Add /design round-trip and design-checker agent to the fleet
Design/branding for any user-facing repo becomes a vendor-neutral on-disk contract — design/DESIGN.md (nine-section brief) + design/tokens.tokens.json (W3C DTCG tokens) — that every agent reads before building UI. Claude Design is the interchangeable cloud front-end, never a dependency. - /design (main-thread command): inspiration-first scoping -> BRIEF.md -> user drives the cloud step -> distill the export back into the contract. Phase-C token distillation is agent-mediated because the export is inline-hardcoded HTML/CSS, not DTCG. - design-checker (read-only subagent): audits a repo's UI against its own committed contract; says "run /design first" when none exists. - /new-project scaffolds design/ for user-facing projects.
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# Design round-trip — orchestration guide
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*Substance file per the portability protocol. Vendor wrappers (e.g.
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`adapters/claude/commands/design.md`) point here; this guide is self-contained and written
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as plain prose any orchestrating agent could follow. This is also the authoritative
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definition of the `design/` folder convention that `/new-project` scaffolds and the
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`design-checker` agent audits against — both point here.*
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You run the **design round-trip** for a repo that has (or will have) a user-facing
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interface: you scope the look interactively with the user, hand a well-formed brief to an
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external visual tool (Anthropic's **Claude Design** in the cloud is the default front-end,
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but Figma or a plain conversation feed the same contract), then distill whatever comes back
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into a small set of **durable, vendor-neutral, on-disk design artifacts** that every future
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agent reads before building UI. You run in the **main thread** — scoping a look is an
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interactive, iterative conversation, not a delegated job — so you talk to the user and react
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to what they show you. Do not behave like a subagent.
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The arc: **scope the brief (with inspiration) → hand off to the cloud tool → distill the
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result into the repo.** The principle underneath: the cloud tool is an interchangeable
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front-end; what lives in the repo is a `DESIGN.md` brand brief plus a `tokens.tokens.json`
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token file, and *those two files are the contract*. Never let the repo depend on a
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proprietary export format — if Claude Design vanished tomorrow, the on-disk contract and
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everything that reads it must still stand.
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## Posture (how to run the conversation)
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Be a collaborator drawing out a look the user may not be able to name yet. **Lead with
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inspiration, not specification.** The user often won't know exactly what they want — that's
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fine and expected. Invite them to show you references: "drop any screenshots of apps/sites
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whose look you like into `design/inspiration/`, or paste them here." React to each
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concretely (what about it works — the restraint, the density, the palette, the type?), build
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a shared vocabulary, and converge. Propose a draft direction and let them correct it rather
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than interrogating them. At most a focused question or two per turn. **Scale the ceremony to
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the surface:** a single admin panel needs a light brief; a public landing page or a consumer
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app deserves the full walk. And push back — if two references pull in opposite directions, or
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a stated brand value contradicts the inspiration, name it.
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## The on-disk contract: the `design/` folder
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Every repo with a user-facing surface carries a `design/` folder. This is the layout you
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create and maintain (folder name is `design/`, not `brand/`):
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```
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design/
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BRIEF.md # pre-flight: the scoped input packet handed to the cloud tool
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DESIGN.md # the durable brand brief — the contract agents read before UI work
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tokens.tokens.json # W3C DTCG design tokens — the machine-readable value source
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inspiration/ # reference images + UI screenshots the user likes (first-class input; kept in git)
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brand/ # logo.svg, fonts, generated palette.css and other delivered assets
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_imports/<date>/ # raw export bundles from the cloud tool, dated (kept in git for provenance)
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```
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`DESIGN.md` + `tokens.tokens.json` are the **contract**; everything else is scaffolding and
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provenance. `inspiration/` and `_imports/` are **kept in git** — the references record *why*
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the look is what it is, and the raw imports record *where* it came from. And the repo's
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`AGENTS.md` carries one line so every tool honors the contract:
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> **Design:** before building or changing any user-facing UI, read `design/DESIGN.md` and
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> `design/tokens.tokens.json` and conform to them.
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## Phase A — Pre-flight scoping (interactive, the high-value step)
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Produce `design/BRIEF.md`: the well-scoped packet the user walks into the cloud tool with, so
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they never start from a blank canvas. Work it out *with* the user, inspiration-first:
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1. **Gather inspiration.** Ask for reference images and UI screenshots of apps/sites they
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like; save them under `design/inspiration/` (or have the user drop them there). Treat each
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as a first-class input — these get uploaded to the cloud tool later. For each, capture in
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one line *what* the user likes about it, so the aesthetic intent survives as text, not just
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pixels.
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2. **Draft the brief** in the five-part structure the cloud tool responds to (this is the
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documented Claude Design prompt shape): **Goal** (what this screen/app is and the one job
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it does), **Layout** (structure, density, mobile-first or not), **Content** (the actual
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elements: hero, blocks, fields, nav), **Audience** (who uses it and the feeling it should
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evoke), **Reference pattern** (the inspiration above, named). Add a **~200-word brand
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description** — voice, mood, what it is *not*. Don't demand precision the user doesn't have;
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a confident draft they refine in five words beats a questionnaire.
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3. **Assemble the input checklist** — what the user will actually feed the cloud tool, matched
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to what it accepts: a repo **subdirectory to point it at** (never the whole monorepo — it
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chokes on large trees; pick the front-end dir), files to **upload** (logo, fonts, the
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inspiration images, and any existing `design/DESIGN.md` / `tokens.tokens.json` for
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consistency across screens), and any **live URLs** to capture an existing look from.
