| name | search-blog-theme |
| description | Use this skill when the user wants to find, compare, choose, or adapt a visual theme for a personal blog, personal homepage, portfolio, research homepage, digital garden, or static website. Use it to turn references from v0, Figma, GitHub themes, existing websites, screenshots, keywords, or natural-language taste preferences into natural, practical theme recommendations. |
Search Blog Theme
Goal
Help the user discover a strong visual direction for a personal blog or personal website.
This skill is a theme discovery and taste-shaping skill. It should not build the website, write page code, or over-focus on implementation details. Its job is to propose distinctive directions, verify useful references, and recommend a visual path that can later guide website generation or redesign.
Contract
Inputs:
- User taste preferences, identity, site purpose, audience, and content type.
- Optional references such as URLs, screenshots, v0 templates, Figma links, GitHub themes, or style keywords.
- Constraints such as personal blog, portfolio, research homepage, digital garden, plain static site, or framework preference.
Outputs:
- 3-5 potential theme directions when exploration is needed.
- Verified reference URLs for named templates, websites, repositories, or design examples.
- One recommended direction with visual language, what to borrow, what to avoid, and a clear next-step handoff.
Boundaries:
- Do not build files, edit code, migrate posts, personalize an existing site, validate a generated site, or publish.
- Do not invent specific template names or pretend a conceptual direction is a found reference.
- Do not copy protected template code or assets.
Success gate:
- The user has a specific enough direction to hand to
make-personal-site or copy-website-style.
- Named references have URLs.
- The recommendation feels personal and content-suitable, not just a generic style label.
If gate fails:
- Search or inspect additional references.
- Reframe broad labels into more specific personal metaphors.
- Ask one concise preference question if several directions are equally plausible.
Use When
Use this skill when the user:
- Wants to create a personal blog, personal homepage, portfolio, research homepage, or digital garden.
- Wants to find attractive, distinctive, unusual, or personally fitting blog themes.
- Provides v0, Figma, GitHub theme, existing website URL, screenshot, image, or style keywords.
- Describes a style preference such as minimal, academic, playful, pixel-style, developer-focused, magazine-like, dark mode, retro, experimental, calm, dense, editorial, or game-inspired.
- Is unsure which blog style fits their identity and wants recommendations.
- Wants to transfer the feeling of a reference page into their own site without copying it exactly.
Do Not Use When
Do not use this skill when:
- The user has already chosen a theme and only wants implementation.
- The user asks directly to write HTML/CSS/JS pages or modify existing code.
- The user only wants to publish a post, fix deployment, or migrate Markdown content.
- The user asks to copy a commercial template or copyrighted website exactly.
If the user wants implementation, hand off to make-personal-site.
If the user wants content migration or post import, hand off to add-blog-posts.
If the user wants deployment, hand off to publish-static-site.
Internal Workflow
Treat these steps as internal work. Do not narrate them unless the user explicitly asks how the search was done.
- Understand the user's identity, site purpose, taste keywords, references, and constraints.
- First propose 3-5 potential theme directions as concepts, not template names.
- For each promising direction, search or inspect relevant references from v0, Figma, GitHub, existing websites, or other public sources.
- Keep only references that can be named with a URL. If a direction has no verified source, label it as a conceptual direction rather than a found template.
- Compare the directions by distinctiveness, fit, reference quality, content suitability, and risks.
- Recommend one primary direction, with 1-2 alternates when useful.
Source Verification Rule
When naming a specific template, website, repository, or design reference, include a URL.
Use this distinction:
- Verified reference: a named source with a URL.
- Conceptual direction: an original or inferred idea without a verified source.
Do not invent template names. Do not imply that a template was found if it was only inferred from style keywords.
Distinctive Theme Rule
When the user asks for a distinctive, unique, memorable, or non-generic site, do not stop at broad labels such as "minimal", "terminal", "cyberpunk", "dark mode", or "portfolio".
