| name | claude-design-propose |
| description | Drafts `.claude/DESIGN.md` on day one of a project from `REQUIREMENTS.md`, `ARCHITECTURE.md`, and a `## Personality` section, with token values proposed by the agent. Use when asked to "propose a design system", "bootstrap DESIGN.md from scratch", "draft tokens for a greenfield project", or "replace Claude Design onboarding". Do NOT use when UI code or stylesheets already exist. Reach for `claude-design-extract` instead. |
Design propose
Guards
- If
.claude/DESIGN.md already exists and has content beyond the seed template, stop: ❌ .claude/DESIGN.md already populated. Edit directly or archive the existing file first.
- If
.claude/REQUIREMENTS.md is missing, stop: ❌ .claude/REQUIREMENTS.md not found. Write requirements before proposing a design system.
- If
.claude/REQUIREMENTS.md has no ## Personality section, stop: ❌ .claude/REQUIREMENTS.md missing ## Personality section. Add a paragraph describing voice and tone before running this skill.
- If
aitk is not on PATH, stop: ❌ aitk CLI not found.
Step 1: read source signals in parallel
Read these from the project root, skipping any that do not exist:
.claude/REQUIREMENTS.md: the ## Personality paragraph, worldview, non-goals.claude/ARCHITECTURE.md: platform, tech stack, surface type (CLI, web, desktop)CLAUDE.md: voice rules, spelling, conventions.claude/standards/prose.md: tone constraints if present
Do not scan src/, stylesheets, or UI modules. This skill runs before code exists. If those files are present, the scenario is wrong and claude-design-extract is the correct tool.
Step 2: fetch the seed template
Run this from the project root:
aitk claude seeds list --json | jq -r '.[] | select(.path == ".claude/DESIGN.md") | .content'
Use the returned content as the target shape. Keep every section heading and every table header intact. The aitk design render parser depends on them.
Step 3: propose tokens from personality and requirements
Walk each section once. Follow .claude/standards/prose.md throughout: no em dashes, no semicolons, no marketing buzzwords. Use commas or separate sentences instead.
Every proposed table cell is speculative, so every filled table cell gets a trailing ? verify tag inside the cell value, never as a trailing column.
Anchor proposals to signals, not defaults. If the personality says "calm and dense", that pins muted grays and tight spacing. If the requirements say "no motion", Motion writes No animation. with no tag. If the architecture names a CLI-only surface, Typography leans monospaced and Borders stays minimal.
- Personality: transcribe the
## Personality paragraph from .claude/REQUIREMENTS.md verbatim. This is the one section that is not a proposal. No tag.
- Color: one row per role. Rewrite the Intent cell in personality language, for example
warm off-white page canvas instead of the seed default page canvas. Propose hex values that match the personality. Dense and calm → low saturation, high text contrast. Playful → saturated accents. Every Intent and Value cell gets ? verify.
- Typography: one row per role. Propose families that fit the platform (system UI for web, monospaced for CLI tools, serif for editorial) and a harmonious scale. Every cell gets
? verify.
- Spacing: propose a base unit that matches density intent. Dense → 4px base. Roomy → 8px base. Keep the Multiplier column as the seed ships it, no tag. Only the Value column gets
? verify.
- Borders: propose radius and width per role. Sharp and technical → small radius. Soft → larger radius. Every Radius and Width cell gets
? verify.
- Motion: one line. If the requirements forbid motion, write
No animation. If motion is allowed, phrase uncertainty inline, for example Proposed 150ms ease-out, not yet confirmed. Do not append a trailing ? verify tag to a prose sentence. It renders raw in the preview.
- Iconography: one line. Propose style and source library matching personality. Phrase uncertainty inline, for example
Proposed outline style, source library not yet chosen. Do not append a trailing ? verify tag.
Do not invent non-goals. If the personality paragraph does not mention motion and the requirements do not forbid it, a proposed motion line is acceptable.
A cell marked ? verify must stay inside the table shape: | #ffffff ? verify |. A trailing | ? verify column breaks the parser.
Step 4: write and render
Write the filled template to .claude/DESIGN.md from the project root. Then run:
aitk design render
The command writes an HTML plus CSS preview to .claude/review/design/. Output the path in chat so the user can open it.
Response format
📝 Wrote .claude/DESIGN.md
📝 Wrote .claude/review/design/index.html
N cells marked `? verify`. Open the preview, confirm the personality read as intended, then edit DESIGN.md directly to lock values.
