UX/UI Agent Skills

Turn Claude into a Senior Design Architect — 15+ years of expertise in design systems, accessibility, and production-ready component engineering.

A comprehensive kit of structured instructions, design tokens, runnable skills, and 138 brand-grade design systems that turn Claude into a UX/UI expert agent — targeting any framework and any design system. Drop it into any project for consistent, accessible, token-driven design outputs, every time.

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Version

Current release: v2.3.1 · See the Changelog · All releases

No build tools, dependencies, or runtime required — this is a pure instruction & knowledge layer for AI agents.

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What It Does

Capability	Description
Design Token Generation	Produces DTCG-format JSON tokens (colors, typography, spacing, shadows, borders, breakpoints, motion) with a 3-tier architecture: Primitive → Semantic → Component
Component Design	Designs components from Atoms to Templates following Atomic Design, with anatomy, variants, states, token mapping, and accessibility specs
Code Generation (any framework)	Adapter Protocol targets any stack — React+Tailwind, Next.js, SwiftUI, Vue, Svelte, Angular, Solid, Web Components/Lit, React Native, Flutter, Jetpack Compose, vanilla CSS, CSS-in-JS — or generates a new adapter on demand
Design-System Interop	Maps to/from any design system (Material 3, Apple HIG, Fluent, Carbon, shadcn/ui, Radix…) via a role-based crosswalk
Runnable Skills	17 invocable /skills + real scripts (token + contrast validators, real-render & state-aware WCAG gates, axe-core a11y, focus-trap, RTL, taste audit, token build)
Accessibility Auditing	Evaluates against WCAG 2.2 AA/AAA with prioritized findings (P0/P1/P2)
Design Review	Scores designs across 6 dimensions with Nielsen's 10 Heuristics and a structured findings table
Prototyping & Research	Guides through a 5-level fidelity ladder, user journey mapping, and usability testing scripts
Motion Design	Tokenized durations, easing curves, transition presets, and reduced-motion strategy for accessible animation
UX Writing	Voice & tone system with error/empty-state formulas, microcopy patterns, and inclusive language guidelines
Design Taste	Native anti-slop doctrine, aesthetic archetypes, and a library of 138 design systems for layout variance, editorial typography, and premium visual direction

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Quick Start

Option A — Install with npx (recommended)

Drop the kit into any project, no clone needed:

npx ux-ui-agent-skills init          # full kit into the current folder
npx ux-ui-agent-skills add tokens taste design-systems   # just some areas
npx ux-ui-agent-skills list          # see all areas

Flags: --force (overwrite existing files) · --dry (preview, change nothing).

Option B — Clone

git clone https://github.com/plugin87/ux-ui-agent-skills.git
cp -r ux-ui-agent-skills/ your-project/

Then start using — open the project in Claude Code or any Claude-powered IDE. CLAUDE.md loads automatically, activating the agent persona with full access to every tokens / components / taste / design-system file and the runnable /skills.

Example prompts

"Design a notification component with all states and accessibility"
"Review this login page against WCAG 2.2 and Nielsen's heuristics"
"Generate React + Tailwind code for a data table with sorting and pagination"
"Create a color token palette for a fintech brand using blue as the primary"
"Audit this form for accessibility issues — give me a prioritized findings table"
"Write the empty state and error copy for the onboarding flow"
"Spec the motion for the modal open/close with reduced-motion fallback"

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How to Use

New here? Read docs/WORKFLOW.md for the full end-to-end picture — how the Request Router loads layers on demand, real usage scenarios, and the automated release pipeline.

There are three ways to drive the kit. Use whichever fits the moment.

1. Just ask (zero commands)

CLAUDE.md loads automatically, so plain requests already route to the right knowledge. Describe what you want and the agent self-routes via the built-in Request Router:

"Generate a Svelte button with all states and dark mode"
"Make this landing page feel like Linear"
"Migrate our Material 3 colors into this token system"

2. Run a skill explicitly (/skill)

Type a slash command to invoke a capability directly. Each skill loads only the files it needs and can run its own scripts.