Make the direction more personal by adding a clear metaphor or world:
- Weak: terminal portfolio.
- Better: an old computer archive for personal research logs and project files.
- Weak: minimal blog.
- Better: a field notebook for experiments, reading notes, and project traces.
- Weak: dark developer site.
- Better: a private operating-system dashboard for writings, builds, and public logs.
The best recommendation should feel like a personal digital place, not just a UI style.
What To Show The User
Use natural prose with light structure. Do not output a rigid Markdown template or a fenced Markdown brief unless the user asks for one.
The response should usually include:
- A short recommendation up front.
- 3-5 potential theme directions when the user is still exploring.
- Verified references with URLs when specific templates or websites are mentioned.
- A plain-language explanation of why the recommended direction fits.
- The visual language: mood, colors, typography feel, layout rhythm, interaction tone, and content presentation.
- What to borrow from references and what not to copy.
- A concise next-step suggestion, such as choosing one direction or handing it to the implementation skill.
Do not show:
- Raw search keywords.
- Internal scoring rubrics.
- Step-by-step process notes.
- Long implementation checklists.
- Detailed CSS tokens or code-level decisions, unless the user asks for implementation planning.
Candidate Theme Families
Use these as inspiration, but adapt them to the user's identity and references.
Minimal Notebook
A clean notebook-style site for technical blogs, study notes, and lightweight personal homepages.
Typical traits:
- Quiet colors and strong typography.
- Few decorative elements.
- Recent writing and selected projects appear quickly.
- Works best when the user's content is thoughtful and text-heavy.
Developer Portfolio
A developer portfolio style for showcasing projects, GitHub work, skills, and technical writing.
Typical traits:
- Clear intro, selected projects, technical tags, and writing entry points.
- Good for users who want hiring, collaboration, or project credibility.
- Can borrow from v0 or shadcn-style layouts without copying their code.
Research Homepage
A restrained academic homepage for researchers, students, paper authors, and lab members.
Typical traits:
- Bio, research interests, publications, projects, and CV are central.
- Clear, credible, and low-noise.
- Reading pages should feel calm and serious.
Digital Garden
A knowledge-garden style for Obsidian notes, long-term learning, and topic indexes.
Typical traits:
- Highlights tags, topics, relationships, and recent updates.
- Home page can feel like a map rather than a chronological blog.
- Good for users with many notes or evolving ideas.
Personal Operating System
A dashboard-like personal site that frames the user's work as files, logs, modules, or system panels.
Typical traits:
- Strong metaphor without becoming a fake terminal gimmick.
- Good for developers, researchers, builders, and experimental creators.
- Can be memorable if the metaphor is tied to the user's real work.
Archive Or Field Notes
A site that feels like an archive, lab notebook, field journal, or personal research cabinet.
Typical traits:
- Excellent for writing-heavy blogs, research notes, project histories, and long-term learning.
- Less flashy than a portfolio, but more personal than a standard blog.
- Works well with dates, tags, annotations, citations, and project traces.
Playful Personal Site
A more expressive site for users who want a memorable digital home.
Typical traits:
- May use pixel details, retro UI, hand-drawn accents, collage, or game-like motifs.
- Home page feels like a personal space rather than a resume.
- Decoration should support personality without harming readability.
Risk Rules
- Do not promise exact Figma-to-code or v0-to-code reproduction.
- Do not copy commercial template code or protected assets.
- Do not let style overpower the user's identity, writing, projects, and content.
- Be honest when a suggested direction is conceptual rather than based on a verified template.
- If the user has no strong preference, recommend a simple, maintainable direction with one memorable twist.
Completion Criteria
After using this skill, the user should have:
- A few meaningful theme directions to choose from.
- Verified references when specific templates or sites are mentioned.
- One recommended direction that feels personal rather than generic.
- Clear advice on what visual language to borrow and what to avoid.
- A natural next step for implementation or further refinement.