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4. **Write `design/BRIEF.md`** holding the five-part brief, the brand description, the
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inspiration list with the per-image notes, and the input checklist. End it with a
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**copy-pasteable prompt block** the user can drop straight into the cloud tool.
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## Phase B — Hand off to the cloud tool (the user drives this)
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You cannot run Claude Design — it is cloud-only at `claude.ai/design`, browser-driven, and
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the user does this step. Your job is to hand them a runbook, not to pretend you did it:
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- Tell them exactly what to **paste** (the prompt block from `BRIEF.md`) and **upload/point
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at** (the input checklist).
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- Tell them how to **iterate**: refine with inline canvas comments, direct edits, and the
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sliders/toggles — not just re-prompting.
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- Tell them what to **export when satisfied**: the **"Handoff to Claude Code" bundle** (the
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richest output — HTML/CSS/JS + per-state screenshots + a README of stack/conventions) and a
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few **screenshots** of the key states. The PDF/PPTX/Canva exports are presentation-only and
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carry no usable style data — skip them for our purposes.
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- Have them drop the exported bundle into `design/_imports/<date>/` and tell you when it's
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there (or paste the screenshots + HTML to you).
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If the user used Figma or just talked through the look instead, that's fine — the same Phase
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C distillation applies to whatever visual artifact they bring back.
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## Phase C — Distill into the durable contract (back in the repo)
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Turn the raw export into the vendor-neutral contract. **This step is agent-mediated, not a
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mechanical export** — Claude Design emits standalone HTML with *inline, hardcoded* CSS (no
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CSS custom properties, no DTCG tokens), so you read the values out of the export and the
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screenshots and author the contract yourself. Worth a human glance the first few runs.
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1. **Preserve provenance.** Confirm the raw bundle is committed under `design/_imports/<date>/`.
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2. **Author `design/DESIGN.md`** — the brand brief in the widely-adopted nine-section format
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(this is what coding agents parse): **Visual theme**, **Color palette**, **Typography**,
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**Component styling**, **Layout**, **Depth/elevation**, **Do's and don'ts**, **Responsive
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behavior**, **Agent prompt guide** (a short "when building UI here, do X" note to future
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agents). Fill it from the export's actual values and the inspiration intent.
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3. **Author `design/tokens.tokens.json`** — the W3C DTCG format (JSON; each token has `$type`
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and `$value`; groups nest; references use `{group.token}`). Pull colors, type scale,
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spacing, radii, and shadows out of the export's CSS. If helpful, the standalone Claude Code
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`design-tokens-skill` can assist with token extraction — optional, not required.
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4. **Populate `design/brand/`** — logo, fonts, and (optionally) a `palette.css` of CSS custom
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properties generated from the tokens via Style Dictionary, so the running app has a real
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stylesheet to consume.
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5. **Wire the contract in.** Ensure the `AGENTS.md` **Design line** (above) is present; add it
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if missing.
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6. **Commit** the `design/` folder. From here, every agent that touches UI reads the contract,
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and `design-checker` can audit code against it.
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## The `BRIEF.md` skeleton
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```markdown
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# Design brief — <surface/screen/app>
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## Goal
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<what this is; the single job it does>
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## Layout
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<structure, density, mobile-first?>
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## Content
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<the actual elements to include>
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## Audience
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<who uses it; the feeling it should evoke>
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## Reference pattern (inspiration)
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- inspiration/<file> — <what the user likes about it>
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- ...
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## Brand description (~200 words)
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<voice, mood, what it is NOT>
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## Inputs to bring to the cloud tool
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- Point at: <repo subdir>
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- Upload: <logo, fonts, inspiration images, existing DESIGN.md/tokens>
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- Web-capture: <live URLs, if any>
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## Prompt block (paste into Claude Design)
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> <Goal> … <Layout> … Include: <Content> … Audience: <…> … Style like <Reference>.
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```
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## The `tokens.tokens.json` shape (W3C DTCG)
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```json
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{
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"color": {
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"brand": { "$type": "color", "$value": "#1a1a2e" },
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"accent": { "$type": "color", "$value": "#e94560" }
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},
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"space": {
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"md": { "$type": "dimension", "$value": "16px" }
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},
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"font": {
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"body": { "$type": "fontFamily", "$value": "Inter" }
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}
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}
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```
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## Hard rules
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- **The contract is `DESIGN.md` + `tokens.tokens.json`, never the proprietary bundle.** The
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repo must stay readable and buildable if the cloud tool disappears. The bundle is provenance
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in `_imports/`, not a dependency.
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- **Don't fabricate brand values.** Every color, size, and rule in the contract traces to the
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export, an inspiration image, or an explicit user choice — if you can't source it, ask, or
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mark it as a placeholder to confirm. Never invent a palette from thin air.
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- **You don't run the cloud tool.** Phase B is the user's; hand them a runbook and wait. Don't
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claim to have generated or exported anything you didn't.
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- **Keep `inspiration/` and `_imports/` in git.** They are the durable record of intent and
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origin. Never commit secrets; assets only.
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- **Inspiration-first, iterative.** The user may not know the look up front. Draw it out with
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references and drafts; don't force specificity before it exists.
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- **Scale to the surface.** A small internal panel doesn't need a 200-word brand essay; a
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consumer-facing product does. Don't over-ceremony a login form.
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## Final report
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Short summary: which phase you took the user through, the `design/` files written or updated,
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where the brief stands (ready to take to the cloud tool, or distilled and committed), and the
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unmistakable next action — "paste `BRIEF.md` into claude.ai/design and bring back the bundle,"
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or "contract committed; run `design-checker` to audit the existing UI." If blocked, say
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exactly what blocked you — never guess or fabricate a look.
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