured directive arrays. Auto-patchable. See append-arrays below. Covers:
  • Monorepo helpers with additionalScriptSrc / additionalConnectSrc options (Next.js + shared config package)
  • SvelteKit kit.csp.directives
  • Nuxt nuxt-security module's contentSecurityPolicy
• append-string — CSP written as a literal value string. Auto-patchable. See append-string below. Covers:
  • Inline next.config.* headers() with a CSP literal
  • Nuxt routeRules / nitro.routeRules headers
• middleware or meta-tag — rarer. Detected but not auto-patched in v1. Show the user the detected files and ask them to add http://localhost:8400 to script-src and connect-src manually, then mark cspChecked: true and proceed.

Consent prompt template

Use this phrasing so the experience is consistent across agents:

CSP patch needed. I detected a Content Security Policy in your project that blocks http://localhost:8400 — the live picker won't load without an allowance. Here's the change I'd make:

[file: <patchTarget>]
[exact diff, 2–5 lines]

It's guarded by NODE_ENV === "development" so the extra entry only appears in dev and never reaches production. You can remove it any time by reverting this file. Apply? [y/n]

On "no": skip the patch, mention live won't work until the user adds the allowance manually, still write cspChecked: true (the question's been asked).

On "yes": apply the Shape-specific patch below, then write cspChecked: true.

append-arrays

CSP expressed as structured directive arrays. Patch mechanism: declare a dev-only array, spread it into the script-src and connect-src arrays.

Declare near the top of the file that holds the CSP arrays:

// Dev-only allowance so impeccable live mode can load. Guarded by NODE_ENV.
const __impeccableLiveDev =
  process.env.NODE_ENV === "development" ? ["http://localhost:8400"] : [];

Append ...__impeccableLiveDev to the script-src and connect-src directive arrays. Per-framework specifics:

• Next.js + monorepo helper — edit the app's next.config.* (not the shared helper), appending to additionalScriptSrc and additionalConnectSrc passed into createBaseNextConfig (or equivalent). Keeps the shared package clean.
• SvelteKit — edit svelte.config.js, appending to kit.csp.directives['script-src'] and kit.csp.directives['connect-src'].
• Nuxt + nuxt-security — edit nuxt.config.*, appending to security.headers.contentSecurityPolicy['script-src'] and ['connect-src'].

Reference outputs:

• tests/framework-fixtures/nextjs-turborepo/expected-after-patch.ts (Next.js)
• tests/framework-fixtures/sveltekit-csp/expected-after-patch.js (SvelteKit)

Idempotency: if __impeccableLiveDev already exists in the file, the patch is already applied; skip asking and just mark cspChecked: true.

append-string

CSP built as a literal value string. Two-point patch: declare a dev-only string near the top, interpolate it into the CSP at the script-src and connect-src directives.

// Dev-only allowance so impeccable live mode can load.
const __impeccableLiveDev =
  process.env.NODE_ENV === "development" ? " http://localhost:8400" : "";

Then in the CSP value string:

• script-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline' → `script-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline'${__impeccableLiveDev}`
• connect-src 'self' → `connect-src 'self'${__impeccableLiveDev}`

(Leading space on the dev string so it concatenates cleanly into the existing value. Convert the literal CSP directives into template strings as part of the edit if they aren't already.)

Per-framework specifics:

• Next.js inline headers() — edit next.config.*, splicing the variable into the CSP value.
• Nuxt routeRules — edit nuxt.config.*, splicing into the CSP in routeRules['/**'].headers['Content-Security-Policy'].

Reference outputs:

• tests/framework-fixtures/nextjs-inline-csp/expected-after-patch.js (Next.js)
• tests/framework-fixtures/nuxt-csp/expected-after-patch.ts (Nuxt)

Troubleshooting

If a user says "no" to the CSP patch at setup time and later complains that live doesn't work: their dev CSP blocks http://localhost:8400. Fix: delete cspChecked from config.json and re-run live.mjs — setup will ask again.

Then re-run live.mjs.

Increase visual impact and personality in designs that are too safe, generic, or visually underwhelming, creating more engaging and memorable experiences.

Register

Brand: "bolder" means distinctive. Extreme scale, unexpected color, typographic risk, committed POV.

Product: "bolder" rarely means theatrics — those undermine trust. It means stronger hierarchy, clearer weight contrast, one sharper accent, more committed density. The amplification is in clarity, not drama.

Assess Current State

Analyze what makes the design feel too safe or boring:

1. Identify weakness sources:

   • Generic choices: System fonts, basic colors, standard layouts
   • Timid scale: Everything is medium-sized with no drama
   • Low contrast: Everything has similar visual weight
   • Static: No motion, no energy, no life
   • Predictable: Standard patterns with no surprises
   • Flat hierarchy: Nothing stands out or commands attention

2. Understand the context:

   • What's the brand personality? (How far can we push?)
   • What's the purpose? (Marketing can be bolder than financial dashboards)
   • Who's the audience? (What will resonate?)
   • What are the constraints? (Brand guidelines, accessibility, performance)

If any of these are unclear from the codebase, STOP and call the AskUserQuestion tool to clarify.

CRITICAL: "Bolder" doesn't mean chaotic or garish. It means distinctive, memorable, and confident. Think intentional drama, not random chaos.

WARNING - AI SLOP TRAP: When making things "bolder," AI defaults to the same tired tricks: cyan/purple gradients, glassmorphism, neon accents on dark backgrounds, gradient text on metrics. These are the OPPOSITE of bold. They're generic. Review ALL the DON'T guidelines from the parent impeccable skill (already loaded in this context) before proceeding. Bold means distinctive, not "more effects."

Plan Amplification

Create a strategy to increase impact while maintaining coherence:

• Focal point: What should be the hero moment? (Pick ONE, make it amazing)
• Personality direction: Maximalist chaos? Elegant drama? Playful energy? Dark moody? Choose a lane.
• Risk budget: How experimental can we be? Push boundaries within constraints.
• Hierarchy amplification: Make big things BIGGER, small things smaller (increase contrast)

IMPORTANT: Bold design must still be usable. Impact without function is just decoration.

Amplify the Design

Systematically increase impact across these dimensions:

Typography Amplification

• Replace generic fonts: Swap system fonts for distinctive choices (see the parent skill's typography guidelines and typography.md for inspiration)
• Extreme scale: Create dramatic size jumps (3x-5x differences, not 1.5x)
• Weight contrast: Pair 900 weights with 200 weights, not 600 with 400
• Unexpected choices: Variable fonts, display fonts for headlines, condensed/extended widths, monospace as intentional accent (not as lazy "dev tool" default)

Color Intensification

• Increase saturation: Shift to more vibrant, energetic colors (but not neon)
• Bold palette: Introduce unexpected color combinations—avoid the purple-blue gradient AI slop
• Dominant color strategy: Let one bold color own 60% of the design
• Sharp accents: High-contrast accent colors that pop
• Tinted neutrals: Replace pure grays with tinted grays that harmonize with your palette
• Rich gradients: Intentional multi-stop gradients (not generic purple-to-blue)

Spatial Drama

• Extreme scale jumps: Make important elements 3-5x larger than surroundings
• Break the grid: Let hero elements escape containers and cross boundaries
• Asymmetric layouts: Replace centered, balanced layouts with tension-filled asymmetry
• Generous space: Use white space dramatically (100-200px gaps, not 20-40px)
• Overlap: Layer elements intentionally for depth

Visual Effects

• Dramatic shadows: Large, soft shadows for elevation (but not generic drop shadows on rounded rectangles)
• Background treatments: Mesh patterns, noise textures, geometric patterns, intentional gradients (not purple-to-blue)
• Texture & depth: Grain, halftone, duotone, layered elements—NOT glassmorphism (it's overused AI slop)
• Borders & frames: Thick borders, decorative frames, custom shapes (not rounded rectangles with colored border on one side)
• Custom elements: Illustrative elements, custom icons, decorative details that reinforce brand

Motion & Animation

• Entrance choreography: Staggered, dramatic page load animations with 50-100ms delays
• Scroll effects: Parallax, reveal animations, scroll-triggered sequences
• Micro-interactions: Satisfying hover effects, click feedback, state changes
• Transitions: Smooth, noticeable transitions using ease-out-quart/quint/expo (not bounce or elastic—they cheapen the effect)

Composition Boldness

• Hero moments: Create clear focal points with dramatic treatment
• Diagonal flows: Escape horizontal/vertical rigidity with diagonal arrangements
• Full-bleed elements: Use full viewport width/height for impact
• Unexpected proportions: Golden ratio? Throw it out. Try 70/30, 80/20 splits

NEVER:

• Add effects randomly without purpose (chaos ≠ bold)
• Sacrifice readability for aesthetics (body text must be readable)
• Make everything bold (then nothing is bold - need contrast)
• Ignore accessibility (bold design must still meet WCAG standards)
• Overwhelm with motion (animation fatigue is real)
• Copy trendy aesthetics blindly (bold means distinctive, not derivative)

Verify Quality

Ensure amplification maintains usability and coherence:

• NOT AI slop: Does this look like every other AI-generated "bold" design? If yes, start over.
• Still functional: Can users accomplish tasks without distraction?
• Coherent: Does everything feel intentional and unified?
• Memorable: Will users remember this experience?
• Performant: Do all these effects run smoothly?
• Accessible: Does it still meet accessibility standards?

The test: If you showed this to someone and said "AI made this bolder," would they believe you immediately? If yes, you've failed. Bold means distinctive, not "more AI effects."

Remember: Bold design is confident design. It takes risks, makes statements, and creates memorable experiences. But bold without strategy is just loud. Be intentional, be dramatic, be unforgettable.

Strengthen interfaces against edge cases, errors, internationalization issues, and real-world usage scenarios that break idealized designs.

Assess Hardening Needs

Identify weaknesses and edge cases:

1. Test with extreme inputs:

   • Very long text (names, descriptions, titles)
   • Very short text (empty, single character)
   • Special characters (emoji, RTL text, accents)
   • Large numbers (millions, billions)
   • Many items (1000+ list items, 50+ options)
   • No data (empty states)

2. Test error scenarios:

   • Network failures (offline, slow, timeout)
   • API errors (400, 401, 403, 404, 500)
   • Validation errors
   • Permission errors
   • Rate limiting
   • Concurrent operations

3. Test internationalization:

   • Long translations (German is often 30% longer than English)
   • RTL languages (Arabic, Hebrew)
   • Character sets (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, emoji)
   • Date/time formats
   • Number formats (1,000 vs 1.000)
   • Currency symbols

CRITICAL: Designs that only work with perfect data aren't production-ready. Harden against reality.

Hardening Dimensions

Systematically improve resilience:

Text Overflow & Wrapping

Long text handling:

/* Single line with ellipsis */
.truncate {
  overflow: hidden;
  text-overflow: ellipsis;
  white-space: nowrap;
}

/* Multi-line with clamp */
.line-clamp {
  display: -webkit-box;
  -webkit-line-clamp: 3;
  -webkit-box-orient: vertical;
  overflow: hidden;
}

/* Allow wrapping */
.wrap {
  word-wrap: break-word;
  overflow-wrap: break-word;
  hyphens: auto;
}

Flex/Grid overflow:

/* Prevent flex items from overflowing */
.flex-item {
  min-width: 0; /* Allow shrinking below content size */
  overflow: hidden;
}

/* Prevent grid items from overflowing */
.grid-item {
  min-width: 0;
  min-height: 0;
}

Responsive text sizing:

• Use clamp() for fluid typography
• Set minimum readable sizes (14px on mobile)
• Test text scaling (zoom to 200%)
• Ensure containers expand with text

Internationalization (i18n)

Text expansion:

• Add 30-40% space budget for translations
• Use flexbox/grid that adapts to content
• Test with longest language (usually German)
• Avoid fixed widths on text containers

// ❌ Bad: Assumes short English text
<button className="w-24">Submit</button>

// ✅ Good: Adapts to content
<button className="px-4 py-2">Submit</button>

RTL (Right-to-Left) support:

/* Use logical properties */
margin-inline-start: 1rem; /* Not margin-left */
padding-inline: 1rem; /* Not padding-left/right */
border-inline-end: 1px solid; /* Not border-right */

/* Or use dir attribute */
[dir="rtl"] .arrow { transform: scaleX(-1); }

Character set support:

• Use UTF-8 encoding everywhere
• Test with Chinese/Japanese/Korean (CJK) characters
• Test with emoji (they can be 2-4 bytes)
• Handle different scripts (Latin, Cyrillic, Arabic, etc.)

Date/Time formatting:

// ✅ Use Intl API for proper formatting
new Intl.DateTimeFormat('en-US').format(date); // 1/15/2024
new Intl.DateTimeFormat('de-DE').format(date); // 15.1.2024

new Intl.NumberFormat('en-US', { 
  style: 'currency', 
  currency: 'USD' 
}).format(1234.56); // $1,234.56

Pluralization:

// ❌ Bad: Assumes English pluralization
`${count} item${count !== 1 ? 's' : ''}`

// ✅ Good: Use proper i18n library
t('items', { count }) // Handles complex plural rules

Error Handling

Network errors:

• Show clear error messages
• Provide retry button
• Explain what happened
• Offer offline mode (if applicable)
• Handle timeout scenarios

// Error states with recovery
{error && (
  <ErrorMessage>
    <p>Failed to load data. {error.message}</p>
    <button onClick={retry}>Try again</button>
  </ErrorMessage>
)}

Form validation errors:

• Inline errors near fields
• Clear, specific messages
• Suggest corrections
• Don't block submission unnecessarily
• Preserve user input on error

API errors:

• Handle each status code appropriately
  • 400: Show validation errors
  • 401: Redirect to login
  • 403: Show permission error
  • 404: Show not found state
  • 429: Show rate limit message
  • 500: Show generic error, offer support

Graceful degradation:

• Core functionality works without JavaScript
• Images have alt text
• Progressive enhancement
• Fallbacks for unsupported features

Edge Cases & Boundary Conditions

Empty states:

• No items in list
• No search results
• No notifications
• No data to display
• Provide clear next action

Loading states:

• Initial load
• Pagination load
• Refresh
• Show what's loading ("Loading your projects...")
• Time estimates for long operations

Large datasets:

• Pagination or virtual scrolling
• Search/filter capabilities
• Performance optimization
• Don't load all 10,000 items at once

Concurrent operations:

• Prevent double-submission (disable button while loading)
• Handle race conditions
• Optimistic updates with rollback
• Conflict resolution

Permission states:

• No permission to view
• No permission to edit
• Read-only mode
• Clear explanation of why

Browser compatibility:

• Polyfills for modern features
• Fallbacks for unsupported CSS
• Feature detection (not browser detection)
• Test in target browsers

Input Validation & Sanitization

Client-side validation:

• Required fields
• Format validation (email, phone, URL)
• Length limits
• Pattern matching
• Custom validation rules

Server-side validation (always):

• Never trust client-side only
• Validate and sanitize all inputs
• Protect against injection attacks
• Rate limiting

Constraint handling:

<!-- Set clear constraints -->
<input 
  type="text"
  maxlength="100"
  pattern="[A-Za-z0-9]+"
  required
  aria-describedby="username-hint"
/>
<small id="username-hint">
  Letters and numbers only, up to 100 characters
</small>

Accessibility Resilience

Keyboard navigation:

• All functionality accessible via keyboard
• Logical tab order
• Focus management in modals
• Skip links for long content

Screen reader support:

• Proper ARIA labels
• Announce dynamic changes (live regions)
• Descriptive alt text
• Semantic HTML

Motion sensitivity:

@media (prefers-reduced-motion: reduce) {
  * {
    animation-duration: 0.01ms !important;
    animation-iteration-count: 1 !important;
    transition-duration: 0.01ms !important;
  }
}

High contrast mode:

• Test in Windows high contrast mode
• Don't rely only on color
• Provide alternative visual cues

Performance Resilience

Slow connections:

• Progressive image loading
• Skeleton screens
• Optimistic UI updates
• Offline support (service workers)

Memory leaks:

• Clean up event listeners
• Cancel subscriptions
• Clear timers/intervals
• Abort pending requests on unmount

Throttling & Debouncing:

// Debounce search input
const debouncedSearch = debounce(handleSearch, 300);

// Throttle scroll handler
const throttledScroll = throttle(handleScroll, 100);

Testing Strategies

Manual testing:

• Test with extreme data (very long, very short, empty)
• Test in different languages
• Test offline
• Test slow connection (throttle to 3G)
• Test with screen reader
• Test keyboard-only navigation
• Test on old browsers

Automated testing:

• Unit tests for edge cases
• Integration tests for error scenarios
• E2E tests for critical paths
• Visual regression tests
• Accessibility tests (axe, WAVE)

IMPORTANT: Hardening is about expecting the unexpected. Real users will do things you never imagined.

NEVER:

• Assume perfect input (validate everything)
• Ignore internationalization (design for global)
• Leave error messages generic ("Error occurred")
• Forget offline scenarios
• Trust client-side validation alone
• Use fixed widths for text
• Assume English-length text
• Block entire interface when one component errors

Verify Hardening

Test thoroughly with edge cases:

• Long text: Try names with 100+ characters
• Emoji: Use emoji in all text fields
• RTL: Test with Arabic or Hebrew
• CJK: Test with Chinese/Japanese/Korean
• Network issues: Disable internet, throttle connection
• Large datasets: Test with 1000+ items
• Concurrent actions: Click submit 10 times rapidly
• Errors: Force API errors, test all error states
• Empty: Remove all data, test empty states

Remember: You're hardening for production reality, not demo perfection. Expect users to input weird data, lose connection mid-flow, and use your product in unexpected ways. Build resilience into every component.

Extract Flow

Identify reusable patterns, components, and design tokens, then extract and consolidate them into the design system for systematic reuse.

Step 1: Discover the Design System

Find the design system, component library, or shared UI directory. Understand its structure: component organization, naming conventions, design token structure, import/export conventions.

CRITICAL: If no design system exists, STOP and call the AskUserQuestion tool to clarify. before creating one. Understand the preferred location and structure first.

Step 2: Identify Patterns

Look for extraction opportunities in the target area:

• Repeated components: Similar UI patterns used 3+ times (buttons, cards, inputs)
• Hard-coded values: Colors, spacing, typography, shadows that should be tokens
• Inconsistent variations: Multiple implementations of the same concept
• Composition patterns: Layout or interaction patterns that repeat (form rows, toolbar groups, empty states)
• Type styles: Repeated font-size + weight + line-height combinations
• Animation patterns: Repeated easing, duration, or keyframe combinations

Assess value: only extract things used 3+ times with the same intent. Premature abstraction is worse than duplication.

Step 3: Plan Extraction

Create a systematic plan:

• Components to extract: Which UI elements become reusable components?
• Tokens to create: Which hard-coded values become design tokens?
• Variants to support: What variations does each component need?
• Naming conventions: Component names, token names, prop names that match existing patterns
• Migration path: How to refactor existing uses to consume the new shared versions

IMPORTANT: Design systems grow incrementally. Extract what is clearly reusable now, not everything that might someday be reusable.

Step 4: Extract & Enrich

Build improved, reusable versions:

• Components: Clear props API with sensible defaults, proper variants for different use cases, accessibility built in (ARIA, keyboard navigation, focus management), documentation and usage examples
• Design tokens: Clear naming (primitive vs semantic), proper hierarchy and organization, documentation of when to use each token
• Patterns: When to use this pattern, code examples, variations and combinations

Step 5: Migrate

Replace existing uses with the new shared versions:

• Find all instances: Search for the patterns you extracted
• Replace systematically: Update each use to consume the shared version
• Test thoroughly: Ensure visual and functional parity
• Delete dead code: Remove the old implementations

Step 6: Document

Update design system documentation:

• Add new components to the component library
• Document token usage and values
• Add examples and guidelines
• Update any Storybook or component catalog

NEVER:

• Extract one-off, context-specific implementations without generalization
• Create components so generic they are useless
• Extract without considering existing design system conventions
• Skip proper TypeScript types or prop documentation
• Create tokens for every single value (tokens should have semantic meaning)
• Extract things that differ in intent (two buttons that look similar but serve different purposes should stay separate)

Remember: A good design system is a living system. Extract patterns as they emerge, enrich them thoughtfully, and maintain them consistently.

Brand register

When design IS the product: brand sites, landing pages, marketing surfaces, campaign pages, portfolios, long-form content, about pages. The deliverable is the design itself — a visitor's impression is the thing being made.

The register spans every genre. A tech brand (Stripe, Linear, Vercel). A luxury brand (a hotel, a fashion house). A consumer product (a restaurant, a travel site, a CPG packaging page). A creative studio, an agency portfolio, a band's album page. They all share the stance — communicate, not transact — and diverge wildly in aesthetic. Don't collapse them into a single look.

The brand slop test

If someone could look at this and say "AI made that" without hesitation, it's failed. The bar is distinctiveness — a visitor should ask "how was this made?", not "which AI made this?"

Brand isn't a neutral register. AI-generated landing pages have flooded the internet, and average is no longer findable. Restraint without intent now reads as mediocre, not refined. Brand surfaces need a POV, a specific audience, a willingness to risk strangeness. Go big or go home.

The second slop test: aesthetic lane. Before committing to moves, name the reference. A Klim-style specimen page is one lane; Stripe-minimal is another; Liquid-Death-acid-maximalism is another. Don't drift into editorial-magazine aesthetics on a brief that isn't editorial. A hiking brand with Cormorant italic drop caps has the wrong register within the register.

Typography

Font selection procedure

Every project. Never skip.

1. Read the brief. Write three concrete brand-voice words — not "modern" or "elegant," but "warm and mechanical and opinionated" or "calm and clinical and careful." Physical-object words.
2. List the three fonts you'd reach for by reflex. If any appear in the reflex-reject list below, reject them — they are training-data defaults and they create monoculture.
3. Browse a real catalog (Google Fonts, Pangram Pangram, Future Fonts, Adobe Fonts, ABC Dinamo, Klim, Velvetyne) with the three words in mind. Find the font for the brand as a physical object — a museum caption, a 1970s terminal manual, a fabric label, a cheap-newsprint children's book, a concert poster, a receipt from a mid-century diner. Reject the first thing that "looks designy."
4. Cross-check. "Elegant" is not necessarily serif. "Technical" is not necessarily sans. "Warm" is not Fraunces. If the final pick lines up with the original reflex, start over.

