This skill should be used when the user asks to "create a power pages site", "build a code site", "scaffold a website", "create a portal", "make a new site", or wants to create a new Power Pages code site (SPA) using React, Angular, Vue, or Astro.
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name
create-site
description
This skill should be used when the user asks to "create a power pages site", "build a code site", "scaffold a website", "create a portal", "make a new site", or wants to create a new Power Pages code site (SPA) using React, Angular, Vue, or Astro.
{"Stop":[{"hooks":[{"type":"command","command":"node \"${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/create-site/scripts/validate-site.js\"","timeout":15},{"type":"prompt","prompt":"If a Power Pages code site was being created in this session (via /power-pages:create-site), verify before allowing stop: 1) All user-requested features and pages were implemented — not just the scaffold, 2) Design changes were applied to real files — distinctive typography via Google Fonts (no generic Inter/Roboto/Arial), cohesive color palette via CSS variables, motion/animations, and backgrounds, 3) The user was given the dev server URL and asked to review the site, 4) No build errors remain unresolved, 5) Git commits were made at key milestones, 6) The user was asked about deploying via /power-pages:deploy-site. If any of these are incomplete, return { \"ok\": false, \"reason\": \"<specific issues>\" }. If no site creation happened or everything is complete, return { \"ok\": true }.","timeout":30}]}]}
Create Power Pages Code Site
Guide the user through creating a complete, production-quality Power Pages code site from initial concept to deployed site. Follow a systematic approach: discover requirements, scaffold and launch immediately, plan components and design, implement with design applied, validate, review, and deploy.
Core Principles
Use best judgement for design details: Once the user picks an aesthetic direction and mood, make confident decisions about specific fonts, colors, page layouts, and component behavior. Do not ask the user to specify every detail — use the design reference and your own taste to make creative, distinctive choices.
Use TaskCreate/TaskUpdate: Track all progress throughout all phases — create the todo list upfront with all phases before starting any work.
Scaffold early, design with intention: Get the dev server running immediately after discovery so the user has something to look at. Then plan the design and features while the scaffold is live — apply the chosen aesthetic during implementation.
Live preview feedback loop: The dev server MUST be running before any customization begins. Browse the site via Playwright (browser_navigate + browser_snapshot) to verify every significant change. Do NOT take screenshots — only use accessibility snapshots to check page structure and content.
Use real images: Source high-quality photos from Unsplash wherever pages need visual content — hero sections, feature cards, about pages, backgrounds, etc. Use https://images.unsplash.com/photo-{id}?w={width}&h={height}&fit=crop URLs with specific photo IDs found via WebSearch. Never leave image placeholders or broken <img> tags pointing to nonexistent files.
Git checkpoints: Commit after every individual page and component — each gets its own commit so breaking changes can be reverted.
Constraint: Only static SPA frameworks are supported (React, Vue, Angular, Astro). NOT supported: Next.js, Nuxt.js, Remix, SvelteKit, Liquid.
Initial request: $ARGUMENTS
Phase 1: Discovery
Goal: Understand what site needs to be built and what problem it solves
Output: Clear statement of site purpose, framework, audience, derived naming values, and project location
Phase 2: Scaffold & Launch Dev Server
Goal: Get a running site immediately so the user has something to preview while features and design are planned
The scaffold is a temporary branded loading screen — it shows a Power Pages animated "Building your site" experience with orbiting elements, status messages, and feature cards. Its only purpose is to get the dev server running quickly so the user has something to look at while you plan and build. During Phase 5 (Implementation), the entire scaffold — including theme.css, Layout, Home page, and all placeholder components — is completely replaced with the user's actual site: their chosen typography, color palette, pages, components, and navigation. Do NOT try to build on top of the loading screen; replace it entirely.
See ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/references/framework-conventions.md for the full framework → build tool → router → output path mapping.
Actions:
2.1 Copy Template
${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT} is already resolved to the plugin's absolute path at runtime. Use it directly in Glob/Read paths — do NOT search for the plugin directory.
Read and copy all files from the matching asset template to the project directory:
Use Glob to discover all files in the asset directory, Read each file, then Write to the project directory preserving the relative path structure.
2.2 Replace Placeholders
After copying, replace all __PLACEHOLDER__ tokens in every file. Use Edit with replace_all: true on each file.
