dev-frontend

name	dev-frontend
description	MUST USE for any frontend, web UI, or visual implementation work — building, styling, or redesigning pages/components, responsive layouts, motion, component architecture, and production-surface polish. Triggers: frontend, UI, component, CSS, responsive, animation, React, Vue, Svelte, Tailwind, layout, styling, redesign, mockup, anti-slop, 프론트엔드, UI 작업, 반응형, 디자인 수정.
metadata	{"short-description":"Frontend implementation with responsive, accessible, anti-slop UI guidance.","keywords":"frontend, UI, component, CSS, responsive, layout, animation, design implementation","last-verified":"2026-07-02"}

Dev-Frontend — Domain-Correct Frontend Engineering

Build distinctive, production-grade interfaces that fit the product domain, locale, interaction model, and real visual evidence. This skill has modular references for specialized guidance — read the relevant ones before coding. It activates by change surface whenever the work is primarily frontend, UI, styling, responsive layout, or animation.

Role separation: For design judgment — typography/color/layout direction, UX decision gates, product personalities, or vague visual briefs — load dev-uiux-design first. This skill implements the chosen direction; dev-uiux-design makes the design decisions. Implementation anti-slop enforcement stays here; design taste/pattern judgment lives there.

C0/C1 work (small local patches): See dev §0.0 Work Classifier + §0.1 Patch Fast-Path before reading references.

Modular References

File	When to Read	What It Covers
references/core/crud-ui.md	C2 list/detail/form product screens	State coverage (loading/empty/error/permission), forms, objective UX gates
references/core/anti-slop.md	New components or UI redesign	2026 AI slop patterns, Korean slop, oversized text, fake assets, default UI smells
references/core/aesthetics.md	Visual design decisions	Domain-correct visual direction, typography, color, composition
references/core/product-density.md	Apps, tools, dashboards	Density profiles for landing, consumer app, SaaS, ops, finance, devtools
references/core/asset-requirements.md	Any public/product/visual surface	Required screenshots, images, diagrams, charts, generated bitmaps, or 3D assets
references/core/visual-verification.md	Changes affecting rendered layout	Screenshot, viewport, text fit, state, asset, and motion verification
references/core/korea-2026.md	Korean-first or Korea-facing UI	Korean service patterns, CJK typography, formats, mobile flows
references/core/ux-writing-ko.md	Korean UI copy	Natural Korean labels, error messages, tone, spacing, punctuation
references/core/soft-3d-asset-gates.md	3D/miniature/character-like visuals	Toss-style soft 3D vs generic cute asset slop, domain gates
references/core/motion.md	Motion/animation needed	CSS animations, Framer Motion, scroll-driven, View Transitions, domain gates
references/core/iterative-design.md	Multi-round design	LLM convergence problem, Diverge→Kill→Mutate process, upgrade techniques
references/core/prototype-variants.md	Runnable design variants	?variant= switchers, structurally distinct options, cleanup after winner selection
references/core/typography-wrapping.md	Heading/descriptor text changes	text-wrap: balance/pretty, short descriptor category (balance not pretty for 1-3 line text), ch units, rag control, Korean orphan prevention, -webkit-line-clamp conflict
references/core/logo-sections.md	Integration/partner logo display	Marquee CSS, static grid, orphan cell fix, grayscale treatment, no individual hover
references/core/brand-asset-sourcing.md	Brand logos in UI	Simple Icons/SVGL sourcing, AI agent strategy, placeholder hierarchy, legal guide
references/core/layout-discipline.md	Landing/marketing pages	Hero, eyebrow, section repetition, bento, zigzag, per-section responsive transforms
references/core/consistency-locks.md	Any multi-section page	Color, shape, theme consistency per page
references/core/responsive-viewport.md	Layout or breakpoint changes	Canonical breakpoints, page containment, container queries, responsive images, safe area, split-screen
references/core/mobile-ux.md	Consumer/landing pages with mobile traffic	Thumb zone, touch targets, sticky CTA, mobile section composition, bottom sheet, portrait media
references/core/seo-baseline.md	Public-facing sites, SSR/SSG	SEO meta, JSON-LD, robots.txt, GEO strategies, OG/Twitter cards
references/core/a11y-patterns.md	Interactive widgets, modals, forms	ARIA patterns, focus management, keyboard nav, screen reader testing
references/core/performance-budget.md	Launch / audit	CWV targets, bundle budgets, font loading, image optimization, build gates, browser connection budgets
references/core/preflight-full.md	Launch / audit	Full ~40-item pre-flight checklist (router §14 keeps only blocking gates)
references/core/theme-switching.md	Dark mode / theme	CSS custom properties toggle, FOWT prevention, transition, component checklist
references/core/i18n-global.md	Multi-language / RTL	RTL layout, pluralization, Intl API, locale switching, content expansion
See also: dev-uiux-design skill	Vague requests, onboarding, UX states	Intent discovery, design isms, product personalities, onboarding/empty/error patterns
references/stacks/react.md	React projects	Server Components, hooks, state, TanStack Query, shadcn/ui, performance
references/stacks/nextjs.md	Next.js projects	App Router, RSC, image optimization, data fetching, middleware
references/stacks/vanilla.md	HTML+CSS+JS (no framework)	Zero-dependency, viewport fitting, responsive CSS, progressive enhancement
references/stacks/svelte.md	Svelte/SvelteKit projects	Svelte 5 Runes, SvelteKit 2 routing/actions, snippets, migration from Svelte 4
references/stacks/mobile-native.md	Native mobile app development	RN/Expo current pairing, Flutter 3.44, KMP, Swift 6, framework selection
references/stacks/astro.md	Astro projects	Islands architecture, multi-framework shell, content collections, SSG/SSR/hybrid

