ui-component-generation

name	UI Component Generation
description	Generate multi-file React component bundles with design tokens from natural language descriptions.

UI Component Generation Skill

You are now acquiring the skill of generating React UI components. After reading this document, you will know how to produce high-quality, multi-file React component bundles from natural language descriptions.

Hard Rules

1. All colors, spacing, typography, and radii MUST use --cg- design tokens. No hex colors, no rgb(), no named colors, no raw pixel values. Hardcoded values like #8B6F47 or color: olive break the live theme switcher. This is a build error, not a suggestion.
2. Your output renders inside a host application. Don't create app names, brand headers, splash screens, or taglines. Start with the actual task UI. The host provides the chrome.

What You're Building

A multi-file React component bundle rendered in a sandboxed iframe. The bundle consists of:

• App.jsx — the root component that accepts configuration props
• components/*.jsx — reusable sub-components
• styles.css — shared styles using CSS custom properties

Components use inline styles with CSS custom properties from a design token system. Import resolution between files is handled automatically by the build pipeline.

Output Format

Save files as jsx and return all of them as the outcome.

Component Library

Before generating sub-components, check /mnt/library/ for existing components from previous runs. Each subdirectory is a previous run, containing its App.jsx and components/*.jsx.

Reuse workflow:

1. Use system_read_text_from_file to list /mnt/library/ and browse available components.
2. If a component matches what you need (e.g., a PieChart, Header), just import it — import PieChart from "./components/PieChart". You do NOT need to save the file; the build pipeline resolves library components automatically.
3. Only generate a new component from scratch when nothing in the library fits.
4. You may adapt a library component by reading it, modifying it, and saving the modified version to your output.

When you reuse a component, include a comment at the top: // Reused from: library/<run-id>/<filename>

Rules

1. App.jsx is the entry point. It must be named exactly App.jsx and contain a function called App.
2. App carries the configuration. All data that should be configurable by the caller (location, users, items, dates, etc.) appears as props on App with realistic defaults.
3. Sub-components are reusable. Each component in components/ should render standalone with sensible defaults. Document all props with @prop JSDoc.
4. Every file imports what it uses. Include import React from "react" in every JSX file. Import sub-components with relative paths (e.g. import Header from "./components/Header").
5. CSS imports work. Use import "./styles.css" in App.jsx for shared styles.
6. Export default. Each component file must export default its component function.

Configuration Props

When creating a component, think about what data the caller would want to customize. These become props on App:

UI Type	Example Props
Weather dashboard	location, temperature, condition, forecast (array)
User profile	name, avatar, bio, stats (object)
Product card	title, price, image, rating, reviews
Task manager	tasks (array), categories, user
Analytics dashboard	metrics (array), timeRange, chartData

All props MUST have realistic default values so the component renders standalone with zero configuration.

Design Token System

Reminder: this is a hard rule (see above). Every visual value — colors, spacing, type, radii, shadows — MUST use --cg- tokens. No exceptions.

Token Rules

Category	Use	Never
Colors	var(--cg-color-...)	#hex, rgb(), named colors
Spacing	var(--cg-sp-...)	Raw pixel values for padding/margin/gap
Font sizes	var(--cg-text-...-size)	14px, 1rem
Border radius	var(--cg-radius-...) or var(--cg-card-radius)	12px, 24px
Shadows	var(--cg-elevation-...) or var(--cg-card-shadow)	Raw box-shadow values
Font family	var(--cg-font-sans) or var(--cg-font-mono)	'Arial', sans-serif

Available Tokens

Colors: --cg-color-surface-dim, --cg-color-surface, --cg-color-surface-bright, --cg-color-surface-container-lowest, --cg-color-surface-container-low, --cg-color-surface-container, --cg-color-surface-container-high, --cg-color-surface-container-highest, --cg-color-on-surface, --cg-color-on-surface-muted, --cg-color-primary, --cg-color-primary-container, --cg-color-on-primary, --cg-color-on-primary-container, --cg-color-secondary, --cg-color-secondary-container, --cg-color-on-secondary, --cg-color-on-secondary-container, --cg-color-tertiary, --cg-color-tertiary-container, --cg-color-on-tertiary, --cg-color-on-tertiary-container, --cg-color-error, --cg-color-error-container, --cg-color-on-error, --cg-color-on-error-container, --cg-color-outline, --cg-color-outline-variant

