| name | housekeep-design |
| description | Consolidate a design system that has drifted across many vibe-coding sessions and developer handoffs into one single source of truth. Detects competing tokens, duplicate/near-duplicate components, naming drift, mixed icon libraries, and ad-hoc arbitrary values; reconciles each conflict by picking the best-of-both canonical form; migrates all usages via mechanical codemod; and installs lint guardrails so drift can't recur. Establishes a 3-layer W3C token taxonomy (primitive → semantic → component). Use when "clean up the design system", "resolve design conflicts", "our UI is inconsistent across pages", "consolidate tokens/components", "streamline the design system", "keep the design SSOT", or "housekeep-design". This is the execution arm of plan-uiux-unification (which only plans) and the design counterpart of workflow-housekeep (which cleans files). |
| license | MIT |
housekeep-design — Consolidate a Drifted Design System to One SSOT
Multiple sessions and multiple devs leave a design system full of competing truths: three
button variants that look the same, --brand, --primary, and #3B82F6 all meaning the
same blue, text-[13px] next to text-sm, Lucide and Heroicons side by side. This skill
picks one canonical form for each conflict, migrates everything to it, and locks the door
behind you.
One source of truth per decision. When two patterns compete, take the best of
both (more accessible, tokenized, more reused, better named) as canonical and migrate
the rest to it — never leave both. Consolidation is mechanical and verifiable, not
vibes: a fresh search for the deprecated form must return zero.
This skill changes code. It edits tokens, components, and usages. It is destructive to
duplication, never to behavior: the rendered result must stay visually equivalent
(verified) unless a conflict resolution intentionally upgrades it.
Before any browser interaction, read protocol-browser-anti-stall and apply it.
Phase 0 — Detect and scope
0a. Consume an existing plan
If a plan-uiux-unification plan exists (in .cursor/plans/ or provided), read it fully —
this skill is its executor. Otherwise run the detect loop below.
0b. Detect the design system
Reuse the audit-uiux-design-system Step 0 detection: CSS framework (Tailwind v3/v4, CSS
Modules, CSS-in-JS), component library (shadcn/Radix/MUI/Chakra/custom), icon library, and
the token source file(s). Record it.
Phase 1 — Establish the SSOT structure (3-layer tokens)
Define (or normalize onto) a three-layer token taxonomy — the 2026 standard for
drift-proof systems:
| Layer | Role | Example |
|---|
| Primitive / global | Raw values, no meaning | --blue-500: oklch(...), --space-2: 0.5rem |
| Semantic | Intent, references primitives | --color-primary: var(--blue-500), --radius-card |
| Component | Component-scoped, references semantic | --button-bg: var(--color-primary) |
Components reference semantic tokens, never primitives or raw values. Record the
canonical token file as the SSOT and note where duplicate/parallel token sets live.
Phase 2 — Detect every conflict (the drift inventory)
Search the whole repo (use Shell/rg, not the plan's file list) and build a durable
checklist at .cursor/housekeep-design-state.md. Hunt each conflict class:
rg -n "#[0-9a-fA-F]{3,8}|rgb\(|hsl\([^v]" -g "*.{tsx,jsx,css,vue}"
rg -n "(text|p|m|gap|rounded|w|h)-\[" -g "*.{tsx,jsx}"
rg -n "^\s*--" -g "*.css"
rg -n "function (Button|Card|Modal|Dialog|Input|Badge|Tabs)\b" -g "*.{tsx,jsx}" -l
rg -n "<button |<input |<select |<a " -g "*.{tsx,jsx}"
rg -n "from '(lucide-react|@heroicons|react-icons|@phosphor)" -g "*.{tsx,jsx}" -c
Conflict classes to record:
- Token duplication — same value under multiple names; near-duplicate values (e.g.
#3B82F6 and #3C82F7) that should collapse to one.
- Naming drift — visual names (
--blue) vs semantic (--primary); inconsistent scales.
- Component duplication — multiple implementations of the same UI (2 Buttons, 3 Cards).
- Raw / arbitrary usage — hardcoded colors,
text-[13px], off-scale spacing/radius.
- Mixed icon libraries — pick one, migrate the rest.