Start with anti-slop.md, aesthetics.md, responsive-viewport.md, and visual-verification.md. Add domain/locale/stack references only when relevant. For C2 ordinary app screens (form/table/list/detail), crud-ui.md alone suffices; add the style references above for marketing/visual surfaces or C3+ work.

When frontend choices depend on current framework, design-system, browser API, library behavior, browser-rendered source evidence, or package/source freshness, read the active search skill and follow its source-fetch and evidence-status rules before treating external material as proof.

Verification grounding

STRICT: For render/executable artifacts (HTML, SVG, games, UI, charts), run the real renderer: headless browser, screenshot, canvas check, or equivalent. Observe the actual output yourself, fix what observation reveals, then re-run. Static parsing confirms well-formed files; it does not prove the artifact is visually or interactively correct. One clean observation is enough for unchanged state; do not re-render unchanged output just to repeat evidence.

---

0. Frontend Routing

Before designing or coding, classify the work:

Decision	Options	Why It Matters
Product surface	landing, app, dashboard, AI tool, public service, education, game, creative	Sets density, typography scale, asset requirements
Locale	Korean-first, global/i18n, English-only	Sets CJK typography, copy, date/number formats
Density	campaign, consumer app, productivity, SaaS, ops, finance, developer console	Prevents landing-page composition inside repeated-work tools
Asset need	none, screenshot, product photo, diagram, chart, illustration, soft 3D, game asset	Prevents asset-free gradient/card UI
Soft 3D/character gate	not allowed, subtle, primary	Prevents generic cute 3D/mascot slop
Motion intensity	static, feedback-only, expressive, cinematic	Prevents cinematic motion in utility workflows

Default rules:

• For apps/tools/dashboards, build the actual working surface first, not a marketing hero.
• For Korean-first work, read korea-2026.md and ux-writing-ko.md.
• For any soft 3D miniature, mascot, chibi, toy-like object, or character-like asset, read soft-3d-asset-gates.md.
• For product/brand/object/place/person pages, use concrete visual assets in the first viewport.
• For finance, government, B2B, admin, auth, security, and developer tools, keep visual warmth restrained and subordinate to clarity.
• Every user-facing decision point must justify its existence — defaults first, one primary action per screen, choices demoted to progressive disclosure; surface-conditional per density profile (dev-uiux-design UX-LAZY-01 owns the gate).
• For text-heavy surfaces (landing, marketing, editorial, public service), apply typography wrapping defaults — see typography-wrapping.md. Dashboard table cells are excluded.

