dembrandt-skills

UX and design-system skills for AI agents. Install once, and your agent knows how to design.

npx skills add dembrandt/dembrandt-skills --all

--all installs every skill at once. They load only when a prompt needs them, so there is no runtime cost to having them all. Want to pick by hand? Drop --all for an interactive picker. Add --global to install across all your projects.

How to use

A skill is just instructions your agent reads. You don't run it. The agent reads each skill's description and loads the matching one when your request fits.

1. Install with the command above, then start a new session. Skills load at session start.
2. Ask in plain words. "What layout fits a list of orders?" or "Does this pass WCAG AA?" loads the right skill on its own.
3. For a full pass, ask broadly ("review this screen", "build a UI from this brand") and the dembrandt skill runs the whole pipeline.

No special syntax. You can name a skill to force it ("use the layout skill"), but you rarely need to. Run npx skills list to see what's installed.

Connect the engine (optional)

Most skills are pure knowledge and work on their own. Two of them, extract-design and generate-ui-from-brand, read real design tokens off a live website. That needs the dembrandt engine. Connect it as an MCP server. There is nothing to install first, npx fetches it on first run:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dembrandt": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "--package", "dembrandt", "dembrandt-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Add this to your agent's MCP config. In Claude Code, this repo already ships a .mcp.json, so it connects automatically when you work in the project. Prefer the CLI? npx -y dembrandt https://stripe.com works without any config.

What this is

Opinionated, practical skills covering the fundamentals of good UI: hierarchy, typography, accessibility, interaction patterns. Distilled from working across hundreds of products and domains: enterprise tools, SaaS, financial platforms, e-commerce, consumer apps, and more. The kind of UX knowledge that usually lives with a senior designer or consultant.

Works with Claude Code and any agent harness that supports the Open Agent Skills format.

Try it

"I have one brand colour: #133174. Build me a full UI palette."

"My font sizes feel random. Set up a proper type scale."

"Review this interface for usability issues."

"We have buttons, inputs, and badges that look like they're from three different products."

"Design a multi-step onboarding flow for a B2B SaaS tool."

"Does this pass WCAG 2.2 AA?"

"Extract the design system from stripe.com." (needs the engine, see Connect the engine)

Skills

Brand & Visual Identity

Skill	What it covers
brand-visual-language	Shape language, icon style, typography tone
color-mode-and-theme	Light vs dark vs combined, when to offer a theme selector
algorithmic-color-palette	Derive states and brand-tinted greys from brand colours

Design Tokens & Scales

Skill	What it covers
modular-scale-typography	Ratio-based type scales, minimum sizes, context-aware usage
elevation-and-depth	Shadow scale, border-radius, card and modal patterns
button-states	Six states: rest, hover, active, focus, disabled, loading
component-family-consistency	Buttons, inputs, pills: shared radius, colour, height

Layout & Structure

Skill	What it covers
layout-paradigms-and-consistency	Choose the layout paradigm that fits the content; reuse the page skeleton across screens
gestalt-ui-organisation	Group related controls: proximity, similarity, common region
visual-emphasis-and-hierarchy	One CTA per view, colour and size as emphasis
information-architecture	Naming, mental models, data UI, confirm dialogs
ui-context-and-scope	Hierarchy, breadcrumbs, colour regions, scope communication
responsive-paradigms	Mobile/tablet/desktop: nav, sections, sticky behaviour
ui-density	Match density to platform and user type
sticky-and-fixed-elements	Headers, bottom toolbars, z-index tokens
scroll-areas	Avoid inner scroll, one axis only, user-controlled

Components & Interaction

Skill	What it covers
real-world-metaphors	Cards, carousels, drawers: when to use and how
form-design	Helper text, placeholder, validation, submit state
tab-navigation	Tab types, overflow handling, roving tabindex, ARIA tablist, URL state
modal-and-overlay-patterns	Overlay hierarchy, focus trap, dismiss rules, destructive confirms
data-display-and-selection	Grid/list/table, large hit areas, mass actions
repeated-component-alignment	Repeated components as slot models: equal size, pinned anchors, clamp + recover text
operational-expert-tool-ui	Dense, workflow-driven UIs for trained daily B2B users
coordinated-data-views	Keep a table and a visual view (map, diagram, chart) in sync
domain-expert-configuration	Expose solver/algorithm settings in domain language
global-toolbar-controls	Currency, language, locale: placement and typography
notifications-and-recovery	Toasts, banners, retry, undo: always a path forward
status-colors-and-errors	Minimal semantic colours, error recovery, prevention

UX Principles

Skill	What it covers
nielsen-usability-heuristics	10 usability principles with review checklists
wcag-accessibility	WCAG 2.2 AA / EN 301 549: contrast, keyboard, ARIA
user-flows-and-guided-paths	Wizards, purchase flows, onboarding sequences
authentic-product-representation	Real content and real output over staged mockups and marketing chrome
micro-interactions	Animated icons, toggles, reveals, celebrations
loading-states-and-perceived-performance	Spinners, skeleton screens, and staggered entry animations
motion-and-storytelling	Disney principles and cinematic language in UI

Technical Foundation

Skill	What it covers
semantic-html-and-seo	HTML5, alt texts, Open Graph, progressive enhancement
performance-and-web-vitals	Lighthouse audit, LCP, CLS, INP, images, fonts, JS loading

Pipeline & Orchestration

Skill	What it covers
extract-design	Extract real design tokens from any live website via Dembrandt CLI or MCP (requires dembrandt ≥ 0.23.1)
generate-ui-from-brand	URL or DESIGN.md to tokens to decisions to UI spec (requires dembrandt ≥ 0.23.1)
dembrandt	Full 6-stage UX orchestrator: brand, tokens, layout, components, polish, a11y gate

Ecosystem

Part of dembrandt: the engine extracts a brand's real design tokens from any URL, these skills give your agent the UX knowledge to use them well.

License

MIT