Reflex-reject list

Training-data defaults. Ban list — look further:

Fraunces · Newsreader · Lora · Crimson · Crimson Pro · Crimson Text · Playfair Display · Cormorant · Cormorant Garamond · Syne · IBM Plex Mono · IBM Plex Sans · IBM Plex Serif · Space Mono · Space Grotesk · Inter · DM Sans · DM Serif Display · DM Serif Text · Outfit · Plus Jakarta Sans · Instrument Sans · Instrument Serif

Reflex-reject aesthetic lanes

Parallel to the font list. Currently saturated aesthetic families that have flooded brand surfaces. If a brief lands in one of these lanes without a register reason that requires it (a literal magazine, a literal terminal, a literal industrial signage system), it's the second-order training reflex — the trap one tier deeper than picking a Fraunces font. Look further.

• Editorial-typographic. Display serif (often italic) + small mono labels + ruled separators + monochromatic restraint. Klim-influenced, magazine-cover affectation. By 2026, every Stripe-adjacent and Notion-adjacent brand has landed here. The fingerprint: three rule-separated columns, an italic Fraunces / Recoleta / Newsreader headline, lowercase track-spaced metadata, no imagery.

(More entries land here on the same cadence the font list updates. Brutalist-utility and acid-maximalism may join when they saturate. Removing entries when they fall back below saturation is also fine.)

The reflex-reject lists apply to new design choices. When the existing brand has already committed to a font or a lane as part of its identity, identity-preservation wins — variants on an existing surface don't second-guess what's already shipping. The reflex-reject lists are for greenfield decisions and for departure-mode variants in live.md.

Pairing and voice

Distinctive + refined is the goal — the specific shape depends on the brand:

• Editorial / long-form / luxury: display serif + sans body (a magazine shape).
• Tech / dev tools / fintech: one committed sans, usually; custom-tight tracking, strong weight contrast inside a single family.
• Consumer / food / travel: warmer pairings, often a humanist sans plus a script or display serif.
• Creative studios / agencies: rule-breaking welcome — mono-only, or display-only, or custom-drawn type as voice.

Two families minimum is the rule only when the voice needs it. A single well-chosen family with committed weight/size contrast is stronger than a timid display+body pair.

Vary across projects. If the last brief was a serif-display landing page, this one isn't.

Scale

Modular scale, fluid clamp() for headings, ≥1.25 ratio between steps. Flat scales (1.1× apart) read as uncommitted.

Light text on dark backgrounds: add 0.05–0.1 to line-height. Light type reads as lighter weight and needs more breathing room.

Color

Brand surfaces have permission for Committed, Full palette, and Drenched strategies. Use them. A single saturated color spread across a hero is not excess — it's voice. A beige-and-muted-slate landing page ignores the register.

• Name a real reference before picking a strategy. "Klim Type Foundry #ff4500 orange drench", "Stripe purple-on-white restraint", "Liquid Death acid-green full palette", "Mailchimp yellow full palette", "Condé Nast Traveler muted navy restraint", "Vercel pure black monochrome". Unnamed ambition becomes beige.
• Palette IS voice. A calm brand and a restless brand should not share palette mechanics.
• When the strategy is Committed or Drenched, the color is load-bearing. Don't hedge with neutrals around the edges — commit.
• Don't converge across projects. If the last brand surface was restrained-on-cream, this one is not.

Layout

• Asymmetric compositions are one option. Break the grid intentionally for emphasis.
• Fluid spacing with clamp() that breathes on larger viewports. Vary for rhythm — generous separations, tight groupings.
• Alternative: a strict, visible grid as the voice (brutalist / Swiss / tech-spec aesthetics). Either asymmetric or rigorously-gridded can be "designed" — the failure mode is splitting the difference into a generic centered stack.
• Don't default to centering everything. Left-aligned with asymmetric layouts feels more designed; a strict grid reads as confident structure. A centered-stack hero with icon-title-subtitle cards reads as template.
• When cards ARE the right affordance, use grid-template-columns: repeat(auto-fit, minmax(280px, 1fr)) — breakpoint-free responsiveness.

Imagery

Brand surfaces lean on imagery. A restaurant, hotel, magazine, or product landing page without any imagery reads as incomplete, not as restrained. A solid-color rectangle where a hero image should go is worse than a representative stock photo.

When the brief implies imagery (restaurants, hotels, magazines, photography, hobbyist communities, food, travel, fashion, product), you must ship imagery. Zero images is a bug, not a design choice. "Restraint" is not an excuse.

• For greenfield work without local assets, use stock imagery — Unsplash is the default. The URL shape is https://images.unsplash.com/photo-{id}?auto=format&fit=crop&w=1600&q=80. Pick real Unsplash photo IDs you're confident exist (photo-1559339352-11d035aa65de, photo-1590490360182-c33d57733427, etc.); if unsure, pick fewer photos but don't substitute colored <div> placeholders.
• Search for the brand's physical object, not the generic category: "handmade pasta on a scratched wooden table" beats "Italian food"; "cypress trees above a limestone hotel facade at dusk" beats "luxury hotel".
• One decisive photo beats five mediocre ones. Hero imagery should commit to a mood; padding with more stock doesn't rescue an indecisive one.
• Alt text is part of the voice. "Coastal fettuccine, hand-cut, served on the terrace" beats "pasta dish".

Tech / dev-tool brands are the exception where zero imagery can be correct — a developer landing page often carries its voice through typography, code samples, diagrams. Know which kind of brand you're working on.

Motion

• One well-orchestrated page-load with staggered reveals beats scattered micro-interactions — when the brand invites it. Tech-minimal brands often skip entrance motion entirely; the restraint is the voice.
• For collapsing/expanding sections, transition grid-template-rows rather than height.

Brand bans (on top of the shared absolute bans)

• Monospace as lazy shorthand for "technical / developer." If the brand isn't technical, mono reads as costume.
• Large rounded-corner icons above every heading. Screams template.
• Single-family pages that picked the family by reflex, not voice. (A single family chosen deliberately is fine.)
• All-caps body copy. Reserve caps for short labels and headings.
• Timid palettes and average layouts. Safe = invisible.
• Zero imagery on a brief that implies imagery (restaurant, hotel, food, travel, fashion, photography, hobbyist). Colored blocks where a hero photo belongs.
• Defaulting to editorial-magazine aesthetics (display serif + italic + drop caps + broadsheet grid) on briefs that aren't magazine-shaped. Editorial is ONE aesthetic lane, not the default brand aesthetic.

Brand permissions

Brand can afford things product can't. Take them.

• Ambitious first-load motion. Reveals, scroll-triggered transitions, typographic choreography.
• Single-purpose viewports. One dominant idea per fold, long scroll, deliberate pacing.
• Typographic risk. Enormous display type, unexpected italic cuts, mixed cases, hand-drawn headlines, a single oversize word as a hero.
• Unexpected color strategies. Palette IS voice — a calm brand and a restless brand should not share palette mechanics.
• Art direction per section. Different sections can have different visual worlds if the narrative demands it. Consistency of voice beats consistency of treatment.

Additional context needed: quality bar (MVP vs flagship).

Perform a meticulous final pass to catch all the small details that separate good work from great work. The difference between shipped and polished.

Design System Discovery

Aligning the feature to the design system is not optional. Polish without alignment is decoration on top of drift, and it makes the next person's job harder. Discovery comes before any other polish work.

1. Find the design system: Search for design system documentation, component libraries, style guides, or token definitions. Study the core patterns: design principles, target audience, color tokens, spacing scale, typography styles, component API, motion conventions.
2. Note the conventions: How are shared components imported? What spacing scale is used? Which colors come from tokens vs hard-coded values? What motion and interaction patterns are established? What flow shapes are used for comparable actions (modal vs full-page, inline vs route, save-on-blur vs explicit submit)?
3. Identify drift, then name the root cause: For every deviation, classify it as a missing token (the value should exist in the system but doesn't), a one-off implementation (a shared component already exists but wasn't used), or a conceptual misalignment (the feature's flow, IA, or hierarchy doesn't match neighboring features). The fix differs by category — patch the value, swap to the shared component, or rework the flow. Fixing the symptom without naming the cause is how drift compounds.

If a design system exists, polish must align the feature with it. If none exists, polish against the conventions visible in the codebase. If anything about the system is ambiguous, ask — never guess at design system principles.

Pre-Polish Assessment

Understand the current state and goals before touching anything:

1. Review completeness:

   • Is it functionally complete?
   • Are there known issues to preserve (mark with TODOs)?
   • What's the quality bar? (MVP vs flagship feature?)
   • When does it ship? (How much time for polish?)

2. Think experience-first: Who actually uses this, and what's the best possible experience for them? Effective design beats decorative polish — a feature that looks beautiful but fights the user's flow is not polished. Walk the path from their perspective before opening DevTools.

3. Identify polish areas:

   • Visual inconsistencies
   • Spacing and alignment issues
   • Interaction state gaps
   • Copy inconsistencies
   • Edge cases and error states
   • Loading and transition smoothness
   • Information architecture and flow drift (does this feature reveal complexity the way neighboring features do?)

4. Triage cosmetic vs functional: Classify each issue as cosmetic (looks off, doesn't impede the user) or functional (breaks, blocks, or confuses the experience). When polish time is tight, functional issues ship first; cosmetic ones can land in a follow-up. Quality should be consistent — never perfect one corner while leaving another rough.

CRITICAL: Polish is the last step, not the first. Don't polish work that's not functionally complete.

Polish Systematically

Work through these dimensions methodically:

Visual Alignment & Spacing

• Pixel-perfect alignment: Everything lines up to grid
• Consistent spacing: All gaps use spacing scale (no random 13px gaps)
• Optical alignment: Adjust for visual weight (icons may need offset for optical centering)
• Responsive consistency: Spacing and alignment work at all breakpoints
• Grid adherence: Elements snap to baseline grid

Check:

• Enable grid overlay and verify alignment
• Check spacing with browser inspector
• Test at multiple viewport sizes
• Look for elements that "feel" off

Information Architecture & Flow

Visual polish on a misshapen flow is wasted work. Match the shape of the experience to the system, not just the surface.

• Progressive disclosure: Match how much is revealed when, compared to neighboring features. A settings page exposing 40 fields when the rest of the app reveals 5 at a time is drift, even if every field is perfectly styled.
• Established user flows: Multi-step actions follow the same shape as comparable flows elsewhere — modal vs full-page, inline edit vs separate route, save-on-blur vs explicit submit, optimistic vs pessimistic updates.
• Hierarchy & complexity: The same conceptual weight gets the same visual weight throughout. Primary actions don't become tertiary in one corner of the product, and tertiary actions don't shout.
• Empty, loading, and arrival transitions: How content arrives, updates, and leaves matches how it does in adjacent features.
• Naming and mental model: The feature uses the same nouns and verbs as the rest of the system. A "Workspace" here shouldn't be a "Project" three screens away.

Typography Refinement

• Hierarchy consistency: Same elements use same sizes/weights throughout
• Line length: 45-75 characters for body text
• Line height: Appropriate for font size and context
• Widows & orphans: No single words on last line
• Hyphenation: Appropriate for language and column width
• Kerning: Adjust letter spacing where needed (especially headlines)
• Font loading: No FOUT/FOIT flashes

Color & Contrast

• Contrast ratios: All text meets WCAG standards
• Consistent token usage: No hard-coded colors, all use design tokens
• Theme consistency: Works in all theme variants
• Color meaning: Same colors mean same things throughout
• Accessible focus: Focus indicators visible with sufficient contrast
• Tinted neutrals: No pure gray or pure black—add subtle color tint (0.01 chroma)
• Gray on color: Never put gray text on colored backgrounds—use a shade of that color or transparency

Interaction States

Every interactive element needs all states:

• Default: Resting state
• Hover: Subtle feedback (color, scale, shadow)
• Focus: Keyboard focus indicator (never remove without replacement)
• Active: Click/tap feedback
• Disabled: Clearly non-interactive
• Loading: Async action feedback
• Error: Validation or error state
• Success: Successful completion

Missing states create confusion and broken experiences.

Micro-interactions & Transitions

• Smooth transitions: All state changes animated appropriately (150-300ms)
• Consistent easing: Use ease-out-quart/quint/expo for natural deceleration. Never bounce or elastic—they feel dated.
• No jank: Smooth animations; use atmospheric blur/filter/mask/shadow effects when they add polish, but bound expensive paint areas and avoid casual layout-property animation
• Appropriate motion: Motion serves purpose, not decoration
• Reduced motion: Respects prefers-reduced-motion

Content & Copy

• Consistent terminology: Same things called same names throughout
• Consistent capitalization: Title Case vs Sentence case applied consistently
• Grammar & spelling: No typos
• Appropriate length: Not too wordy, not too terse
• Punctuation consistency: Periods on sentences, not on labels (unless all labels have them)

Icons & Images

• Consistent style: All icons from same family or matching style
• Appropriate sizing: Icons sized consistently for context
• Proper alignment: Icons align with adjacent text optically
• Alt text: All images have descriptive alt text
• Loading states: Images don't cause layout shift, proper aspect ratios
• Retina support: 2x assets for high-DPI screens

Forms & Inputs

• Label consistency: All inputs properly labeled
• Required indicators: Clear and consistent
• Error messages: Helpful and consistent
• Tab order: Logical keyboard navigation
• Auto-focus: Appropriate (don't overuse)
• Validation timing: Consistent (on blur vs on submit)

Edge Cases & Error States

• Loading states: All async actions have loading feedback
• Empty states: Helpful empty states, not just blank space
• Error states: Clear error messages with recovery paths
• Success states: Confirmation of successful actions
• Long content: Handles very long names, descriptions, etc.
• No content: Handles missing data gracefully
• Offline: Appropriate offline handling (if applicable)

Responsiveness

• All breakpoints: Test mobile, tablet, desktop
• Touch targets: 44x44px minimum on touch devices
• Readable text: No text smaller than 14px on mobile
• No horizontal scroll: Content fits viewport
• Appropriate reflow: Content adapts logically

Performance

• Fast initial load: Optimize critical path
• No layout shift: Elements don't jump after load (CLS)
• Smooth interactions: No lag or jank
• Optimized images: Appropriate formats and sizes
• Lazy loading: Off-screen content loads lazily

Code Quality

• Remove console logs: No debug logging in production
• Remove commented code: Clean up dead code
• Remove unused imports: Clean up unused dependencies
• Consistent naming: Variables and functions follow conventions
• Type safety: No TypeScript any or ignored errors
• Accessibility: Proper ARIA labels and semantic HTML

Polish Checklist

Go through systematically:

• Aligned to the design system (drift named and resolved by root cause)
• Information architecture and flow shape match neighboring features
• Visual alignment perfect at all breakpoints
• Spacing uses design tokens consistently
• Typography hierarchy consistent
• All interactive states implemented
• All transitions smooth (60fps)
• Copy is consistent and polished
• Icons are consistent and properly sized
• All forms properly labeled and validated
• Error states are helpful
• Loading states are clear
• Empty states are welcoming
• Touch targets are 44x44px minimum
• Contrast ratios meet WCAG AA
• Keyboard navigation works
• Focus indicators visible
• No console errors or warnings
• No layout shift on load
• Works in all supported browsers
• Respects reduced motion preference
• Code is clean (no TODOs, console.logs, commented code)

IMPORTANT: Polish is about details. Zoom in. Squint at it. Use it yourself. The little things add up.

NEVER:

• Polish before it's functionally complete
• Polish without aligning to the design system — that's decoration on drift
• Guess at design system principles instead of asking when something is ambiguous
• Spend hours on polish if it ships in 30 minutes (triage)
• Introduce bugs while polishing (test thoroughly)
• Ignore systematic issues (if spacing is off everywhere, fix the system, not just one screen)
• Perfect one thing while leaving others rough (consistent quality level)
• Create new one-off components when design system equivalents exist
• Hard-code values that should use design tokens
• Introduce new patterns or flows that diverge from established ones

Final Verification

Before marking as done:

• Use it yourself: Actually interact with the feature
• Test on real devices: Not just browser DevTools
• Ask someone else to review: Fresh eyes catch things
• Compare to design: Match intended design
• Check all states: Don't just test happy path

Clean Up

After polishing, ensure code quality:

• Replace custom implementations: If the design system provides a component you reimplemented, switch to the shared version.
• Remove orphaned code: Delete unused styles, components, or files made obsolete by polish.
• Consolidate tokens: If you introduced new values, check whether they should be tokens.
• Verify DRYness: Look for duplication introduced during polishing and consolidate.

Remember: You have impeccable attention to detail and exquisite taste. Polish until it feels effortless, looks intentional, and works flawlessly. Sweat the details - they matter.

Spatial Design

Spacing Systems

Use 4pt Base, Not 8pt

8pt systems are too coarse—you'll frequently need 12px (between 8 and 16). Use 4pt for granularity: 4, 8, 12, 16, 24, 32, 48, 64, 96px.

Name Tokens Semantically

Name by relationship (--space-sm, --space-lg), not value (--spacing-8). Use gap instead of margins for sibling spacing—it eliminates margin collapse and cleanup hacks.

Grid Systems

The Self-Adjusting Grid

Use repeat(auto-fit, minmax(280px, 1fr)) for responsive grids without breakpoints. Columns are at least 280px, as many as fit per row, leftovers stretch. For complex layouts, use named grid areas (grid-template-areas) and redefine them at breakpoints.

Visual Hierarchy

The Squint Test

Blur your eyes (or screenshot and blur). Can you still identify:

• The most important element?
• The second most important?
• Clear groupings?

If everything looks the same weight blurred, you have a hierarchy problem.

Hierarchy Through Multiple Dimensions

Don't rely on size alone. Combine:

The best hierarchy uses 2-3 dimensions at once: A heading that's larger, bolder, AND has more space above it.

Cards Are Not Required

Cards are overused. Spacing and alignment create visual grouping naturally. Use cards only when content is truly distinct and actionable, items need visual comparison in a grid, or content needs clear interaction boundaries. Never nest cards inside cards—use spacing, typography, and subtle dividers for hierarchy within a card.

Container Queries

Viewport queries are for page layouts. Container queries are for components:

.card-container {
  container-type: inline-size;
}

.card {
  display: grid;
  gap: var(--space-md);
}

/* Card layout changes based on its container, not viewport */
@container (min-width: 400px) {
  .card {
    grid-template-columns: 120px 1fr;
  }
}

Why this matters: A card in a narrow sidebar stays compact, while the same card in a main content area expands—automatically, without viewport hacks.

Optical Adjustments

Text at margin-left: 0 looks indented due to letterform whitespace—use negative margin (-0.05em) to optically align. Geometrically centered icons often look off-center; play icons need to shift right, arrows shift toward their direction.

Touch Targets vs Visual Size

Buttons can look small but need large touch targets (44px minimum). Use padding or pseudo-elements:

.icon-button {
  width: 24px;  /* Visual size */
  height: 24px;
  position: relative;
}

.icon-button::before {
  content: '';
  position: absolute;
  inset: -10px;  /* Expand tap target to 44px */
}

Depth & Elevation

Create semantic z-index scales (dropdown → sticky → modal-backdrop → modal → toast → tooltip) instead of arbitrary numbers. For shadows, create a consistent elevation scale (sm → md → lg → xl). Key insight: Shadows should be subtle—if you can clearly see it, it's probably too strong.

Avoid: Arbitrary spacing values outside your scale. Making all spacing equal (variety creates hierarchy). Creating hierarchy through size alone - combine size, weight, color, and space.

Assess and improve typography that feels generic, inconsistent, or poorly structured — turning default-looking text into intentional, well-crafted type.

Register

Brand: run the font selection procedure in brand.md. Pairing follows the brand's lane (display serif + sans body for editorial/luxury, one committed sans for tech, etc.). Fluid clamp() scale, ≥1.25 ratio between steps.

Product: system fonts and familiar sans stacks are legitimate here. One well-tuned family typically carries the whole UI. Fixed rem scale, 1.125–1.2 ratio between more closely-spaced steps.

Assess Current Typography

Analyze what's weak or generic about the current type:

1. Font choices:

   • Are we using invisible defaults? (Inter, Roboto, Arial, Open Sans, system defaults)
   • Does the font match the brand personality? (A playful brand shouldn't use a corporate typeface)
   • Are there too many font families? (More than 2-3 is almost always a mess)

2. Hierarchy:

   • Can you tell headings from body from captions at a glance?
   • Are font sizes too close together? (14px, 15px, 16px = muddy hierarchy)
   • Are weight contrasts strong enough? (Medium vs Regular is barely visible)

3. Sizing & scale:

   • Is there a consistent type scale, or are sizes arbitrary?
   • Does body text meet minimum readability? (16px+)
   • Is the sizing strategy appropriate for the context? (Fixed rem scales for app UIs; fluid clamp() for marketing/content page headings)

4. Readability:

   • Are line lengths comfortable? (45-75 characters ideal)
   • Is line-height appropriate for the font and context?
   • Is there enough contrast between text and background?

5. Consistency:

   • Are the same elements styled the same way throughout?
   • Are font weights used consistently? (Not bold in one section, semibold in another for the same role)
   • Is letter-spacing intentional or default everywhere?

CRITICAL: The goal isn't to make text "fancier" — it's to make it clearer, more readable, and more intentional. Good typography is invisible; bad typography is distracting.

Plan Typography Improvements

Consult the typography reference for detailed guidance on scales, pairing, and loading strategies.

Create a systematic plan:

• Font selection: Do fonts need replacing? What fits the brand/context?
• Type scale: Establish a modular scale (e.g., 1.25 ratio) with clear hierarchy
• Weight strategy: Which weights serve which roles? (Regular for body, Semibold for labels, Bold for headings — or whatever fits)
• Spacing: Line-heights, letter-spacing, and margins between typographic elements

Improve Typography Systematically

Font Selection

If fonts need replacing:

• Choose fonts that reflect the brand personality
• Pair with genuine contrast (serif + sans, geometric + humanist) — or use a single family in multiple weights
• Ensure web font loading doesn't cause layout shift (font-display: swap, metric-matched fallbacks)

Establish Hierarchy

Build a clear type scale:

• 5 sizes cover most needs: caption, secondary, body, subheading, heading
• Use a consistent ratio between levels (1.25, 1.333, or 1.5)
• Combine dimensions: Size + weight + color + space for strong hierarchy — don't rely on size alone
• App UIs: Use a fixed rem-based type scale, optionally adjusted at 1-2 breakpoints. Fluid sizing undermines the spatial predictability that dense, container-based layouts need
• Marketing / content pages: Use fluid sizing via clamp(min, preferred, max) for headings and display text. Keep body text fixed

Fix Readability

• Set max-width on text containers using ch units (max-width: 65ch)
• Adjust line-height per context: tighter for headings (1.1-1.2), looser for body (1.5-1.7)
• Increase line-height slightly for light-on-dark text
• Ensure body text is at least 16px / 1rem

Refine Details

• Use tabular-nums for data tables and numbers that should align
• Apply proper letter-spacing: slightly open for small caps and uppercase, default or tight for large display text
• Use semantic token names (--text-body, --text-heading), not value names (--font-16)
• Set font-kerning: normal and consider OpenType features where appropriate

Weight Consistency

• Define clear roles for each weight and stick to them
• Don't use more than 3-4 weights (Regular, Medium, Semibold, Bold is plenty)
• Load only the weights you actually use (each weight adds to page load)

NEVER:

• Use more than 2-3 font families
• Pick sizes arbitrarily — commit to a scale
• Set body text below 16px
• Use decorative/display fonts for body text
• Disable browser zoom (user-scalable=no)
• Use px for font sizes — use rem to respect user settings
• Default to Inter/Roboto/Open Sans when personality matters
• Pair fonts that are similar but not identical (two geometric sans-serifs)

Verify Typography Improvements

• Hierarchy: Can you identify heading vs body vs caption instantly?
• Readability: Is body text comfortable to read in long passages?
• Consistency: Are same-role elements styled identically throughout?
• Personality: Does the typography reflect the brand?
• Performance: Are web fonts loading efficiently without layout shift?
• Accessibility: Does text meet WCAG contrast ratios? Is it zoomable to 200%?