---

1. Component Identification

When the user describes UI in vague terms (e.g. "접히는 거", "팝업 같은 거"):

1. Recommend the best-fit component with reasoning: <Name> — <what it does, why it fits>
2. Confirm, then proceed

If the user already names a specific component, skip this step. Reference: component.gallery/components

For new React/Vue/Svelte/Next UI source files, prefer .tsx or typed component files when the repo supports TypeScript. Inherit dev TypeScript strict-compatibility rules. If frontend structure is unclear, read existing source-of-truth docs/logs first, then document pages, components, routes, state stores, and build commands in the repo's existing SOT before broad implementation.

---

1.5 Objective Gates vs Style Samples

Two different kinds of rules live in this skill (see dev §0.2):

• Objective UX gates (STRICT/DEFAULT) — accessibility baseline (§7, §11), state coverage (loading/empty/error/permission), keyboard operability, visible focus, contrast. Missing these are review findings.
• Style direction (STYLE_SAMPLE) — design thinking (§2), aesthetics, density profiles, product personalities, preset tokens, and the concrete values in §4-§5 (palettes, font choices, pixel max-widths). These illustrate acceptable choices; they are NOT requirements, must not override an existing design system (Design System Detection stays MANDATORY), and must never be enforced as universal taste (UX-STYLE-01).

2. Design Thinking

Before coding, commit to a domain-correct direction:

• Purpose: What problem does this interface solve? Who uses it?
• Surface: Is this a working tool, dashboard, public service, AI workflow, game, landing page, or editorial surface?
• Tone: Pick a specific direction. For product tools this often means quiet, dense, trustworthy, and fast rather than loud.
• Constraints: Framework, performance budget, accessibility requirements.
• Signature: What ONE thing will make this unforgettable?

When user intent is vague ("깔끔하게", "모던하게", "just make it look good"), read the dev-uiux-design skill and run the User Intent Discovery Protocol before making routing decisions. If the user cannot answer these questions, use the dev-uiux-design skill's structured preference elicitation flow. Offer product references ("Notion 느낌? Linear 느낌?") and visual comparisons.

Intentionality over intensity. Bold maximalism, refined minimalism, dense utility, and friendly consumer UI can all work when they match the domain.

---

3. Baseline Configuration

Adjust these dials based on what's being built. Present to user if unclear.

Dial	Default	Range	Meaning
DESIGN_VARIANCE	5	1-10	1=symmetric utility, 10=asymmetric art
MOTION_INTENSITY	4	1-10	1=static, 10=cinematic choreography
VISUAL_DENSITY	5	1-10	1=art gallery airy, 10=cockpit dense

After Design Read, set dials per dev-uiux-design §2 Dial Setting.

Product density profile (D1-D8 in references/core/product-density.md) sets component class; VISUAL_DENSITY (1-10) sets spacing within that class. These are orthogonal axes.

Adapt dynamically based on user requests. Dashboard → density up. Portfolio → variance up. Data tool → motion down. Korean app/tool surfaces usually need higher density and clearer hierarchy, not oversized hero text.

---

4. Implementation

Read references/core/aesthetics.md for full guidelines. Summary:

• Typography: Use domain-appropriate typography. For Korean-first UIs, prioritize CJK-safe stacks before Latin display fonts. Apply text-wrap: balance on all headings AND short descriptors (hero subtitle, card description, caption — anything 1-3 lines). Use text-wrap: pretty only on body paragraphs (4+ lines). pretty has no effect on short text and will leave Korean orphans like "합니다." or "화." on a line alone. See typography-wrapping.md for full rules.
• Color: Max 1 accent. Use neutral bases (Zinc/Slate) with singular high-contrast accent — avoid purple-on-white.
• Layout: Match the product surface. Avoid centered-card/hero patterns in repeated-use tools.
• Motion: See references/core/motion.md. One well-choreographed page load > 10 scattered effects.
• Assets: Use screenshots, product images, diagrams, charts, illustrations, generated bitmaps, or soft 3D only when they add product meaning.

---

5. Anti-Slop Enforcement

Rule classes (dev §0.2): items below are DEFAULT — deviate with a stated reason; concrete values and palettes are STYLE_SAMPLE (§1.5); the emoji-as-UI-icon ban is the only STRICT item.

