Getting Started with Design System Skills

Overview

This plugin provides 28 skills for building design systems: token generators, component patterns, accessibility guidance, framework integrations, and tool workflows. Each skill is a focused guide Claude uses to help you implement specific parts of a design system.

Quick Start

Building a new design system? Start here:

1. Token foundation: Use design-tokens-structure to plan your architecture
2. Colors: Use color-scale to generate your palette
3. Spacing/Typography: Use spacing-scale and type-scale
4. Components: Use your framework skill (react, vue, svelte, angular)

Adding to an existing project? Jump to the skill you need:

Available Skills

Tokens (10 skills)

Generate design tokens in CSS, Tailwind, or JSON:

Patterns (6 skills)

Implementation patterns for common challenges:

Frameworks (4 skills)

Framework-specific component patterns:

Tools (4 skills)

Design tool and build integrations:

Accessibility (3 skills)

WCAG compliance and a11y patterns:

Documentation (2 skills)

Generate documentation:

Recommended Paths

Path A: New Design System

1. design-tokens-structure  → Plan your token architecture
2. color-scale              → Generate color palette
3. spacing-scale            → Generate spacing tokens
4. type-scale               → Generate typography tokens
5. shadow-scale             → Generate elevation tokens
6. dark-mode                → Add theme support
7. [framework skill]        → Build components
8. storybook                → Document components

Path B: Add Design Tokens to Existing Project

1. design-tokens-structure  → Understand token layers
2. color-scale              → Convert existing colors to tokens
3. spacing-scale            → Standardize spacing
4. style-dictionary         → Set up build process

Path C: Improve Accessibility

1. color-contrast           → Audit and fix contrast
2. focus-states             → Add visible focus indicators
3. aria-patterns            → Fix interactive components

Path D: Cross-Platform Design System

1. design-tokens-structure  → Plan architecture
2. style-dictionary         → Multi-platform output
3. figma                    → Sync with design tool

How Skills Work

Each skill provides:

1. When to use: Scenarios that trigger the skill
2. Quick reference: Tables and cheat sheets
3. The process: Step-by-step workflow
4. Implementation checklist: Trackable progress (for complex skills)
5. Code examples: CSS, Tailwind, JSON, framework-specific

Skills output in multiple formats:

• CSS custom properties: --color-primary: #3b82f6
• Tailwind config: theme.extend.colors.primary
• JSON tokens: Design token format for tools

Tips for Best Results

1. Be specific: "Generate a blue color scale" → uses color-scale
2. Mention format: "in Tailwind format" → gets Tailwind config output
3. Chain skills: "Create spacing tokens then document them" → uses spacing-scale + token-docs
4. Reference existing: "Match my existing token structure" → adapts to your patterns

Getting Help

• Find a skill: Describe what you're trying to do
• Learn a concept: Ask about tokens, theming, accessibility
• Debug issues: "Why isn't my dark mode working?"
• Best practices: "What's the best way to structure tokens?"

This plugin is maintained by buoy.design.