x-design

name	x-design
description	Use when the user wants to apply a visual design system to a project, references a specific brand's style (Linear-like, Stripe-like, Claude-like), asks for a DESIGN.md, or describes aesthetic intent (warm editorial, dark minimal, stark futuristic) for AI UI generation

x-design — Visual Design System Router

Resolves user design intent to a curated DESIGN.md file from VoltAgent/awesome-design-md and installs it into the current project. Index-only by design — fetches via GitHub raw URLs, never bundles upstream files.

When to Use

Trigger phrases:

• "Use Linear's style" / "make it look like Stripe" / "apply Claude's design"
• "Drop a DESIGN.md here" / "install a design reference"
• "Make this look warm editorial / dark minimal / stark futuristic / premium luxury / playful / terminal-native"
• "What design styles are available?"

When NOT to use:

• User wants bespoke design with no brand reference → use ui-ux-pro-max directly (note: if there is a brand reference, x-design will chain into ui-ux-pro-max via step 6 anyway)
• User wants to review an existing design → use x-review
• User wants to generate a DESIGN.md from a screenshot → delegate to multimodal-looker + write directly
• Project already has a DESIGN.md the user is happy with → point to it, don't overwrite

Bootstrap

Read these files before routing any request: 0. ../x-shared/capability-loading.md — pin capabilities for the session (used to gate the optional ui-ux-pro-max and shadcn MCP handoffs in steps 6-7).

1. config.json — pinned commit, URL templates, defaults
2. references/catalog.md — 58 sites with slugs, categories, intent tags, tag vocabulary

Detection

Signal	Route
Named brand ("Linear", "Stripe", "Claude")	Direct slug lookup in catalog
Descriptive intent ("warm editorial", "dark minimal")	Match against intent tags → propose 2–3 candidates
"What's available?" / "list styles"	Show catalog section(s) the user cares about
"Something like X but Y"	Look up X's tags, filter by Y, propose candidates
"Refresh catalog" / "update pin"	See "Re-pinning" section in references/catalog.md

Workflow

1. Resolve target directory. Confirm cwd is a project root (has .git, package.json, pyproject.toml, or user confirms explicitly). If ambiguous, ask before proceeding. Never write outside the user-confirmed directory.

   • Design-memory recall (only when mcp.basic_memory pinned in bootstrap-active set): one mcp__basic-memory__search_notes({ query: "<design topic>", page_size: 5 }) call. Surface prior design-decision notes as supplementary context for slug resolution. (basic-memory has no image-similarity search — text recall over design notes replaces the old vision-search lane.) When mcp.basic_memory is not pinned, skip silently — Claude's native auto-memory file still applies.

2. Resolve slug from intent.

   • Named: find catalog row whose slug or name matches. Slugs are irregular (linear.app, mistral.ai, x.ai, cal, not cal.com) — always verify against the catalog.
   • Descriptive: match user's adjectives against the Intent Tags column. Return top 2–3 candidates with their one-liners. Ask the user to pick.
   • Listing: print the category section verbatim from references/catalog.md.

3. Preview before install. Show the user:

   • Chosen slug + site name + category
   • Preview URL (substitute {commit} and {slug} into preview_url_template from config.json)
   • One-liner from the catalog Ask for confirmation before fetching.

4. Fetch the DESIGN.md. Build the raw URL from config.json raw_url_template, substituting {repo}, {commit}, {slug}:

   curl -fsSL "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/VoltAgent/awesome-design-md/<commit>/design-md/<slug>/DESIGN.md" -o <target>/DESIGN.md
   

   curl -f fails loudly on 404 (stale commit or wrong slug). If a DESIGN.md already exists at the target, warn and ask before overwriting.

5. Report. Show:

   • Where the file landed + its byte count
   • Brand name + one-liner
   • Philosophy-first framing: Before showing section 9 prompts, remind the user: "Read sections 1 (Visual Theme), 5 (Layout Principles), and 7 (Do's and Don'ts) first — agents that absorb the design philosophy produce far better results than those that cherry-pick hex values from the prompt guide."
   • The first paragraph of section 9 "Agent Prompt Guide" from the fetched file (these copy-pasteable prompts are the highest-leverage part of the install — surface them every time)
   • Stack-aware hint: Check the project for package.json (React/Next → Tailwind bg-[#hex] or className), nuxt.config / vue deps (Vue → scoped <style>), svelte.config (Svelte → style: directives), pubspec.yaml (Flutter → Color(0xFFhex)), or plain HTML. Append one line: "Section 9 prompts use raw CSS values — adapt to bg-[#f5f4ed] (Tailwind), style={{ background }} (React), or your framework's convention."
   • AI slop warning: Append a brief advisory referencing references/ai-slop-patterns.md — name the top 3–4 pitfalls inline (3-column feature grid, gradient backgrounds, icons in colored circles, cookie-cutter rhythm) and note: "See the full list in the AI slop reference. The site-specific Don'ts in section 7 take precedence."