Name/slug/description placeholders: Use the actual values from Phase 1 (__SITE_NAME__, __SITE_SLUG__, __SITE_DESCRIPTION__).
Note: The scaffold loading screen uses hardcoded Power Pages branding colors — there are no color placeholders (__PRIMARY_COLOR__, etc.) to replace. The user's chosen color palette is applied fresh during Phase 5 when the scaffold is completely replaced.
2.3 Rename gitignore
Rename gitignore → .gitignore in the project root (stored without dot prefix to avoid git interference in the plugin repo).
2.4 Install Dependencies
Run npm installbefore initializing git so that package-lock.json is included in the initial commit:
cd "<PROJECT_ROOT>"
npm install
2.5 Initialize Git Repository
Initialize a git repo and make the first commit. This captures all template files AND package-lock.json in one clean baseline:
cd "<PROJECT_ROOT>"
git init
git add -A
git commit -m "Initial scaffold: __SITE_NAME__ (__FRAMEWORK__)"
From this point, commit after every significant milestone so any breaking change can be reverted.
2.6 Start Dev Server
This MUST happen now — before any planning or customization begins. The dev server gives the user a live preview while features and design are being planned:
cd "<PROJECT_ROOT>"
npm run dev
Run npm run dev in the background using Bash with run_in_background: true. Note the local URL (typically http://localhost:5173 for Vite or http://localhost:4200 for Angular or http://localhost:4321 for Astro).
2.7 Verify in Playwright & Share URL
Immediately after the dev server starts, verify the scaffold is working:
Use mcp__plugin_power-pages_playwright__browser_navigate to open the dev server URL
Use mcp__plugin_power-pages_playwright__browser_snapshot to verify the page loaded correctly (do NOT take screenshots — only use accessibility snapshots)
Share the dev server URL with the user so they can preview the site in their own browser (e.g., "Your site is running at http://localhost:5173 — open it in your browser to follow along as I build.")
GATE: Do NOT proceed to Phase 3 until ALL of the following are true:
Template files copied and placeholders replaced
Git repo initialized with initial scaffold commit
npm install completed successfully
Dev server is running in the background (npm run dev)
Playwright has opened the site and verified it loads via browser_snapshot
The dev server URL has been shared with the user
If any of these are not done, complete them now before moving on.
Output: Running dev server with verified scaffold, URL shared with user
Phase 3: Component Planning
Goal: Determine what pages, components, and design elements the site needs — while the user previews the running scaffold
Actions:
Use AskUserQuestion to collect feature and design requirements:
Question
Header
Options
Which features? (multi-select)
Features
(generate 3-4 context-aware options based on the site name, purpose, and audience from Phase 1)
Always generate options that make sense for the specific site — never reuse a fixed list.
Read the design aesthetics reference: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/create-site/references/design-aesthetics.md
Map aesthetic + mood to design choices using the Aesthetic x Mood Mapping table from the design reference. Record the chosen font direction, color direction, and motion direction.
Analyze requirements and determine needed components. Present component plan to user as a table:
Use best judgement to determine the final color palette based on the chosen aesthetic + mood. These will be written fresh into a new theme.css during Implementation (Phase 5) when the scaffold loading screen is completely replaced:
CSS Variable
Description
Value
--color-primary
Primary hex color
(choose based on aesthetic + mood)
--color-secondary
Complementary hex color
(choose based on aesthetic + mood)
--color-bg
Background color
(choose based on aesthetic + mood)
--color-surface
Surface/card color
(choose based on aesthetic + mood)
--color-text
Main text color
(choose based on aesthetic + mood)
--color-text-muted
Muted text color
(choose based on aesthetic + mood)
Output: Confirmed list of pages, components, design elements, and routes to create
Phase 4: Plan Approval
Goal: Get user approval on the implementation plan
Actions:
Read the design aesthetics reference: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/create-site/references/design-aesthetics.md
Present the implementation plan directly to the user as a formatted message. The plan MUST have ALL of the following sections:
Section A — Design & Pages
Pages to create (with content outline for each)
Components needed for each page
Routing and navigation structure
Design decisions (from the chosen design direction):
Typography: specific Google Fonts chosen
Color palette: full CSS variable set with hex values (replacing the scaffold defaults)
CRITICAL: The plan is written for the user — do NOT reference internal phase numbers, tool names, or implementation details. Describe what will be built and what it will look like. The scaffold is already running — this plan covers what will be built on top of it.
