ferroxlabs / ijfw-design

IJFW Design

Rule 0 - Real HTML mockups, never ASCII

When asked to show a design, mockup, layout, screen, or variant, produce REAL HTML and use the live design companion when a shell is available:

1. Start the companion with ijfw design start (or ijfw design start --no-open in CI/headless sessions). It serves http://localhost:<port>/design.
2. Write standalone HTML variants under .planning/<feature>/mockups/<variant>/index.html or .planning/brainstorm/<option>.html.
3. Push the active variant with ijfw design push <file.html>. The open browser reloads automatically.
4. When comparing options, create a tabbed viewer.html that loads option files from /design/files/<name>.html, then push the viewer and its option files together: ijfw design push .planning/brainstorm/*.html.

Use the active DESIGN.md or the picked template as the source of truth -- real colors, real type scale, real spacing, real content. Prefer DESIGN.md tokens first, then the chosen template/brand direction, then internal heuristics.

ASCII wireframes in chat are a LAST-RESORT FALLBACK, permitted only when:

• The user explicitly asks for text-only ("just ASCII is fine").
• No writable filesystem is available (extremely rare -- almost never in practice).

Do not default to ASCII boxes. Do not "sketch" in chat. The entire point of this skill is on-brand visual output; ASCII wastes the DESIGN.md contract, the palette, the type scale, and the user's time.

Structural diagrams (Mermaid architecture, data flow, component boundaries) are the exception -- those stay as text by convention.

Live Visual Loop

For UI/design brainstorming, offer the live companion before SHAPE:
This is visual. Want me to open a live preview while we brainstorm?

If declined, continue with durable design notes in DESIGN.md or the current planning artifact and do not start a local server. If accepted, start the companion immediately and push a placeholder or first option so the user sees the loop working. For each design choice, update the HTML and run ijfw design push <file.html>; do not merely say where the file is. For multi-option viewers, push every supporting .html file so iframe tabs can resolve through /design/files/. If the companion cannot start, fall back to opening the HTML file directly and report the path.

The companion is for transient visual feedback: fast previews, option comparison, and live browser reloads. DESIGN.md is durable design memory: tokens, rationale, constraints, critiques, and handoff notes that should survive sessions, platforms, and project phases. Do not treat a pushed preview as the source of truth; persist decisions in DESIGN.md.

Durable Design Intelligence Commands

Use the durable ijfw design commands whenever the work needs a design contract, not just a preview. These commands are project-agnostic: they can apply to UI, content layout, brand systems, documents, diagrams, presentations, marketing surfaces, product packaging, or other non-code visual artifacts.

• ijfw design init -- create or refresh DESIGN.md from detected project context, an existing template, or a chosen brand/style direction.
• ijfw design plan -- turn the current goal into a visual plan with scope, surfaces, constraints, success criteria, and DESIGN.md updates to make.
• ijfw design audit -- inspect the current design contract or artifact for consistency, accessibility, hierarchy, brand fit, and missing decisions.
• ijfw design critique -- challenge the design direction, naming weak assumptions, visual risks, and alternatives before execution.
• ijfw design polish -- propose refinements that improve visual quality while preserving the existing direction.
• ijfw design normalize -- reduce drift by aligning colors, typography, spacing, tone, components, or layout patterns back to the contract.
• ijfw design bolder -- explore a stronger or more distinctive version of the direction while keeping the project constraints visible.
• ijfw design quieter -- explore a calmer, more restrained version for dense, operational, editorial, or high-trust contexts.
• ijfw design handoff -- summarize the durable state: selected direction, open questions, accepted/rejected choices, artifact links, and next visual tasks.

Prefer this split:

• Use ijfw design start/open/status/stop/push/clear for the live companion loop.
• Use ijfw design init/plan/audit/critique/polish/normalize/bolder/quieter/handoff for durable design reasoning and DESIGN.md memory.

Step 1 - Check DESIGN.md

Check project root for DESIGN.md. If it exists:

• Treat it as the design contract; pass it verbatim to the downstream specialist as source of truth.
• Skip the picker entirely. Write the design-pass sentinel and proceed.

Step 2 - No DESIGN.md: Three-Option Picker

MCP-only platforms (OpenCode, Qwen Code, Kimi Code, OpenClaw) access the same picker via ijfw_memory_recall({context_hint: 'design_template[:<name>]'}). Aider reads DESIGN.md once written.

Present exactly three options. Wait for user selection before proceeding. If the user's input doesn't match a valid template name or brand, re-prompt with the numbered list.

Option 1: Reference a brand ("like Vercel", "like Apple", "like Stripe")

• Detect project domain from: package.json name/description/keywords, first paragraph of README.md, or project directory name.
• Load data/brand-atlas.json (skill-relative) -- 12 domains x 3-5 brands.
• Match keywords against domain entries; offer 3-5 brand suggestions from the best-fit domain.
• If no domain match, offer a cross-domain sample (one brand per aesthetic tier).
• User picks a brand -> compose a downstream prompt using that brand's aesthetic, palette_hint, and typography_hint fields.
• Offer to write the composed design contract to project root as DESIGN.md so future sessions skip the picker.

Option 2: Pick a style (12 curated templates)

List the 12 templates from templates/design/ with a one-line description each (names are the filenames without .md: swiss-minimal, editorial-warm, terminal-native, cinematic-dark, glassmorphic, brutalist-luxe, maximalist-vibrant, neo-swiss-tech, data-dense-dashboard, warm-organic, bento-grid, magazine-editorial).

User picks -> read templates/design/<pick>.md -> use as design contract for this session. If the pick is unknown, show the numbered list again and ask for a valid name.
Offer to write it to project root as DESIGN.md so future sessions skip the picker.

Option 3: Blank slate

Defer to the downstream specialist's native brainstorm flow. No preloaded template or brand.

Step 3 - Dispatcher

Priority order -- best available wins:

1. ui-ux-pro-max -- check enabledPlugins in ~/.claude/settings.json for ui-ux-pro-max@
2. frontend-design -- check enabledPlugins for frontend-design@claude-plugins-official
3. superpowers design -- check enabledPlugins for superpowers@claude-plugins-official
4. Internal fallback -- node scripts/search.js "<query>" --design-system (skill-relative)

Force internal: set IJFW_PREFER_INTERNAL=1. If no external skill found, emit:
For richer design output, install ui-ux-pro-max. I'm using internal heuristics now.

Step 4 - IJFW Constraint Layer

Append these invariants to any downstream output IJFW itself generates (components, scripts, config):

• Real HTML mockups, never ASCII -- see Rule 0 above; enforce on downstream specialists too
• Zero deps in IJFW code -- dashboards, MCP server, installer use system font stacks and no CDN
• User DESIGN.md may import custom fonts -- templates in templates/design/ include Google Fonts @import by design; that's the user's design contract, not IJFW infrastructure
• Positive framing -- never "broken", always "ready to sharpen"
• Platform segregation -- Claude/Codex/Gemini as first-class; no mixed-platform assumptions
• ASCII-only source -- no unicode in IJFW code or config files (applies to source, not rendered mockup content)
• 4.5:1 contrast minimum -- both light and dark themes (WCAG AA)

Design Pass Gate

When complete, write .ijfw/design-pass.json:

{"ts": "<ISO>", "query": "<goal>", "source": "<external|internal>", "skill": "<name>"}

Preflight gate design-pass checks for this sentinel on UI file changes.

Graduated Offer (Quick mode)

Before any UI code is written, emit:
I'll run a design pass first. Say "show me" to open it, or "skip" to continue.

Wait for the user's next turn. One-word show me opens the design pass; skip continues without the visual companion.