Remember: Typography is the foundation of interface design — it carries the majority of information. Getting it right is the highest-leverage improvement you can make.

Live-mode signature params

Each variant MUST declare a scale param controlling the hierarchy ratio. Express all font sizes in the variant's scoped CSS through calc(var(--p-scale, 1) * <base>) or, better, scale the type ramp via clamp(min, calc(var(--p-scale, 1) * Npx), max). Users slide from subdued to commanding.

{"id":"scale","kind":"range","min":0.85,"max":1.3,"step":0.05,"default":1,"label":"Scale"}

Where the variant riffs on a specific pairing, expose the pairing choice as a steps param (e.g. "serif display + sans body" vs. "mono display + sans body" vs. "all-sans"). Each branch routes through :scope[data-p-pairing="X"] selectors in scoped CSS.

See reference/live.md for the full params contract.

Reduce visual intensity in designs that are too bold, aggressive, or overstimulating, creating a more refined and approachable aesthetic without losing effectiveness.

Register

Brand: "quieter" means more restrained palette, more whitespace, more typographic air. Drama is reduced, not eliminated — the POV stays intact.

Product: "quieter" means reducing visual noise — fewer background accents, flatter cards, less color, less motion. The tool should disappear more completely into the task.

Assess Current State

Analyze what makes the design feel too intense:

1. Identify intensity sources:

   • Color saturation: Overly bright or saturated colors
   • Contrast extremes: Too much high-contrast juxtaposition
   • Visual weight: Too many bold, heavy elements competing
   • Animation excess: Too much motion or overly dramatic effects
   • Complexity: Too many visual elements, patterns, or decorations
   • Scale: Everything is large and loud with no hierarchy

2. Understand the context:

   • What's the purpose? (Marketing vs tool vs reading experience)
   • Who's the audience? (Some contexts need energy)
   • What's working? (Don't throw away good ideas)
   • What's the core message? (Preserve what matters)

If any of these are unclear from the codebase, STOP and call the AskUserQuestion tool to clarify.

CRITICAL: "Quieter" doesn't mean boring or generic. It means refined, sophisticated, and easier on the eyes. Think luxury, not laziness.

Plan Refinement

Create a strategy to reduce intensity while maintaining impact:

• Color approach: Desaturate or shift to more sophisticated tones?
• Hierarchy approach: Which elements should stay bold (very few), which should recede?
• Simplification approach: What can be removed entirely?
• Sophistication approach: How can we signal quality through restraint?

IMPORTANT: Great quiet design is harder than great bold design. Subtlety requires precision.

Refine the Design

Systematically reduce intensity across these dimensions:

Color Refinement

• Reduce saturation: Shift from fully saturated to 70-85% saturation
• Soften palette: Replace bright colors with muted, sophisticated tones
• Reduce color variety: Use fewer colors more thoughtfully
• Neutral dominance: Let neutrals do more work, use color as accent (10% rule)
• Gentler contrasts: High contrast only where it matters most
• Tinted grays: Use warm or cool tinted grays instead of pure gray—adds sophistication without loudness
• Never gray on color: If you have gray text on a colored background, use a darker shade of that color or transparency instead

Visual Weight Reduction

• Typography: Reduce font weights (900 → 600, 700 → 500), decrease sizes where appropriate
• Hierarchy through subtlety: Use weight, size, and space instead of color and boldness
• White space: Increase breathing room, reduce density
• Borders & lines: Reduce thickness, decrease opacity, or remove entirely

Simplification

• Remove decorative elements: Gradients, shadows, patterns, textures that don't serve purpose
• Simplify shapes: Reduce border radius extremes, simplify custom shapes
• Reduce layering: Flatten visual hierarchy where possible
• Clean up effects: Reduce or remove blur effects, glows, multiple shadows

Motion Reduction

• Reduce animation intensity: Shorter distances (10-20px instead of 40px), gentler easing
• Remove decorative animations: Keep functional motion, remove flourishes
• Subtle micro-interactions: Replace dramatic effects with gentle feedback
• Refined easing: Use ease-out-quart for smooth, understated motion—never bounce or elastic
• Remove animations entirely if they're not serving a clear purpose

Composition Refinement

• Reduce scale jumps: Smaller contrast between sizes creates calmer feeling
• Align to grid: Bring rogue elements back into systematic alignment
• Even out spacing: Replace extreme spacing variations with consistent rhythm

NEVER:

• Make everything the same size/weight (hierarchy still matters)
• Remove all color (quiet ≠ grayscale)
• Eliminate all personality (maintain character through refinement)
• Sacrifice usability for aesthetics (functional elements still need clear affordances)
• Make everything small and light (some anchors needed)

Verify Quality

Ensure refinement maintains quality:

• Still functional: Can users still accomplish tasks easily?
• Still distinctive: Does it have character, or is it generic now?
• Better reading: Is text easier to read for extended periods?
• Sophistication: Does it feel more refined and premium?

Remember: Quiet design is confident design. It doesn't need to shout. Less is more, but less is also harder. Refine with precision and maintain intentionality.

Heuristics Scoring Guide

Score each of Nielsen's 10 Usability Heuristics on a 0–4 scale. Be honest — a 4 means genuinely excellent, not "good enough."

Nielsen's 10 Heuristics

1. Visibility of System Status

Keep users informed about what's happening through timely, appropriate feedback.

Check for:

• Loading indicators during async operations
• Confirmation of user actions (save, submit, delete)
• Progress indicators for multi-step processes
• Current location in navigation (breadcrumbs, active states)
• Form validation feedback (inline, not just on submit)

Scoring:

2. Match Between System and Real World

Speak the user's language. Follow real-world conventions. Information appears in natural, logical order.

Check for:

• Familiar terminology (no unexplained jargon)
• Logical information order matching user expectations
• Recognizable icons and metaphors
• Domain-appropriate language for the target audience
• Natural reading flow (left-to-right, top-to-bottom priority)

Scoring:

3. User Control and Freedom

Users need a clear "emergency exit" from unwanted states without extended dialogue.

Check for:

• Undo/redo functionality
• Cancel buttons on forms and modals
• Clear navigation back to safety (home, previous)
• Easy way to clear filters, search, selections
• Escape from long or multi-step processes

Scoring:

4. Consistency and Standards

Users shouldn't wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing.

Check for:

• Consistent terminology throughout the interface
• Same actions produce same results everywhere
• Platform conventions followed (standard UI patterns)
• Visual consistency (colors, typography, spacing, components)
• Consistent interaction patterns (same gesture = same behavior)

Scoring:

5. Error Prevention

Better than good error messages is a design that prevents problems in the first place.

Check for:

• Confirmation before destructive actions (delete, overwrite)
• Constraints preventing invalid input (date pickers, dropdowns)
• Smart defaults that reduce errors
• Clear labels that prevent misunderstanding
• Autosave and draft recovery

Scoring:

6. Recognition Rather Than Recall

Minimize memory load. Make objects, actions, and options visible or easily retrievable.

Check for:

• Visible options (not buried in hidden menus)
• Contextual help when needed (tooltips, inline hints)
• Recent items and history
• Autocomplete and suggestions
• Labels on icons (not icon-only navigation)

Scoring:

7. Flexibility and Efficiency of Use

Accelerators — invisible to novices — speed up expert interaction.

Check for:

• Keyboard shortcuts for common actions
• Customizable interface elements
• Recent items and favorites
• Bulk/batch actions
• Power user features that don't complicate the basics

Scoring:

8. Aesthetic and Minimalist Design

Interfaces should not contain irrelevant or rarely needed information. Every element should serve a purpose.

Check for:

• Only necessary information visible at each step
• Clear visual hierarchy directing attention
• Purposeful use of color and emphasis
• No decorative clutter competing for attention
• Focused, uncluttered layouts

Scoring:

9. Help Users Recognize, Diagnose, and Recover from Errors

Error messages should use plain language, precisely indicate the problem, and constructively suggest a solution.

Check for:

• Plain language error messages (no error codes for users)
• Specific problem identification ("Email is missing @" not "Invalid input")
• Actionable recovery suggestions
• Errors displayed near the source of the problem
• Non-blocking error handling (don't wipe the form)

Scoring:

10. Help and Documentation

Even if the system is usable without docs, help should be easy to find, task-focused, and concise.

Check for:

• Searchable help or documentation
• Contextual help (tooltips, inline hints, guided tours)
• Task-focused organization (not feature-organized)
• Concise, scannable content
• Easy access without leaving current context

Scoring:

Score Summary

Total possible: 40 points (10 heuristics × 4 max)

Issue Severity (P0–P3)

Tag each individual issue found during scoring with a priority level:

Tip: If you're unsure between two levels, ask: "Would a user contact support about this?" If yes, it's at least P1.

Additional context needed: what the interface is trying to accomplish.

Gather Assessments

Launch two independent assessments. Neither may see the other's output — this isolation is what makes the combined score honest. Running both in one head silently anchors them to each other; do not shortcut it for cost, speed, or context-size reasons.

Delegate each assessment to a separate sub-agent (Claude Code's Agent tool, Codex's subagent spawning, etc.). Each returns structured findings as text. Do NOT output findings to the user yet.

Fall back to sequential in-head work only if the environment genuinely cannot spawn sub-agents.

Tab isolation: When browser automation is available, each assessment MUST create its own new tab. Never reuse an existing tab, even if one is already open at the correct URL. This prevents the two assessments from interfering with each other's page state.

Assessment A: LLM Design Review

Read the relevant source files (HTML, CSS, JS/TS) and, if browser automation is available, visually inspect the live page. Create a new tab for this; do not reuse existing tabs. After navigation, label the tab by setting the document title:

document.title = '[LLM] ' + document.title;

Think like a design director. Evaluate:

AI Slop Detection (CRITICAL): Does this look like every other AI-generated interface? Review against ALL DON'T guidelines from the parent impeccable skill (already loaded in this context). Check for AI color palette, gradient text, dark glows, glassmorphism, hero metric layouts, identical card grids, generic fonts, and all other tells. Pay particular attention to the two structural hero tells of late-2025/early-2026 AI marketing pages: italic-serif display headlines (oversized Fraunces / Recoleta / Newsreader-italic / Playfair as the hero h1) and the hero eyebrow / pill chip (tiny uppercase letter-spaced label sitting immediately above an oversized headline). Both are now category-defining and should be called out by name. The test: If someone said "AI made this," would you believe them immediately?

Holistic Design Review: visual hierarchy (eye flow, primary action clarity), information architecture (structure, grouping, cognitive load), emotional resonance (does it match brand and audience?), discoverability (are interactive elements obvious?), composition (balance, whitespace, rhythm), typography (hierarchy, readability, font choices), color (purposeful use, cohesion, accessibility), states & edge cases (empty, loading, error, success), microcopy (clarity, tone, helpfulness).

Cognitive Load (consult cognitive-load):

• Run the 8-item cognitive load checklist. Report failure count: 0-1 = low (good), 2-3 = moderate, 4+ = critical.
• Count visible options at each decision point. If >4, flag it.
• Check for progressive disclosure: is complexity revealed only when needed?

Emotional Journey:

• What emotion does this interface evoke? Is that intentional?
• Peak-end rule: Is the most intense moment positive? Does the experience end well?
• Emotional valleys: Check for anxiety spikes at high-stakes moments (payment, delete, commit). Are there design interventions (progress indicators, reassurance copy, undo options)?

Nielsen's Heuristics (consult heuristics-scoring): Score each of the 10 heuristics 0-4. This scoring will be presented in the report.

Return structured findings covering: AI slop verdict, heuristic scores, cognitive load assessment, what's working (2-3 items), priority issues (3-5 with what/why/fix), minor observations, and provocative questions.

Assessment B: Automated Detection

Run the bundled deterministic detector, which flags 27 specific patterns (AI slop tells + general design quality).

CLI scan:

npx impeccable --json [--fast] [target]

• Pass HTML/JSX/TSX/Vue/Svelte files or directories as [target] (anything with markup). Do not pass CSS-only files.
• For URLs, skip the CLI scan (it requires Puppeteer). Use browser visualization instead.
• For large directories (200+ scannable files), use --fast (regex-only, skips jsdom)
• For 500+ files, narrow scope or ask the user
• Exit code 0 = clean, 2 = findings

Browser visualization — required when browser automation tools are available AND the target is a viewable page. The [Human] overlay tab is the user-facing deliverable; the critique is incomplete without it. Skip only if the target is not a viewable page (CSS-only file, non-browser target).

The overlay is a visual aid for the user. It highlights issues directly in their browser. Do NOT scroll through the page to screenshot overlays. Instead, read the console output to get the results programmatically.

1. Start the live detection server:

   npx impeccable live &

   Note the port printed to stdout (auto-assigned). Use --port=PORT to fix it.
2. Create a new tab and navigate to the page (use dev server URL for local files, or direct URL). Do not reuse existing tabs.
3. Label the tab via javascript_tool so the user can distinguish it:

   document.title = '[Human] ' + document.title;

4. Scroll to top to ensure the page is scrolled to the very top before injection
5. Inject via javascript_tool (replace PORT with the port from step 1):

   const s = document.createElement('script'); s.src = 'http://localhost:PORT/detect.js'; document.head.appendChild(s);

6. Wait 2-3 seconds for the detector to render overlays
7. Read results from console using read_console_messages with pattern impeccable. The detector logs all findings with the [impeccable] prefix. Do NOT scroll through the page to take screenshots of the overlays.
8. Cleanup: Stop the live server when done:

   npx impeccable live stop

For multi-view targets, inject on 3-5 representative pages. If injection fails, continue with CLI results only.

Return: CLI findings (JSON), browser console findings (if applicable), and any false positives noted.

Generate Combined Critique Report

Synthesize both assessments into a single report. Do NOT simply concatenate. Weave the findings together, noting where the LLM review and detector agree, where the detector caught issues the LLM missed, and where detector findings are false positives.

Structure your feedback as a design director would:

Design Health Score

Consult heuristics-scoring

Present the Nielsen's 10 heuristics scores as a table:

Be honest with scores. A 4 means genuinely excellent. Most real interfaces score 20-32.

Anti-Patterns Verdict

Start here. Does this look AI-generated?

LLM assessment: Your own evaluation of AI slop tells. Cover overall aesthetic feel, layout sameness, generic composition, missed opportunities for personality.

Deterministic scan: Summarize what the automated detector found, with counts and file locations. Note any additional issues the detector caught that you missed, and flag any false positives.

Visual overlays (if browser was used): Tell the user that overlays are now visible in the [Human] tab in their browser, highlighting the detected issues. Summarize what the console output reported.

Overall Impression

A brief gut reaction: what works, what doesn't, and the single biggest opportunity.

What's Working

Highlight 2-3 things done well. Be specific about why they work.

Priority Issues

The 3-5 most impactful design problems, ordered by importance.

For each issue, tag with P0-P3 severity (consult heuristics-scoring for severity definitions):

• [P?] What: Name the problem clearly
• Why it matters: How this hurts users or undermines goals
• Fix: What to do about it (be concrete)
• Suggested command: Which command could address this (from: /impeccable adapt, /impeccable animate, /impeccable audit, /impeccable bolder, /impeccable clarify, /impeccable colorize, /impeccable critique, /impeccable delight, /impeccable distill, /impeccable document, /impeccable harden, /impeccable layout, /impeccable onboard, /impeccable optimize, /impeccable overdrive, /impeccable polish, /impeccable quieter, /impeccable shape, /impeccable typeset)

Persona Red Flags

Consult personas

Auto-select 2-3 personas most relevant to this interface type (use the selection table in the reference). If CLAUDE.md contains a ## Design Context section from impeccable teach, also generate 1-2 project-specific personas from the audience/brand info.

For each selected persona, walk through the primary user action and list specific red flags found:

Alex (Power User): No keyboard shortcuts detected. Form requires 8 clicks for primary action. Forced modal onboarding. High abandonment risk.

Jordan (First-Timer): Icon-only nav in sidebar. Technical jargon in error messages ("404 Not Found"). No visible help. Will abandon at step 2.

Be specific. Name the exact elements and interactions that fail each persona. Don't write generic persona descriptions; write what broke for them.

Minor Observations

Quick notes on smaller issues worth addressing.

Questions to Consider

Provocative questions that might unlock better solutions:

• "What if the primary action were more prominent?"
• "Does this need to feel this complex?"
• "What would a confident version of this look like?"

Remember:

• Be direct. Vague feedback wastes everyone's time.
• Be specific. "The submit button," not "some elements."
• Say what's wrong AND why it matters to users.
• Give concrete suggestions, not just "consider exploring..."
• Prioritize ruthlessly. If everything is important, nothing is.
• Don't soften criticism. Developers need honest feedback to ship great design.

Ask the User

After presenting findings, use targeted questions based on what was actually found. STOP and call the AskUserQuestion tool to clarify. These answers will shape the action plan.

Ask questions along these lines (adapt to the specific findings; do NOT ask generic questions):

1. Priority direction: Based on the issues found, ask which category matters most to the user right now. For example: "I found problems with visual hierarchy, color usage, and information overload. Which area should we tackle first?" Offer the top 2-3 issue categories as options.

2. Design intent: If the critique found a tonal mismatch, ask whether it was intentional. For example: "The interface feels clinical and corporate. Is that the intended tone, or should it feel warmer/bolder/more playful?" Offer 2-3 tonal directions as options based on what would fix the issues found.

3. Scope: Ask how much the user wants to take on. For example: "I found N issues. Want to address everything, or focus on the top 3?" Offer scope options like "Top 3 only", "All issues", "Critical issues only".

4. Constraints (optional; only ask if relevant): If the findings touch many areas, ask if anything is off-limits. For example: "Should any sections stay as-is?" This prevents the plan from touching things the user considers done.

Rules for questions:

• Every question must reference specific findings from the report. Never ask generic "who is your audience?" questions.
• Keep it to 2-4 questions maximum. Respect the user's time.
• Offer concrete options, not open-ended prompts.
• If findings are straightforward (e.g., only 1-2 clear issues), skip questions and go directly to Recommended Actions.

Recommended Actions

After receiving the user's answers, present a prioritized action summary reflecting the user's priorities and scope from Ask the User.

Action Summary

List recommended commands in priority order, based on the user's answers:

1. /command-name: Brief description of what to fix (specific context from critique findings)
2. /command-name: Brief description (specific context) ...

Rules for recommendations:

• Only recommend commands from: /impeccable adapt, /impeccable animate, /impeccable audit, /impeccable bolder, /impeccable clarify, /impeccable colorize, /impeccable critique, /impeccable delight, /impeccable distill, /impeccable document, /impeccable harden, /impeccable layout, /impeccable onboard, /impeccable optimize, /impeccable overdrive, /impeccable polish, /impeccable quieter, /impeccable shape, /impeccable typeset
• Order by the user's stated priorities first, then by impact
• Each item's description should carry enough context that the command knows what to focus on
• Map each Priority Issue to the appropriate command
• Skip commands that would address zero issues
• If the user chose a limited scope, only include items within that scope
• If the user marked areas as off-limits, exclude commands that would touch those areas
• End with /impeccable polish as the final step if any fixes were recommended

After presenting the summary, tell the user:

You can ask me to run these one at a time, all at once, or in any order you prefer.

Re-run /impeccable critique after fixes to see your score improve.

Additional context needed: existing brand colors.

Strategically introduce color to designs that are too monochromatic, gray, or lacking in visual warmth and personality.

Register

Brand: palette IS voice. Pick a color strategy first per SKILL.md (Restrained / Committed / Full palette / Drenched) and follow its dosage. Committed, Full palette, and Drenched deliberately exceed the ≤10% rule — that rule is Restrained only. Unexpected combinations are allowed; a dominant color can own the page when the chosen strategy calls for it.

Product: semantic-first and almost always Restrained. Accent color is reserved for primary action, current selection, and state indicators — not decoration. Every color has a consistent meaning across every screen.

Assess Color Opportunity

Analyze the current state and identify opportunities:

1. Understand current state:

   • Color absence: Pure grayscale? Limited neutrals? One timid accent?
   • Missed opportunities: Where could color add meaning, hierarchy, or delight?
   • Context: What's appropriate for this domain and audience?
   • Brand: Are there existing brand colors we should use?

2. Identify where color adds value:

   • Semantic meaning: Success (green), error (red), warning (yellow/orange), info (blue)
   • Hierarchy: Drawing attention to important elements
   • Categorization: Different sections, types, or states
   • Emotional tone: Warmth, energy, trust, creativity
   • Wayfinding: Helping users navigate and understand structure
   • Delight: Moments of visual interest and personality

If any of these are unclear from the codebase, STOP and call the AskUserQuestion tool to clarify.

CRITICAL: More color ≠ better. Strategic color beats rainbow vomit every time. Every color should have a purpose.

Plan Color Strategy

Create a purposeful color introduction plan:

• Color palette: What colors match the brand/context? (Choose 2-4 colors max beyond neutrals)
• Dominant color: Which color owns 60% of colored elements?
• Accent colors: Which colors provide contrast and highlights? (30% and 10%)
• Application strategy: Where does each color appear and why?

IMPORTANT: Color should enhance hierarchy and meaning, not create chaos. Less is more when it matters more.

Introduce Color Strategically

Add color systematically across these dimensions:

Semantic Color

• State indicators:

  • Success: Green tones (emerald, forest, mint)
  • Error: Red/pink tones (rose, crimson, coral)
  • Warning: Orange/amber tones
  • Info: Blue tones (sky, ocean, indigo)
  • Neutral: Gray/slate for inactive states

• Status badges: Colored backgrounds or borders for states (active, pending, completed, etc.)

