microsim-utils

name	microsim-utils
description	Utility tools for MicroSim management including quality validation, screenshot capture, icon management, and index page generation. Routes to the appropriate utility based on the task needed.

MicroSim Utilities

Overview

This meta-skill provides utility functions for managing and maintaining MicroSims in intelligent textbook projects. It consolidates four utility skills into a single entry point with on-demand loading of specific utility guides.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when users request:

• Validating MicroSim quality and standards
• Capturing screenshots for preview images
• Adding or managing icons for MicroSims
• Generating index pages for MicroSim directories
• Quality scoring and standardization checks

Step 1: Identify Utility Type

Match the user's request to the appropriate utility guide:

Routing Table

Trigger Keywords	Guide File	Purpose
standardize, quality, validate, score, check, audit	references/standardization.md	Quality validation and scoring
screenshot, capture, preview, image, thumbnail	references/screen-capture.md	Automated screenshot generation
icons, add icons, favicon, logo	references/add-icons.md	Icon management for MicroSims
index page, microsim list, grid, directory, catalog	references/index-generator.md	Generate index page with grid cards

Decision Tree

Need to check MicroSim quality/standards?
  → YES: standardization.md

Need to capture screenshots for previews?
  → YES: screen-capture.md

Need to add or manage icons?
  → YES: add-icons.md

Need to generate/update the MicroSim index page?
  → YES: index-generator.md

Step 2: Load the Matched Guide

Read the corresponding guide file from references/ and follow its workflow.

Step 3: Execute Utility

Each guide contains:

1. Purpose and use cases
2. Prerequisites
3. Step-by-step workflow
4. Output format
5. Best practices

Available Utilities

standardization.md

Purpose: Validate MicroSim quality against standards

Checks:

• Required file presence (main.html, index.md)
• Code structure and patterns
• Accessibility features
• Documentation completeness
• Responsive design implementation

Output: Quality score (0-100) with recommendations

screen-capture.md

Purpose: Capture high-quality screenshots for social media previews

Features:

• Uses Chrome headless mode
• Handles JavaScript-heavy visualizations
• Waits for proper rendering
• Creates consistent image sizes

Output: PNG screenshot in MicroSim directory

add-icons.md

Purpose: Add favicon and icons to MicroSim directories

Creates:

• favicon.ico
• apple-touch-icon.png
• Other platform-specific icons

index-generator.md

Purpose: Generate comprehensive MicroSim index page

Creates:

• Grid-based card layout
• Screenshots for each MicroSim
• Alphabetically sorted entries
• MkDocs Material card format
• Updates mkdocs.yml navigation

Examples

Example 1: Quality Check

User: "Check if my bouncing-ball MicroSim meets standards" Routing: Keywords "check", "standards" → references/standardization.md Action: Read standardization.md and follow its workflow

Example 2: Capture Screenshot

User: "Create a preview image for the timeline MicroSim" Routing: Keywords "preview", "image" → references/screen-capture.md Action: Read screen-capture.md and follow its workflow

Example 3: Update Index

User: "Update the MicroSim index page with all new sims" Routing: Keywords "index", "update" → references/index-generator.md Action: Read index-generator.md and follow its workflow

Common Workflows

After Creating New MicroSim

1. Run standardization.md to validate quality
2. Run screen-capture.md to create preview image
3. Run index-generator.md to add to index page

Bulk Quality Audit

Use standardization.md to audit all MicroSims in a project and generate a quality report.

Integration Notes

These utilities work with the standard MicroSim directory structure:

docs/sims/<microsim-name>/
├── main.html       # Main visualization
├── index.md        # Documentation
├── *.js            # JavaScript code
├── style.css       # Styles (optional)
└── <name>.png      # Preview screenshot (created by screen-capture)