6. Offer the ui-ux-pro-max handoff. DESIGN.md captures aesthetic intent; ui-ux-pro-max captures enforceable rules (a11y, palettes, stack guidelines, anti-patterns). External user-level skill (NOT shipped in this plugin) — upstream: https://github.com/nextlevelbuilder/ui-ux-pro-max-skill. Install location: ~/.omc/skills/ui-ux-pro-max/ (or ~/.claude/skills/ui-ux-pro-max/). Detect first by checking the available skills list. Behavior:

   • Installed → ask once:

     "Want me to also generate a design-system/MASTER.md with implementation rules via ui-ux-pro-max? It complements DESIGN.md — vision vs. rules."

   • Not installed → surface the install pointer once, then skip step 6 (do NOT silently no-op):

     "Optional next step: ui-ux-pro-max would generate enforceable rules (design-system/MASTER.md) to complement DESIGN.md. Not installed. Source: https://github.com/nextlevelbuilder/ui-ux-pro-max-skill. Skipping for now."

   If user accepts, invoke ui-ux-pro-max with the same intent (brand name + product type + descriptive tags from the catalog row). Primitive: handoff (sync, depends on result). Include a handoff context block: from x-design, slug + brand name + tags, path of the installed DESIGN.md, recommended next step. The two files coexist: DESIGN.md is the north-star; MASTER.md is the rules engine. If user declines, skip silently — never push twice.

7. Offer the shadcn MCP handoff. DESIGN.md + MASTER.md describe what the UI looks like; shadcn MCP is how to install matching components. Conditional — call mcp__shadcn__get_project_registries first; empty/error result triggers the non-shadcn advisory below, then proceeds to step 8 (never push shadcn onto non-shadcn projects). If registries exist, follow the workflow in references/shadcn-handoff.md (detect → ask once → seed primitives with search_items_in_registries + get_add_command_for_items → optional get_audit_checklist). Primitive: sequential handoff after step 6 — shadcn consumes MASTER.md tokens, so it must follow the ui-ux-pro-max handoff (do NOT fan out steps 6 + 7 in parallel). Print install commands; never auto-run. Include a handoff context line when surfacing the install commands so the next session knows which DESIGN.md/MASTER.md drove the picks.

   Non-shadcn framework advisory: When get_project_registries returns empty, check for a detectable framework and offer a one-line hint (never push, just inform):

   • nuxt.config.* or vue in deps → "Apply DESIGN.md tokens via CSS custom properties or scoped <style> in Vue SFCs."
   • svelte.config.* → "Apply tokens via Svelte's style: directives or a shared tokens.css."
   • pubspec.yaml (Flutter) → "Map DESIGN.md hex values to Color(0xFF...) constants in a theme file."
   • index.html only (vanilla) → "Apply tokens as CSS custom properties in a <style> block or linked stylesheet."
   • No framework detected → skip silently.

8. Optionally hint the project CLAUDE.md. Default (auto_update_claude_md: false) is to ASK first. If user consents, append one line matched to what was installed:

   Files present	Line to append
   Only DESIGN.md	When generating or modifying UI, read DESIGN.md in the project root for visual styling rules.
   DESIGN.md + design-system/MASTER.md	When generating UI: read DESIGN.md (brand vision) and design-system/MASTER.md (rules).
   Above + shadcn registries detected	When generating UI: read DESIGN.md (vision) and design-system/MASTER.md (rules); use the shadcn MCP (search_items_in_registries, get_add_command_for_items) to install matching components.

   Never modify any other content in CLAUDE.md.