Typography: --cg-font-sans, --cg-font-mono, --cg-text-display-{lg,md,sm}-{size,line-height,weight}, --cg-text-headline-{lg,md,sm}-{size,line-height,weight}, --cg-text-title-{lg,md,sm}-{size,line-height,weight}, --cg-text-body-{lg,md,sm}-{size,line-height,weight}, --cg-text-label-{lg,md,sm}-{size,line-height,weight}

Spacing (4px grid): --cg-sp-0 through --cg-sp-16

Radius: --cg-radius-{xs,sm,md,lg,xl,full}

Elevation: --cg-elevation-{1,2,3}

Motion: --cg-motion-duration-{short,medium,long}, --cg-motion-easing-{standard,decel,accel}

Component tokens: Card: --cg-card-{bg,radius,padding,shadow}, Button: --cg-button-{radius,padding,bg,color,font-size,font-weight}, Input: --cg-input-{bg,border,radius,padding,color,placeholder}, Badge: --cg-badge-{bg,color,radius,padding,font-size}, Divider: --cg-divider-{color,thickness,style}

Expressive: --cg-border-{style,width}, --cg-heading-{transform,letter-spacing}, --cg-img-{radius,border,shadow,filter}, --cg-hover-{scale,brightness,shadow}

Component Design

Decomposition

• Compose, don't monolith. A dashboard should be built from Header, MetricsGrid, ForecastCard, etc.
• Each component renders standalone with realistic defaults.
• The top-level App composes everything into a cohesive layout.

Icons

Google Material Symbols Outlined is available:

<span className="material-symbols-outlined" style={{ fontSize: "20px" }}>
  search
</span>

Interactivity

Components should be interactive where appropriate. Use useState, useEffect with cleanup. Supported patterns: timers, carousels, accordions, tabs, checklists, toggles.

Stable Defaults

Never use Date.now(), Math.random(), or new Date() in default parameters. Compute once at module level or use useState(() => ...).

Multi-View Apps (Journey Mode)

When building UI for a journey segment, you are building a multi-view mini-app — one React component per state in the segment's XState machine.

Critical: You're a Segment, Not a Standalone App

Your mini-app is one segment of a wider orchestrated journey. Between segments, an LLM orchestrator examines the user's data and decides what comes next. This means:

• Don't brand it. No app names, no splash screens, no taglines. The host application provides the chrome and framing. Start with the task UI.
• Emit your data. The last view in your segment MUST call ark.emit() to hand collected data back to the orchestrator. Without this, the journey stalls.
• Receive context. Your segment may receive data from prior segments as props. Use it to personalize the experience.

File Structure

Each state gets its own component file named after the state:

• App.jsx — shell that renders the initial state
• views/InputRequirements.jsx — one view per state
• views/SelectModels.jsx
• views/DetailedComparison.jsx
• views/DecisionReport.jsx
• components/*.jsx — shared sub-components (reusable across views)
• styles.css — shared styles

Navigation

Within the segment, views navigate using window.ark.navigateTo. At the boundary (the segment's final view), use window.ark.emit to send data back to the orchestrator.

The Ark SDK is available as window.ark. It has exactly three methods:

// Navigate to another view WITHIN this segment.
window.ark.navigateTo("select_models", { teamProfile });

// Send data BACK TO THE ORCHESTRATOR (segment boundary).
// Use on the final view's CTA — this is what connects segments.
window.ark.emit("journey:result", { decision, comparisonSet });

// Get an asset URL by reference name.
window.ark.asset("logo"); // → "blob:..."

Do not call any other methods on window.ark. There is no onNavigation, subscribe, or event listener API. Navigation state is managed internally by your App component (e.g. useState + switch statement), not by the SDK.

View Contract

Each view component receives two props:

• data — the journey context relevant to this state
• onTransition — callback for state transitions (wired to ark.navigateTo)

export default function SelectModels({ data = {}, onTransition }) {
  const handleSelect = (item) => {
    onTransition("detailed_comparison", {
      ...data,
      shortlist: [...(data.shortlist || []), item],
    });
  };
  // ...
}

Rules

1. One view per state. Don't merge states into a single component.
2. Views are self-contained. Each view renders standalone with defaults.
3. Shared components go in components/. Headers, cards, buttons used across multiple views should be extracted.
4. Context flows forward. Each transition carries the data the next view needs. Views never fetch — they receive.
5. Final view emits. The last view must include a CTA that calls window.ark.emit("journey:result", data) with the data the orchestrator needs to decide what happens next.

Available Globals

React, useState, useEffect, useRef, useCallback, useMemo, useContext, useReducer, useLayoutEffect, memo, forwardRef, createContext, Fragment

Generate realistic, plausible sample data — no "Lorem ipsum". Be creative and visually impressive.