/ui-craft

name: ui-craft
description: "Design, build, review, or refactor visible UI, including pages, components, forms, loading/error states, and AI chat/streaming interfaces. Excludes backend, infrastructure, CLI/TUI, and docs-only work."
metadata:
  author: Pedro Nauck
  github: https://github.com/pedronauck
  repository: https://github.com/pedronauck/skills

UI Craft

Use the project's visual and copy authorities, shipped primitive inventory, and real runtime behavior. Preserve keyboard/focus operation, supported states, meaningful labels, contrast, reduced motion, and token ownership.

For a small edit, inspect the affected component/state and reuse existing decisions. A new surface or substantial redesign may need a short user job, scene, register, or visual dials when those resolve an actual design choice; they are not required artifacts for every tweak.

• Read the relevant design/token/copy contract. When generated documentation and runtime tokens disagree, follow the project's canonical-source rule and regenerate through its owning tool.
• Reuse existing primitives and supported states. Do not invent controls, metrics, helper copy, brand variants, or host chrome to satisfy a prototype.
• Match verification to changed interaction/visual behavior: render the affected states, check keyboard/focus where interaction changes, and compare a named reference when required. Reuse current evidence; whole-surface matrices and all-breakpoint sweeps need corresponding scope.
• Review actual hierarchy, overflow, token drift, misleading interaction, and accessibility defects. Avoid a fixed scorecard that turns subjective preferences into universal merge blockers.
• Update design authorities only for an actual token/pattern change, through their generator when owned by codegen. A missing optional reference does not justify scaffolding a new design system.

References by Need

Use the matching section and its necessary dependencies. The table is a lookup, not a list to load in full. `assets/state-matrix.md`, `assets/pre-ship-checklist.md`, and `assets/ui-audit-template.md` are optional working formats for substantial design/audit tasks; ordinary changes can use concise evidence.

| When | File | Covers | | --------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------ | | Designing a novel surface / auditing usability | `references/usability-foundations.md` | Nielsen 10, Laws of UX, progressive disclosure, mental models | | Any interactive widget (dialog, menu, combobox, tabs, slider) | `references/accessibility-floor.md` | WCAG 2.2 AA non-negotiables, ARIA patterns, verification recipes | | Buttons/inputs/dialogs/nav/tables/cards/dropdowns/tabs/toasts | `references/component-patterns.md` | States, keyboard contract, a11y, and slop per component | | Writing or reviewing user-visible text | `references/microcopy-quality.md` | Banned vocabulary, per-surface tone, error/empty/CTA templates | | Auditing AI-generated UI | `references/ai-slop-patterns.md` | Before/after + remediation for the 14 patterns, detection prompts | | A design choice needs reconsideration | `references/anti-defaults.md` | Contextual alternatives for hierarchy, legibility, and interaction | | Building an AI/agent surface | `references/human-ai-ux.md` | Microsoft 18 + IBM 4 pillars, streaming/citation/confidence UI | | Reading/extending DESIGN.md, tokens, shadcn/Radix, codegen rules| `references/design-system-integration.md`| DESIGN.md sections, token discipline, Figma/Code Connect | | No token system, or extending a scale | `references/visual-craft.md` | Type/color/spacing/radius/elevation/motion defaults | | Adding or reviewing animation | `references/motion-patterns.md` | Duration bands, easing, CSS/Framer/`@starting-style`, reduced-motion| | Implementing or reviewing dark mode | `references/dark-mode.md` | Surface-lightness elevation, accent desaturation, dangerous pairs | | Observed slowdown, performance-sensitive change, or requested audit | `references/performance.md` | Measurement, loading feedback, relevant optimizations, project budgets | | "We need a [Linear/Notion]-like X" | `references/archetypes.md` | 7 archetypes, each a six-slot signature contract |

Helpers

Resolve these from the actual skill directory (`<ui-craft-dir>`); run only for the question in scope:

• `node <ui-craft-dir>/scripts/check-contrast.mjs` — read-only contrast calculation for changed rendered colors.
• `node <ui-craft-dir>/scripts/detect-token-drift.mjs` — read-only drift scan; use project lint/codegen evidence when it already owns the invariant.
• `python3 <ui-craft-dir>/scripts/validate-metadata.py` — authoring metadata validation.

Follow explicit user decisions and project authorities for trade-offs. Record material limitations honestly; do not force a scene interview, design audit, or another approval solely because this skill was used.