Use AskUserQuestion to get approval:
Question
Header
Options
Does this plan look good?
Plan
Approve and start building (Recommended), I'd like to make changes
If "Approve": Proceed to Phase 5.
If "I'd like to make changes": Ask what they want changed, update the plan, and re-present for approval.
Output: Approved implementation plan
Phase 5: Implementation
Goal: Build all pages, components, and design elements with the chosen aesthetic applied from the start
Prerequisite: The dev server MUST already be running and verified via Playwright (completed in Phase 2). If it is not, go back and complete Phase 2.
Design reference: Read ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/create-site/references/design-aesthetics.md and apply its principles throughout this phase. All pages and components should be built with the chosen typography, color palette, motion, and backgrounds from the start — do NOT build with neutral styling first and redesign later.
Actions:
5.1 Create Todos for All Work
Before writing any code, use TaskCreate to create a todo for every piece of work. This gives the user full visibility into what will be built:
One todo per page — e.g., "Create Contact page (/contact)", "Create Dashboard page (/dashboard)"
One todo per shared component — e.g., "Create ContactForm component", "Create DataTable component"
One todo for routing — "Update router with all new routes"
One todo for navigation — "Update Layout/Header with navigation links"
One todo for design foundations — "Apply design tokens (fonts, colors, motion, backgrounds)"
Each todo should have a clear subject, activeForm, and description that includes the file path and what the page/component does. Then work through the todos in order, marking each in_progress → completed.
5.2 Replace the Scaffold & Build
The scaffold is a temporary loading screen — it must be completely replaced during this phase. Do NOT build on top of it or try to modify the loading animation into a real page. Start fresh with the user's chosen design.
Design foundations — Completely rewritetheme.css (or styles.css for Angular) from scratch with the chosen color palette as CSS custom properties, Google Fonts, motion/animation utilities, and background treatments. The scaffold's loading screen CSS is discarded entirely. Commit after this step.
Layout — Rewrite the Layout component (and Header/Footer for Astro) with proper navigation, header, and footer that reflect the chosen design. The scaffold's passthrough Layout is replaced with a real layout structure.
Shared components — Build reusable components (Navbar, Footer, ContactForm, etc.) that pages will use
Pages — Create route components for each requested page, replacing the scaffold Home page and About placeholder entirely
Router — Register all new routes (the scaffold only has / and /about — add all requested routes)
Navigation — Add links to the new Layout/Header component
Entry HTML — Update index.html (or Layout.astro for Astro) to load the chosen Google Fonts instead of the scaffold's DM Sans + Outfit
Important: Build real, functional UI with distinctive design applied — not placeholder "coming soon" pages, and not generic unstyled markup. Every page and component should reflect the chosen aesthetic from the moment it's created. The scaffold loading screen should be completely gone after this phase — no trace of the Power Pages branded animation should remain.
5.3 Source Real Images
Use high-quality photos from Unsplash wherever the site needs visual content. Do NOT use placeholder services (e.g., placeholder.com, placehold.co), broken <img> tags, or leave empty image slots.
How to find images:
Use WebSearch to search Unsplash for relevant photos (e.g., site:unsplash.com modern office workspace)
Pick specific photos and use their direct URL with sizing parameters: https://images.unsplash.com/photo-{id}?w={width}&h={height}&fit=crop
Choose images that match the site's aesthetic and mood
Where to use images:
Hero sections — Striking, high-resolution photos that set the tone for the site
Feature/service cards — Relevant photos that illustrate each feature or service
About/team sections — Professional or contextual photos matching the site's purpose
Backgrounds — Atmospheric photos used as full-bleed or overlay backgrounds
Content sections — Supporting photos that break up text and add visual interest
Guidelines:
Pick images that feel cohesive together — consistent style, lighting, and color tone
Use appropriate sizing (w=800 for cards, w=1600 for heroes/backgrounds) to avoid slow loads
Add descriptive alt text to every <img> for accessibility
For icons and logos, use inline SVGs instead of photos
5.4 Git Commit Checkpoints
Commit after every individual page and component so breaking changes can be reverted. Each page and each component gets its own commit — do NOT batch multiple pages or components into a single commit.
