taste

name	taste
description	Reverse-engineer the design taste of any website. Given a URL, captures DOM data and a screenshot via real browser, then runs a 4-step analysis to produce {domain}.md + {domain}.json with practical design tokens (colors, typography, spacing, radii, shadows, grid) AND taste DNA (Trigger → Decision → Reason → Evidence trade-offs explaining WHY the design works). Use whenever the user wants to extract a site's design system, study a competitor's visual language, port an aesthetic to a new project, or generate design guidance for an AI coding agent. Triggers on '/taste <url>', 'analyze the design of X', 'what makes X's site good', 'extract design tokens from X', 'give me X's design DNA', 'build something in the style of X', 'I want my app to feel like X'. Output rejects AI slop ('clean', 'modern', 'user-friendly') in favor of concrete px/hex values and restraint trade-offs. Do NOT use for scraping data, summarizing page content, or tasks unrelated to visual design.
compatibility	Requires Playwright MCP. Claude Code: `claude mcp add playwright -s user -- npx -y @playwright/mcp@latest --isolated`. Gemini CLI: add to ~/.gemini/settings.json mcpServers block (see README).
metadata	{"version":"1.1.0","author":"Senlin"}

Taste — Reverse-Engineer a Website's Design DNA

This skill turns a URL into two files:

• ./{domain}.md — human-readable. Two sections:
  • Design Map — practical tokens (colors, type scale, spacing, radii, shadows, grid)
  • Taste DNA — 3-4 opinionated trade-offs (Trigger → Decision → Reason → Evidence)
• ./{domain}.json — structured. Same data, machine-parseable, for downstream tools (Cursor, Windsurf, design systems).

The pipeline rejects generic descriptions like "clean and modern". A finished taste.md should read like a senior designer explaining why this particular page made these particular choices — and what plausible alternatives it rejected.

When to activate

Trigger this skill whenever the user wants to study a website's design and capture it as guidance for future design work. Catch all of these:

• Explicit slash form: /taste <url>
• Natural-language requests: "analyze the design of vercel.com", "what makes Stripe's site so good", "extract the design tokens from linear.app", "give me the design DNA for are.na"
• Mimicry intent: "I want my dashboard to feel like Linear", "build me a landing page in the style of ", "port this site's design to my project"
• Competitive research: "compare our look to ", "what design conventions does use"
• Anywhere the user mentions a URL and asks about its design choices, typography, colors, spacing, philosophy, or "feel"

If the user mentions a URL in connection with any visual/design topic, lean toward activating — Claude tends to under-trigger skills. When in doubt, use it. The cost of a wasted skill invocation is small; the cost of generating generic design advice when this skill could have produced a specific, evidence-backed analysis is large.

Do NOT activate for: "extract data from a website" (use a scraping skill), "summarize the content of " (use WebFetch), "deploy this site" (unrelated).

Prerequisites

This skill requires the Playwright MCP server (https://playwright.dev/docs/getting-started-mcp) to be installed and connected. Verify with:

claude mcp list | grep playwright

If you see playwright: ... - ✓ Connected, you're good. If not, install it:

claude mcp add playwright -s user -- npx -y @playwright/mcp@latest --isolated

Why --isolated: every /taste run starts with a fresh browser state, so cookies, login sessions, and prior cache do not leak into the analyzed page. Without it, running /taste https://linear.app while you happen to be signed into Linear would analyze the app dashboard instead of the public marketing page — wrong surface, wrong taste.

Why npx @playwright/mcp@latest (with no --browser flag): Playwright will download and use its own bundled Chromium (~100MB, one-time). This is more portable than relying on the user's system Chrome — it works on machines without Chrome installed, gives consistent rendering across users, and never opens a window in the user's real browser profile.

After installing, the user must restart Claude Code for the MCP tools (mcp__playwright__browser_*) to appear in this session. If Playwright is unavailable when this skill runs, stop and tell the user clearly: "I need Playwright MCP to scrape the page. Run claude mcp add playwright -s user -- npx -y @playwright/mcp@latest --isolated and restart Claude Code, then try again."

On first run, Playwright may take ~30-60 seconds before its first browser_navigate returns — that is the one-time Chromium download. Subsequent runs start in seconds. If the user wants to pre-download to avoid the wait, they can run npx playwright install chromium once before invoking this skill.

Workflow

Follow these five phases in order. Each phase has explicit success criteria — do not advance until the current phase has produced what the next phase needs.