Command	What it does
/design-tokens	Generate / extend / validate DTCG tokens, palettes, multi-brand theming
/design-component	Spec a component (anatomy, variants, 8 states, a11y)
/design-code	Generate code for any framework via the Adapter Protocol
/design-review	Score a design (6 dimensions + Nielsen) with a findings table
/a11y-audit	WCAG 2.2 audit + contrast checks
/apply-aesthetic	Apply an archetype or one of 138 design systems
/redesign	Audit-first upgrade of an existing UI without breaking it
/migrate-design-system	Map to/from Material 3, Apple HIG, shadcn, Radix, etc.
/prototype	Move up the fidelity ladder + plan usability testing
/ux-writing	Write/review buttons, errors, empty states, microcopy

/design-code  a pricing card in Vue, dark-mode aware
/apply-aesthetic  stripe   →  make the dashboard feel like Stripe
/a11y-audit  this checkout form
/migrate-design-system  from Material 3 to our tokens

3. Run the scripts (real, no dependencies)

Plain python3 — useful in the terminal or CI:

python3 scripts/validate_tokens.py                 # validate token JSON + alias refs
python3 scripts/validate_contrast.py               # batch WCAG gate: token pairs, light + dark
python3 scripts/contrast.py "#1d1d1f" "#ffffff"    # WCAG contrast ratio for one pair
python3 scripts/validate_component_spec.py         # every component spec is complete
python3 scripts/lint_hardcodes.py src/             # no off-theme hex/px/timing (consistency)
python3 scripts/lint_taste.py page.html            # heuristic anti-slop taste check
python3 scripts/design_systems.py list             # browse the 138-system library
python3 scripts/scaffold_component.py "Date Picker" # emit a component spec stub

These are the same gates CI runs (.github/workflows/ci.yml) — token validity, WCAG contrast in light + dark, spec completeness, and zero hardcoded values — so theme/color stays consistent across every page and accessibility is enforced, not assumed.

Typical flow

1. /apply-aesthetic linear      → set the visual direction (tokens re-pointed)
2. /design-component Combobox    → spec it with states + a11y
3. /design-code  Combobox in React + Tailwind   → production code
4. /a11y-audit                   → verify contrast, keyboard, focus
5. /design-review                → score + findings before ship

Tip: skills compose. apply-aesthetic always re-verifies contrast through a11y-audit; redesign calls design-review + a11y-audit automatically.

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Project Structure

.
├── CLAUDE.md                  # Agent persona & master instructions
│
├── .claude/skills/            # Runnable skills — invoke via /name
│   └── design-tokens · design-component · design-code · design-review · a11y-audit
│       apply-aesthetic · redesign · migrate-design-system · prototype · ux-writing
│
├── scripts/                   # Real helper scripts (python3, no deps)
│   ├── validate_tokens.py     # JSON + alias validation for tokens/
│   ├── contrast.py            # WCAG 2.2 contrast-ratio checker
│   ├── design_systems.py      # Browse/search the 138-system library
│   └── scaffold_component.py  # Emit a component spec stub
│
├── tokens/                    # Design tokens (DTCG format) — 13 files
│   ├── colors · typography · spacing · shadows · borders · breakpoints · motion
│   └── gradients · opacity · blur · sizing · states · theming
│
├── taste/                     # Aesthetic judgment layer
│   ├── design-taste.md        # Anti-slop doctrine, banned defaults, pre-flight check
│   ├── aesthetic-systems.md   # Archetypes + catalog of 138 design systems
│   └── motion-choreography.md # Motion grammar + reduced-motion parity
│
├── design-systems/            # Interop + brand library
│   ├── interop-protocol.md    # Map to/from ANY design system
│   ├── crosswalk.md           # Material 3 · Apple HIG · Fluent · Carbon · shadcn · Radix
│   │                          # · Ant · Polaris · Primer · Atlassian · Bootstrap
│   └── library/<name>/        # 138 brand-grade DESIGN.md specs
│
├── content/                   # UX writing & content design
│   └── voice-tone.md          # Voice & tone, error/empty-state copy, microcopy, inclusive language
│
├── components/                # Component specs (Atomic Design) — 50 components
│   ├── atoms · molecules · organisms · templates
│   ├── navigation · feedback · forms-advanced · overlays
│   └── data-display · data-viz · icon-system
│
├── accessibility/             # WCAG & ARIA references + inclusive design
│   ├── wcag-checklist.md      # WCAG 2.2 checklist (POUR, P0/P1/P2)
│   ├── aria-patterns.md       # WAI-ARIA patterns for 19 components
│   ├── cognitive.md · vision.md · i18n-rtl.md   # cognitive · low-vision/CVD/forced-colors · RTL
│   └── wcag-aaa.md            # AAA upgrade delta
│
├── workflows/                 # Design process + ops/pipeline guides
│   ├── design-review.md · design-to-code.md · prototyping.md · redesign-audit.md
│   └── governance.md · token-build.md · figma-integration.md · design-qa.md · performance.md
│
└── frameworks/                # Implementation patterns — ANY framework
    ├── adapter-protocol.md    # Universal translation contract
    ├── react-tailwind.md · nextjs.md · swiftui.md   # full references
    └── adapters/              # vue · svelte · angular · solid · web-components-lit · qwik · astro
                               # mui · mantine · chakra · bootstrap
                               # react-native · flutter · jetpack-compose · vanilla-css · css-in-js