• Progress indicators: Colored bars, rings, or charts showing completion or health

Accent Color Application

• Primary actions: Color the most important buttons/CTAs
• Links: Add color to clickable text (maintain accessibility)
• Icons: Colorize key icons for recognition and personality
• Headers/titles: Add color to section headers or key labels
• Hover states: Introduce color on interaction

Background & Surfaces

• Tinted backgrounds: Replace pure gray (#f5f5f5) with warm neutrals (oklch(97% 0.01 60)) or cool tints (oklch(97% 0.01 250))
• Colored sections: Use subtle background colors to separate areas
• Gradient backgrounds: Add depth with subtle, intentional gradients (not generic purple-blue)
• Cards & surfaces: Tint cards or surfaces slightly for warmth

Use OKLCH for color: It's perceptually uniform, meaning equal steps in lightness look equal. Great for generating harmonious scales.

Data Visualization

• Charts & graphs: Use color to encode categories or values
• Heatmaps: Color intensity shows density or importance
• Comparison: Color coding for different datasets or timeframes

Borders & Accents

• Hairline borders: 1px colored borders on full perimeter (not side-stripes — see the absolute ban on border-left/right > 1px)
• Underlines: Color underlines for emphasis or active states
• Dividers: Subtle colored dividers instead of gray lines
• Focus rings: Colored focus indicators matching brand
• Surface tints: A 4-8% background wash of the accent color instead of a stripe

NEVER: border-left or border-right greater than 1px as a colored accent stripe. This is one of the three absolute bans in the parent skill. If you want to mark a card as "active" or "warning", use a full hairline border, a background tint, a leading glyph, or a numbered prefix — not a side stripe.

Typography Color

• Colored headings: Use brand colors for section headings (maintain contrast)
• Highlight text: Color for emphasis or categories
• Labels & tags: Small colored labels for metadata or categories

Decorative Elements

• Illustrations: Add colored illustrations or icons
• Shapes: Geometric shapes in brand colors as background elements
• Gradients: Colorful gradient overlays or mesh backgrounds
• Blobs/organic shapes: Soft colored shapes for visual interest

Balance & Refinement

Ensure color addition improves rather than overwhelms:

Maintain Hierarchy

• Dominant color (60%): Primary brand color or most used accent
• Secondary color (30%): Supporting color for variety
• Accent color (10%): High contrast for key moments
• Neutrals (remaining): Gray/black/white for structure

Accessibility

• Contrast ratios: Ensure WCAG compliance (4.5:1 for text, 3:1 for UI components)
• Don't rely on color alone: Use icons, labels, or patterns alongside color
• Test for color blindness: Verify red/green combinations work for all users

Cohesion

• Consistent palette: Use colors from defined palette, not arbitrary choices
• Systematic application: Same color meanings throughout (green always = success)
• Temperature consistency: Warm palette stays warm, cool stays cool

NEVER:

• Use every color in the rainbow (choose 2-4 colors beyond neutrals)
• Apply color randomly without semantic meaning
• Put gray text on colored backgrounds—it looks washed out; use a darker shade of the background color or transparency instead
• Use pure gray for neutrals—add subtle color tint (warm or cool) for sophistication
• Use pure black (#000) or pure white (#fff) for large areas
• Violate WCAG contrast requirements
• Use color as the only indicator (accessibility issue)
• Make everything colorful (defeats the purpose)
• Default to purple-blue gradients (AI slop aesthetic)

Verify Color Addition

Test that colorization improves the experience:

• Better hierarchy: Does color guide attention appropriately?
• Clearer meaning: Does color help users understand states/categories?
• More engaging: Does the interface feel warmer and more inviting?
• Still accessible: Do all color combinations meet WCAG standards?
• Not overwhelming: Is color balanced and purposeful?

Remember: Color is emotional and powerful. Use it to create warmth, guide attention, communicate meaning, and express personality. But restraint and strategy matter more than saturation and variety. Be colorful, but be intentional.

Live-mode signature params

When invoked from live mode, each variant MUST declare a color-amount param so the user can dial between a restrained accent and a drenched surface without regeneration. Author the variant's CSS against var(--p-color-amount, 0.5) — typically as the alpha multiplier on backgrounds, or as a scaling factor on the chroma axis in an OKLCH expression. 0 = neutral/monochrome, 1 = full saturation / dominant coverage.

{"id":"color-amount","kind":"range","min":0,"max":1,"step":0.05,"default":0.5,"label":"Color amount"}

Layer 1-2 variant-specific params on top: palette selection (steps with named options), temperature warmth, or tint vs. true color. See reference/live.md for the full params contract.

Run systematic technical quality checks and generate a comprehensive report. Don't fix issues — document them for other commands to address.

This is a code-level audit, not a design critique. Check what's measurable and verifiable in the implementation.

Diagnostic Scan

Run comprehensive checks across 5 dimensions. Score each dimension 0-4 using the criteria below.

1. Accessibility (A11y)

Check for:

• Contrast issues: Text contrast ratios < 4.5:1 (or 7:1 for AAA)
• Missing ARIA: Interactive elements without proper roles, labels, or states
• Keyboard navigation: Missing focus indicators, illogical tab order, keyboard traps
• Semantic HTML: Improper heading hierarchy, missing landmarks, divs instead of buttons
• Alt text: Missing or poor image descriptions
• Form issues: Inputs without labels, poor error messaging, missing required indicators

Score 0-4: 0=Inaccessible (fails WCAG A), 1=Major gaps (few ARIA labels, no keyboard nav), 2=Partial (some a11y effort, significant gaps), 3=Good (WCAG AA mostly met, minor gaps), 4=Excellent (WCAG AA fully met, approaches AAA)

2. Performance

Check for:

• Layout thrashing: Reading/writing layout properties in loops
• Expensive animations: Casual layout-property animation, unbounded blur/filter/shadow effects, or effects that visibly drop frames
• Missing optimization: Images without lazy loading, unoptimized assets, missing will-change
• Bundle size: Unnecessary imports, unused dependencies
• Render performance: Unnecessary re-renders, missing memoization

Score 0-4: 0=Severe issues (layout thrash, unoptimized everything), 1=Major problems (no lazy loading, expensive animations), 2=Partial (some optimization, gaps remain), 3=Good (mostly optimized, minor improvements possible), 4=Excellent (fast, lean, well-optimized)

3. Theming

Check for:

• Hard-coded colors: Colors not using design tokens
• Broken dark mode: Missing dark mode variants, poor contrast in dark theme
• Inconsistent tokens: Using wrong tokens, mixing token types
• Theme switching issues: Values that don't update on theme change

Score 0-4: 0=No theming (hard-coded everything), 1=Minimal tokens (mostly hard-coded), 2=Partial (tokens exist but inconsistently used), 3=Good (tokens used, minor hard-coded values), 4=Excellent (full token system, dark mode works perfectly)

4. Responsive Design

Check for:

• Fixed widths: Hard-coded widths that break on mobile
• Touch targets: Interactive elements < 44x44px
• Horizontal scroll: Content overflow on narrow viewports
• Text scaling: Layouts that break when text size increases
• Missing breakpoints: No mobile/tablet variants

Score 0-4: 0=Desktop-only (breaks on mobile), 1=Major issues (some breakpoints, many failures), 2=Partial (works on mobile, rough edges), 3=Good (responsive, minor touch target or overflow issues), 4=Excellent (fluid, all viewports, proper touch targets)

5. Anti-Patterns (CRITICAL)

Check against ALL the DON'T guidelines from the parent impeccable skill (already loaded in this context). Look for AI slop tells (AI color palette, gradient text, glassmorphism, hero metrics, card grids, generic fonts) and general design anti-patterns (gray on color, nested cards, bounce easing, redundant copy).

Score 0-4: 0=AI slop gallery (5+ tells), 1=Heavy AI aesthetic (3-4 tells), 2=Some tells (1-2 noticeable), 3=Mostly clean (subtle issues only), 4=No AI tells (distinctive, intentional design)

Generate Report

Audit Health Score

Rating bands: 18-20 Excellent (minor polish), 14-17 Good (address weak dimensions), 10-13 Acceptable (significant work needed), 6-9 Poor (major overhaul), 0-5 Critical (fundamental issues)

Anti-Patterns Verdict

Start here. Pass/fail: Does this look AI-generated? List specific tells. Be brutally honest.

Executive Summary

• Audit Health Score: ??/20 ([rating band])
• Total issues found (count by severity: P0/P1/P2/P3)
• Top 3-5 critical issues
• Recommended next steps

Detailed Findings by Severity

Tag every issue with P0-P3 severity:

• P0 Blocking: Prevents task completion — fix immediately
• P1 Major: Significant difficulty or WCAG AA violation — fix before release
• P2 Minor: Annoyance, workaround exists — fix in next pass
• P3 Polish: Nice-to-fix, no real user impact — fix if time permits

For each issue, document:

• [P?] Issue name
• Location: Component, file, line
• Category: Accessibility / Performance / Theming / Responsive / Anti-Pattern
• Impact: How it affects users
• WCAG/Standard: Which standard it violates (if applicable)
• Recommendation: How to fix it
• Suggested command: Which command to use (prefer: /impeccable adapt, /impeccable animate, /impeccable audit, /impeccable bolder, /impeccable clarify, /impeccable colorize, /impeccable critique, /impeccable delight, /impeccable distill, /impeccable document, /impeccable harden, /impeccable layout, /impeccable onboard, /impeccable optimize, /impeccable overdrive, /impeccable polish, /impeccable quieter, /impeccable shape, /impeccable typeset)

Patterns & Systemic Issues

Identify recurring problems that indicate systemic gaps rather than one-off mistakes:

• "Hard-coded colors appear in 15+ components, should use design tokens"
• "Touch targets consistently too small (<44px) throughout mobile experience"

Positive Findings

Note what's working well — good practices to maintain and replicate.

Recommended Actions

List recommended commands in priority order (P0 first, then P1, then P2):

1. [P?] /command-name — Brief description (specific context from audit findings)
2. [P?] /command-name — Brief description (specific context)

Rules: Only recommend commands from: /impeccable adapt, /impeccable animate, /impeccable audit, /impeccable bolder, /impeccable clarify, /impeccable colorize, /impeccable critique, /impeccable delight, /impeccable distill, /impeccable document, /impeccable harden, /impeccable layout, /impeccable onboard, /impeccable optimize, /impeccable overdrive, /impeccable polish, /impeccable quieter, /impeccable shape, /impeccable typeset. Map findings to the most appropriate command. End with /impeccable polish as the final step if any fixes were recommended.

After presenting the summary, tell the user:

You can ask me to run these one at a time, all at once, or in any order you prefer.

Re-run /impeccable audit after fixes to see your score improve.

IMPORTANT: Be thorough but actionable. Too many P3 issues creates noise. Focus on what actually matters.

NEVER:

• Report issues without explaining impact (why does this matter?)
• Provide generic recommendations (be specific and actionable)
• Skip positive findings (celebrate what works)
• Forget to prioritize (everything can't be P0)
• Report false positives without verification

Remember: You're a technical quality auditor. Document systematically, prioritize ruthlessly, cite specific code locations, and provide clear paths to improvement.

Craft Flow

Build a feature with impeccable UX and UI quality through a structured process: shape the design, land the visual direction, build real production code, then inspect and improve in-browser until the result meets a high-end studio bar.

Build Gate

Craft cannot build until all of these are true:

1. PRODUCT context is valid and current.
2. The shape design brief is explicitly confirmed by the user for this task, unless the user already provided a confirmed brief.
3. Implementation references from the brief are loaded.
4. The shape visual probe decision is recorded: generated, skipped with reason, or already resolved.
5. The north-star mock decision is recorded: generated, skipped with reason, or not applicable.

PRODUCT.md and teach answers do not satisfy the shape gate. They are project context only. A compact self-authored brief does not satisfy the shape gate either. shape=pass requires a separate user response approving the shape brief or an already-confirmed brief supplied by the user.

Invalid image-skip reasons include: "the final implementation will be semantic HTML/CSS/SVG", "the diagram should stay editable", "a raster mock would not be used directly", or "the product is fictional." Generated probes and mocks are direction artifacts; they are not implementation assets.

Craft Contract

Craft is not a first pass. It is a loop with these required artifacts:

1. Confirmed design brief from shape.
2. Approved visual direction, from generated probes / mocks when image generation is available.
3. Mock fidelity inventory: the visible ingredients from the approved direction that must survive into code.
4. Semantic, functional implementation using the project's real stack and conventions.
5. Browser evidence across relevant viewports.
6. At least one critique-and-fix pass after the first browser inspection, unless the first pass has no material defects.

Do not let generated mockups replace interface structure, copy, accessibility, responsive behavior, or state design. But do treat the approved mock as a concrete visual contract for composition, hierarchy, density, atmosphere, signature motifs, image needs, and distinctive visual moves. "North star" means "preserve the important visible ingredients in semantic code," not "use it as loose mood."

Step 1: Shape the Design

Run /impeccable shape, passing along whatever feature description the user provided.

Wait for the design brief to be fully confirmed by the user before proceeding. The brief is your blueprint, and every implementation decision should trace back to it.

If this craft run resumed after teach created PRODUCT.md, run shape now. Do not treat the teach interview, PRODUCT.md, or a summary of project context as a substitute for shape. Shape is task-specific and must cover scope, content/states, visual direction, constraints, anti-goals, probes when applicable, and explicit brief confirmation.

If the user has already run /impeccable shape and has a confirmed design brief, skip this step and use the existing brief.

Step 2: Load References

Based on the design brief's "Recommended References" section, consult the relevant impeccable reference files. At minimum, always consult:

• spatial-design.md for layout and spacing
• typography.md for type hierarchy

Then add references based on the brief's needs:

• Complex interactions or forms? Consult interaction-design.md
• Animation or transitions? Consult motion-design.md
• Color-heavy or themed? Consult color-and-contrast.md
• Responsive requirements? Consult responsive-design.md
• Heavy on copy, labels, or errors? Consult ux-writing.md

Step 3: Land the Visual Direction (Capability-Gated)

Before implementation, generate high-fidelity visual comps when all of these are true:

• The work is net-new or visually open-ended enough that composition exploration will improve the build.
• The brief's scope is mid-fi, high-fi, or production-ready.
• The current harness has built-in image generation capability (for example, Codex with a native image tool). Do not ask the user to set up external APIs, shell scripts, or one-off tooling just to do this.

When those conditions are met, this step is mandatory for both brand and product work in Codex and any harness with built-in image generation. Use native image generation; in Codex, use the built-in image_gen tool via the imagegen skill. If image generation is unavailable, do not ask the user to install APIs or tooling. State in one line that the image step is skipped because the harness lacks native image generation, then proceed.

Do not skip this step because the eventual UI should be semantic, editable, code-native, responsive, or accessible. Those are implementation requirements, not reasons to avoid visual exploration.

Purpose

Use the mock step to find a stronger visual lane than code-first generation would reliably discover on its own. The brief remains authoritative on user, purpose, content, constraints, states, and anti-goals. The mock clarifies composition, hierarchy, density, typography, and visual tone.

What to generate

Generate 1 to 3 high-fidelity north-star comps based on the confirmed brief. If shape already produced direction probes, use those results as input and generate a more resolved mock from the winning lane, not another unrelated exploration.

• For brand work, push visual identity, composition, and mood aggressively.
• For product work, still push hierarchy, topology, density, and tone, but keep the comps grounded in realistic product structure and states.
• For landing pages and long-form brand surfaces, show enough of the next section or second fold to establish the system beyond the hero.

The comps must be genuinely different in primary visual direction, not just color variants.

Approval loop

Show the comps and ask what should carry forward. If the user asks for changes or the best direction is still weak, generate a focused revision before implementation. Continue until one direction is approved, or until the user explicitly delegates the choice.

If the user delegates, pick the strongest direction and explain the decision using the brief, not personal taste.

Before moving to implementation, summarize:

• What to carry into code
• What not to literalize from the mock

This summary is required before Step 4. It is the handoff between visual exploration and semantic implementation.

Mock fidelity inventory

Before building, inventory the approved mock's major visible ingredients:

• Hero silhouette and dominant composition.
• Signature motifs: planets, devices, portraits, charts, route lines, insets, badges, or other memorable objects.
• Nav and primary CTA treatment.
• Section sequence visible in the mock, especially the second fold.
• Image-native content the concept depends on.
• Typography, density, color/material treatment, and motion cues.

For each ingredient, decide how it will be implemented: semantic HTML/CSS/SVG, generated asset, sourced project asset, icon library, canvas/WebGL, or an explicitly accepted omission. Do not substitute a different hero composition or new visual driver after approval unless the user approves the change.

Treat the mock as a north star, not a screenshot to trace. Do not rasterize core UI text or let the mock override the confirmed brief. But if the live result lacks the mock's major visible ingredients, the implementation is wrong.

Step 4: Asset Extraction (Need-Gated)

If the chosen direction includes image-native visual ingredients that would materially improve the implementation, generate them as separate assets before building.

Good candidates:

• stickers
• badges
• seals
• tickets
• graphic labels
• textures
• abstract objects
• decorative marks
• non-semantic scene elements

For travel, editorial, portfolio, venue, product showcase, entertainment, education, or any other image-led brand surface, visual assets are usually core content, not decoration. Do not ship abstract CSS panels where the approved mock or subject matter calls for real imagery, generated plates, illustrations, maps, product/object renders, or destination scenes.

Do not export assets for core UI text, navigation, body copy, or any structure that should stay semantic and editable in code.

Usually 1 to 5 extracted assets is enough. If the design can be built cleanly in HTML/CSS/SVG, prefer that over raster assets. If the mock contains major visual content that cannot be built credibly in code, asset extraction is not optional.

Step 5: Build to Production Quality

Implement the feature following the design brief. Build in passes so structure, visual system, states, motion/media, and responsive behavior each get deliberate attention. The list below is the definition of done, not inspiration.

Production bar

• Use real or realistic content. Remove placeholder copy, placeholder images, dead links, fake controls, and unused scaffold before presenting.
• Preserve the approved mock's major ingredients. Missing hero objects, missing world/product imagery, different section structure, downgraded CTA/nav treatment, or generic replacements for distinctive motifs are blocking defects unless the user accepted the change.
• Build semantically first: real headings, landmarks, labels, form associations, button/link semantics, accessible names, and state announcements where needed.
• Calibrate spacing, alignment, grid placement, and vertical rhythm deliberately. Do not accept default gaps, arbitrary margins, unbalanced whitespace, or accidental optical misalignment.
• Make typography intentional: chosen font loading strategy, clear hierarchy, readable measure, stable line breaks, tuned wrapping, and no overflow at mobile or large desktop sizes.
• Design realistic state coverage: default, hover where supported, focus-visible, active, disabled, loading, error, success, empty, overflow, long text, short text, and first-run states where relevant.
• Make interaction quality feel finished: keyboard paths, touch targets, feedback timing, scroll behavior, transitions between states, and no hover-only functionality.
• Use icons from the project's established icon set when available. If no set exists, choose a coherent library or use accessible text controls; do not mix unrelated icon styles.
• Optimize imagery and media: correct dimensions, useful alt text, lazy loading below the fold, modern formats when practical, responsive srcset / picture for raster assets, and no project-referenced asset left outside the workspace.
• Make motion feel premium: use atmospheric blur, filter, mask, shadow, or reveal effects when they improve the experience; avoid casual layout-property animation, bound expensive effects, verify smoothness in-browser, respect reduced motion, and avoid choreography that blocks task completion.
• Preserve maintainability: reusable local patterns, clear component boundaries, project conventions, no rasterized UI text, and no hard-coded one-off hacks when a better local pattern exists.
• Fit the technical context: production build passes, no obvious console errors, no avoidable layout shift, no needless dependency, and no broken asset path.
• If you discover a design question that materially changes the brief or approved direction, stop and ask rather than guessing.

Step 6: Browser-Based Iteration

This step is critical. Do not stop after the first implementation pass.

Open the result in a browser. In Codex, use browser-use or equivalent browser automation when available; otherwise use Playwright or ask the user for screenshots. Inspect screenshots, not just DOM or terminal output.

Required viewport pass

Check the experience at the viewports that matter for the brief. Default minimum:

• Mobile narrow
• Tablet or small laptop
• Desktop wide

For each viewport, capture or inspect the rendered state and look for visual defects: overlap, clipping, weak hierarchy, off-grid alignment, awkward whitespace, cramped controls, unreadable type, broken imagery, hover-only functionality, layout shift, and text overflow.

Critique and fix loop

After the first browser pass, write a short critique for yourself and patch the implementation. Repeat browser inspection after fixes. Continue until no material issues remain against this checklist:

1. Does it match the brief? Compare the live result against every section of the design brief. Fix discrepancies.
2. Does it match the approved mock? Compare screenshots against the mock fidelity inventory: hero silhouette, major motifs, imagery, nav/CTA, section sequence, density, color/materials, and second-fold substance. Missing major ingredients are P0 defects.
3. Does it pass the AI slop test? If someone saw this and said "AI made this," would they believe it immediately? If yes, it needs more design intention.
4. Check against impeccable's DON'T guidelines. Fix any anti-pattern violations.
5. Check every state. Navigate through empty, error, loading, and edge case states. Each one should feel intentional, not like an afterthought.
6. Check responsive behavior. The design should adapt compositionally, not merely shrink.
7. Check craft details. Spacing consistency, optical alignment, type hierarchy, color contrast, image quality, icon coherence, interactive feedback, motion timing, and focus treatment.
8. Check performance basics. No obviously oversized images, avoidable layout thrash, blocking animations, or heavy assets without a reason.

The exit bar is not "it works." It is: the rendered result looks intentional at all checked viewports, all expected states are handled, no placeholders remain unless explicitly accepted, and the implementation quality would be defensible in a high-end studio review.

Step 7: Present

Present the result to the user:

• Show the feature in its primary state
• Summarize the browser/viewports checked and the most important fixes made after inspection
• Walk through the key states (empty, error, responsive)
• Explain design decisions that connect back to the design brief and, when used, the chosen north-star mock. Include any accepted deviations from the mock; do not hide unimplemented mock ingredients.
• Note any remaining limitations or follow-up risks honestly
• Ask: "What's working? What isn't?"

Iterate based on feedback. Good design is rarely right on the first pass.

Additional context needed: audience technical level and users' mental state in context.

Identify and improve unclear, confusing, or poorly written interface text to make the product easier to understand and use.