Phase 0 — Parse the URL and export target

Step 1 — URL

Extract the URL from the user's message. Accept these forms:

• /taste https://linear.app
• "analyze the design of vercel.com" (add https:// if missing)
• A bare URL anywhere in the prompt

If the user provided no URL, ask for one. If they provided a file path or something that clearly isn't a URL, ask whether they meant a hosted page. Don't proceed until you have a real URL.

Resolve common short forms before navigating: linear.app → https://linear.app, https://www.stripe.com is fine as-is.

Step 2 — Extract domain for file naming

From the URL, extract the hostname and strip any www. prefix. Examples:

• https://linear.app → linear.app
• https://www.stripe.com → stripe.com
• https://vercel.com/home → vercel.com

Store this as {domain}. All output files will be named after it: {domain}.md, {domain}.json, and any export file. Never use the generic name taste.md — that name collides when the user runs this skill on multiple sites in the same directory.

Step 3 — Export target + Crawl scope

If the user already specified both an export target AND crawl scope in their message, skip this question entirely. If either is missing, ask once in a single message:

"Two quick questions before I start:

Export target — which tool are you building with?

 1  Cursor          → .cursor/rules/{domain}-taste.mdc
 2  Windsurf        → .windsurf/rules/{domain}-taste.md
 3  Claude Code     → CLAUDE.md (appends Design Taste section)
 4  GitHub Copilot  → .github/copilot-instructions.md (appends)
 5  Bolt            → .bolt/prompt
 6  Antigravity     → GEMINI.md
 7  v0 by Vercel    → taste-tokens.css + instructions
 8  Figma Make      → taste-figma.css + instructions
 9  Lovable         → print text to paste in Project Knowledge
10  Skip            → keep {domain}.md + {domain}.json only

Crawl scope — this page only, or explore 2–3 linked pages?

