Assembling Components

Purpose

This skill transforms the outputs of AI Design Components skills into production-ready applications. It provides library-specific context for our token system, component patterns, and skill chain workflow - knowledge that generic assembly patterns cannot provide. The skill validates token integration, generates proper scaffolding, and wires components together correctly.

When to Use

Activate this skill when:

• Completing a skill chain workflow (theming → layout → dashboards → data-viz → feedback)
• Generating new project scaffolding for React/Vite, Next.js, FastAPI, Flask, or Rust/Axum
• Validating that all generated CSS uses design tokens (not hardcoded values)
• Creating barrel exports and wiring component imports correctly
• Assembling components from multiple skills into a unified application
• Debugging integration issues (missing entry points, broken imports, theme not switching)
• Preparing generated code for production deployment

Skill Chain Context

This skill understands the output of every AI Design Components skill:

┌──────────────────┐     ┌──────────────────┐     ┌──────────────────┐
│ theming-         │────▶│ designing-       │────▶│ creating-        │
│ components       │     │ layouts          │     │ dashboards       │
└──────────────────┘     └──────────────────┘     └──────────────────┘
        │                        │                        │
        ▼                        ▼                        ▼
    tokens.css               Layout.tsx             Dashboard.tsx
    theme-provider.tsx       Header.tsx             KPICard.tsx
        │                        │                        │
        └────────────────────────┴────────────────────────┘
                                 │
                                 ▼
                    ┌──────────────────────┐
                    │ visualizing-data     │
                    │ providing-feedback   │
                    └──────────────────────┘
                                 │
                                 ▼
                         DonutChart.tsx
                         Toast.tsx, Spinner.tsx
                                 │
                                 ▼
                    ┌──────────────────────┐
                    │ ASSEMBLING-          │
                    │ COMPONENTS           │
                    │ (THIS SKILL)         │
                    └──────────────────────┘
                                 │
                                 ▼
                       WORKING COMPONENT SYSTEM

Expected Outputs by Skill

Skill	Primary Outputs	Token Dependencies
theming-components	tokens.css, theme-provider.tsx	Foundation
designing-layouts	Layout.tsx, Header.tsx, Sidebar.tsx	--spacing-, --color-border-
creating-dashboards	Dashboard.tsx, KPICard.tsx	All layout + chart tokens
visualizing-data	Chart components, legends	--chart-color-, --font-size-
building-forms	Form inputs, validation	--spacing-, --radius-, --color-error
building-tables	Table, pagination	--color-, --spacing-
providing-feedback	Toast, Spinner, EmptyState	--color-success/error/warning

Token Validation

Run Validation Script (Token-Free Execution)

# Basic validation
python scripts/validate_tokens.py src/styles

# Strict mode with fix suggestions
python scripts/validate_tokens.py src --strict --fix-suggestions

# JSON output for CI/CD
python scripts/validate_tokens.py src --json

Our Token Naming Conventions

/* Colors - semantic naming */
--color-primary: #FA582D;          /* Brand primary */
--color-success: #00CC66;          /* Positive states */
--color-warning: #FFCB06;          /* Caution states */
--color-error: #C84727;            /* Error states */
--color-info: #00C0E8;             /* Informational */

--color-bg-primary: #FFFFFF;       /* Main background */
--color-bg-secondary: #F8FAFC;     /* Elevated surfaces */
--color-text-primary: #1E293B;     /* Body text */
--color-text-secondary: #64748B;   /* Muted text */

/* Spacing - 4px base unit */
--spacing-xs: 0.25rem;   /* 4px */
--spacing-sm: 0.5rem;    /* 8px */
--spacing-md: 1rem;      /* 16px */
--spacing-lg: 1.5rem;    /* 24px */
--spacing-xl: 2rem;      /* 32px */

/* Typography */
--font-size-xs: 0.75rem;   /* 12px */
--font-size-sm: 0.875rem;  /* 14px */
--font-size-base: 1rem;    /* 16px */
--font-size-lg: 1.125rem;  /* 18px */