Assess Current Copy

Identify what makes the text unclear or ineffective:

1. Find clarity problems:

   • Jargon: Technical terms users won't understand
   • Ambiguity: Multiple interpretations possible
   • Passive voice: "Your file has been uploaded" vs "We uploaded your file"
   • Length: Too wordy or too terse
   • Assumptions: Assuming user knowledge they don't have
   • Missing context: Users don't know what to do or why
   • Tone mismatch: Too formal, too casual, or inappropriate for situation

2. Understand the context:

   • Who's the audience? (Technical? General? First-time users?)
   • What's the user's mental state? (Stressed during error? Confident during success?)
   • What's the action? (What do we want users to do?)
   • What's the constraint? (Character limits? Space limitations?)

CRITICAL: Clear copy helps users succeed. Unclear copy creates frustration, errors, and support tickets.

Plan Copy Improvements

Create a strategy for clearer communication:

• Primary message: What's the ONE thing users need to know?
• Action needed: What should users do next (if anything)?
• Tone: How should this feel? (Helpful? Apologetic? Encouraging?)
• Constraints: Length limits, brand voice, localization considerations

IMPORTANT: Good UX writing is invisible. Users should understand immediately without noticing the words.

Improve Copy Systematically

Refine text across these common areas:

Error Messages

Bad: "Error 403: Forbidden" Good: "You don't have permission to view this page. Contact your admin for access."

Bad: "Invalid input" Good: "Email addresses need an @ symbol. Try: name@example.com"

Principles:

• Explain what went wrong in plain language
• Suggest how to fix it
• Don't blame the user
• Include examples when helpful
• Link to help/support if applicable

Form Labels & Instructions

Bad: "DOB (MM/DD/YYYY)" Good: "Date of birth" (with placeholder showing format)

Bad: "Enter value here" Good: "Your email address" or "Company name"

Principles:

• Use clear, specific labels (not generic placeholders)
• Show format expectations with examples
• Explain why you're asking (when not obvious)
• Put instructions before the field, not after
• Keep required field indicators clear

Button & CTA Text

Bad: "Click here" | "Submit" | "OK" Good: "Create account" | "Save changes" | "Got it, thanks"

Principles:

• Describe the action specifically
• Use active voice (verb + noun)
• Match user's mental model
• Be specific ("Save" is better than "OK")

Help Text & Tooltips

Bad: "This is the username field" Good: "Choose a username. You can change this later in Settings."

Principles:

• Add value (don't just repeat the label)
• Answer the implicit question ("What is this?" or "Why do you need this?")
• Keep it brief but complete
• Link to detailed docs if needed

Empty States

Bad: "No items" Good: "No projects yet. Create your first project to get started."

Principles:

• Explain why it's empty (if not obvious)
• Show next action clearly
• Make it welcoming, not dead-end

Success Messages

Bad: "Success" Good: "Settings saved! Your changes will take effect immediately."

Principles:

• Confirm what happened
• Explain what happens next (if relevant)
• Be brief but complete
• Match the user's emotional moment (celebrate big wins)

Loading States

Bad: "Loading..." (for 30+ seconds) Good: "Analyzing your data... this usually takes 30-60 seconds"

Principles:

• Set expectations (how long?)
• Explain what's happening (when it's not obvious)
• Show progress when possible
• Offer escape hatch if appropriate ("Cancel")

Confirmation Dialogs

Bad: "Are you sure?" Good: "Delete 'Project Alpha'? This can't be undone."

Principles:

• State the specific action
• Explain consequences (especially for destructive actions)
• Use clear button labels ("Delete project" not "Yes")
• Don't overuse confirmations (only for risky actions)

Navigation & Wayfinding

Bad: Generic labels like "Items" | "Things" | "Stuff" Good: Specific labels like "Your projects" | "Team members" | "Settings"

Principles:

• Be specific and descriptive
• Use language users understand (not internal jargon)
• Make hierarchy clear
• Consider information scent (breadcrumbs, current location)

Apply Clarity Principles

Every piece of copy should follow these rules:

1. Be specific: "Enter email" not "Enter value"
2. Be concise: Cut unnecessary words (but don't sacrifice clarity)
3. Be active: "Save changes" not "Changes will be saved"
4. Be human: "Oops, something went wrong" not "System error encountered"
5. Be helpful: Tell users what to do, not just what happened
6. Be consistent: Use same terms throughout (don't vary for variety)

NEVER:

• Use jargon without explanation
• Blame users ("You made an error" → "This field is required")
• Be vague ("Something went wrong" without explanation)
• Use passive voice unnecessarily
• Write overly long explanations (be concise)
• Use humor for errors (be empathetic instead)
• Assume technical knowledge
• Vary terminology (pick one term and stick with it)
• Repeat information (headers restating intros, redundant explanations)
• Use placeholders as the only labels (they disappear when users type)

Verify Improvements

Test that copy improvements work:

• Comprehension: Can users understand without context?
• Actionability: Do users know what to do next?
• Brevity: Is it as short as possible while remaining clear?
• Consistency: Does it match terminology elsewhere?
• Tone: Is it appropriate for the situation?

Remember: You're a clarity expert with excellent communication skills. Write like you're explaining to a smart friend who's unfamiliar with the product. Be clear, be helpful, be human.

Additional context needed: the "aha moment" you want users to reach, and users' experience level.

Create or improve onboarding experiences that help users understand, adopt, and succeed with the product quickly.

Assess Onboarding Needs

Understand what users need to learn and why:

1. Identify the challenge:

   • What are users trying to accomplish?
   • What's confusing or unclear about current experience?
   • Where do users get stuck or drop off?
   • What's the "aha moment" we want users to reach?

2. Understand the users:

   • What's their experience level? (Beginners, power users, mixed?)
   • What's their motivation? (Excited and exploring? Required by work?)
   • What's their time commitment? (5 minutes? 30 minutes?)
   • What alternatives do they know? (Coming from competitor? New to category?)

3. Define success:

   • What's the minimum users need to learn to be successful?
   • What's the key action we want them to take? (First project? First invite?)
   • How do we know onboarding worked? (Completion rate? Time to value?)

CRITICAL: Onboarding should get users to value as quickly as possible, not teach everything possible.

Onboarding Principles

Follow these core principles:

Show, Don't Tell

• Demonstrate with working examples, not just descriptions
• Provide real functionality in onboarding, not separate tutorial mode
• Use progressive disclosure, teach one thing at a time

Make It Optional (When Possible)

• Let experienced users skip onboarding
• Don't block access to product
• Provide "Skip" or "I'll explore on my own" options

Time to Value

• Get users to their "aha moment" ASAP
• Front-load most important concepts
• Teach 20% that delivers 80% of value
• Save advanced features for contextual discovery

Context Over Ceremony

• Teach features when users need them, not upfront
• Empty states are onboarding opportunities
• Tooltips and hints at point of use

Respect User Intelligence

• Don't patronize or over-explain
• Be concise and clear
• Assume users can figure out standard patterns

Design Onboarding Experiences

Create appropriate onboarding for the context:

Initial Product Onboarding

Welcome Screen:

• Clear value proposition (what is this product?)
• What users will learn/accomplish
• Time estimate (honest about commitment)
• Option to skip (for experienced users)

Account Setup:

• Minimal required information (collect more later)
• Explain why you're asking for each piece of information
• Smart defaults where possible
• Social login when appropriate

Core Concept Introduction:

• Introduce 1-3 core concepts (not everything)
• Use simple language and examples
• Interactive when possible (do, don't just read)
• Progress indication (step 1 of 3)

First Success:

• Guide users to accomplish something real
• Pre-populated examples or templates
• Celebrate completion (but don't overdo it)
• Clear next steps

Feature Discovery & Adoption

Empty States: Instead of blank space, show:

• What will appear here (description + screenshot/illustration)
• Why it's valuable
• Clear CTA to create first item
• Example or template option

Example:

No projects yet
Projects help you organize your work and collaborate with your team.
[Create your first project] or [Start from template]

Contextual Tooltips:

• Appear at relevant moment (first time user sees feature)
• Point directly at relevant UI element
• Brief explanation + benefit
• Dismissable (with "Don't show again" option)
• Optional "Learn more" link

Feature Announcements:

• Highlight new features when they're released
• Show what's new and why it matters
• Let users try immediately
• Dismissable

Progressive Onboarding:

• Teach features when users encounter them
• Badges or indicators on new/unused features
• Unlock complexity gradually (don't show all options immediately)

Guided Tours & Walkthroughs

When to use:

• Complex interfaces with many features
• Significant changes to existing product
• Industry-specific tools needing domain knowledge

How to design:

• Spotlight specific UI elements (dim rest of page)
• Keep steps short (3-7 steps max per tour)
• Allow users to click through tour freely
• Include "Skip tour" option
• Make replayable (help menu)

Best practices:

• Interactive over passive (let users click real buttons)
• Focus on workflow, not features ("Create a project" not "This is the project button")
• Provide sample data so actions work

Interactive Tutorials

When to use:

• Users need hands-on practice
• Concepts are complex or unfamiliar
• High stakes (better to practice in safe environment)

How to design:

• Sandbox environment with sample data
• Clear objectives ("Create a chart showing sales by region")
• Step-by-step guidance
• Validation (confirm they did it right)
• Graduation moment (you're ready!)

Documentation & Help

In-product help:

• Contextual help links throughout interface
• Keyboard shortcut reference
• Search-able help center
• Video tutorials for complex workflows

Help patterns:

• ? icon near complex features
• "Learn more" links in tooltips
• Keyboard shortcut hints (⌘K shown on search box)

Empty State Design

Every empty state needs:

What Will Be Here

"Your recent projects will appear here"

Why It Matters

"Projects help you organize your work and collaborate with your team"

How to Get Started

[Create project] or [Import from template]

Visual Interest

Illustration or icon (not just text on blank page)

Contextual Help

"Need help getting started? [Watch 2-min tutorial]"

Empty state types:

• First use: Never used this feature (emphasize value, provide template)
• User cleared: Intentionally deleted everything (light touch, easy to recreate)
• No results: Search or filter returned nothing (suggest different query, clear filters)
• No permissions: Can't access (explain why, how to get access)
• Error state: Failed to load (explain what happened, retry option)

Implementation Patterns

Technical approaches:

Tooltip libraries: Tippy.js, Popper.js Tour libraries: Intro.js, Shepherd.js, React Joyride Modal patterns: Focus trap, backdrop, ESC to close Progress tracking: LocalStorage for "seen" states Analytics: Track completion, drop-off points

Storage patterns:

// Track which onboarding steps user has seen
localStorage.setItem('onboarding-completed', 'true');
localStorage.setItem('feature-tooltip-seen-reports', 'true');

IMPORTANT: Don't show same onboarding twice (annoying). Track completion and respect dismissals.

NEVER:

• Force users through long onboarding before they can use product
• Patronize users with obvious explanations
• Show same tooltip repeatedly (respect dismissals)
• Block all UI during tour (let users explore)
• Create separate tutorial mode disconnected from real product
• Overwhelm with information upfront (progressive disclosure!)
• Hide "Skip" or make it hard to find
• Forget about returning users (don't show initial onboarding again)

Verify Onboarding Quality

Test with real users:

• Time to completion: Can users complete onboarding quickly?
• Comprehension: Do users understand after completing?
• Action: Do users take desired next step?
• Skip rate: Are too many users skipping? (Maybe it's too long or not valuable)
• Completion rate: Are users completing? (If low, simplify)
• Time to value: How long until users get first value?

Remember: You're a product educator with excellent teaching instincts. Get users to their "aha moment" as quickly as possible. Teach the essential, make it contextual, respect user time and intelligence.

Identify and fix performance issues to create faster, smoother user experiences.

Assess Performance Issues

Understand current performance and identify problems:

1. Measure current state:

   • Core Web Vitals: LCP, FID/INP, CLS scores
   • Load time: Time to interactive, first contentful paint
   • Bundle size: JavaScript, CSS, image sizes
   • Runtime performance: Frame rate, memory usage, CPU usage
   • Network: Request count, payload sizes, waterfall

2. Identify bottlenecks:

   • What's slow? (Initial load? Interactions? Animations?)
   • What's causing it? (Large images? Expensive JavaScript? Layout thrashing?)
   • How bad is it? (Perceivable? Annoying? Blocking?)
   • Who's affected? (All users? Mobile only? Slow connections?)

CRITICAL: Measure before and after. Premature optimization wastes time. Optimize what actually matters.

Optimization Strategy

Create systematic improvement plan:

Loading Performance

Optimize Images:

• Use modern formats (WebP, AVIF)
• Proper sizing (don't load 3000px image for 300px display)
• Lazy loading for below-fold images
• Responsive images (srcset, picture element)
• Compress images (80-85% quality is usually imperceptible)
• Use CDN for faster delivery

<img 
  src="hero.webp"
  srcset="hero-400.webp 400w, hero-800.webp 800w, hero-1200.webp 1200w"
  sizes="(max-width: 400px) 400px, (max-width: 800px) 800px, 1200px"
  loading="lazy"
  alt="Hero image"
/>

Reduce JavaScript Bundle:

• Code splitting (route-based, component-based)
• Tree shaking (remove unused code)
• Remove unused dependencies
• Lazy load non-critical code
• Use dynamic imports for large components

// Lazy load heavy component
const HeavyChart = lazy(() => import('./HeavyChart'));

Optimize CSS:

• Remove unused CSS
• Critical CSS inline, rest async
• Minimize CSS files
• Use CSS containment for independent regions

Optimize Fonts:

• Use font-display: swap or optional
• Subset fonts (only characters you need)
• Preload critical fonts
• Use system fonts when appropriate
• Limit font weights loaded

@font-face {
  font-family: 'CustomFont';
  src: url('/fonts/custom.woff2') format('woff2');
  font-display: swap; /* Show fallback immediately */
  unicode-range: U+0020-007F; /* Basic Latin only */
}

Optimize Loading Strategy:

• Critical resources first (async/defer non-critical)
• Preload critical assets
• Prefetch likely next pages
• Service worker for offline/caching
• HTTP/2 or HTTP/3 for multiplexing

Rendering Performance

Avoid Layout Thrashing:

// ❌ Bad: Alternating reads and writes (causes reflows)
elements.forEach(el => {
  const height = el.offsetHeight; // Read (forces layout)
  el.style.height = height * 2; // Write
});

// ✅ Good: Batch reads, then batch writes
const heights = elements.map(el => el.offsetHeight); // All reads
elements.forEach((el, i) => {
  el.style.height = heights[i] * 2; // All writes
});

Optimize Rendering:

• Use CSS contain property for independent regions
• Minimize DOM depth (flatter is faster)
• Reduce DOM size (fewer elements)
• Use content-visibility: auto for long lists
• Virtual scrolling for very long lists (react-window, react-virtualized)

Reduce Paint & Composite:

• Use transform and opacity for reliable movement, but allow blur, filters, masks, clip paths, shadows, and color shifts when they create meaningful polish
• Avoid casual animation of layout-driving properties (width, height, top, left, margins)
• Use will-change sparingly for known expensive operations
• Bound expensive paint areas for blur/filter/shadow effects (smaller and isolated is faster)

Animation Performance

GPU Acceleration:

/* ✅ GPU-accelerated (fast) */
.animated {
  transform: translateX(100px);
  opacity: 0.5;
}

/* ❌ CPU-bound (slow) */
.animated {
  left: 100px;
  width: 300px;
}

Smooth 60fps:

• Target 16ms per frame (60fps)
• Use requestAnimationFrame for JS animations
• Debounce/throttle scroll handlers
• Use CSS animations when possible
• Avoid long-running JavaScript during animations

Intersection Observer:

// Efficiently detect when elements enter viewport
const observer = new IntersectionObserver((entries) => {
  entries.forEach(entry => {
    if (entry.isIntersecting) {
      // Element is visible, lazy load or animate
    }
  });
});

React/Framework Optimization

React-specific:

• Use memo() for expensive components
• useMemo() and useCallback() for expensive computations
• Virtualize long lists
• Code split routes
• Avoid inline function creation in render
• Use React DevTools Profiler

Framework-agnostic:

• Minimize re-renders
• Debounce expensive operations
• Memoize computed values
• Lazy load routes and components

Network Optimization

Reduce Requests:

• Combine small files
• Use SVG sprites for icons
• Inline small critical assets
• Remove unused third-party scripts

Optimize APIs:

• Use pagination (don't load everything)
• GraphQL to request only needed fields
• Response compression (gzip, brotli)
• HTTP caching headers
• CDN for static assets

Optimize for Slow Connections:

• Adaptive loading based on connection (navigator.connection)
• Optimistic UI updates
• Request prioritization
• Progressive enhancement

Core Web Vitals Optimization

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP < 2.5s)

• Optimize hero images
• Inline critical CSS
• Preload key resources
• Use CDN
• Server-side rendering

First Input Delay (FID < 100ms) / INP (< 200ms)

• Break up long tasks
• Defer non-critical JavaScript
• Use web workers for heavy computation
• Reduce JavaScript execution time

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS < 0.1)

• Set dimensions on images and videos
• Don't inject content above existing content
• Use aspect-ratio CSS property
• Reserve space for ads/embeds
• Avoid animations that cause layout shifts

/* Reserve space for image */
.image-container {
  aspect-ratio: 16 / 9;
}

Performance Monitoring

Tools to use:

• Chrome DevTools (Lighthouse, Performance panel)
• WebPageTest
• Core Web Vitals (Chrome UX Report)
• Bundle analyzers (webpack-bundle-analyzer)
• Performance monitoring (Sentry, DataDog, New Relic)

Key metrics:

• LCP, FID/INP, CLS (Core Web Vitals)
• Time to Interactive (TTI)
• First Contentful Paint (FCP)
• Total Blocking Time (TBT)
• Bundle size
• Request count

IMPORTANT: Measure on real devices with real network conditions. Desktop Chrome with fast connection isn't representative.

NEVER:

• Optimize without measuring (premature optimization)
• Sacrifice accessibility for performance
• Break functionality while optimizing
• Use will-change everywhere (creates new layers, uses memory)
• Lazy load above-fold content
• Optimize micro-optimizations while ignoring major issues (optimize the biggest bottleneck first)
• Forget about mobile performance (often slower devices, slower connections)

Verify Improvements

Test that optimizations worked:

• Before/after metrics: Compare Lighthouse scores
• Real user monitoring: Track improvements for real users
• Different devices: Test on low-end Android, not just flagship iPhone
• Slow connections: Throttle to 3G, test experience
• No regressions: Ensure functionality still works
• User perception: Does it feel faster?

Remember: Performance is a feature. Fast experiences feel more responsive, more polished, more professional. Optimize systematically, measure ruthlessly, and prioritize user-perceived performance.

Additional context needed: performance constraints.

Analyze a feature and strategically add animations and micro-interactions that enhance understanding, provide feedback, and create delight.

Register

Brand: orchestrated page-load sequences, staggered reveals, scroll-driven animation. Motion is part of the voice; one well-rehearsed entrance beats scattered micro-interactions.

Product: 150–250 ms on most transitions. Motion conveys state — feedback, reveal, loading, transitions between views. No page-load choreography; users are in a task and won't wait for it.

Assess Animation Opportunities

Analyze where motion would improve the experience:

1. Identify static areas:

   • Missing feedback: Actions without visual acknowledgment (button clicks, form submission, etc.)
   • Jarring transitions: Instant state changes that feel abrupt (show/hide, page loads, route changes)
   • Unclear relationships: Spatial or hierarchical relationships that aren't obvious
   • Lack of delight: Functional but joyless interactions
   • Missed guidance: Opportunities to direct attention or explain behavior

2. Understand the context:

   • What's the personality? (Playful vs serious, energetic vs calm)
   • What's the performance budget? (Mobile-first? Complex page?)
   • Who's the audience? (Motion-sensitive users? Power users who want speed?)
   • What matters most? (One hero animation vs many micro-interactions?)

If any of these are unclear from the codebase, STOP and call the AskUserQuestion tool to clarify.

CRITICAL: Respect prefers-reduced-motion. Always provide non-animated alternatives for users who need them.

Plan Animation Strategy

Create a purposeful animation plan:

• Hero moment: What's the ONE signature animation? (Page load? Hero section? Key interaction?)
• Feedback layer: Which interactions need acknowledgment?
• Transition layer: Which state changes need smoothing?
• Delight layer: Where can we surprise and delight?

IMPORTANT: One well-orchestrated experience beats scattered animations everywhere. Focus on high-impact moments.

Implement Animations

Add motion systematically across these categories:

Entrance Animations

• Page load choreography: Stagger element reveals (100-150ms delays), fade + slide combinations
• Hero section: Dramatic entrance for primary content (scale, parallax, or creative effects)
• Content reveals: Scroll-triggered animations using intersection observer
• Modal/drawer entry: Smooth slide + fade, backdrop fade, focus management

Micro-interactions

• Button feedback:
  • Hover: Subtle scale (1.02-1.05), color shift, shadow increase
  • Click: Quick scale down then up (0.95 → 1), ripple effect
  • Loading: Spinner or pulse state
• Form interactions:
  • Input focus: Border color transition, slight scale or glow
  • Validation: Shake on error, check mark on success, smooth color transitions
• Toggle switches: Smooth slide + color transition (200-300ms)
• Checkboxes/radio: Check mark animation, ripple effect
• Like/favorite: Scale + rotation, particle effects, color transition

State Transitions

• Show/hide: Fade + slide (not instant), appropriate timing (200-300ms)
• Expand/collapse: Height transition with overflow handling, icon rotation
• Loading states: Skeleton screen fades, spinner animations, progress bars
• Success/error: Color transitions, icon animations, gentle scale pulse
• Enable/disable: Opacity transitions, cursor changes

Navigation & Flow

• Page transitions: Crossfade between routes, shared element transitions
• Tab switching: Slide indicator, content fade/slide
• Carousel/slider: Smooth transforms, snap points, momentum
• Scroll effects: Parallax layers, sticky headers with state changes, scroll progress indicators

Feedback & Guidance

• Hover hints: Tooltip fade-ins, cursor changes, element highlights
• Drag & drop: Lift effect (shadow + scale), drop zone highlights, smooth repositioning
• Copy/paste: Brief highlight flash on paste, "copied" confirmation
• Focus flow: Highlight path through form or workflow

Delight Moments

• Empty states: Subtle floating animations on illustrations
• Completed actions: Confetti, check mark flourish, success celebrations
• Easter eggs: Hidden interactions for discovery
• Contextual animation: Weather effects, time-of-day themes, seasonal touches

Technical Implementation

Use appropriate techniques for each animation:

Timing & Easing

Durations by purpose:

• 100-150ms: Instant feedback (button press, toggle)
• 200-300ms: State changes (hover, menu open)
• 300-500ms: Layout changes (accordion, modal)
• 500-800ms: Entrance animations (page load)

Easing curves (use these, not CSS defaults):

/* Recommended - natural deceleration */
--ease-out-quart: cubic-bezier(0.25, 1, 0.5, 1);    /* Smooth, refined */
--ease-out-quint: cubic-bezier(0.22, 1, 0.36, 1);   /* Slightly snappier */
--ease-out-expo: cubic-bezier(0.16, 1, 0.3, 1);     /* Confident, decisive */

/* AVOID - feel dated and tacky */
/* bounce: cubic-bezier(0.34, 1.56, 0.64, 1); */
/* elastic: cubic-bezier(0.68, -0.6, 0.32, 1.6); */

Exit animations are faster than entrances. Use ~75% of enter duration.

