cm-design-system

name

cm-design-system

description

Ultimate Design System Intelligence. Manage, extract, replicate, and improve UI design systems. Extracts design tokens visually from existing sites (Harvester v5), manages multi-page tokens, and utilizes MCP servers like Google Stitch and Pencil.dev to generate complete, consistent design systems (Shadcn UI, Halo, Lunaris, Nitro). Use when the user asks to "extract design from a URL", "create a Shadcn design system", "analyze design tokens", "build a design system for", or "copy the UI style of".

Goal

Establish a robust, stable, and consistent UI Design System by either extracting tokens from an existing source (Harvester mode) or scaffolding a fresh system based on premium Kits (Shadcn, Halo, Lunaris, Nitro). Output a strictly formatted DESIGN.md artifact ready for UI generation.

Instructions

0. Load Design Taste (if .cm/design-taste.json exists): Before proposing tokens, call topTaste(cwd, 'color'), topTaste(cwd, 'font'), topTaste(cwd, 'layout') from src/utils/design-taste.ts. Bias selections toward approved entries; avoid rejected. Decay is 5 %/week so stale taste fades — trust live weights. After the user accepts or rejects a palette, call recordTaste(cwd, { dimension, value, verdict }) so future runs improve.

1. Clarify Intent: Determine if the user wants to extract an existing design from a URL/Image or create a new system from a specific UI Kit.

2. Harvester Extraction (If applicable):

   • Analyze the target visual source.
   • Extract semantic colors (Primary, Secondary, Success, Warning, Danger), neutral ramps (50-900), typography scales, spacing tokens, and border radii.

3. Pre-built UI Kits (Default Mode):

   • If the user wants a beautiful design quickly, DO NOT try to generate tokens manually.
   • Instead, copy one of the pre-built design systems from skills/cm-design-system/resources/ into the project's .stitch/DESIGN.md or pass directly to cm-ui-preview:
     • shadcn-default.md (Use this as the absolute DEFAULT if no style is specified)
     • halo-modern.md (Premium dark mode, glowing accents)
     • lunaris-advanced.md (Tech-focused, monospaced fonts)
     • nitro-enterprise.md (High-contrast, data-dense enterprise)

4. Pencil.dev & Google Stitch MCP:

   • Stitch path: Use DESIGN.md with <!-- STITCH_TOKENS_START --> JSON block to feed design tokens into Google Stitch's AI generator via cm-ui-preview.
   • Pencil path: Use the Pencil MCP tools to create and manage .pen design files directly:

   Pencil.dev Workflow:

   1. open_document()         → Create/open a .pen file
   2. get_guidelines("web-app") → Load design rules for target platform
   3. get_style_guide_tags()  → Browse available style tags
   4. get_style_guide(tags)   → Get color palette, typography, spacing
   5. set_variables()         → Apply design tokens as .pen variables
   6. batch_get(reusable:true)→ Read existing design system components
   7. batch_design()          → Insert/update components and screens
   8. get_screenshot()        → Verify visual output
   

   Mapping DESIGN.md tokens to .pen variables:

   mcp_pencil_set_variables({
     filePath: "design-system.pen",
     variables: {
       "primary": { "type": "color", "value": "#3B82F6" },
       "secondary": { "type": "color", "value": "#10B981" },
       "surface": { "type": "color", "value": "#FFFFFF" },
       "text-primary": { "type": "color", "value": "#0F172A" },
       "border-radius": { "type": "number", "value": 8 },
       "spacing-sm": { "type": "number", "value": 8 },
       "spacing-md": { "type": "number", "value": 16 },
       "spacing-lg": { "type": "number", "value": 32 }
     }
   })
   

   • For UI component rendering against these tokens, you MUST hand off to cm-ui-preview.
   • IMPORTANT: Never use view_file or grep_search on .pen files. Always use mcp_pencil_batch_get.

5. Export Custom DESIGN.md (Extraction Mode):

   • If extracting from a site visually, create the DESIGN.md document.
   • You MUST construct the exact JSON token block wrapped in <!-- STITCH_TOKENS_START --> and <!-- STITCH_TOKENS_END -->.

Examples

Example 1: Extract design from a URL

Input: "Can you extract the design system from stripe.com to use in our project?" Action:

1. Extract semantic colors: Primary (Blurple), surface colors, typography (Inter), rounded corners.
2. Build the DESIGN.md including the Stitch STITCH_TOKENS JSON block with these tokens.
3. Tell the user: "Extraction complete. I've saved the tokens in DESIGN.md. Would you like me to hand this off to cm-ui-preview to generate components?"

Example 2: Scaffold a new robust design system

Input: "Create a modern dark-mode design system using Halo UI kit." Action:

1. Generate a premium deep-dark color palette.
2. Structure the tokens using Halo's spacing and glassmorphic shadow values.
3. Output DESIGN.md with STITCH_TOKENS.
4. Provide standard Tailwind config parameters matching the system.

Example 3: Create a design system in Pencil.dev

Input: "Create a design system for our SaaS dashboard directly in Pencil.dev." Action:

1. Open or create a .pen file: mcp_pencil_open_document({ filePathOrTemplate: "new" }).
2. Load design guidelines: mcp_pencil_get_guidelines({ topic: "design-system" }).
3. Browse and select a style guide: mcp_pencil_get_style_guide_tags() → mcp_pencil_get_style_guide({ tags: ["saas", "dashboard", "modern", "website", "clean"] }).
4. Apply design tokens via mcp_pencil_set_variables() using the style guide's recommendations.
5. Create reusable components (buttons, cards, inputs) via mcp_pencil_batch_design().
6. Verify with mcp_pencil_get_screenshot().
7. Tell the user: "Design system created in design-system.pen. Would you like me to build screens using these components?"

Constraints

• 🚫 DO NOT generate or build React/Vue UI components directly in this skill. Handoff UI generation to cm-ui-preview.
• 🚫 DO NOT skip the <!-- STITCH_TOKENS_START --> wrapper in DESIGN.md. It is critical for Stitch MCP parsing.
• 🚫 DO NOT guess accessibility constraints — ensure text-on-background contrast aligns with WCAG AA (handled via cm-ux-master heuristics).
• 🚫 DO NOT use view_file or grep_search on .pen files. Always use Pencil MCP tools (batch_get, batch_design, etc.).
• ✅ ALWAYS define a complete neutral scale (50-900) even if the source site only uses a few grays.