 1  This page only       → faster, focused on exactly what you gave me
 2  Explore linked pages → I'll visit 2–3 nav pages and merge the data
```"

Store answers as {exportTarget} and {crawlScope}. Defaults: {exportTarget} = "skip", {crawlScope} = "single". Do not ask again.

Phase 1 — Capture page data (Playwright MCP)

Run these steps in order. If any step errors, stop the pipeline and report the error to the user — do not silently continue with degraded data.

1. Resize the viewport to 1440×900 so measurements are consistent across runs:

   mcp__playwright__browser_resize  width=1440  height=900
   

2. Navigate to the URL:

   mcp__playwright__browser_navigate  url=<the URL>
   

3. Wait briefly for client-side hydration. Heavy SPAs (figma.com, notion.so) need a few seconds after domcontentloaded to render real content. Use:

   mcp__playwright__browser_wait_for  time=3
   

   If after 3 seconds the page snapshot still looks like a loading skeleton, give it another 3 seconds. If it's still skeleton after that, note it in the final output ("page may be incompletely rendered; some measurements approximate").

4. Take two screenshots — viewport first, then full-page:

   4a. Viewport screenshot (1440×900, un-scaled — this is your primary visual reference for Step 1):

   mcp__playwright__browser_take_screenshot  type=jpeg  filename={domain}-viewport.jpeg
   

   4b. Conditional full-page screenshot — first check page height:

   mcp__playwright__browser_evaluate  function=() => document.documentElement.scrollHeight
   

   • If ≤ 6× viewport height (≤ 5400px at 1440×900): take a normal full-page screenshot:

     mcp__playwright__browser_take_screenshot  fullPage=true  type=jpeg  filename={domain}-fullpage.jpeg
     

   • If > 6× viewport height: skip full-page (too tall, wastes tokens). Instead take two targeted viewport shots:

     // Mid-page (50% scroll)
     mcp__playwright__browser_evaluate  function=() => window.scrollTo(0, document.documentElement.scrollHeight * 0.5)
     mcp__playwright__browser_take_screenshot  type=jpeg  filename={domain}-mid.jpeg
     // Footer
     mcp__playwright__browser_evaluate  function=() => .(, ..)
     mcp__playwright__browser_take_screenshot  type=jpeg  filename={domain}-footer.
     
     mcp__playwright__browser_evaluate  = .(, )
     

Multi-page capture (only if {crawlScope} is "multi"):

After capturing the primary page, extract navigation links and visit up to 2 additional pages from the same site.

6a. Extract nav links from the already-loaded primary page:

(function() {
  const links = [];
  const seen = new Set([location.pathname]);
  const skip = /\/(login|logout|signup|sign-in|register|auth|account|checkout|cart|password|reset)\b/i;
  document.querySelectorAll('nav a, header a, [role="navigation"] a').forEach(a => {
    try {
      const u = new URL(a.href);
      if (u.hostname !== location.hostname) return;
      if (skip.test(u.pathname)) return;
      if (seen.has(u.pathname)) return;
      if (u.pathname === '/' && location.pathname !== '/') return;
      seen.add(u.pathname);
      links.push({ href: u.origin + u.pathname, text: (a.innerText || a.textContent).trim().slice(0, 40) });
    } (e) {}
  });
   links.(, );
})()

6b. Pick 2 pages from the returned list. Prefer:

• Shorter paths (/product over /product/features/detail)
• Distinct section names (Product, Community, Pricing, Docs — not just different slugs under the same section)
• Avoid the root / if you already captured it

6c. For each additional page, run a lighter capture loop (navigate → wait 3s → viewport screenshot only → DOM extractor). Skip full-page/mid/footer screenshots for pages 2-3 — the viewport is enough to confirm design consistency, and the DOM extractor captures the full page regardless. Name screenshots {domain}-viewport-2.jpeg, {domain}-viewport-3.jpeg. Store each page's data as pages[1], pages[2] (with pages[0] being the primary URL).

If a linked page fails to load or is blocked, skip it silently and note it in the Phase 6 report.

6d. Merge data before Phase 2. Combine color candidates across all pages (union), typography across all pages (union). When a value appears on 2+ pages it is a system signal — mark it. Values that appear on only one page are local — still capture them, but weight them lower.

In Steps 1–3, always state how many pages were analyzed ("Across 3 pages: …") and distinguish system patterns from local ones. Multiple-page agreement is the strongest available evidence for a taste principle.

Success criterion for Phase 1: you have at least one screenshot AND a populated domData JSON (from the primary page) with colors, typography, layout, effects, cards, images, spacingSamples, sectionGaps, and grid fields. If any of these are completely empty and the screenshot shows real content, the extractor needs improvement — note it and proceed anyway.

Degraded-data path: if domData.errors is non-empty, the extractor partially failed. In Step 1, mark affected categories with ~approx (extractor section failed) and rely on the screenshot for those measurements. In Phase 6, list the failed sections as a caveat in the report.

Phase 2 — Run the 4-step analysis

Screenshot is ground truth. Before reading any reference file: the viewport screenshot shows what a human actually sees. The DOM data supplies exact numbers. When they conflict, trust the screenshot. A color that appears in DOM but covers <5% of visible surface area is decorative — do not list it as a brand color. Section dividers that don't appear in the screenshot don't exist, regardless of what the DOM reports. Imperceptible shadows (≤3% opacity) are CSS artifacts, not design decisions.

The four reference files in references/ contain the full prompts for each step. Read each one when you reach it (don't preload all four at once — the steps are deliberately sequential and earlier steps don't need later instructions).

For each step:

1. Read the corresponding reference file.
2. Generate the output it asks for, in your own response.
3. Start the output with the marker line specified in the reference (e.g., ### Step 1 Output — Measurements).
4. The next step gets your prior outputs as input — keep them in the conversation, don't summarize them away.

Step 1 — Measure

• Read references/step1-measure.md