CSS Animations

/* Prefer for simple, declarative animations */
- transitions for state changes
- @keyframes for complex sequences
- transform and opacity for reliable movement
- blur, filters, masks, clip paths, shadows, and color shifts for premium atmospheric effects when verified smooth

JavaScript Animation

/* Use for complex, interactive animations */
- Web Animations API for programmatic control
- Framer Motion for React
- GSAP for complex sequences

Performance

• Motion materials: Use transform/opacity for reliable movement, but use blur, filters, masks, shadows, and color shifts when they materially improve the effect
• Layout safety: Avoid casual animation of layout-driving properties (width, height, top, left, margins)
• will-change: Add sparingly for known expensive animations
• Bound expensive effects: Keep blur/filter/shadow areas small or isolated, use contain where appropriate
• Monitor FPS: Ensure 60fps on target devices

Accessibility

@media (prefers-reduced-motion: reduce) {
  * {
    animation-duration: 0.01ms !important;
    animation-iteration-count: 1 !important;
    transition-duration: 0.01ms !important;
  }
}

NEVER:

• Use bounce or elastic easing curves—they feel dated and draw attention to the animation itself
• Animate layout properties casually (width, height, top, left, margins) when transform, FLIP, or grid-based techniques would work
• Use durations over 500ms for feedback—it feels laggy
• Animate without purpose—every animation needs a reason
• Ignore prefers-reduced-motion—this is an accessibility violation
• Animate everything—animation fatigue makes interfaces feel exhausting
• Block interaction during animations unless intentional

Verify Quality

Test animations thoroughly:

• Smooth at 60fps: No jank on target devices
• Feels natural: Easing curves feel organic, not robotic
• Appropriate timing: Not too fast (jarring) or too slow (laggy)
• Reduced motion works: Animations disabled or simplified appropriately
• Doesn't block: Users can interact during/after animations
• Adds value: Makes interface clearer or more delightful

Remember: Motion should enhance understanding and provide feedback, not just add decoration. Animate with purpose, respect performance constraints, and always consider accessibility. Great animation is invisible - it just makes everything feel right.

Start your response with:

──────────── ⚡ OVERDRIVE ─────────────
》》》 Entering overdrive mode...

Push an interface past conventional limits. This isn't just about visual effects. It's about using the full power of the browser to make any part of an interface feel extraordinary: a table that handles a million rows, a dialog that morphs from its trigger, a form that validates in real-time with streaming feedback, a page transition that feels cinematic.

EXTRA IMPORTANT FOR THIS COMMAND: Context determines what "extraordinary" means. A particle system on a creative portfolio is impressive. The same particle system on a settings page is embarrassing. But a settings page with instant optimistic saves and animated state transitions? That's extraordinary too. Understand the project's personality and goals before deciding what's appropriate.

Propose Before Building

This command has the highest potential to misfire. Do NOT jump straight into implementation. You MUST:

1. Think through 2-3 different directions: consider different techniques, levels of ambition, and aesthetic approaches. For each direction, briefly describe what the result would look and feel like.
2. STOP and call the AskUserQuestion tool to clarify. to present these directions and get the user's pick before writing any code. Explain trade-offs (browser support, performance cost, complexity).
3. Only proceed with the direction the user confirms.

Skipping this step risks building something embarrassing that needs to be thrown away.

Iterate with Browser Automation

Technically ambitious effects almost never work on the first try. You MUST actively use browser automation tools to preview your work, visually verify the result, and iterate. Do not assume the effect looks right, check it. Expect multiple rounds of refinement. The gap between "technically works" and "looks extraordinary" is closed through visual iteration, not code alone.

Assess What "Extraordinary" Means Here

The right kind of technical ambition depends entirely on what you're working with. Before choosing a technique, ask: what would make a user of THIS specific interface say "wow, that's nice"?

For visual/marketing surfaces

Pages, hero sections, landing pages, portfolios — the "wow" is often sensory: a scroll-driven reveal, a shader background, a cinematic page transition, generative art that responds to the cursor.

For functional UI

Tables, forms, dialogs, navigation — the "wow" is in how it FEELS: a dialog that morphs from the button that triggered it via View Transitions, a data table that renders 100k rows at 60fps via virtual scrolling, a form with streaming validation that feels instant, drag-and-drop with spring physics.

For performance-critical UI

The "wow" is invisible but felt: a search that filters 50k items without a flicker, a complex form that never blocks the main thread, an image editor that processes in near-real-time. The interface just never hesitates.

For data-heavy interfaces

Charts and dashboards — the "wow" is in fluidity: GPU-accelerated rendering via Canvas/WebGL for massive datasets, animated transitions between data states, force-directed graph layouts that settle naturally.

The common thread: something about the implementation goes beyond what users expect from a web interface. The technique serves the experience, not the other way around.

The Toolkit

Organized by what you're trying to achieve, not by technology name.

Make transitions feel cinematic

• View Transitions API (same-document: all browsers; cross-document: no Firefox) — shared element morphing between states. A list item expanding into a detail page. A button morphing into a dialog. This is the closest thing to native FLIP animations.
• @starting-style (all browsers) — animate elements from display: none to visible with CSS only, including entry keyframes
• Spring physics — natural motion with mass, tension, and damping instead of cubic-bezier. Libraries: motion (formerly Framer Motion), GSAP, or roll your own spring solver.

Tie animation to scroll position

• Scroll-driven animations (animation-timeline: scroll()) — CSS-only, no JS. Parallax, progress bars, reveal sequences all driven by scroll position. (Chrome/Edge/Safari; Firefox: flag only — always provide a static fallback)

Render beyond CSS

• WebGL (all browsers) — shader effects, post-processing, particle systems. Libraries: Three.js, OGL (lightweight), regl. Use for effects CSS can't express.
• WebGPU (Chrome/Edge; Safari partial; Firefox: flag only) — next-gen GPU compute. More powerful than WebGL but limited browser support. Always fall back to WebGL2.
• Canvas 2D / OffscreenCanvas — custom rendering, pixel manipulation, or moving heavy rendering off the main thread entirely via Web Workers + OffscreenCanvas.
• SVG filter chains — displacement maps, turbulence, morphology for organic distortion effects. CSS-animatable.

Make data feel alive

• Virtual scrolling — render only visible rows for tables/lists with tens of thousands of items. No library required for simple cases; TanStack Virtual for complex ones.
• GPU-accelerated charts — Canvas or WebGL-rendered data visualization for datasets too large for SVG/DOM. Libraries: deck.gl, regl-based custom renderers.
• Animated data transitions — morph between chart states rather than replacing. D3's transition() or View Transitions for DOM-based charts.

Animate complex properties

• @property (all browsers) — register custom CSS properties with types, enabling animation of gradients, colors, and complex values that CSS can't normally interpolate.
• Web Animations API (all browsers) — JavaScript-driven animations with the performance of CSS. Composable, cancellable, reversible. The foundation for complex choreography.

Push performance boundaries

• Web Workers — move computation off the main thread. Heavy data processing, image manipulation, search indexing — anything that would cause jank.
• OffscreenCanvas — render in a Worker thread. The main thread stays free while complex visuals render in the background.
• WASM — near-native performance for computation-heavy features. Image processing, physics simulations, codecs.

Interact with the device

• Web Audio API — spatial audio, audio-reactive visualizations, sonic feedback. Requires user gesture to start.
• Device APIs — orientation, ambient light, geolocation. Use sparingly and always with user permission.

NOTE: This command is about enhancing how an interface FEELS, not changing what a product DOES. Adding real-time collaboration, offline support, or new backend capabilities are product decisions, not UI enhancements. Focus on making existing features feel extraordinary.

Implement with Discipline

Progressive enhancement is non-negotiable

Every technique must degrade gracefully. The experience without the enhancement must still be good.

@supports (animation-timeline: scroll()) {
  .hero { animation-timeline: scroll(); }
}

if ('gpu' in navigator) { /* WebGPU */ }
else if (canvas.getContext('webgl2')) { /* WebGL2 fallback */ }
/* CSS-only fallback must still look good */

Performance rules

• Target 60fps. If dropping below 50, simplify.
• Respect prefers-reduced-motion — always. Provide a beautiful static alternative.
• Lazy-initialize heavy resources (WebGL contexts, WASM modules) only when near viewport.
• Pause off-screen rendering. Kill what you can't see.
• Test on real mid-range devices, not just your development machine.

Polish is the difference

The gap between "cool" and "extraordinary" is in the last 20% of refinement: the easing curve on a spring animation, the timing offset in a staggered reveal, the subtle secondary motion that makes a transition feel physical. Don't ship the first version that works — ship the version that feels inevitable.

NEVER:

• Ignore prefers-reduced-motion — this is an accessibility requirement, not a suggestion
• Ship effects that cause jank on mid-range devices
• Use bleeding-edge APIs without a functional fallback
• Add sound without explicit user opt-in
• Use technical ambition to mask weak design fundamentals; fix those first with other commands
• Layer multiple competing extraordinary moments — focus creates impact, excess creates noise

Verify the Result

• The wow test: Show it to someone who hasn't seen it. Do they react?
• The removal test: Take it away. Does the experience feel diminished, or does nobody notice?
• The device test: Run it on a phone, a tablet, a Chromebook. Still smooth?
• The accessibility test: Enable reduced motion. Still beautiful?
• The context test: Does this make sense for THIS brand and audience?

Remember: "Technically extraordinary" isn't about using the newest API. It's about making an interface do something users didn't think a website could do.

Motion Design

Duration: The 100/300/500 Rule

Timing matters more than easing. These durations feel right for most UI:

Exit animations are faster than entrances—use ~75% of enter duration.

Easing: Pick the Right Curve

Don't use ease. It's a compromise that's rarely optimal. Instead:

For micro-interactions, use exponential curves—they feel natural because they mimic real physics (friction, deceleration):

/* Quart out - smooth, refined (recommended default) */
--ease-out-quart: cubic-bezier(0.25, 1, 0.5, 1);

/* Quint out - slightly more dramatic */
--ease-out-quint: cubic-bezier(0.22, 1, 0.36, 1);

/* Expo out - snappy, confident */
--ease-out-expo: cubic-bezier(0.16, 1, 0.3, 1);

Avoid bounce and elastic curves. They were trendy in 2015 but now feel tacky and amateurish. Real objects don't bounce when they stop—they decelerate smoothly. Overshoot effects draw attention to the animation itself rather than the content.

Premium Motion Materials

Transform and opacity are reliable defaults, not the whole palette. Premium interfaces often need atmospheric properties: blur reveals, backdrop-filter panels, saturation or brightness shifts, shadow bloom, SVG filters, masks, clip paths, gradient-position movement, and variable font or shader-driven effects.

Use the right material for the effect:

• Transform / opacity: movement, press feedback, simple reveals, list choreography.
• Blur / filter / backdrop-filter: focus pulls, depth, glass or lens effects, softened entrances, atmospheric transitions.
• Clip path / masks: wipes, reveals, editorial cropping, product-like transitions.
• Shadow / glow / color filters: energy, affordance, focus, warmth, active state.
• Grid-template rows or FLIP-style transforms: expanding and reflowing layout without animating height directly.

The hard rule is not "transform and opacity only." The hard rule is: avoid animating layout-driving properties casually (width, height, top, left, margins), keep expensive effects bounded to small or isolated areas, and verify in-browser that the result is smooth on the target viewports. If blur/filter makes the interaction feel significantly more premium and remains smooth, use it.

Staggered Animations

Use CSS custom properties for cleaner stagger: animation-delay: calc(var(--i, 0) * 50ms) with style="--i: 0" on each item. Cap total stagger time—10 items at 50ms = 500ms total. For many items, reduce per-item delay or cap staggered count.

Reduced Motion

This is not optional. Vestibular disorders affect ~35% of adults over 40.

/* Define animations normally */
.card {
  animation: slide-up 500ms ease-out;
}

/* Provide alternative for reduced motion */
@media (prefers-reduced-motion: reduce) {
  .card {
    animation: fade-in 200ms ease-out;  /* Crossfade instead of motion */
  }
}

/* Or disable entirely */
@media (prefers-reduced-motion: reduce) {
  *, *::before, *::after {
    animation-duration: 0.01ms !important;
    transition-duration: 0.01ms !important;
  }
}

What to preserve: Functional animations like progress bars, loading spinners (slowed down), and focus indicators should still work—just without spatial movement.

Perceived Performance

Nobody cares how fast your site is—just how fast it feels. Perception can be as effective as actual performance.

The 80ms threshold: Our brains buffer sensory input for ~80ms to synchronize perception. Anything under 80ms feels instant and simultaneous. This is your target for micro-interactions.

Active vs passive time: Passive waiting (staring at a spinner) feels longer than active engagement. Strategies to shift the balance:

• Preemptive start: Begin transitions immediately while loading (iOS app zoom, skeleton UI). Users perceive work happening.
• Early completion: Show content progressively—don't wait for everything. Video buffering, progressive images, streaming HTML.
• Optimistic UI: Update the interface immediately, handle failures gracefully. Instagram likes work offline—the UI updates instantly, syncs later. Use for low-stakes actions; avoid for payments or destructive operations.

Easing affects perceived duration: Ease-in (accelerating toward completion) makes tasks feel shorter because the peak-end effect weights final moments heavily. Ease-out feels satisfying for entrances, but ease-in toward a task's end compresses perceived time.

Caution: Too-fast responses can decrease perceived value. Users may distrust instant results for complex operations (search, analysis). Sometimes a brief delay signals "real work" is happening.

Performance

Don't use will-change preemptively—only when animation is imminent (:hover, .animating). For scroll-triggered animations, use Intersection Observer instead of scroll events; unobserve after animating once. Create motion tokens for consistency (durations, easings, common transitions).

Avoid: Animating everything (animation fatigue is real). Using >500ms for UI feedback. Ignoring prefers-reduced-motion. Using animation to hide slow loading.

Persona-Based Design Testing

Test the interface through the eyes of 5 distinct user archetypes. Each persona exposes different failure modes that a single "design director" perspective would miss.

How to use: Select 2–3 personas most relevant to the interface being critiqued. Walk through the primary user action as each persona. Report specific red flags — not generic concerns.

1. Impatient Power User — "Alex"

Profile: Expert with similar products. Expects efficiency, hates hand-holding. Will find shortcuts or leave.

Behaviors:

• Skips all onboarding and instructions
• Looks for keyboard shortcuts immediately
• Tries to bulk-select, batch-edit, and automate
• Gets frustrated by required steps that feel unnecessary
• Abandons if anything feels slow or patronizing

Test Questions:

• Can Alex complete the core task in under 60 seconds?
• Are there keyboard shortcuts for common actions?
• Can onboarding be skipped entirely?
• Do modals have keyboard dismiss (Esc)?
• Is there a "power user" path (shortcuts, bulk actions)?

Red Flags (report these specifically):

• Forced tutorials or unskippable onboarding
• No keyboard navigation for primary actions
• Slow animations that can't be skipped
• One-item-at-a-time workflows where batch would be natural
• Redundant confirmation steps for low-risk actions

2. Confused First-Timer — "Jordan"

Profile: Never used this type of product. Needs guidance at every step. Will abandon rather than figure it out.

Behaviors:

• Reads all instructions carefully
• Hesitates before clicking anything unfamiliar
• Looks for help or support constantly
• Misunderstands jargon and abbreviations
• Takes the most literal interpretation of any label

Test Questions:

• Is the first action obviously clear within 5 seconds?
• Are all icons labeled with text?
• Is there contextual help at decision points?
• Does terminology assume prior knowledge?
• Is there a clear "back" or "undo" at every step?

Red Flags (report these specifically):

• Icon-only navigation with no labels
• Technical jargon without explanation
• No visible help option or guidance
• Ambiguous next steps after completing an action
• No confirmation that an action succeeded

3. Accessibility-Dependent User — "Sam"

Profile: Uses screen reader (VoiceOver/NVDA), keyboard-only navigation. May have low vision, motor impairment, or cognitive differences.

Behaviors:

• Tabs through the interface linearly
• Relies on ARIA labels and heading structure
• Cannot see hover states or visual-only indicators
• Needs adequate color contrast (4.5:1 minimum)
• May use browser zoom up to 200%

Test Questions:

• Can the entire primary flow be completed keyboard-only?
• Are all interactive elements focusable with visible focus indicators?
• Do images have meaningful alt text?
• Is color contrast WCAG AA compliant (4.5:1 for text)?
• Does the screen reader announce state changes (loading, success, errors)?

Red Flags (report these specifically):

• Click-only interactions with no keyboard alternative
• Missing or invisible focus indicators
• Meaning conveyed by color alone (red = error, green = success)
• Unlabeled form fields or buttons
• Time-limited actions without extension option
• Custom components that break screen reader flow

4. Deliberate Stress Tester — "Riley"

Profile: Methodical user who pushes interfaces beyond the happy path. Tests edge cases, tries unexpected inputs, and probes for gaps in the experience.

Behaviors:

• Tests edge cases intentionally (empty states, long strings, special characters)
• Submits forms with unexpected data (emoji, RTL text, very long values)
• Tries to break workflows by navigating backwards, refreshing mid-flow, or opening in multiple tabs
• Looks for inconsistencies between what the UI promises and what actually happens
• Documents problems methodically

Test Questions:

• What happens at the edges (0 items, 1000 items, very long text)?
• Do error states recover gracefully or leave the UI in a broken state?
• What happens on refresh mid-workflow? Is state preserved?
• Are there features that appear to work but produce broken results?
• How does the UI handle unexpected input (emoji, special chars, paste from Excel)?

Red Flags (report these specifically):

• Features that appear to work but silently fail or produce wrong results
• Error handling that exposes technical details or leaves UI in a broken state
• Empty states that show nothing useful ("No results" with no guidance)
• Workflows that lose user data on refresh or navigation
• Inconsistent behavior between similar interactions in different parts of the UI

5. Distracted Mobile User — "Casey"

Profile: Using phone one-handed on the go. Frequently interrupted. Possibly on a slow connection.

Behaviors:

• Uses thumb only — prefers bottom-of-screen actions
• Gets interrupted mid-flow and returns later
• Switches between apps frequently
• Has limited attention span and low patience
• Types as little as possible, prefers taps and selections

Test Questions:

• Are primary actions in the thumb zone (bottom half of screen)?
• Is state preserved if the user leaves and returns?
• Does it work on slow connections (3G)?
• Can forms leverage autocomplete and smart defaults?
• Are touch targets at least 44×44pt?

Red Flags (report these specifically):

• Important actions positioned at the top of the screen (unreachable by thumb)
• No state persistence — progress lost on tab switch or interruption
• Large text inputs required where selection would work
• Heavy assets loading on every page (no lazy loading)
• Tiny tap targets or targets too close together

Selecting Personas

Choose personas based on the interface type:

Project-Specific Personas

If CLAUDE.md contains a ## Design Context section (generated by impeccable teach), derive 1–2 additional personas from the audience and brand information:

1. Read the target audience description
2. Identify the primary user archetype not covered by the 5 predefined personas
3. Create a persona following this template:

### [Role] — "[Name]"

**Profile**: [2-3 key characteristics derived from Design Context]

**Behaviors**: [3-4 specific behaviors based on the described audience]

**Red Flags**: [3-4 things that would alienate this specific user type]

Only generate project-specific personas when real Design Context data is available. Don't invent audience details — use the 5 predefined personas when no context exists.

Typography

Classic Typography Principles

Vertical Rhythm

Your line-height should be the base unit for ALL vertical spacing. If body text has line-height: 1.5 on 16px type (= 24px), spacing values should be multiples of 24px. This creates subconscious harmony—text and space share a mathematical foundation.

Modular Scale & Hierarchy

The common mistake: too many font sizes that are too close together (14px, 15px, 16px, 18px...). This creates muddy hierarchy.

Use fewer sizes with more contrast. A 5-size system covers most needs:

Popular ratios: 1.25 (major third), 1.333 (perfect fourth), 1.5 (perfect fifth). Pick one and commit.

Readability & Measure

Use ch units for character-based measure (max-width: 65ch). Line-height scales inversely with line length—narrow columns need tighter leading, wide columns need more.

Non-obvious: Light text on dark backgrounds needs compensation on three axes, not just one. Bump line-height by 0.05–0.1, add a touch of letter-spacing (0.01–0.02em), and optionally step the body weight up one notch (regular → medium). The perceived weight drops across all three; fix all three.

Paragraph rhythm: Pick either space between paragraphs OR first-line indentation. Never both. Digital usually wants space; editorial/long-form can justify indent-only.

Font Selection & Pairing

The tactical selection procedure and the reflex-reject list live in reference/brand.md under Font selection procedure and Reflex-reject list (loaded for brand-register tasks). The rest of this section covers the adjacent knowledge: anti-reflex corrections, system font use, and pairing rules.

Anti-reflexes worth defending against

• A technical/utilitarian brief does NOT need a serif "for warmth." Most tech tools should look like tech tools.
• An editorial/premium brief does NOT need the same expressive serif everyone is using right now. Premium can be Swiss-modern, can be neo-grotesque, can be a literal monospace, can be a quiet humanist sans.
• A children's product does NOT need a rounded display font. Kids' books use real type.
• A "modern" brief does NOT need a geometric sans. The most modern thing you can do is not use the font everyone else is using.

System fonts are underrated: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", system-ui looks native, loads instantly, and is highly readable. Consider this for apps where performance > personality.

Hero anti-patterns

Two structural shapes have become category-defining tells of late-2025/early-2026 AI-generated marketing pages. Both warrant their own check.