   • Persist design decision (only when mcp.basic_memory pinned in bootstrap-active set): apply the § Memory Reflex durability gate first (a real decision + rationale, not a routine run note), then one mcp__basic-memory__write_note({ title: "<area> design decision", directory: "decisions/<project-slug>", content: "<one-line design decision + rationale>", tags: ["<project-slug>", "x-design", "<area>"] }) call (durability gate, placement, and Update over duplicate — same-kind only — per ../x-shared/mcp-toolbox.md § Memory Reflex / § Consumer rules). Skip silently when not pinned.

Quick Reference

Task	How
Install a named brand to cwd	Resolve slug from catalog → curl -fsSL <raw_url> -o DESIGN.md
List styles in a category	Read references/catalog.md → print the category table
Show tag vocabulary	Read the "Tag Vocabulary" section at the bottom of references/catalog.md
Refresh to newer upstream commit	Follow "Re-pinning" procedure in references/catalog.md
Preview without installing	Construct preview_url_template and print it — don't curl
Generate matching MASTER.md (rules)	Step 6 — invoke ui-ux-pro-max with brand + tags
Find matching shadcn components	Step 7 — search_items_in_registries then get_add_command_for_items
Non-shadcn framework hint	Step 7 — when shadcn detection fails, check for Vue/Svelte/Flutter and advise
Offline fallback when curl 404s	Use research_fallback_path from config.json

Dependencies

• curl (fail-loud with -f) — fetches raw files from GitHub
• config.json — pinned commit + URL templates + defaults
• references/catalog.md — 58-site index, authoritative slug + tag source
• Upstream: VoltAgent/awesome-design-md at the pinned commit in config.json
• Optional: ui-ux-pro-max skill (step 6 handoff) — generates design-system/MASTER.md. External user-level skill, NOT shipped in this plugin. Upstream: https://github.com/nextlevelbuilder/ui-ux-pro-max-skill. Install path: ~/.omc/skills/ui-ux-pro-max/ (or ~/.claude/skills/ui-ux-pro-max/).
• Optional: shadcn MCP (step 7 handoff) — get_project_registries, search_items_in_registries, get_add_command_for_items, get_audit_checklist

Related Skills

• ui-ux-pro-max — bespoke design authoring (styles, palettes, accessibility). x-design routes to existing references; ui-ux-pro-max helps author decisions from scratch. External user-level skill (not shipped here) — install from https://github.com/nextlevelbuilder/ui-ux-pro-max-skill.
• update-research — maintains the research-library clone (path in config.json → research_fallback_path); separate from this skill's index-only footprint
• x-review — post-install visual review pass

Three-stage pipeline (steps 4 → 6 → 7):

1. x-design fetches DESIGN.md — brand vision (the what)
2. ui-ux-pro-max generates design-system/MASTER.md — enforceable rules (the constraints)
3. shadcn MCP finds and installs matching components — execution (the how)

Each stage is opt-in. Stages 2 and 3 are skipped silently if the user declines or the project can't support them.

Common Mistakes

Mistake	Fix
Fetching without confirming project root	Always resolve cwd first; ask user if ambiguous
Overwriting existing DESIGN.md silently	Always warn + confirm
Modifying CLAUDE.md without consent	Default is ask-first; never auto-append
Hardcoding the commit SHA	Always read from config.json → pinned_commit
Bundling upstream files into the skill	Skill is index-only — never copy design-md/ into the skill dir
Guessing slugs	Always check references/catalog.md (slugs have irregular forms)
Skipping section 9 in the report	The agent prompt examples are the highest-leverage takeaway
Showing section 9 without philosophy framing	Always remind to read sections 1, 5, 7 first
Omitting stack-aware hint	Detect framework and suggest how to adapt CSS values
Omitting AI slop warning	Always append the generation pitfalls advisory
Fetching preview.html to the project	Only DESIGN.md belongs in the project; previews are for eyeballing on github.com
Pushing shadcn on non-shadcn projects	Step 7 must call get_project_registries first; empty result = non-shadcn advisory
Skipping non-shadcn framework advisory	When shadcn detection fails, check for Vue/Svelte/Flutter and offer a one-line token-application hint
Auto-running npx shadcn add ... commands	Step 7c prints install commands; the user runs them
Forcing ui-ux-pro-max when it isn't installed	Step 6 must check the available skills list before invoking
Silently skipping step 6 when ui-ux-pro-max missing	Surface the install pointer (https://github.com/nextlevelbuilder/ui-ux-pro-max-skill) once, then stop — do NOT no-op

Gotchas

See gotchas.md for known failure patterns.