Note

The design-taste layer (taste/) and the 138-system library (design-systems/library/) set visual direction; the system (tokens, components, accessibility) keeps it correct. Taste serves the Aesthetics tier and never overrides accessibility. Skills under .claude/skills/ run with agent permissions — review before use.

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Token Architecture

The design token system follows a 3-tier hierarchy using the DTCG standard:

┌─────────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────────┐
│  COMPONENT TOKENS   │ ──► │  SEMANTIC TOKENS    │ ──► │  PRIMITIVE TOKENS   │
│  button-bg-primary  │     │  action.primary     │     │  blue.600 = #2563EB │
│  (use in code)      │     │  (use in design)    │     │  (raw palette)      │
└─────────────────────┘     └─────────────────────┘     └─────────────────────┘

Tier	Role	Example
Primitive	Raw color/size values — never referenced directly	blue.600, space.4
Semantic	Purpose-based aliases — used in design	action.primary, text.secondary, surface.card
Component	Scoped to specific components — used in code	button.primary-bg, input.border-focus

Dark mode works by swapping semantic tokens — primitives stay the same.

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Supported Frameworks — any

The Framework Adapter Protocol defines a universal token→framework contract, so the agent can target a stack even with no dedicated file (it generates an adapter on demand).

Full references

Framework	Version	Key Patterns
React + Tailwind	React 19, Tailwind v4	forwardRef, cva, cn(), CSS custom properties
Next.js	15 (App Router)	Server/Client Components, next/font, next/image, Server Actions
SwiftUI	6 (iOS 18+)	ButtonStyle, ViewModifier, @ScaledMetric, Dynamic Type

Concise adapters — Vue 3 · Svelte 5 · Angular · SolidJS · Web Components (Lit) · React Native · Flutter · Jetpack Compose · vanilla CSS · CSS-in-JS (emotion/vanilla-extract/Panda)

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Design-System Interop — any

Adopt, build on, or migrate between external design systems via a role-based crosswalk (interop-protocol + crosswalk). Curated tables: Material Design 3 · Apple HIG · Fluent 2 · Carbon · shadcn/ui · Radix (others derived on demand). Plus a library of 138 brand-grade design systems (apple, linear, stripe, vercel, notion, spotify, tesla…) under design-systems/library/.

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Accessibility Standards

All outputs follow WCAG 2.2 Level AA as a minimum:

• Color contrast: 4.5:1 (text), 3:1 (UI components)
• Keyboard navigable with visible focus indicators
• Screen reader compatible with proper ARIA roles and live regions
• Touch targets: 24×24px minimum (WCAG 2.5.8)
• WCAG 2.2 criteria: Focus Not Obscured, Target Size, Accessible Authentication

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Design Review Output

When reviewing designs, the agent scores across 6 weighted dimensions:

Dimension	Weight		Dimension	Weight
Visual Hierarchy	20%		Usability	20%
Consistency	20%		Responsiveness	10%
Accessibility	20%		Performance	10%

Findings are categorized: Critical (must fix) → Major (fix this sprint) → Minor (when convenient) → Enhancement (backlog).