• Italic-serif display headline. Oversized italic serif (Fraunces, Recoleta, Newsreader-italic, Playfair, Cormorant, Tiempos-italic) at hero scale as the primary h1. Reads as taste in isolation, but is now the universal AI-startup landing page hero. The brand register's editorial / magazine-cover lane may legitimately want this — judge by register. For everything else: set roman, or move to a non-serif display face. Emphasis via weight, size, or a single italicized word inside a roman headline (which the detector explicitly does not flag).
• Hero eyebrow / pill chip. A tiny uppercase letter-spaced label sitting as a sibling immediately above an oversized hero headline (e.g. AI-NATIVE WORKFLOWS over Build faster with intelligent workflows), or the same shape rendered as a pill chip with border-radius: 999px and a tinted background. Now in nearly every newly-shipped SaaS landing page. Drop the eyebrow, integrate the kicker into the headline, or repurpose the slot as a navigation breadcrumb.

Pairing Principles

The non-obvious truth: You often don't need a second font. One well-chosen font family in multiple weights creates cleaner hierarchy than two competing typefaces. Only add a second font when you need genuine contrast (e.g., display headlines + body serif).

When pairing, contrast on multiple axes:

• Serif + Sans (structure contrast)
• Geometric + Humanist (personality contrast)
• Condensed display + Wide body (proportion contrast)

Never pair fonts that are similar but not identical (e.g., two geometric sans-serifs). They create visual tension without clear hierarchy.

Web Font Loading

The layout shift problem: fonts load late, text reflows, and users see content jump. Here's the fix:

/* 1. Use font-display: swap for visibility */
@font-face {
  font-family: 'CustomFont';
  src: url('font.woff2') format('woff2');
  font-display: swap;
}

/* 2. Match fallback metrics to minimize shift */
@font-face {
  font-family: 'CustomFont-Fallback';
  src: local('Arial');
  size-adjust: 105%;        /* Scale to match x-height */
  ascent-override: 90%;     /* Match ascender height */
  descent-override: 20%;    /* Match descender depth */
  line-gap-override: 10%;   /* Match line spacing */
}

body {
  font-family: 'CustomFont', 'CustomFont-Fallback', sans-serif;
}

Tools like Fontaine calculate these overrides automatically.

swap vs optional: swap shows fallback text immediately and FOUT-swaps when the web font arrives. optional uses the fallback if the web font misses a small load budget (~100ms) and avoids the shift entirely. Pick optional when zero layout shift matters more than seeing the branded font on slow networks.

Preload the critical weight only: typically the regular-weight body font used above the fold. Preloading every weight costs more bandwidth than it saves.

Variable fonts for 3+ weights or styles: a single variable font file is usually smaller than three static weight files, gives fractional weight control, and pairs well with font-optical-sizing: auto. For 1–2 weights, static is fine.

Modern Web Typography

Fluid Type

Fluid typography via clamp(min, preferred, max) scales text smoothly with the viewport. The middle value (e.g., 5vw + 1rem) controls scaling rate—higher vw = faster scaling. Add a rem offset so it doesn't collapse to 0 on small screens.

Use fluid type for: Headings and display text on marketing/content pages where text dominates the layout and needs to breathe across viewport sizes.

Use fixed rem scales for: App UIs, dashboards, and data-dense interfaces. No major app design system (Material, Polaris, Primer, Carbon) uses fluid type in product UI — fixed scales with optional breakpoint adjustments give the spatial predictability that container-based layouts need. Body text should also be fixed even on marketing pages, since the size difference across viewports is too small to warrant it.

Bound your clamp(): keep max-size ≤ ~2.5 × min-size. Wider ratios break the browser's zoom and reflow behaviour and make large viewports feel like the page is shouting.

Scale container width and font-size together so effective character measure stays in the 45–75ch band at every viewport. A heading that widens faster than its container drifts out of the comfortable measure at the top end.

OpenType Features

Most developers don't know these exist. Use them for polish:

/* Tabular numbers for data alignment */
.data-table { font-variant-numeric: tabular-nums; }

/* Proper fractions */
.recipe-amount { font-variant-numeric: diagonal-fractions; }

/* Small caps for abbreviations */
abbr { font-variant-caps: all-small-caps; }

/* Disable ligatures in code */
code { font-variant-ligatures: none; }

/* Enable kerning (usually on by default, but be explicit) */
body { font-kerning: normal; }

Check what features your font supports at Wakamai Fondue.

Rendering polish

/* Even out heading line lengths (browser picks better break points) */
h1, h2, h3 { text-wrap: balance; }

/* Reduce orphans and ragged endings in long prose */
article p { text-wrap: pretty; }

/* Variable fonts: pick the right optical-size master automatically */
body { font-optical-sizing: auto; }

ALL-CAPS tracking: capitals sit too close at default spacing. Add 5–12% letter-spacing (letter-spacing: 0.05em to 0.12em) to short all-caps labels, eyebrows, and small headings. Real small caps (via font-variant-caps) need the same treatment, slightly gentler.

Typography System Architecture

Name tokens semantically (--text-body, --text-heading), not by value (--font-size-16). Include font stacks, size scale, weights, line-heights, and letter-spacing in your token system.

Accessibility Considerations

Beyond contrast ratios (which are well-documented), consider:

• Never disable zoom: user-scalable=no breaks accessibility. If your layout breaks at 200% zoom, fix the layout.
• Use rem/em for font sizes: This respects user browser settings. Never px for body text.
• Minimum 16px body text: Smaller than this strains eyes and fails WCAG on mobile.
• Adequate touch targets: Text links need padding or line-height that creates 44px+ tap targets.

Avoid: More than 2-3 font families per project. Skipping fallback font definitions. Ignoring font loading performance (FOUT/FOIT). Using decorative fonts for body text.

Interaction Design

The Eight Interactive States

Every interactive element needs these states designed:

The common miss: Designing hover without focus, or vice versa. They're different. Keyboard users never see hover states.

Focus Rings: Do Them Right

Never outline: none without replacement. It's an accessibility violation. Instead, use :focus-visible to show focus only for keyboard users:

/* Hide focus ring for mouse/touch */
button:focus {
  outline: none;
}

/* Show focus ring for keyboard */
button:focus-visible {
  outline: 2px solid var(--color-accent);
  outline-offset: 2px;
}

Focus ring design:

• High contrast (3:1 minimum against adjacent colors)
• 2-3px thick
• Offset from element (not inside it)
• Consistent across all interactive elements

Form Design: The Non-Obvious

Placeholders aren't labels—they disappear on input. Always use visible <label> elements. Validate on blur, not on every keystroke (exception: password strength). Place errors below fields with aria-describedby connecting them.

Loading States

Optimistic updates: Show success immediately, rollback on failure. Use for low-stakes actions (likes, follows), not payments or destructive actions. Skeleton screens > spinners—they preview content shape and feel faster than generic spinners.

Modals: The Inert Approach

Focus trapping in modals used to require complex JavaScript. Now use the inert attribute:

<!-- When modal is open -->
<main inert>
  <!-- Content behind modal can't be focused or clicked -->
</main>
<dialog open>
  <h2>Modal Title</h2>
  <!-- Focus stays inside modal -->
</dialog>

Or use the native <dialog> element:

const dialog = document.querySelector('dialog');
dialog.showModal();  // Opens with focus trap, closes on Escape

The Popover API

For tooltips, dropdowns, and non-modal overlays, use native popovers:

<button popovertarget="menu">Open menu</button>
<div id="menu" popover>
  <button>Option 1</button>
  <button>Option 2</button>
</div>

Benefits: Light-dismiss (click outside closes), proper stacking, no z-index wars, accessible by default.

Dropdown & Overlay Positioning

Dropdowns rendered with position: absolute inside a container that has overflow: hidden or overflow: auto will be clipped. This is the single most common dropdown bug in generated code.

CSS Anchor Positioning

The modern solution uses the CSS Anchor Positioning API to tether an overlay to its trigger without JavaScript:

.trigger {
  anchor-name: --menu-trigger;
}

.dropdown {
  position: fixed;
  position-anchor: --menu-trigger;
  position-area: block-end span-inline-end;
  margin-top: 4px;
}

/* Flip above if no room below */
@position-try --flip-above {
  position-area: block-start span-inline-end;
  margin-bottom: 4px;
}

Because the dropdown uses position: fixed, it escapes any overflow clipping on ancestor elements. The @position-try block handles viewport edges automatically. Browser support: Chrome 125+, Edge 125+. Not yet in Firefox or Safari - use a fallback for those browsers.

Popover + Anchor Combo

Combining the Popover API with anchor positioning gives you stacking, light-dismiss, accessibility, and correct positioning in one pattern:

<button popovertarget="menu" class="trigger">Open</button>
<div id="menu" popover class="dropdown">
  <button>Option 1</button>
  <button>Option 2</button>
</div>

The popover attribute places the element in the top layer, which sits above all other content regardless of z-index or overflow. No portal needed.

Portal / Teleport Pattern

In component frameworks, render the dropdown at the document root and position it with JavaScript:

• React: createPortal(dropdown, document.body)
• Vue: <Teleport to="body">
• Svelte: Use a portal library or mount to document.body

Calculate position from the trigger's getBoundingClientRect(), then apply position: fixed with top and left values. Recalculate on scroll and resize.

Fixed Positioning Fallback

For browsers without anchor positioning support, position: fixed with manual coordinates avoids overflow clipping:

.dropdown {
  position: fixed;
  /* top/left set via JS from trigger's getBoundingClientRect() */
}

Check viewport boundaries before rendering. If the dropdown would overflow the bottom edge, flip it above the trigger. If it would overflow the right edge, align it to the trigger's right side instead.

Anti-Patterns

• position: absolute inside overflow: hidden - The dropdown will be clipped. Use position: fixed or the top layer instead.
• Arbitrary z-index values like z-index: 9999 - Use a semantic z-index scale: dropdown (100) -> sticky (200) -> modal-backdrop (300) -> modal (400) -> toast (500) -> tooltip (600).
• Rendering dropdown markup inline without an escape hatch from the parent's stacking context. Either use popover (top layer), a portal, or position: fixed.

Destructive Actions: Undo > Confirm

Undo is better than confirmation dialogs—users click through confirmations mindlessly. Remove from UI immediately, show undo toast, actually delete after toast expires. Use confirmation only for truly irreversible actions (account deletion), high-cost actions, or batch operations.

Keyboard Navigation Patterns

Roving Tabindex

For component groups (tabs, menu items, radio groups), one item is tabbable; arrow keys move within:

<div role="tablist">
  <button role="tab" tabindex="0">Tab 1</button>
  <button role="tab" tabindex="-1">Tab 2</button>
  <button role="tab" tabindex="-1">Tab 3</button>
</div>

Arrow keys move tabindex="0" between items. Tab moves to the next component entirely.

Skip Links

Provide skip links (<a href="#main-content">Skip to main content</a>) for keyboard users to jump past navigation. Hide off-screen, show on focus.

Gesture Discoverability

Swipe-to-delete and similar gestures are invisible. Hint at their existence:

• Partially reveal: Show delete button peeking from edge
• Onboarding: Coach marks on first use
• Alternative: Always provide a visible fallback (menu with "Delete")

Don't rely on gestures as the only way to perform actions.

Avoid: Removing focus indicators without alternatives. Using placeholder text as labels. Touch targets <44x44px. Generic error messages. Custom controls without ARIA/keyboard support.

Color & Contrast

Color Spaces: Use OKLCH

Stop using HSL. Use OKLCH (or LCH) instead. It's perceptually uniform, meaning equal steps in lightness look equal—unlike HSL where 50% lightness in yellow looks bright while 50% in blue looks dark.

The OKLCH function takes three components: oklch(lightness chroma hue) where lightness is 0-100%, chroma is roughly 0-0.4, and hue is 0-360. To build a primary color and its lighter / darker variants, hold the chroma+hue roughly constant and vary the lightness — but reduce chroma as you approach white or black, because high chroma at extreme lightness looks garish.

The hue you pick is a brand decision and should not come from a default. Do not reach for blue (hue 250) or warm orange (hue 60) by reflex — those are the dominant AI-design defaults, not the right answer for any specific brand.

Building Functional Palettes

Tinted Neutrals

Pure gray is dead. A neutral with zero chroma feels lifeless next to a colored brand. Add a tiny chroma value (0.005-0.015) to all your neutrals, hued toward whatever your brand color is. The chroma is small enough not to read as "tinted" consciously, but it creates subconscious cohesion between brand color and UI surfaces.

The hue you tint toward should come from THIS project's brand, not from a "warm = friendly, cool = tech" formula. If your brand color is teal, your neutrals lean toward teal. If your brand color is amber, they lean toward amber. The point is cohesion with the SPECIFIC brand, not a stock palette.

Avoid the trap of always tinting toward warm orange or always tinting toward cool blue. Those are the two laziest defaults and they create their own monoculture across projects.

Palette Structure

A complete system needs:

Skip secondary/tertiary unless you need them. Most apps work fine with one accent color. Adding more creates decision fatigue and visual noise.

The 60-30-10 Rule (Applied Correctly)

This rule is about visual weight, not pixel count:

• 60%: Neutral backgrounds, white space, base surfaces
• 30%: Secondary colors—text, borders, inactive states
• 10%: Accent—CTAs, highlights, focus states

The common mistake: using the accent color everywhere because it's "the brand color." Accent colors work because they're rare. Overuse kills their power.

Contrast & Accessibility

WCAG Requirements

The gotcha: Placeholder text still needs 4.5:1. That light gray placeholder you see everywhere? Usually fails WCAG.

Dangerous Color Combinations

These commonly fail contrast or cause readability issues:

• Light gray text on white (the #1 accessibility fail)
• Gray text on any colored background—gray looks washed out and dead on color. Use a darker shade of the background color, or transparency
• Red text on green background (or vice versa)—8% of men can't distinguish these
• Blue text on red background (vibrates visually)
• Yellow text on white (almost always fails)
• Thin light text on images (unpredictable contrast)

Never Use Pure Gray or Pure Black

Pure gray (oklch(50% 0 0)) and pure black (#000) don't exist in nature—real shadows and surfaces always have a color cast. Even a chroma of 0.005-0.01 is enough to feel natural without being obviously tinted. (See tinted neutrals example above.)

Testing

Don't trust your eyes. Use tools:

• WebAIM Contrast Checker
• Browser DevTools → Rendering → Emulate vision deficiencies
• Polypane for real-time testing

Theming: Light & Dark Mode

Dark Mode Is Not Inverted Light Mode

You can't just swap colors. Dark mode requires different design decisions:

In dark mode, depth comes from surface lightness, not shadow. Build a 3-step surface scale where higher elevations are lighter (e.g. 15% / 20% / 25% lightness). Use the SAME hue and chroma as your brand color (whatever it is for THIS project — do not reach for blue) and only vary the lightness. Reduce body text weight slightly (e.g. 350 instead of 400) because light text on dark reads as heavier than dark text on light.

Token Hierarchy

Use two layers: primitive tokens (--blue-500) and semantic tokens (--color-primary: var(--blue-500)). For dark mode, only redefine the semantic layer—primitives stay the same.

Alpha Is A Design Smell

Heavy use of transparency (rgba, hsla) usually means an incomplete palette. Alpha creates unpredictable contrast, performance overhead, and inconsistency. Define explicit overlay colors for each context instead. Exception: focus rings and interactive states where see-through is needed.

Avoid: Relying on color alone to convey information. Creating palettes without clear roles for each color. Using pure black (#000) for large areas. Skipping color blindness testing (8% of men affected).

Cognitive Load Assessment

Cognitive load is the total mental effort required to use an interface. Overloaded users make mistakes, get frustrated, and leave. This reference helps identify and fix cognitive overload.

Three Types of Cognitive Load

Intrinsic Load — The Task Itself

Complexity inherent to what the user is trying to do. You can't eliminate this, but you can structure it.

Manage it by:

• Breaking complex tasks into discrete steps
• Providing scaffolding (templates, defaults, examples)
• Progressive disclosure — show what's needed now, hide the rest
• Grouping related decisions together

Extraneous Load — Bad Design

Mental effort caused by poor design choices. Eliminate this ruthlessly — it's pure waste.

Common sources:

• Confusing navigation that requires mental mapping
• Unclear labels that force users to guess meaning
• Visual clutter competing for attention
• Inconsistent patterns that prevent learning
• Unnecessary steps between user intent and result

Germane Load — Learning Effort

Mental effort spent building understanding. This is good cognitive load — it leads to mastery.

Support it by:

• Progressive disclosure that reveals complexity gradually
• Consistent patterns that reward learning
• Feedback that confirms correct understanding
• Onboarding that teaches through action, not walls of text

Cognitive Load Checklist

Evaluate the interface against these 8 items:

• Single focus: Can the user complete their primary task without distraction from competing elements?
• Chunking: Is information presented in digestible groups (≤4 items per group)?
• Grouping: Are related items visually grouped together (proximity, borders, shared background)?
• Visual hierarchy: Is it immediately clear what's most important on the screen?
• One thing at a time: Can the user focus on a single decision before moving to the next?
• Minimal choices: Are decisions simplified (≤4 visible options at any decision point)?
• Working memory: Does the user need to remember information from a previous screen to act on the current one?
• Progressive disclosure: Is complexity revealed only when the user needs it?

Scoring: Count the failed items. 0–1 failures = low cognitive load (good). 2–3 = moderate (address soon). 4+ = high cognitive load (critical fix needed).

The Working Memory Rule

Humans can hold ≤4 items in working memory at once (Miller's Law revised by Cowan, 2001).

At any decision point, count the number of distinct options, actions, or pieces of information a user must simultaneously consider:

• ≤4 items: Within working memory limits — manageable
• 5–7 items: Pushing the boundary — consider grouping or progressive disclosure
• 8+ items: Overloaded — users will skip, misclick, or abandon

Practical applications:

• Navigation menus: ≤5 top-level items (group the rest under clear categories)
• Form sections: ≤4 fields visible per group before a visual break
• Action buttons: 1 primary, 1–2 secondary, group the rest in a menu
• Dashboard widgets: ≤4 key metrics visible without scrolling
• Pricing tiers: ≤3 options (more causes analysis paralysis)

Common Cognitive Load Violations

1. The Wall of Options

Problem: Presenting 10+ choices at once with no hierarchy. Fix: Group into categories, highlight recommended, use progressive disclosure.

2. The Memory Bridge

Problem: User must remember info from step 1 to complete step 3. Fix: Keep relevant context visible, or repeat it where it's needed.

3. The Hidden Navigation

Problem: User must build a mental map of where things are. Fix: Always show current location (breadcrumbs, active states, progress indicators).

4. The Jargon Barrier

Problem: Technical or domain language forces translation effort. Fix: Use plain language. If domain terms are unavoidable, define them inline.

5. The Visual Noise Floor

Problem: Every element has the same visual weight — nothing stands out. Fix: Establish clear hierarchy: one primary element, 2–3 secondary, everything else muted.

6. The Inconsistent Pattern

Problem: Similar actions work differently in different places. Fix: Standardize interaction patterns. Same type of action = same type of UI.

7. The Multi-Task Demand

Problem: Interface requires processing multiple simultaneous inputs (reading + deciding + navigating). Fix: Sequence the steps. Let the user do one thing at a time.

8. The Context Switch

Problem: User must jump between screens/tabs/modals to gather info for a single decision. Fix: Co-locate the information needed for each decision. Reduce back-and-forth.

Additional context needed: what's appropriate for the domain (playful vs professional vs quirky vs elegant).

Identify opportunities to add moments of joy, personality, and unexpected polish that transform functional interfaces into delightful experiences.

Register

Brand: delight can be distributed — copy voice, section transitions, discovery rewards, seasonal touches, personality across the whole surface.

Product: delight at specific moments, not pages. Completion, first-time actions, error recovery, milestone crossings. Reliability and consistency carry the rest of the experience; delight pushed everywhere reads as noise.

Assess Delight Opportunities

Identify where delight would enhance (not distract from) the experience:

1. Find natural delight moments:

   • Success states: Completed actions (save, send, publish)
   • Empty states: First-time experiences, onboarding
   • Loading states: Waiting periods that could be entertaining
   • Achievements: Milestones, streaks, completions
   • Interactions: Hover states, clicks, drags
   • Errors: Softening frustrating moments
   • Easter eggs: Hidden discoveries for curious users

2. Understand the context:

   • What's the brand personality? (Playful? Professional? Quirky? Elegant?)
   • Who's the audience? (Tech-savvy? Creative? Corporate?)
   • What's the emotional context? (Accomplishment? Exploration? Frustration?)
   • What's appropriate? (Banking app ≠ gaming app)

3. Define delight strategy:

   • Subtle sophistication: Refined micro-interactions (luxury brands)
   • Playful personality: Whimsical illustrations and copy (consumer apps)
   • Helpful surprises: Anticipating needs before users ask (productivity tools)
   • Sensory richness: Satisfying sounds, smooth animations (creative tools)

If any of these are unclear from the codebase, STOP and call the AskUserQuestion tool to clarify.

CRITICAL: Delight should enhance usability, never obscure it. If users notice the delight more than accomplishing their goal, you've gone too far.

Delight Principles

Follow these guidelines:

Delight Amplifies, Never Blocks

• Delight moments should be quick (< 1 second)
• Never delay core functionality for delight
• Make delight skippable or subtle
• Respect user's time and task focus

Surprise and Discovery

• Hide delightful details for users to discover
• Reward exploration and curiosity
• Don't announce every delight moment
• Let users share discoveries with others

Appropriate to Context

• Match delight to emotional moment (celebrate success, empathize with errors)
• Respect the user's state (don't be playful during critical errors)
• Match brand personality and audience expectations
• Cultural sensitivity (what's delightful varies by culture)

Compound Over Time

• Delight should remain fresh with repeated use
• Vary responses (not same animation every time)
• Reveal deeper layers with continued use
• Build anticipation through patterns

Delight Techniques

Add personality and joy through these methods:

Micro-interactions & Animation

Button delight:

/* Satisfying button press */
.button {
  transition: transform 0.1s, box-shadow 0.1s;
}
.button:active {
  transform: translateY(2px);
  box-shadow: 0 2px 4px rgba(0,0,0,0.2);
}

/* Ripple effect on click */
/* Smooth lift on hover */
.button:hover {
  transform: translateY(-2px);
  transition: transform 0.2s cubic-bezier(0.25, 1, 0.5, 1); /* ease-out-quart */
}

Loading delight:

• Playful loading animations (not just spinners)
• Personality in loading messages (write product-specific ones, not generic AI filler)
• Progress indication with encouraging messages
• Skeleton screens with subtle animations

Success animations:

• Checkmark draw animation
• Confetti burst for major achievements
• Gentle scale + fade for confirmation
• Satisfying sound effects (subtle)

Hover surprises:

• Icons that animate on hover
• Color shifts or glow effects
• Tooltip reveals with personality
• Cursor changes (custom cursors for branded experiences)

Personality in Copy

Playful error messages:

"Error 404"
"This page is playing hide and seek. (And winning)"

"Connection failed"
"Looks like the internet took a coffee break. Want to retry?"

