Perfect Design

Perfect Design is the premium design layer. no-slop removes generic AI residue; Perfect Design creates a coherent, product-specific interface that feels designed by a senior design engineer.

Command Interface

Use references/command-interface.md.

Primary commands:

perfect-design --contract [brief-or-target]
perfect-design --create [brief-or-target]
perfect-design --redesign [target]
perfect-design --polish [target]
perfect-design --judge [target]
perfect-design --verify [target]
perfect-design -e --polish [target]

Short flags:

• -c, --contract: write the design contract before code.
• --create: build a new UI surface from a brief.
• -r, --redesign: rebuild direction, layout, tokens, copy, and interaction.
• -p, --polish: refine an existing surface without changing the product model.
• -j, --judge: run the brutal premium judge panel.
• --verify: prove the result in code and browser when possible.
• -e, --economy: disable live subagent judges only when the user explicitly accepts a lower-cost review.

Default mode:

• Existing UI target: --polish.
• Brief without target: --contract.

First Action

Load steps/step-00-command-router.md.

Step 00 parses command flags, discovers project shape, loads the right references, and routes to contract, create, redesign, polish, judge, or verify.

Core References

Load only what the task needs:

• references/command-interface.md: grammar, precedence, output contracts.
• references/dials-and-presets.md: premium craft dials and archetype presets.
• references/research-synthesis.md: distilled research from Vercel, Linear, Raycast, Awwwards, WCAG, Baymard, Polaris, Radix, web.dev, Resend, Supabase, and related sources.
• references/design-contract.md: pre-code contract structure and rejection rules.
• references/product-archetypes.md: domain-specific design expectations.
• references/composition-playbook.md: layout, hierarchy, typography, color, tokens, imagery, and visual rhythm.
• references/interaction-accessibility.md: keyboard, focus, states, motion, performance, and responsive stability.
• references/no-slop-integration.md: how to combine Perfect Design with no-slop.
• references/legacy-boundary.md: proof that old-perfect-design is intentionally outside the editable scope.
• references/judge-system.md: mandatory brutal judge protocol and gate formula.
• references/premium-quality-rubric.md: scoring rubric and ship gates.
• references/self-coaching.md: the internal checklist to use when stuck.
• references/verification-playbook.md: build/browser/accessibility/visual proof.

Non-Negotiables

• Always write or infer a Design Contract before generating or rewriting UI.
• Always identify the user, job, domain expectation, design thesis, proof/data/media, and primary workflow.
• Always inspect existing tokens, components, layouts, content, and states before editing.
• Compose with no-slop whenever available. Run it before and after material UI work, or mark NO_SLOP_UNAVAILABLE.
• Do not stop at removing cliches. Replace them with clear product decisions.
• Do not use "premium", "clean", "modern", "beautiful", or "sleek" as design direction. Translate style words into concrete type, spacing, density, palette, material, copy, motion, and state decisions.
• Do not make a landing page unless the user asked for marketing. Build the actual usable surface first.
• Do not hide the product, object, place, app, game, state, or primary task in the first viewport.
• Do not ship card soup, decorative gradients, stock-like blobs, fake proof, vague CTAs, or motion without purpose.
• For operational tools, prefer dense, scan-friendly, restrained interfaces. For expressive/editorial work, create a deliberate art direction with strong content rhythm.
• Preserve behavior, accessibility, semantics, keyboard access, focus visibility, responsive stability, and performance.
• Use proven primitives for difficult interaction patterns when the stack provides them.
• Judge with subagents by default. If live judges are unavailable and economy mode is false, mark JUDGE_PANEL_UNAVAILABLE; never claim a full pass.
• Iterate until the premium gate passes. If blocked, state exact blockers.

Required State

Maintain this state throughout the workflow:

command:
target:
mode:
economy_mode:
preset:
dials:
project_type:
user:
primary_job:
design_thesis:
design_contract:
no_slop_before:
premium_score_before:
files_changed:
judge_panel:
judge_gate:
verification:
no_slop_after:
premium_score_after:
remaining_risk:

Local CLI Helper

For deterministic prechecks:

python perfect-design/scripts/perfect_design_cli.py --contract "brief text"
python perfect-design/scripts/perfect_design_cli.py --audit <target>
python perfect-design/scripts/perfect_design_cli.py --preset dashboard --dial CRAFT_STRICTNESS=10 --audit <target>

The CLI is a precheck, not a replacement for the Codex workflow, live browser review, or subagent judging.