- Dark-mode gaps — tokens without dark variants; hardcoded
bg-white/text-black.
State totals out loud: "Found N conflicts across M files."
Phase 3 — Reconcile: pick the canonical (best-of-both)
For each conflict, choose the canonical form using explicit criteria, and log the decision
in a SSOT decision log so future contributors know why:
Canonical wins if it is (in priority order): more accessible → properly tokenized /
semantic → more widely used already (least migration churn) → better named →
more complete (has all states/variants). When two are equal, keep the one closer to the
component library's idiom (e.g. shadcn cva variants).
## SSOT decisions (in .cursor/housekeep-design-state.md)
- Blue: `--color-primary` ← merge `--brand`, `#3B82F6`, `--blue-accent` (reason: semantic, most used)
- Button: keep `components/ui/button.tsx` (cva variants) ← remove `components/Button2.tsx`, inline buttons
- Icons: standardize on `lucide-react` ← migrate 12 `@heroicons` usages
- Radius: `--radius-card` (8px) ← collapse `rounded-[6px]`, `rounded-lg` in card contexts
STOP and ask the human only when a resolution changes visible behavior/brand in a way the
plan didn't authorize. Pure de-duplication proceeds.
Phase 4 — Migrate all usages (mechanical, per-batch)
Work the checklist in batches of 5–10 files. Prefer codemods for coverage you can verify:
- Token usages: replace deprecated names/raw values with the canonical token
(
rg → scripted replace, or eslint --fix with a custom rule).
- Component usages: replace duplicate/raw components with the canonical import;
migrate props to the canonical API.
- Icons: swap import + component name to the chosen library.
Flip each item [ ]→[x] in the state file immediately per batch (survives context
truncation). For large mechanical sweeps, hand the coverage loop to burndown-full
with MATCH=deprecated form, DONE=canonical form — its from-scratch-search gate proves
completeness. Append any newly discovered occurrences and burn them down too.
Phase 5 — Install guardrails so drift can't recur
Consolidation without guardrails regresses in a week. Add:
- Lint-as-policy: rules that block off-system styles — no raw hex/
rgb/hsl in
components, no arbitrary Tailwind values (no-restricted-syntax / a Tailwind lint
plugin), single icon library. Wire into the repo's lint step.
- Documented escape hatches: one sanctioned way to add a new token (edit the SSOT
file) and to opt out (a commented, reviewed exception) — so the rules don't just get
disabled wholesale.
- Note (do not force) that a visual-regression check (Chromatic/Storybook) in CI is the
durable long-term guard; recommend it if Storybook exists.
For a deeper guardrail install (hooks + CI gates), hand off to enhance-agent-guardrails.
Phase 6 — Verify and report
- Fresh search:
rg for every deprecated form → zero hits (except logged
exceptions). Any hit → back to Phase 4.
- Visual equivalence: playwright-cli before/after screenshots of key pages in light + dark;
confirm no unintended visual change. Save to
.playwright-mcp/.
- Build/typecheck/lint: run the repo's commands; the new lint rules must pass.
## Design Housekeep — report
**SSOT:** [token file] · 3-layer taxonomy established
**Conflicts resolved:** tokens [N→M] · components [N→M] · icons [→1 lib] · arbitrary values [N→0]
**Decision log:** [N] canonical choices recorded (.cursor/housekeep-design-state.md)
**Migration:** [M] files updated · deprecated-form search → 0 hits
**Guardrails:** lint-as-policy added (raw color/arbitrary/icon rules) · escape hatch documented
**Verification:** build ✓ · lint ✓ · visual before/after equivalent (screenshots [paths])
Leave .cursor/housekeep-design-state.md as an audit trail unless asked to delete it.
Related
plan-uiux-unification — produces the plan this skill executes (audit → approve → here)
audit-uiux-design-system — the read-only audit that surfaces the drift
enhance-agent-guardrails — deeper guardrail install (hooks, CI gates)
burndown-full — mechanical repo-wide coverage for the usage migration
enhance-motion — consolidate motion incoherence as part of the same pass
workflow-housekeep — the file/dependency counterpart (dead files, README, deps)
design-system — authoring conventions for the canonical components