Read references/core/anti-slop.md for full rules. Key standards:

• Treat unexamined default typography as a slop signal. Choose a domain-appropriate stack; Korean-first UI should use CJK-safe fonts and system fallbacks deliberately.
• Gradient budget: gradient overuse is the current #1 AI slop signal; max 1 ambient gradient per viewport and never gradients on 3+ sibling cards — see anti-slop.md § Gradient Budget
• One-note theme ban: full-page single-hue washes (terminal green, cyber cyan, CRT amber) are the dark-mode purple-on-white — neutral dark base + accent on <10% of surface. See anti-slop.md § One-Note Theme Ban
• No self-describing meta copy: UI text must sell the product, never narrate the mockup, layout, or responsive behavior ("벤토 보드", "다른 배율로 재사용", viewport pill rows) — see anti-slop.md § Self-Describing Meta Copy
• Use neutral or intentional color palettes — purple gradients on white remain a legacy slop signal, but gradient soup is the current-generation tell
• Use asymmetric or purposeful layouts — centered-everything reads as template
• Vary card sizes, spans, and groupings — equal 3-card grids read as generic
• Bento grids must compose as one interlocking slab: aligned row edges, 1 dominant cell, span tracks content weight, no orphan tail — see layout-discipline.md § Bento Composition
• Never reuse the same image twice on one page (hero + crop/zoom tile) — each slot earns distinct content
• Avoid oversized bold hero text inside tools, dashboards, admin, finance flows, and public services
• Avoid asset-free UI: abstract blobs/gradients do not replace real visual evidence
• Avoid generic soft 3D icon packs; soft 3D must be semantic, brand-consistent, and restrained
• NEVER use emoji as UI visual elements (feature icons, card icons, section markers, buttons) — emoji in production UI is the #1 AI slop signal. Use SVG icons (Lucide/Phosphor/Heroicons). See anti-slop.md § Emoji Slop
• Warm beige/cream backgrounds with brass/clay accents are banned as defaults for premium-consumer briefs — see anti-slop.md § Premium-Consumer Palette Ban
• Layout monotony (same family repeated, 3+ zigzag sections, overused eyebrows) — see references/core/layout-discipline.md
• Color, shape, and theme must be locked per-page and audited before shipping — see references/core/consistency-locks.md
• Use off-black (#0a0a0a, #111) — pure #000000 lacks depth
• Responsive enforcement: every multi-column section must declare its mobile/tablet collapse behavior — "it'll work at mobile" is not a plan. See responsive-viewport.md
• Page containment required: max-w-[1400px] mx-auto or equivalent wrapper. Content stretching to viewport edges on wide monitors is a layout bug
• Mobile is a different product: section composition, CTA placement, and interaction model change on mobile — it is NOT just "desktop stacked vertically." See mobile-ux.md
• Use realistic, specific names and brands in placeholder content
• Write original copy — avoid "Elevate", "Seamless", "Next-Gen" and similar clichés
• Treat uncontrolled heading line breaks (orphaned single word, no text-wrap, no max-width in ch) as a slop signal — see typography-wrapping.md
• Treat short descriptors (hero subtitle, card description, caption) using text-wrap: pretty instead of balance as a slop signal — pretty does nothing on 1-3 line text, especially Korean
• Treat Korean orphan fragments ("합니다.", "화.", "입니다." alone on a line) as a slop signal — always verify Korean text breaks at target viewports
• Treat generic stroke icons as brand logo substitutes as a slop signal — use actual brand SVGs from Simple Icons, SVGL, or press kits. See brand-asset-sourcing.md

---

6. Performance Guardrails

• Animate transform and opacity only — layout properties cause jank
• Grain/noise filters → fixed pseudo-elements only, off scrolling containers
• will-change sparingly (remove after animation); z-index only for systemic layers
• Memoize perpetual animations in isolated components
• Browser connection budgets (≤2 SSE/WS per origin per page, multiplex over multiplying, no per-component polling): detail + limits table in references/core/performance-budget.md (this skill owns browser-side budgets; server connection lifecycle is owned by dev-backend §1)