• Inputs: domData (the JSON from browser_evaluate) + the screenshot
• Produce: 20 categories of measurements, every value cited with a specific px / hex / ratio

Step 2 — Pattern

• Read references/step2-pattern.md
• Inputs: Step 1 output
• Produce: 5-8 systematic patterns, each with Pattern / Evidence / Design Goal

Step 3 — Taste

• Read references/step3-taste.md
• Inputs: Step 1 + Step 2 outputs
• Produce: 4 taste principles (each Trigger / Decision / Reason / Evidence), at least one Restraint trade-off

Step 4 — Observer

• Read references/step4-observer.md
• Inputs: Step 1 + 2 + 3 outputs + the original URL (you have to substitute it into the JSON's source field)
• Produce: a fenced json block followed by the Markdown Design Map + Taste DNA

Phase 3 — Write the output files

Step 4's response contains both formats. Extract them:

1. JSON: find the first json fenced code block in Step 4's output. Parse it (it must be valid JSON — if it isn't, that's a Step 4 failure; re-run Step 4 with the parse error pointed out).
2. Markdown: take everything in Step 4's output after the JSON block ends. Strip leading whitespace.

Then write two files into the current working directory (use pwd if you need to confirm where that is), using the {domain} you extracted in Phase 0:

• ./{domain}.md — the Markdown portion
• ./{domain}.json — the JSON, pretty-printed with 2-space indent

If either file already exists, overwrite without asking. Users invoking this skill twice on the same site expect the latest analysis to win.

Phase 4 — Self-audit (Anti-Slop pass)

Run this grep via the Bash tool — do not scan mentally:

grep -icE 'clean|modern|sleek|visually appealing|user-friendly|intuitive|seamless|\belegant\b|minimalist|polished|refined|sophisticated|delightful|stunning|\bbeautiful\b|\bpremium\b' ./{domain}.md

If the count is 0, the file passes. If >0, show the offending lines:

grep -inE 'clean|modern|sleek|visually appealing|user-friendly|intuitive|seamless|\belegant\b|minimalist|polished|refined|sophisticated|delightful|stunning|\bbeautiful\b|\bpremium\b' ./{domain}.md

For each hit:

• Inside a quoted foil ("they could have gone for a 'clean and modern' look, but instead…") — fine, counts as passing.
• Used as a positive descriptor of this design — slop. Edit the principle, re-save, re-run grep until count is 0.

Also verify with Bash:

grep -c "Design Map\|Taste DNA" ./{domain}.md

Must return 2. If less, a section is missing — re-run Step 4 with the missing section called out.

Validate the JSON:

python3 -m json.tool ./{domain}.json > /dev/null && echo "valid" || echo "INVALID"

If any check fails, fix and re-run before shipping.

Phase 5 — Export for your build tool

You already captured {exportTarget} in Phase 0. Do not ask again.

If {exportTarget} is "skip", go straight to Phase 6.

If {exportTarget} is "all", generate every file-based format (options 1–8).

Otherwise, use {exportTarget} to determine the export. Accept natural-language equivalents: "cursor", "windsurf", "claude" / "claude code", "copilot", "bolt", "antigravity" / "gemini", "v0", "figma" / "figma make", "lovable".

Read references/export-formats.md for the exact file paths, frontmatter structure, and content spec for each target. All formats draw from {domain}.json and must follow the same Anti-Slop rules — no vague vibes, cite specific px/hex.

Phase 6 — Report

Print to the user (substitute actual {domain}, line count, and byte count):

✓ Wrote ./{domain}.md (<line-count> lines) and ./{domain}.json (<byte-count> bytes)
[if export file(s) written]: ✓ Also wrote <path(s)>

  Sharpest principle: "<name of the strongest taste principle>"
  → <one-sentence quote of its Decision>

  Open {domain}.md to read the full Design Map + Taste DNA.

Keep it tight. The files do the talking.

Error handling

Failure	Response
Playwright MCP not installed/connected	Stop with the exact install command from the Prerequisites section above. Do not try to fall back to WebFetch — the screenshot is essential for Step 1.
URL is unreachable / 404 / DNS fail	Tell the user the page didn't load. Don't ship an analysis based on an error page.
Cloudflare / bot-detection block	The screenshot will show a "verify you are human" page. Detect this in Step 1 (huge whitespace, single button labeled "Verify"). Tell the user the site blocks automated access; suggest they manually open the URL in their own browser if they want a screenshot, or try a different page on the same domain.
SPA still rendering after the wait	After two 3-second waits, proceed with what's there. Add a one-line caveat to the report: "Page may have been mid-hydration; some measurements approximate."
User gave a file path, not a URL	Ask whether they meant a hosted version. Don't try to open local files — this skill is for live pages.
User gave a URL behind a login	Detect the login page (form with password input). Tell the user this skill doesn't handle authenticated pages, suggest using the public marketing page instead.
Step 4 returns malformed JSON	Re-run Step 4 once with the specific parse error pointed out. If it fails again, save the raw output as ./{domain}-raw.md and tell the user to inspect manually.

Notes on philosophy (read once, internalize, then mostly forget)

This skill is built on a strong opinion: design tokens alone are useless for an AI agent. Tokens say "spacing is 8px"; taste says "spacing is 8px because the designer chose readable rhythm over data density, and 8px is the smallest unit that still feels intentional at 1× zoom". The Reason is what makes the same agent generate good design for a different page, instead of just copying numbers.

The four prompts in references/ are a port of a Gemini-based pipeline that was validated in production. The single biggest failure mode in early versions was generic output — paragraphs of "this design uses a clean, modern aesthetic with intuitive navigation" that contain zero information. The Anti-Slop checks (banned phrases, mandatory Restraint trade-off, evidence requirement) exist because every weak principle deleted is worth ten extra well-evidenced ones added.

When in doubt about whether a taste principle is good: ask "could I have written this without ever seeing this specific website?" If yes, it's slop. Throw it out.