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Customization

This is a starter kit — make it yours:

• Brand colors — edit tokens/colors.json primitives, then update semantic references
• Typography — swap font families in tokens/typography.json and framework files
• Components — add new components following the existing spec format in components/
• Frameworks — add new framework files in frameworks/ (e.g., vue.md, flutter.md)
• Workflows — adapt review rubrics and checklists in workflows/ to your team's process

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Requirements

• Claude Code CLI or any Claude-powered IDE
• A Claude model with sufficient context (Sonnet, Opus, or Haiku)

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Changelog

v2.3.1

• Zero emoji, everywhere. Purged every emoji / decorative pictograph from the entire repo — the agent instruction surface (CLAUDE.md, skills, component / workflow / content / accessibility specs, design-system library), the gate scripts' output, cover.html, docs/, and the README. Generated output was picking up emoji because the files the model reads were full of them; the instruction surface is now clean, so the model has nothing to imitate.
• No-emoji rule is now global + absolute — promoted from a narrow "no emoji as UI icons" note to a top-of-file ABSOLUTE rule covering UI, code, JSON, copy, comments, and commit messages. Replacements are lucide icons or plain words.
• The gate now guards the instruction surface too. scripts/check_no_emoji.py previously scanned only examples/ + taste/; it now also scans CLAUDE.md, the skills, and the spec directories, so emoji cannot drift back in. accuracy_report stays 25/25 = 100%.

v2.3.0

• 22 component-states harnesses — full set under examples/component-states/, each gated in light + dark: Button, Input, Modal, Tabs, Select/Combobox, Checkbox-Radio-Switch, Toast, Feedback, Navigation, Overlays, Misc, Card, Data Table, Drawer, Date Picker, File Upload, Search/Form-Field, Charts, Tree/Carousel/Image carousel/Divider, Command Palette, App Shell (header + sidebar landmarks), Context Menu. accuracy_report now 25/25 = 100%.
• Charts / data-viz — Bar, Line+area, Donut, Sparkline, Scatter (role="img" + legend), animated on entry (pathLength line-draw, scaleY bars, staggered points) with prefers-reduced-motion parity.
• lucide icon sprite — examples/component-states/icons.js injects one <symbol> sprite; icons are referenced by name <svg class="ico"><use href="#i-bell"/></svg> — no per-use path, no network, offline + gate-safe. Every harness icon converted (hand-drawn approximations that rendered as broken glyphs are gone).
• Responsive gate — scripts/verify_responsive.mjs fails on any horizontal overflow at 280 / 320 / 414 px. Fixed fixed-width / unreset-list-padding / non-wrapping-flex / minmax traps across the set.
• New theme tokens — motion (--duration-*, --ease-*, --transition-micro), color-blind-aware chart palette (--color-chart-1..6), and a dark-aware --color-surface-brand.
• Gate refinements — verify_states holds graphical / icon-only controls to 3:1 (WCAG 1.4.11, not 4.5) and exempts disabled controls; verify_focustrap no longer false-passes a display:none position:fixed dialog (caught a drawer that never closed).
• Verified patterns — thin custom checkbox/radio (real <input> under a pointer-events:none box, check + dash as two <path> in one <svg>), smooth grid-rows accordion, auto-fit (not auto-fill) card grids, equal-height panels, mobile sidebar that pushes content down instead of overlapping.
• design-component skill — added "RENDER AND LOOK — gates don't prove pixels", responsive, motion, layout, icons-by-sprite, and graphical-control rules.

v2.2.5

• Input + Modal states harnesses — examples/component-states/input.html (default/hover/focus/disabled/read-only/error/loading/filled, each with an associated <label>) and modal.html (focus trap + Escape + return-focus). Both gated by verify_states + axe + measure_render (+ verify_focustrap for the modal), light + dark. Added a verified --color-text-error token (light + dark). accuracy_report now 18/18 = 100%.

v2.2.4

• Component accuracy — verify every state. A component is "correct" only when every variant × state renders right, not just the resting default. New examples/component-states/button.html renders all variants × states (default/hover/focus/disabled/loading/selected) and is gated by verify_states + axe + measure_render (light + dark). design-component skill now mandates a states harness + running the gates. Wired into accuracy_report (now 16/16 = 100%).