---

7. Accessibility Baseline

• Semantic HTML (<button>, <nav>, <main>); keyboard navigation for all interactive elements
• WCAG AA minimum (4.5:1 normal text, 3:1 large text); visible focus indicators; prefers-reduced-motion
• Skip link; focus never hidden by sticky headers/bars/sheets/overlays
• Icon-only buttons need accessible names; charts/status/loading/AI-streaming states need labels or live regions
• Do not encode meaning by color alone
• Modals, menus, comboboxes, bottom sheets, command palettes: complete keyboard path — trap focus, restore on close, Escape; arrow-key navigation; honest aria-expanded/ aria-haspopup/aria-activedescendant; tab order follows visual flow
• Stress-test Korean long labels and screen-reader names; clipped Hangul is a failure
• Pointer targets follow WCAG 2.2 AA target-size (24×24 CSS px minimum with exceptions); 44×44px is a conservative product baseline, not the legal minimum
• Test with screen reader and keyboard-only navigation; deep patterns → a11y-patterns.md

---

8. React Behavior Rules (hooks · performance · forms)

Full guidance moved to references/stacks/react.md § Behavior Rules. Router decisions:

Decision	Rule
New custom hook	Only when it owns reusable behavior (subscription lifecycle, async state machine, shared form-field behavior) — never a thin useState alias
Memoization	Measure first; with React Compiler enabled, remove defensive memo/useMemo/useCallback unless semantics require identity
Perf strategy	Pure components, local state, correct state ownership (§12 table), split expensive client islands
Forms	Simple → controlled + schema (Zod); complex/multi-step → react-hook-form + resolver; field errors with role="alert"

---

12. 2026 Frontend Platform Rules (verified 2026-07-02)

Use this section when modernizing or creating React/Next/Vite frontends. Prefer project conventions first. Version-detail depth lives in references/stacks/react.md / nextjs.md.

React (19.2.x line)

• <Activity> (stable): state-preserving hidden UI (tabs, drawers, route shells) — not for security hiding or active subscriptions.
• useEffectEvent: non-reactive Effect logic needing latest props/state; never call during render or pass to children.
• Partial Pre-rendering: static shell + explicit dynamic holes + Suspense; nothing request-specific in the shell.
• React Compiler (stable, optional): measure before memoizing (§8).
• Performance gate: inspect React Performance Tracks in Chrome DevTools before adding memoization or blaming rendering.

Next.js (16.x)

• Turbopack is the default bundler (webpack is opt-in --webpack).
• Cache Components (cacheComponents: true): dynamic by default; cache only explicit use cache + cacheLife + cacheTag; PPR is expressed through Cache Components (the old experimental.ppr flag is gone).
• Never cache user/session data without a user-scoped cache key.
• Server Actions: validate server-side, authorize against the resource, revalidate affected tags.

Modern CSS (Baseline check before shipping)

Prefer native CSS before JS layout observers/animation libraries: container queries, :has(), subgrid (all Baseline widely-available), View Transitions (same-document, Baseline 2025 newly-available — provide fallback for cautious audiences), text-wrap: balance/pretty, dvh/svh/lvh units, logical properties, shallow CSS nesting. Tailwind v4 (CSS-first config, theme variables). Record Baseline status (widely/newly/caution) for each modern feature used and decide fallback per audience.

Build Tools

• Vite 8: Rolldown/Oxc is the integrated default bundler (rolldown-vite is only a Vite 7 migration bridge). Node 20.19+/22.12+; Baseline target Chrome/Edge 111, Firefox 114, Safari 16.4.
• Detect Vite 7 vs 8 before editing config — don't assume Rollup/esbuild-era plugins.
• Do not introduce Webpack-era config unless the app is already Webpack-bound.

Agent-visible runtime diagnostics (DEFAULT)

Prefer dev servers that surface browser/runtime errors to the CLI/agent before relying on static review: Vite 8 forwards browser console to the dev server (auto-activates for coding agents); Next 16 ships DevTools MCP. Wire these before debugging rendered behavior.

