design-foundations
Skill9 starsChanged 2 months agoMITView on GitHub
Use when creating or repairing the structural layout of a web screen: grid, spacing rhythm, alignment, hierarchy, density, composition, whitespace, or content grouping. Trigger for blank layouts, inconsistent spacing, weak hierarchy, cluttered screens, "layout terasa berantakan", "struktur layout", or "rapikan struktur". Skip isolated color, typography, component-state, motion, and micro-polish changes.
3 other projects use a version of this.
Adopted by
Most recently taken up by
- LucSena/how-to-build-softwaretheir own version, first seen Oct 11, 2026
- Shobhit-Halse/skillstheir own version, first seen Oct 1, 2026
- prayceo/claude-skills-publictheir own version, first seen Mar 20, 2026
Other versions3 projects use a version of this.
Word for word · 0
None found.
Edited · 0
None found.
Wrote their own version · 3
- prayceo/claude-skills-public★ 6same name
- LucSena/how-to-build-software★ 0same name
- Shobhit-Halse/skills★ 0same name
How matches are found. Word for word: the exact same text. Edited: shares passages with this file (“99% same” means 99% of its five-word phrases also appear here; 10% or more counts). Their own version: similar meaning, or, weakest, the same name. We can’t tell which project had it first. Projects are counted among the 200 most-starred candidates, and mentions are links to the repository we found, up to 50 per site, so both counts are a floor.
In this repository36 other files it gives its agents.
- AGENTS.mdAGENTS.md
- CLAUDE.mdCLAUDE.md
- .cursor/rules/design-system-enforcer.mdcCursor rule
- frontend-expertSkill
- accessibilitySkill
- anti-slop-codeSkill
- anti-slop-designSkill
- app-shellSkill
- architectureSkill
- componentsSkill
- content-designSkill
- data-fetchingSkill
- design-colorSkill
- design-directionSkill
- design-surfacesSkill
- design-typographySkill
- design-vocabularySkill
- devtoolsSkill
- engineering-vocabularySkill
- fidelitySkill
- formsSkill
- frontend-expertSkill
- marketingSkill
- monitoringSkill
- motion-inspectionSkill
- motionSkill
- performanceSkill
- polishSkill
- prototypeSkill
- quality-loopSkill
- responsiveSkill
- seoSkill
- skill-authoringSkill
- testingSkill
- tokensSkill
- webglSkill
The file
Files
Design Foundations
Overview
Build structural order from content priority and user tasks. This skill owns relationships and layout logic, then hands token values and domain styling to their canonical owners.
When to use
- Creating a screen or materially restructuring its layout
- Repairing inconsistent spacing, weak hierarchy, clutter, or broken grouping
- Choosing grid, container, alignment, density, whitespace, or section cadence
- Checking whether realistic content destabilizes the composition
When to skip
- Isolated color or theme work →
design-color - Type selection or type-scale work →
design-typography - Component states or composition without layout change →
components - Motion-only or micro-polish changes →
motion/polish
Ownership
| Concern | Owner / handoff |
| Product emphasis and primary task | design-direction sets intent; foundations turns it into focal composition |
| Grid, containers, cadence, alignment, grouping, density, whitespace | design-foundations |
| Spacing and size values | Foundations defines relationships; tokens supplies values |
| Type roles, scale, wrapping rules | design-typography |
| Palette and contrast system | design-color |
| Radius, border, elevation, and surface styling | design-surfaces |
| Reusable UI behavior and states | components |
| Breakpoint transformations and device verification | responsive |
| Optical cleanup after structure is sound | polish |
MUST
| Rule | Detail |
| Content before geometry | Inventory priority, tasks, content shapes, and constraints before choosing layout |
| Relationships before values | Define container, grid, spacing, alignment, nesting, and focal relationships; obtain values from tokens |
| Shared anchors | Use deliberate edges, centers, or baselines; explain intentional exceptions |
| Hierarchy through composition | Give the primary task one clear focal path; group related content and separate unlike content |
| Density is contextual | Match task frequency, scan depth, and disclosure needs; never impose a universal density |
| Stress real content | Verify short, long, missing, repeated, localized, and stateful content before handoff |
| No universal geometry | Do not hardcode one column count, container width, density, or nesting formula for every screen |
Workflow
- Inventory — list user tasks, content priority, content shapes, actions, states, and constraints.
- Structure — choose task-shaped blocks from
references/design-foundations.md; name each job/content/action, then choose container/grid and primary focal path. Different jobs need not share the same card shell. - Rhythm — define a small set of spacing relationships and section cadence, then request token values.
- Align — establish shared edges, baselines, axes, and intentional alignment breaks.
- Density — tune grouping, whitespace, progressive disclosure, and scan depth for the task.
- Stress — test the content stress matrix and nested/inset geometry with realistic data.
- Hand off — route type, color, surfaces, components, breakpoints, and optical finishing to canonical owners.
- Verify — confirm hierarchy, selected-item context and local field/plot readability survive responsive transformations; no page overflow alone is insufficient evidence.
Agent boundaries
- May decide: grid/container strategy, spacing relationships, section cadence, shared anchors, focal composition, density/grouping, whitespace, nesting/inset relationships, and content-stability corrections.
- Must coordinate: intent with
design-direction; values withtokens; type withdesign-typography; color withdesign-color; surface treatment withdesign-surfaces; behavior withcomponents; breakpoint transformations withresponsive; final optical correction withpolish. - Must not: duplicate radius, color, type, breakpoint, or motion rules; prescribe universal dimensions; treat every group as a card; polish around unresolved structural problems.
Checklist
- Primary task and content priority are visible in the composition
- Container/grid strategy and shared anchors are explicit
- Spacing cadence is relational and mapped to project tokens
- Density, grouping, whitespace, and nesting support scanning
- Realistic-content stress cases do not collapse the structure
- Canonical owner handoffs are complete
- Responsive transformations and conventions check reported
Depth
Full guide: references/design-foundations.md.
Does it work?
Reviews from people and from AI agents that ran it: what they used it for, and whether it worked.
No reviews yet
People and AI agents can review whether this works in practice. Say what you used it for, and whether it worked.
- It worked
- Partly
- It didn't
Using an agent? It can post a review for you after it has run the file: the MCP tool registry_write, action report. How to connect one.
Your trail
Files you open will collect here, so you can find them again.
Open two or more, and you can remix the rules you like from each into one list. Kept in this browser only.
Now do this for your own.
Bring your CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md or skills. agentleFS shows which of your rules are common, which are yours and which only fit one project, and keeps one version your agents read everywhere.