v2.2.3

• Focus-trap gate — scripts/verify_focustrap.mjs opens a modal and verifies with a real keyboard that Tab stays trapped, role/aria-modal/name are present, and Escape closes + returns focus (WCAG 2.1.2 / 2.4.3). Proven to catch a leaking modal.
• RTL gate — scripts/verify_rtl.mjs renders LTR vs dir="rtl" and flags layout that overflows only when mirrored (the tell of physical left/right instead of logical properties).
• Token build (real artifact) — scripts/build_tokens.mjs (npm run build:tokens) resolves all DTCG aliases (incl. cross-file + dark) and emits a CSS-variable theme (:root + [data-theme="dark"]). 85 light + 17 dark color vars, fully resolved.
• All three wired into accuracy_report (now 15/15 = 100%) and CI.

v2.2.2

• axe-core a11y gate — scripts/axe_audit.mjs (npm run test:axe) runs axe-core (WCAG 2.0/2.1/2.2 A + AA) against rendered HTML, catching ARIA/role/label/landmark/name issues the contrast + state gates can't. Already caught a real missing-<label> bug in an example. Wired into accuracy_report (now 12 checks, 100%) and CI.
• CI render job now also runs the state-aware gate + axe across examples.

v2.2.1

• State-aware WCAG gate — scripts/verify_states.mjs (npm run test:states) measures real computed contrast of every interactive element in default / hover / focus (light + dark), catching state bugs the resting-state gate missed (e.g. a secondary button picking up the primary fill on hover). Wired into accuracy_report (now 11 checks, 100%).
• Verification Protocol — new top-of-CLAUDE.md rule: never report a quality number you didn't measure; verify all states; run the gate before declaring done; build with the gates. design-code step 13 and a11y-audit now run the render gates instead of eyeballing.
• Fixed real hover-state AA failures in examples/apple-demo; added examples/brandkit-demo (generated OKLCH foundation, light+dark, every state AA).

v2.2.0

• 2 new runnable skills (15 → 17) — image-to-code (reference image/screenshot → infer the design system → token-driven, verified code) and brandkit (brief → complete primitive→semantic→component DTCG token foundation + theme.css, light + dark, WCAG-verified). Both native, fit the kit's gates.
• Render-based taste audit — scripts/taste_audit.mjs (npm run taste) measures structural slop tells from real computed styles: timid type-scale contrast, uniform repetition, over-wide measure, palette sprawl. Wired into the design-code taste pre-flight. Heuristic by design — a strong signal, not proof (taste is subjective).
• De-emoji'd the taste doctrine itself; router rows + skills list updated.

v2.1.0

• Accuracy report — npm run verify (scripts/accuracy_report.mjs) runs every objective correctness gate as one all-or-nothing, reproducible check: token validity + alias resolution, WCAG contrast (token pairs), component-spec completeness, no hardcoded values (golden + sample), theme-ref resolution, no-emoji, and real headless-Chrome WCAG measurement (sample-app, light + dark). Prints N/N = 100% or the exact failures.
• Block-level lint exemption — scripts/lint_hardcodes.py supports ds-allow-hardcode:start / :end for justified illustration blocks (e.g. CSS product art), keeping the rest of the file strictly token-only.

v2.0.0 — Enforcement layer (breaking)

Breaking: dark-mode token values changed (link, primary action) and border.strong now meets 3:1 — re-verify any snapshots/visual tests. The kit moves from advisory guidance to enforced gates.

Theme consistency + real WCAG, enforced (driven by real-world audit feedback):