/* Component sizes */
--icon-size-sm: 1rem;      /* 16px */
--icon-size-md: 1.5rem;    /* 24px */
--radius-sm: 4px;
--radius-md: 8px;
--shadow-sm: 0 1px 2px rgba(0,0,0,0.05);

Validation Rules

Must Use Tokens (Errors)	Example Fix
Colors	#FA582D → var(--color-primary)
Spacing (≥4px)	16px → var(--spacing-md)
Font sizes	14px → var(--font-size-sm)

Should Use Tokens (Warnings)	Example Fix
Border radius	8px → var(--radius-md)
Shadows	0 4px... → var(--shadow-md)
Z-index (≥100)	1000 → var(--z-dropdown)

Framework Selection

React/TypeScript

Choose Vite + React when:

• Building single-page applications
• Lightweight, fast development builds
• Maximum control over configuration
• No server-side rendering needed

Choose Next.js 14/15 when:

• Need server-side rendering or static generation
• Building full-stack with API routes
• SEO is important
• Using React Server Components

Python

Choose FastAPI when:

• Building modern async APIs
• Need automatic OpenAPI documentation
• High performance is required
• Using Pydantic for validation

Choose Flask when:

• Simpler, more flexible setup
• Familiar with Flask ecosystem
• Template rendering (Jinja2)
• Smaller applications

Rust

Choose Axum when:

• Modern tower-based architecture
• Type-safe extractors
• Async-first design
• Growing ecosystem

Choose Actix Web when:

• Maximum performance required
• Actor model benefits your use case
• More mature ecosystem

Implementation Approach

1. Validate Token Integration

Before assembly, check all CSS uses tokens:

python scripts/validate_tokens.py <component-directory>

Fix any violations before proceeding.

2. Generate Project Scaffolding

React/Vite:

// src/main.tsx - Entry point
import { StrictMode } from 'react'
import { createRoot } from 'react-dom/client'
import { ThemeProvider } from '@/context/theme-provider'
import App from './App'
import './styles/tokens.css'   // FIRST - token definitions
import './styles/globals.css'  // SECOND - global resets

createRoot(document.getElementById('root')!).render(
  <StrictMode>
    <ThemeProvider>
      <App />
    </ThemeProvider>
  </StrictMode>,
)

index.html:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8" />
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
    <title>{{PROJECT_TITLE}}</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <div id="root"></div>
    <script type="module" src="/src/main.tsx"></script>
  </body>
</html>

3. Wire Components Together

Theme Provider:

// src/context/theme-provider.tsx
import { createContext, useContext, useEffect, useState } from 'react'

type Theme = 'light' | 'dark' | 'system'

const ThemeContext = createContext<{
  theme: Theme
  setTheme: (theme: Theme) => void
} | undefined>(undefined)

export function ThemeProvider({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode }) {
  const [theme, setTheme] = useState<Theme>('system')

  useEffect(() => {
    const root = document.documentElement
    const systemTheme = window.matchMedia('(prefers-color-scheme: dark)').matches
      ? 'dark' : 'light'
    root.setAttribute('data-theme', theme === 'system' ? systemTheme : theme)
    localStorage.setItem('theme', theme)
  }, [theme])

  return (
    <ThemeContext.Provider value={{ theme, setTheme }}>
      {children}
    </ThemeContext.Provider>
  )
}

export const useTheme = () => {
  const context = useContext(ThemeContext)
  if (!context) throw new Error('useTheme must be used within ThemeProvider')
  return context
}

Barrel Exports:

// src/components/ui/index.ts
export { Button } from './button'
export { Card } from './card'

// src/components/features/dashboard/index.ts
export { KPICard } from './kpi-card'
export { DonutChart } from './donut-chart'
export { Dashboard } from './dashboard'