git add -A
git commit -m "<short description of what was added/changed>"
When to commit:
After applying design foundations (fonts, colors, motion)
After creating each page (e.g., "Add Home page", "Add Contact page")
After creating each shared component (e.g., "Add Navbar component", "Add Footer component")
After updating routing and navigation
Before attempting anything risky or experimental
If something breaks, revert to the last good commit:
git revert HEAD
5.5 Live Verification
After each significant change (new page or component), browse the site via Playwright to ensure everything is up to the mark:
Use mcp__plugin_power-pages_playwright__browser_navigate to reload or navigate to the updated page
Use mcp__plugin_power-pages_playwright__browser_snapshot to verify the page structure and content are correct — do NOT take screenshots
If something looks wrong in the snapshot, fix it before proceeding
The user is previewing in their own browser via the dev server URL shared in Phase 2.7.
GATE: Do NOT proceed to Phase 6 until ALL customization is complete with design applied. The site must have distinctive typography (Google Fonts — no generic Inter/Roboto/Arial), a cohesive color palette (CSS variables), motion/animations, and all requested pages/features before moving to review.
Output: All pages, components, and design elements implemented and verified
Phase 6: Review & User Testing
Goal: Ensure the site meets user expectations and all pages work correctly
Actions:
Browse through each page via Playwright (browser_navigate + browser_snapshot) to verify all pages load correctly — do NOT take screenshots
Follow the skill tracking instructions in the reference to record this skill's usage. Use --skillName "CreateSite". Note: .powerpages-site may not exist for first-time sites — the script exits silently.
Use AskUserQuestion with options: Deploy now (Recommended), Skip for now:
"Would you like to deploy your site to Power Pages now?"
If the user chooses to deploy, invoke the /power-pages:deploy-site skill.
Mark all todos complete
Present a final summary:
Site name and purpose
Framework and project location
Components created (X pages, Y components, Z design elements)
Key files and their purposes
Total file count and git commit count
Suggest optional enhancement skills:
/power-pages:setup-datamodel — Create Dataverse tables for dynamic content
/power-pages:add-seo — Add meta tags, robots.txt, sitemap.xml, favicon
/power-pages:add-tests — Add unit tests (Vitest) and E2E tests (Playwright)
Output: Deployed (or deployment-ready) site with clear next steps
Important Notes
Throughout All Phases
Use TaskCreate/TaskUpdate to track progress at every phase
Ask for user confirmation at key decision points (see list below)
Use best judgement for design details — make confident, creative choices based on the user's aesthetic + mood selection without asking for every specific font, color, or layout decision
Apply design from the start — never build neutral then restyle
Verify via Playwright after every significant change
Commit after every page and component — each gets its own dedicated commit, never batch multiple together
No screenshots — only use browser_snapshot (accessibility snapshots) to verify pages; never use browser_take_screenshot as it clutters the user's directory. Give the user the dev server URL for visual preview.
Key Decision Points (Wait for User)
After Phase 1: Confirm site purpose, framework, and project location
After Phase 4: Approve implementation plan
After Phase 6: Accept site or request changes
At Phase 7: Deploy or skip
Progress Tracking
Before starting Phase 1, create a task list with all phases using TaskCreate:
Task subject
activeForm
Description
Discover site requirements
Discovering requirements
Collect site name, framework, purpose, audience, and project location
Scaffold and launch dev server
Scaffolding project
Copy template, replace placeholders with defaults, git init, npm install, start dev server, share URL
Plan site components
Planning components
Determine pages, components, design direction, and routes while user previews scaffold
Approve implementation plan
Getting plan approval
Present implementation plan covering design and pages, get user approval
Implement pages and components
Building site
Apply chosen design tokens, create all pages, components, routing, navigation
Review with user
Reviewing site
Navigate all pages, share URL, get user feedback, apply changes
Deploy and wrap up
Deploying site
Ask about deployment, present summary, suggest next steps
Mark each task in_progress when starting it and completed when done via TaskUpdate. This gives the user visibility into progress and keeps the workflow deterministic.
Quality Standards
Every site must meet these standards before completion:
Distinctive typography via Google Fonts (no generic Inter/Roboto/Arial)