• Single-theme consistency — every page renders from ONE shared token theme; CLAUDE.md rule + examples/golden/ (theme.css with full color/type/spacing/breakpoint tokens, Button.tsx, Modal.tsx). design-code/redesign require consuming the one theme — no per-page palettes.
• Hardcode linter catches real drift — scripts/lint_hardcodes.py now flags raw hex/px/ms, raw Tailwind palette utilities (bg-gray-500, text-blue-600), and literal font-family (the 527-hardcode problem).
• No floating tokens — scripts/validate_theme_refs.py proves every var(--…) a component uses is defined in the theme (precision/consistency gate).
• Real WCAG gate — scripts/validate_contrast.py checks required text/action/border pairs in light + dark; fixed genuine dark-mode contrast bugs (link, primary action) and made border.strong meet 3:1 for essential control borders.
• One Modal primitive — golden Modal.tsx + hardened spec: focus trap, role="dialog", aria-modal, return-focus on close (fixes the 0/14-focus-trap class of bug, WCAG 2.4.3 + 2.1.2).
• One CI enforces all of it — .github/workflows/ci.yml runs tokens + contrast + spec + hardcode + theme-ref + npm test on every push/PR. Drift, contrast regressions, off-theme colors, and floating tokens cannot merge.
• 5 new runnable skills (10 → 15) — governance, token-build, figma-integration, design-qa, performance; verification steps added to design-code/prototype/ux-writing; router rows for all newer knowledge.
• validate_component_spec.py + lint_taste.py; fixed validate_tokens.py cross-file aliases; atoms Button/Input document all 8 states.

v1.2.1

• Docs — added docs/WORKFLOW.md: end-to-end how-it-works guide (Request Router, on-demand layer loading, real usage scenarios, automated release pipeline) + linked from the README
• CI — first release shipped fully automatically by the release.yml workflow (GitHub Release notes from this changelog + npm publish --provenance on tag push)

v1.2.0

• 8 new component specs — data-display.md (Calendar, Carousel, Tree) + data-viz.md (Bar, Line/Area, Pie/Donut, Sparkline, Scatter) → 50 components; plus components/icon-system.md
• Data-viz tokens — tokens/data-viz.json: color-blind-aware (Okabe–Ito) categorical/sequential/diverging palettes + axis/grid/tooltip → 14 token files
• ⟨⟩ 6 new framework adapters — Qwik, Astro, MUI, Mantine, Chakra, Bootstrap → 16 adapters
• Extended interop crosswalks — Ant Design 5, Shopify Polaris, GitHub Primer, Atlassian, Bootstrap (color-role tables + per-system notes)
• Accessibility depth — cognitive.md (load, plain language, dyslexia, reduced-data), i18n-rtl.md (logical properties, RTL mirroring, text expansion), vision.md (color blindness, low vision, forced-colors), wcag-aaa.md (AAA upgrade delta); +4 ARIA patterns (Carousel, Grid, Toolbar, Feed)
• Ops & pipeline workflows — governance.md (SemVer, contribution, deprecation), token-build.md (Style Dictionary / DTCG → multi-platform), figma-integration.md (token↔Variable sync, Figma MCP), design-qa.md (visual regression + a11y CI), performance.md (Core Web Vitals)

v1.1.0

• npm package — install into any project with npx ux-ui-agent-skills init (zero-dependency CLI: init / add / list, --force/--dry)
• Runnable skills — 10 invocable /skills under .claude/skills/ + real helper scripts (validate_tokens.py, contrast.py, design_systems.py, scaffold_component.py)
• Intelligence layer — Request Router in CLAUDE.md; Framework Adapter Protocol (target any framework) with 10 concise adapters; Design-System Interop Protocol + crosswalk (map to/from any design system)
• Native design-taste — taste/ (anti-slop doctrine, aesthetic archetypes, motion choreography) + a library of 138 brand-grade design systems
• 6 new token categories — gradients, opacity, blur, sizing, states, theming (multi-brand + density)
• 16 new component specs — Tabs, Breadcrumb, Pagination, Stepper, Menu, Toast, Banner, Skeleton, Progress, Empty State, Combobox, Select, Slider, Date Picker, File Upload, Popover, Command Palette, Divider
• Removed the externally-bundled taste skills in favor of native, first-party content

v1.0.1

• Motion tokens — tokens/motion.json: duration scale, easing curves, transition presets, keyframes, reduced-motion strategy
• UX writing guide — content/voice-tone.md: voice & tone system, error/empty-state formulas, microcopy patterns, inclusive language, pre-ship checklist
• Added cover.html repo cover image

v1.0.0

• Initial release — agent persona, 6 token files, 26 components (Atomic Design), WCAG 2.2 + ARIA references, 3 workflow guides, 3 framework guides

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License

Released under the MIT License.

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