4. Configure Build System

vite.config.ts:

import { defineConfig } from 'vite'
import react from '@vitejs/plugin-react'
import path from 'path'

export default defineConfig({
  plugins: [react()],
  resolve: {
    alias: {
      '@': path.resolve(__dirname, './src'),
    },
  },
})

tsconfig.json:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "target": "ES2020",
    "lib": ["ES2020", "DOM", "DOM.Iterable"],
    "module": "ESNext",
    "moduleResolution": "bundler",
    "jsx": "react-jsx",
    "strict": true,
    "baseUrl": ".",
    "paths": { "@/*": ["./src/*"] }
  },
  "include": ["src"]
}

Cross-Skill Integration

Using Theming Components

// Import tokens first, components inherit token values
import './styles/tokens.css'

// Use ThemeProvider at root
<ThemeProvider>
  <App />
</ThemeProvider>

Using Dashboard Components

// Components from creating-dashboards skill
import { Dashboard, KPICard } from '@/components/features/dashboard'

// Wire with data
<Dashboard>
  <KPICard
    label="Total Threats"
    value={1234}
    severity="critical"
    trend={{ value: 15.3, direction: 'up' }}
  />
</Dashboard>

Using Data Visualization

// Charts from visualizing-data skill
import { DonutChart } from '@/components/charts'

// Charts use --chart-color-* tokens automatically
<DonutChart
  data={threatData}
  title="Threats by Severity"
/>

Using Feedback Components

// From providing-feedback skill
import { Toast, Spinner, EmptyState } from '@/components/feedback'

// Wire toast notifications
<ToastProvider>
  <App />
</ToastProvider>

// Use spinner for loading states
{isLoading ? <Spinner /> : <Dashboard />}

Integration Checklist

Before delivery, verify:

• Token file exists (tokens.css) with all 7 categories
• Token import order correct (tokens.css → globals.css → components)
• No hardcoded values (run validate_tokens.py)
• Theme toggle works (data-theme attribute switches)
• Reduced motion supported (@media (prefers-reduced-motion))
• Build completes without errors
• Types pass (TypeScript compiles)
• Imports resolve (no missing modules)
• Barrel exports exist for each component directory

Bundled Resources

Scripts (Token-Free Execution)

• scripts/validate_tokens.py - Validate CSS uses design tokens
• scripts/generate_scaffold.py - Generate project boilerplate
• scripts/check_imports.py - Validate import chains
• scripts/generate_exports.py - Create barrel export files

Run scripts directly without loading into context:

python scripts/validate_tokens.py demo/examples --fix-suggestions

References (Detailed Patterns)

• references/library-context.md - AI Design Components library awareness
• references/react-vite-template.md - Full Vite + React setup
• references/nextjs-template.md - Next.js 14/15 patterns
• references/python-fastapi-template.md - FastAPI project structure
• references/rust-axum-template.md - Rust/Axum project structure
• references/token-validation-rules.md - Complete validation rules

Examples (Complete Implementations)

• examples/react-dashboard/ - Full Vite + React dashboard
• examples/nextjs-dashboard/ - Next.js App Router dashboard
• examples/fastapi-dashboard/ - Python FastAPI dashboard
• examples/rust-axum-dashboard/ - Rust Axum dashboard

Assets (Templates)

• assets/templates/react/ - React project templates
• assets/templates/python/ - Python project templates
• assets/templates/rust/ - Rust project templates

Application Assembly Workflow

1. Validate Components: Run validate_tokens.py on all generated CSS
2. Choose Framework: React/Vite, Next.js, FastAPI, or Rust based on requirements
3. Generate Scaffolding: Create project structure and configuration
4. Wire Imports: Set up entry point, import chain, barrel exports
5. Add Providers: ThemeProvider, ToastProvider at root
6. Connect Components: Import and compose feature components
7. Configure Build: vite.config, tsconfig, package.json
8. Final Validation: Build, type-check, lint
9. Document: README with setup and usage instructions

For library-specific patterns and complete context, see references/library-context.md.