State Classification

Before adding state, classify it:

State type	Owner	Default tool
render-local UI	nearest component	useState / useReducer
derived	render calculation	expression / useMemo if expensive
form draft	form boundary	native form, React Hook Form, TanStack Form
server/cache	server/cache layer	RSC, Next cache, TanStack Query, SWR
URL/navigation	router	path params, search params
global client UI	external store	Zustand, Jotai, context
optimistic mutation	mutation boundary	useOptimistic, mutation library
AI stream	conversation boundary	append-only message model + stream status

Rules: Do not store derived state just to sync with Effect. Do not put server state in Zustand. Do not put URL-shareable state only in component state. Keep optimistic state reversible.

Design System Detection (MANDATORY — before creating tokens)

Before inventing design tokens, check:

1. Does the project have an installed design system? (grep -r "material-ui\|@mui\|carbon-components\|@carbon\|@fluentui\|govuk-frontend\|uswds" package.json)
2. Does the project have existing tokens? (find . -name "tokens.*" -o -name "theme.*" -o -name "design-system*")
3. Does the brief name a specific design system?

If YES to any: use the official package. Do not recreate CSS by hand.

System	Package	Import
Material	@mui/material	import { Button } from '@mui/material'
Carbon	@carbon/react	import { Button } from '@carbon/react'
Fluent	@fluentui/react	import { Button } from '@fluentui/react-components'
GOV.UK	govuk-frontend	import 'govuk-frontend/dist/govuk/all.scss'
USWDS	@uswds/uswds	import '@uswds/uswds/css/uswds.css'

If NO: proceed with dev-uiux-design/references/design-system-bootstrap.md.

shadcn/ui and AI-Assisted UI

• Inspect existing installed components before adding new ones
• Use project's components.json, aliases, tokens, and registry conventions
• Do not hallucinate design-system components; verify against local source
• Remove demo-only copy and unused variants

For AI-native interfaces (chat, agent, copilot), design explicit states: empty → prompt ready → submitted → streaming → tool call → result → complete → feedback. Never fake streaming, citations, or tool calls.

---

13. Error Boundaries

Wrap each major section (not the whole app); boundary renders friendly message + retry + report link; log to monitoring in componentDidCatch; never show stack traces to users. Error hierarchy: field-inline → form-summary → section Error Boundary → page error.tsx → root boundary (offline/crash page).

---

14. Pre-Flight Gates

Gates apply to production surfaces (dev §0.4 shared definition); prototypes and internal demos are exempt unless production polish is requested. Full ~40-item checklist: references/core/preflight-full.md — run it for launches and audits. The blocking gates below are the minimum for every production delivery:

• Design Read declared before code (dev-uiux-design §2); surface/locale/density/asset/motion classified (§0)
• Anti-slop enforced (§5) — incl. emoji-as-icon ban (STRICT)
• Loading, empty, and error states provided
• Accessibility baseline (§7): keyboard path, focus management, contrast, reduced motion
• Mobile collapse per section type + touch targets ≥44px + min-h-[100dvh] + page containment
• State classified before adding store/Context/Effect/cache (§12 table)
• Forms: schema validation + field-level errors (§8)
• Korean-first UI: CJK typography + word-break: keep-all + orphan screenshot check
• AI UI states honest: no fake streaming, citations, or tool calls
• Core Web Vitals are the performance gate (INP ≤200ms field data); Lighthouse Performance score is an advisory smoke signal, not the blocker — budgets in performance-budget.md
• Rendered verification run (§ Verification grounding): screenshots at mobile/tablet/desktop
• Error Boundaries wrap major sections (§13); stack-specific rules followed (references/stacks/)

---

15. Backend Contract & Security Alignment

Responsibility	Owner
Response envelope shape (success, data, error, meta)	dev-backend defines, dev-testing verifies
Consumer-side fixture alignment	Frontend — keep mocks in sync with fixtures/contracts/; payload changes update contract tests BEFORE merging (dev-testing §3.5)
Error display mapping	Frontend maps error.code to messages; never parse error.message for logic
CSP/XSS/token storage	Policy: dev-security §5/§2. Frontend implements: no inline scripts/eval; sanitize dangerouslySetInnerHTML (DOMPurify) or avoid; httpOnly cookies over localStorage; never flash protected content

Playwright smoke validates rendered flows AFTER API + contract tests pass; frontend unit tests mock the same envelope shape as dev-backend §5; error-code changes update frontend error-mapping tests.