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Create or update a design system to the emdesign quality bar — author the 9-section DESIGN.md + tokens.css + base primitives. Use for the System flow (/mds:system:create | :update). Knows the four sources: brief, blank, import, extract.
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Based on SOC occupation classification
Infer a design system's tokens + voice from a brand reference (screenshots or a URL) — vision-assisted. Use for /mds:system:create --mode extract, feeding the design-system-author skill.
Reason about color on-system — pick/adjust accent, surfaces, and status colors within a design system's palette, check contrast/accessibility, and propose token changes (not raw hex). Adapted from open-design's color-expert. Use for color decisions during build, review, or system edits.
Build a reusable, on-system React+Tailwind component from an intent. Use when creating or editing a component in emdesign. Composes design-system primitives from "@ds", references token roles only, emits a CSF story, and feeds the verify loop.
Author or maintain a design system's DESIGN.md + tokens.css (the contract). Use when fixing the SYSTEM rather than a component — adding tokens, tightening anti-patterns, or capturing visual rules. Adapted from open-design's design-md (Google Labs / Stitch).
Designer-who-codes visual audit + fix. Use to tighten a component before shipping — run the four-source critique, then make atomic, on-system fixes with before/after screenshots. Adapted from open-design's design-review (gstack) to emdesign's code-first loop.
Master skill for design taste — embeds deliberate, opinionated design decisions into every agent interaction. Use at the START of any task to replace generic AI output with intentional design. Adapted from taste-skill (Leonxlnx) for emdesign's design system pipeline.
| name | design-system-author |
| description | Create or update a design system to the emdesign quality bar — author the 9-section DESIGN.md + tokens.css + base primitives. Use for the System flow (/mds:system:create | :update). Knows the four sources: brief, blank, import, extract. |
Authors the contract every project builds from. The richness of the DESIGN.md is the #1 lever on output
quality (see docs/authoring-design-systems.md).
list_design_system_bases (or
emdesign ds bases) to see the catalog of vendored open-design systems under
design-systems/_vendor/open-design/ (e.g. open-design/brutalist, open-design/editorial-burgundy),
pass its ref as from, then differentiate. Each base bundles its origin SKILL.md + reference assets.brand-extract skill).create_design_system({id,name,mode,from}) (skeleton DESIGN.md + base tokens.css +
manifest + base primitives copied in).tokens.css for every required role — semantic names only; keep it self-consistent.validate_design_system({id}) until the token contract passes (every role declared, every var()
resolves). Use /mds:system:create's design-system-loop to drive author→validate→refresh./mds:system:use <id> to make it active, then the craft flow can build against it.validate_design_system is authoritative.graph_find_affected first (see /mds:system:update).