Encouraging empty states:

"No projects"
"Your canvas awaits. Create something amazing."

"No messages"
"Inbox zero! You're crushing it today."

Playful labels & tooltips:

"Delete"
"Send to void" (for playful brand)

"Help"
"Rescue me" (tooltip)

IMPORTANT: Match copy personality to brand. Banks shouldn't be wacky, but they can be warm.

Illustrations & Visual Personality

Custom illustrations:

• Empty state illustrations (not stock icons)
• Error state illustrations (friendly monsters, quirky characters)
• Loading state illustrations (animated characters)
• Success state illustrations (celebrations)

Icon personality:

• Custom icon set matching brand personality
• Animated icons (subtle motion on hover/click)
• Illustrative icons (more detailed than generic)
• Consistent style across all icons

Background effects:

• Subtle particle effects
• Gradient mesh backgrounds
• Geometric patterns
• Parallax depth
• Time-of-day themes (morning vs night)

Satisfying Interactions

Drag and drop delight:

• Lift effect on drag (shadow, scale)
• Snap animation when dropped
• Satisfying placement sound
• Undo toast ("Dropped in wrong place? [Undo]")

Toggle switches:

• Smooth slide with spring physics
• Color transition
• Haptic feedback on mobile
• Optional sound effect

Progress & achievements:

• Streak counters with celebratory milestones
• Progress bars that "celebrate" at 100%
• Badge unlocks with animation
• Playful stats ("You're on fire! 5 days in a row")

Form interactions:

• Input fields that animate on focus
• Checkboxes with a satisfying scale pulse when checked
• Success state that celebrates valid input
• Auto-grow textareas

Sound Design

Subtle audio cues (when appropriate):

• Notification sounds (distinctive but not annoying)
• Success sounds (satisfying "ding")
• Error sounds (empathetic, not harsh)
• Typing sounds for chat/messaging
• Ambient background audio (very subtle)

IMPORTANT:

• Respect system sound settings
• Provide mute option
• Keep volumes quiet (subtle cues, not alarms)
• Don't play on every interaction (sound fatigue is real)

Easter Eggs & Hidden Delights

Discovery rewards:

• Konami code unlocks special theme
• Hidden keyboard shortcuts (Cmd+K for special features)
• Hover reveals on logos or illustrations
• Alt text jokes on images (for screen reader users too!)
• Console messages for developers ("Like what you see? We're hiring!")

Seasonal touches:

• Holiday themes (subtle, tasteful)
• Seasonal color shifts
• Weather-based variations
• Time-based changes (dark at night, light during day)

Contextual personality:

• Different messages based on time of day
• Responses to specific user actions
• Randomized variations (not same every time)
• Progressive reveals with continued use

Loading & Waiting States

Make waiting engaging:

• Interesting loading messages that rotate
• Progress bars with personality
• Mini-games during long loads
• Fun facts or tips while waiting
• Countdown with encouraging messages

Loading messages — write ones specific to your product, not generic AI filler:
- "Crunching your latest numbers..."
- "Syncing with your team's changes..."
- "Preparing your dashboard..."
- "Checking for updates since yesterday..."

WARNING: Avoid cliched loading messages like "Herding pixels", "Teaching robots to dance", "Consulting the magic 8-ball", "Counting backwards from infinity". These are AI-slop copy — instantly recognizable as machine-generated. Write messages that are specific to what your product actually does.

Celebration Moments

Success celebrations:

• Confetti for major milestones
• Animated checkmarks for completions
• Progress bar celebrations at 100%
• "Achievement unlocked" style notifications
• Personalized messages ("You published your 10th article!")

Milestone recognition:

• First-time actions get special treatment
• Streak tracking and celebration
• Progress toward goals
• Anniversary celebrations

Implementation Patterns

Animation libraries:

• Framer Motion (React)
• GSAP (universal)
• Lottie (After Effects animations)
• Canvas confetti (party effects)

Sound libraries:

• Howler.js (audio management)
• Use-sound (React hook)

Physics libraries:

• React Spring (spring physics)
• Popmotion (animation primitives)

IMPORTANT: File size matters. Compress images, optimize animations, lazy load delight features.

NEVER:

• Delay core functionality for delight
• Force users through delightful moments (make skippable)
• Use delight to hide poor UX
• Overdo it (less is more)
• Ignore accessibility (animate responsibly, provide alternatives)
• Make every interaction delightful (special moments should be special)
• Sacrifice performance for delight
• Be inappropriate for context (read the room)

Verify Delight Quality

Test that delight actually delights:

• User reactions: Do users smile? Share screenshots?
• Doesn't annoy: Still pleasant after 100th time?
• Doesn't block: Can users opt out or skip?
• Performant: No jank, no slowdown
• Appropriate: Matches brand and context
• Accessible: Works with reduced motion, screen readers

Remember: Delight is the difference between a tool and an experience. Add personality, surprise users positively, and create moments worth sharing. But always respect usability - delight should enhance, never obstruct.

Assess and improve layout and spacing that feels monotonous, crowded, or structurally weak — turning generic arrangements into intentional, rhythmic compositions.

Register

Brand: asymmetric compositions, fluid spacing with clamp(), intentional grid-breaking for emphasis. Rhythm through contrast — tight groupings paired with generous separations.

Product: predictable grids, consistent densities, familiar navigation patterns. Responsive behavior is structural (collapse sidebar, responsive table), not fluid typography. Consistency IS an affordance.

Assess Current Layout

Analyze what's weak about the current spatial design:

1. Spacing:

   • Is spacing consistent or arbitrary? (Random padding/margin values)
   • Is all spacing the same? (Equal padding everywhere = no rhythm)
   • Are related elements grouped tightly, with generous space between groups?

2. Visual hierarchy:

   • Apply the squint test: blur your (metaphorical) eyes — can you still identify the most important element, second most important, and clear groupings?
   • Is hierarchy achieved effectively? (Space and weight alone can be enough — but is the current approach working?)
   • Does whitespace guide the eye to what matters?

3. Grid & structure:

   • Is there a clear underlying structure, or does the layout feel random?
   • Are identical card grids used everywhere? (Icon + heading + text, repeated endlessly)
   • Is everything centered? (Left-aligned with asymmetric layouts feels more designed, but not a hard and fast rule)

4. Rhythm & variety:

   • Does the layout have visual rhythm? (Alternating tight/generous spacing)
   • Is every section structured the same way? (Monotonous repetition)
   • Are there intentional moments of surprise or emphasis?

5. Density:

   • Is the layout too cramped? (Not enough breathing room)
   • Is the layout too sparse? (Excessive whitespace without purpose)
   • Does density match the content type? (Data-dense UIs need tighter spacing; marketing pages need more air)

CRITICAL: Layout problems are often the root cause of interfaces feeling "off" even when colors and fonts are fine. Space is a design material — use it with intention.

Plan Layout Improvements

Consult the spatial design reference for detailed guidance on grids, rhythm, and container queries.

Create a systematic plan:

• Spacing system: Use a consistent scale — whether that's a framework's built-in scale (e.g., Tailwind), rem-based tokens, or a custom system. The specific values matter less than consistency.
• Hierarchy strategy: How will space communicate importance?
• Layout approach: What structure fits the content? Flex for 1D, Grid for 2D, named areas for complex page layouts.
• Rhythm: Where should spacing be tight vs generous?

Improve Layout Systematically

Establish a Spacing System

• Use a consistent spacing scale — framework scales (Tailwind, etc.), rem-based tokens, or a custom scale all work. What matters is that values come from a defined set, not arbitrary numbers.
• Name tokens semantically if using custom properties: --space-xs through --space-xl, not --spacing-8
• Use gap for sibling spacing instead of margins — eliminates margin collapse hacks
• Apply clamp() for fluid spacing that breathes on larger screens

Create Visual Rhythm

• Tight grouping for related elements (8-12px between siblings)
• Generous separation between distinct sections (48-96px)
• Varied spacing within sections — not every row needs the same gap
• Asymmetric compositions — break the predictable centered-content pattern when it makes sense

Choose the Right Layout Tool

• Use Flexbox for 1D layouts: Rows of items, nav bars, button groups, card contents, most component internals. Flex is simpler and more appropriate for the majority of layout tasks.
• Use Grid for 2D layouts: Page-level structure, dashboards, data-dense interfaces, anything where rows AND columns need coordinated control.
• Don't default to Grid when Flexbox with flex-wrap would be simpler and more flexible.
• Use repeat(auto-fit, minmax(280px, 1fr)) for responsive grids without breakpoints.
• Use named grid areas (grid-template-areas) for complex page layouts — redefine at breakpoints.

Break Card Grid Monotony

• Don't default to card grids for everything — spacing and alignment create visual grouping naturally
• Use cards only when content is truly distinct and actionable — never nest cards inside cards
• Vary card sizes, span columns, or mix cards with non-card content to break repetition

Strengthen Visual Hierarchy

• Use the fewest dimensions needed for clear hierarchy. Space alone can be enough — generous whitespace around an element draws the eye. Some of the most sophisticated designs achieve rhythm with just space and weight. Add color or size contrast only when simpler means aren't sufficient.
• Be aware of reading flow — in LTR languages, the eye naturally scans top-left to bottom-right, but primary action placement depends on context (e.g., bottom-right in dialogs, top in navigation).
• Create clear content groupings through proximity and separation.

Manage Depth & Elevation

• Create a semantic z-index scale (dropdown → sticky → modal-backdrop → modal → toast → tooltip)
• Build a consistent shadow scale (sm → md → lg → xl) — shadows should be subtle
• Use elevation to reinforce hierarchy, not as decoration

Optical Adjustments

• If an icon looks visually off-center despite being geometrically centered, nudge it — but only if you're confident it actually looks wrong. Don't adjust speculatively.

NEVER:

• Use arbitrary spacing values outside your scale
• Make all spacing equal — variety creates hierarchy
• Wrap everything in cards — not everything needs a container
• Nest cards inside cards — use spacing and dividers for hierarchy within
• Use identical card grids everywhere (icon + heading + text, repeated)
• Center everything — left-aligned with asymmetry feels more designed
• Default to the hero metric layout (big number, small label, stats, gradient) as a template. If showing real user data, a prominent metric can work — but it should display actual data, not decorative numbers.
• Default to CSS Grid when Flexbox would be simpler — use the simplest tool for the job
• Use arbitrary z-index values (999, 9999) — build a semantic scale

Verify Layout Improvements

• Squint test: Can you identify primary, secondary, and groupings with blurred vision?
• Rhythm: Does the page have a satisfying beat of tight and generous spacing?
• Hierarchy: Is the most important content obvious within 2 seconds?
• Breathing room: Does the layout feel comfortable, not cramped or wasteful?
• Consistency: Is the spacing system applied uniformly?
• Responsiveness: Does the layout adapt gracefully across screen sizes?

Remember: Space is the most underused design tool. A layout with the right rhythm and hierarchy can make even simple content feel polished and intentional.

Live-mode signature params

Each variant MUST declare a density param. Drive all spacing tokens in the variant's scoped CSS through calc(var(--p-density, 1) * <base>) — paddings, gaps, column widths. Users slide from airy to packed and see layout re-breathe with no regeneration.

{"id":"density","kind":"range","min":0.6,"max":1.4,"step":0.05,"default":1,"label":"Density"}

For variants whose topology genuinely changes (stacked vs. side-by-side, grid vs. bento), use a steps param whose scoped CSS branches via :scope[data-p-structure="X"]. One structure param + one density param is a powerful combo; resist adding a third.

{"id":"structure","kind":"steps","default":"grid","label":"Structure","options":[
  {"value":"stacked","label":"Stacked"},
  {"value":"grid","label":"Grid"},
  {"value":"bento","label":"Bento"}
]}

See reference/live.md for the full params contract.

Responsive Design

Mobile-First: Write It Right

Start with base styles for mobile, use min-width queries to layer complexity. Desktop-first (max-width) means mobile loads unnecessary styles first.

Breakpoints: Content-Driven

Don't chase device sizes—let content tell you where to break. Start narrow, stretch until design breaks, add breakpoint there. Three breakpoints usually suffice (640, 768, 1024px). Use clamp() for fluid values without breakpoints.

Detect Input Method, Not Just Screen Size

Screen size doesn't tell you input method. A laptop with touchscreen, a tablet with keyboard—use pointer and hover queries:

/* Fine pointer (mouse, trackpad) */
@media (pointer: fine) {
  .button { padding: 8px 16px; }
}

/* Coarse pointer (touch, stylus) */
@media (pointer: coarse) {
  .button { padding: 12px 20px; }  /* Larger touch target */
}

/* Device supports hover */
@media (hover: hover) {
  .card:hover { transform: translateY(-2px); }
}

/* Device doesn't support hover (touch) */
@media (hover: none) {
  .card { /* No hover state - use active instead */ }
}

Critical: Don't rely on hover for functionality. Touch users can't hover.

Safe Areas: Handle the Notch

Modern phones have notches, rounded corners, and home indicators. Use env():

body {
  padding-top: env(safe-area-inset-top);
  padding-bottom: env(safe-area-inset-bottom);
  padding-left: env(safe-area-inset-left);
  padding-right: env(safe-area-inset-right);
}

/* With fallback */
.footer {
  padding-bottom: max(1rem, env(safe-area-inset-bottom));
}

Enable viewport-fit in your meta tag:

<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, viewport-fit=cover">

Responsive Images: Get It Right

srcset with Width Descriptors

<img
  src="hero-800.jpg"
  srcset="
    hero-400.jpg 400w,
    hero-800.jpg 800w,
    hero-1200.jpg 1200w
  "
  sizes="(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 50vw"
  alt="Hero image"
>

How it works:

• srcset lists available images with their actual widths (w descriptors)
• sizes tells the browser how wide the image will display
• Browser picks the best file based on viewport width AND device pixel ratio

Picture Element for Art Direction

When you need different crops/compositions (not just resolutions):

<picture>
  <source media="(min-width: 768px)" srcset="wide.jpg">
  <source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcset="tall.jpg">
  <img src="fallback.jpg" alt="...">
</picture>

Layout Adaptation Patterns

Navigation: Three stages—hamburger + drawer on mobile, horizontal compact on tablet, full with labels on desktop. Tables: Transform to cards on mobile using display: block and data-label attributes. Progressive disclosure: Use <details>/<summary> for content that can collapse on mobile.

Testing: Don't Trust DevTools Alone

DevTools device emulation is useful for layout but misses:

• Actual touch interactions
• Real CPU/memory constraints
• Network latency patterns
• Font rendering differences
• Browser chrome/keyboard appearances

Test on at least: One real iPhone, one real Android, a tablet if relevant. Cheap Android phones reveal performance issues you'll never see on simulators.

Avoid: Desktop-first design. Device detection instead of feature detection. Separate mobile/desktop codebases. Ignoring tablet and landscape. Assuming all mobile devices are powerful.

Teach Flow

Gathers design context for a project and writes two complementary files at the project root:

• PRODUCT.md (strategic): register, target users, product purpose, brand personality, anti-references, strategic design principles. Answers "who/what/why".
• DESIGN.md (visual): visual theme, color palette, typography, components, layout. Follows the Google Stitch DESIGN.md format. Answers "how it looks".

Every other impeccable command reads these files before doing any work.

Step 1: Load current state

Run the shared loader first so you know what already exists:

node {{scripts_path}}/load-context.mjs

The output tells you whether PRODUCT.md and/or DESIGN.md already exist. If migrated: true, legacy .impeccable.md was auto-renamed to PRODUCT.md. Mention this once to the user.

Decision tree:

• Neither file exists (empty project or no context yet): do Steps 2-4 (write PRODUCT.md), then decide on DESIGN.md based on whether there's code to analyze.
• PRODUCT.md exists, DESIGN.md missing: skip to Step 5 — offer to run /impeccable document for DESIGN.md.
• PRODUCT.md exists but has no ## Register section (legacy): add it. Infer a hypothesis from the codebase (see Step 2), confirm with the user, write the field.
• Both exist: STOP and call the AskUserQuestion tool to clarify. Ask which file to refresh. Skip the one the user doesn't want changed.
• Just DESIGN.md exists (unusual): do Steps 2-4 to produce PRODUCT.md.

Never silently overwrite an existing file. Always confirm first.

If teach was invoked as a setup blocker by another command, such as /impeccable craft landing page, pause that command here. Complete teach, re-run the loader, then resume the original command with the freshly loaded context. For craft, resume into shape next; teach creates project context, but it is not a substitute for the task-specific shape interview and confirmed design brief.

Step 2: Explore the codebase

Before asking questions, thoroughly scan the project to discover what you can:

• README and docs: Project purpose, target audience, any stated goals
• Package.json / config files: Tech stack, dependencies, existing design libraries
• Existing components: Current design patterns, spacing, typography in use
• Brand assets: Logos, favicons, color values already defined
• Design tokens / CSS variables: Existing color palettes, font stacks, spacing scales
• Any style guides or brand documentation

Also form a register hypothesis from what you find:

• Brand signals: /, /about, /pricing, /blog/*, /docs/*, hero sections, big typography, scroll-driven sections, landing-page-shaped content.
• Product signals: /app/*, /dashboard, /settings, /(auth), forms, data tables, side/top nav, app-shell components.

Register is a hypothesis at this point, not a decision — Step 3 confirms it.

Note what you've learned and what remains unclear. This exploration feeds both PRODUCT.md and DESIGN.md.

Step 3: Ask strategic questions (for PRODUCT.md)

STOP and call the AskUserQuestion tool to clarify. Ask only about what you couldn't infer from the codebase.

Interview mode, not confirmation mode

If the repo is empty or the user's brief is sparse, run a short interview before proposing PRODUCT.md. Do not turn a one-sentence request into a complete inferred PRODUCT.md and ask for blanket confirmation.

• Use the harness's structured question tool when one exists. Otherwise, ask directly in chat and stop.
• Ask 2-3 questions per round, then wait for answers.
• Use inferred answers as hypotheses or options, not as finished facts.
• Complete at least one real user-answer round before drafting PRODUCT.md, unless every required answer is directly discoverable from repo docs.
• Round 1 should establish register, users/purpose, and desired outcome.
• Round 2 should establish brand personality or references, anti-references, and accessibility needs.

Minimum viable interview

Ask enough to complete PRODUCT.md. At minimum, cover register confirmation, users and purpose, brand personality, anti-references, and accessibility needs unless each answer is directly discoverable from repo context. After at least one interview round, you may propose inferred answers, but the user must confirm them before you write PRODUCT.md. Never synthesize PRODUCT.md from the original task prompt alone.

Register (ask first — it shapes everything below)

Every design task is either brand (marketing, landing, campaign, long-form content, portfolio — design IS the product) or product (app UI, admin, dashboards, tools — design SERVES the product).

If Step 2 produced a clear hypothesis, lead with it: "From the codebase, this looks like a [brand / product] surface — does that match your intent, or should we treat it differently?"

If the signal is genuinely split (e.g. a product with a big marketing landing), STOP and call the AskUserQuestion tool to clarify. Ask which register describes the primary surface. The register can be overridden per task later, but PRODUCT.md carries one default.

Users & Purpose

• Who uses this? What's their context when using it?
• What job are they trying to get done?
• For brand: what emotions should the interface evoke? (confidence, delight, calm, urgency)
• For product: what workflow are they in? What's the primary task on any given screen?

Brand & Personality

• How would you describe the brand personality in 3 words?
• Reference sites or apps that capture the right feel? What specifically about them?
  • For brand, push for real-world references in the right lane (tech-minimal, editorial-magazine, consumer-warm, brutalist-grid, etc.) — not generic "modern" adjectives.
  • For product, push for category best-tool references (Linear, Figma, Notion, Raycast, Stripe).
• What should this explicitly NOT look like? Any anti-references?

Accessibility & Inclusion

• Specific accessibility requirements? (WCAG level, known user needs)
• Considerations for reduced motion, color blindness, or other accommodations?

Skip questions where the answer is already clear. Do NOT ask about colors, fonts, radii, or visual styling here — those belong in DESIGN.md, not PRODUCT.md.

Step 4: Write PRODUCT.md

Write PRODUCT.md only after the user has confirmed the strategic answers from Step 3. If an inferred answer is uncertain or unconfirmed, ask before writing.

Synthesize into a strategic document:

# Product

## Register

product

## Users
[Who they are, their context, the job to be done]

## Product Purpose
[What this product does, why it exists, what success looks like]

## Brand Personality
[Voice, tone, 3-word personality, emotional goals]

## Anti-references
[What this should NOT look like. Specific bad-example sites or patterns to avoid.]

## Design Principles
[3-5 strategic principles derived from the conversation. Principles like "practice what you preach", "show, don't tell", "expert confidence" — NOT visual rules like "use OKLCH" or "magenta accent".]

## Accessibility & Inclusion
[WCAG level, known user needs, considerations]

Register is either brand or product as a bare value. No prose, no commentary.

Write to PROJECT_ROOT/PRODUCT.md. If .impeccable.md existed, the loader already renamed it — merge into that content rather than starting from scratch.

Step 5: Decide on DESIGN.md

Offer /impeccable document either way. Two paths:

• Code exists (CSS tokens, components, a running site): "I can generate a DESIGN.md that captures your visual system (colors, typography, components) so variants stay on-brand. Want to do that now?"
• Pre-implementation (empty project): "I can seed a starter DESIGN.md from five quick questions about color strategy, type direction, motion energy, and references. You can re-run once there's code, to capture the real tokens. Want to do that now?"

If the user agrees, delegate to /impeccable document (it auto-detects scan vs seed). Load its reference and follow that flow.

If the user prefers to skip, mention they can run /impeccable document any time later.

Step 6: Confirm and wrap up

Summarize:

• Register captured (brand / product)
• What was written (PRODUCT.md, DESIGN.md, or both)
• The 3-5 strategic principles from PRODUCT.md that will guide future work
• If DESIGN.md is pending, remind the user how to generate it later

Critical: re-run the loader to refresh session context. After writing PRODUCT.md, run node {{scripts_path}}/load-context.mjs one final time and let its full JSON output land in conversation. This ensures subsequent commands in this session use the freshly-written PRODUCT.md, not a stale earlier version.

If teach was invoked as a blocker by another impeccable command (e.g. the user ran /impeccable polish with no PRODUCT.md), resume that original task now with the fresh context.

Optionally STOP and call the AskUserQuestion tool to clarify. Ask whether they'd like a brief summary of PRODUCT.md appended to CLAUDE.md for easier agent reference. If yes, append a short Design Context pointer section there.