| name | gdd-sketch |
| description | Multi-variant HTML design exploration that creates .design/sketches/<slug>/ with N standalone variants (default 3), browser-openable directly via file:// without a build step. Use when answering 'what could this look like?' before committing to a direction. |
| argument-hint | [topic] [--variants N] [--quick] |
| tools | Read, Write, AskUserQuestion, Bash |
Get Design Done - Sketch
Role: Multi-variant HTML exploration. Answers "what could this look like?" by generating N standalone HTML variants from a topic prompt. Variants are browser-openable directly - no build step - and can be screenshot by Phase 8 Preview/Playwright tooling later.
Unlike {{command_prefix}}spike (which tests feasibility), {{command_prefix}}sketch explores visual/directional variants.
Flag parsing
Parse $ARGUMENTS:
[topic] → kebab-case slug (e.g., "hero-redesign")
--variants N → number of variants (default: 3)
--quick → skip intake, use DESIGN-CONTEXT.md tokens + sensible defaults
Step 1 - Intake (unless --quick)
AskUserQuestion, one at a time:
- "What are you sketching? (component, layout, page)"
- "What directions should the variants explore? (minimal/maximal, dense/spacious, flat/layered, playful/restrained, etc.)"
- "Which design tokens apply? (pick from DESIGN-CONTEXT.md, or use defaults)"
If --quick: derive directions from topic + pull tokens from .design/DESIGN-CONTEXT.md if present, else defaults.
Step 2 - Create sketch directory
- Derive
<slug> from the topic (kebab-case).
mkdir -p .design/sketches/<slug>/ via Bash.
Step 3 - Write INTAKE.md
Write .design/sketches/<slug>/INTAKE.md with:
- Topic
- Directions (one bullet per variant)
- Token references (link to DESIGN-CONTEXT.md or inline list)
- Timestamp
Step 4 - Generate N standalone HTML variants
For each of N variants (default 3), write variant-<n>.html as a complete standalone HTML file:
<!DOCTYPE html> + <html> + <head> + <body>
<style> block inline with CSS custom properties for tokens (--color-*, --space-*, --font-*)
- Semantic HTML5 (
<header>, <main>, <nav>, <section>, etc.)
- No imports, no bundler, no JS framework - opens in a browser directly via
file://
- Each variant explores a different direction from intake
Step 5 - Write README.md
Write .design/sketches/<slug>/README.md with:
- Topic + one-line summary
- List of variants:
variant-1.html - direction label - one-line description
- How to view: "Open each
variant-*.html in a browser."
- Next step: "Run
{{command_prefix}}sketch-wrap-up <slug> when ready to pick a winner."
After writing
━━━ Sketches created ━━━
Slug: <slug>
Directory: .design/sketches/<slug>/
Variants: N standalone HTML files
Open variant-*.html in a browser.
Next: {{command_prefix}}sketch-wrap-up <slug>
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Do Not
- Do not write to
src/ - sketches live in .design/sketches/ only.
- Do not use build-step syntax (JSX, TS, imports). Standalone HTML only.
- Do not overwrite an existing sketch slug without asking.
SKETCH COMPLETE