Design System Skill

This skill automatically activates when working with design systems, component libraries, or reusable UI patterns. It ensures consistency and promotes component reuse across projects.

Core Principle

BUILD ONCE, USE EVERYWHERE

❌ Duplicating UI code across components
✅ Building reusable, documented design system components

Automatic Behaviors

When this skill activates, Claude will:

1. Identify Design System Opportunities

Automatically detect when code could benefit from design system patterns:

Pattern	Detection	Recommendation
Repeated styles	Same CSS in multiple places	Extract to design token
Similar components	Components with slight variations	Create variant system
Magic numbers	Hard-coded values (colors, spacing)	Replace with tokens
Inconsistent naming	Different names for same concept	Standardize naming
Missing documentation	Undocumented components	Add usage docs

2. Design Token Architecture

DESIGN TOKEN STRUCTURE
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

PRIMITIVE TOKENS (Raw Values)
└── color.blue.500: "#3b82f6"
└── space.4: "16px"
└── font.size.base: "16px"

SEMANTIC TOKENS (Purpose-Based)
└── color.primary: "{color.blue.500}"
└── spacing.component: "{space.4}"
└── text.body: "{font.size.base}"

COMPONENT TOKENS (Component-Specific)
└── button.background: "{color.primary}"
└── button.padding: "{spacing.component}"
└── button.fontSize: "{text.body}"

3. Component Structure

COMPONENT ORGANIZATION (Atomic Design)
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

src/components/
├── atoms/                    # Smallest building blocks
│   ├── Button/
│   ├── Input/
│   ├── Icon/
│   └── Text/
│
├── molecules/                # Combinations of atoms
│   ├── FormField/
│   ├── SearchBox/
│   └── Card/
│
├── organisms/                # Complex UI sections
│   ├── Header/
│   ├── Sidebar/
│   └── DataTable/
│
└── templates/                # Page layouts
    ├── DashboardLayout/
    └── AuthLayout/

4. Component File Structure

Button/
├── Button.tsx           # Component implementation
├── Button.styles.ts     # Styles (CSS modules or styled)
├── Button.types.ts      # TypeScript interfaces
├── Button.test.tsx      # Unit tests
├── Button.stories.tsx   # Storybook documentation
└── index.ts             # Public exports

Warning Triggers

Automatically warn user when:

Hard-coded values detected

"⚠️ DESIGN SYSTEM: Consider replacing hard-coded value with design token"
Duplicate styles found

"⚠️ DESIGN SYSTEM: This style exists in [component]. Consider extracting to shared token"
Missing documentation

"⚠️ DESIGN SYSTEM: Component missing Storybook story or usage documentation"
Inconsistent naming

"⚠️ DESIGN SYSTEM: Naming pattern differs from existing components"
Component too complex

"⚠️ DESIGN SYSTEM: Consider breaking this into smaller atomic components"

Design System Checklist

📋 Design System Audit

□ TOKENS
  □ Color primitives defined
  □ Semantic color tokens exist
  □ Spacing scale consistent
  □ Typography scale defined

□ COMPONENTS
  □ Atomic structure followed
  □ Components are documented
  □ TypeScript types defined
  □ Accessibility tested

□ PATTERNS
  □ Layout patterns documented
  □ Form patterns standardized
  □ Error handling consistent
  □ Loading states defined

design-system