design-md

Included with Lifetime

$97 forever

Use DESIGN.md files to give AI agents a complete design system in plain text. Drop a DESIGN.md into your project root and any AI coding agent generates consistent, pixel-perfect UI matching that design. Use when: building UI with AI agents, maintaining design consistency across AI-generated components, recreating the look of existing websites.

Design

What this skill does


# DESIGN.md

## Overview

DESIGN.md is a plain-text design system document that AI agents read to generate consistent UI. Introduced by Google Stitch, it captures colors, typography, components, spacing, and design philosophy in markdown — the format LLMs read best.

Think of it as AGENTS.md for design: `AGENTS.md` tells agents how to build, `DESIGN.md` tells agents how things should look.

## Instructions

### Using a DESIGN.md

1. Copy a `DESIGN.md` into your project root
2. Tell your AI agent: "Build a landing page following DESIGN.md"
3. The agent reads colors, typography, components, and layout rules
4. Generated UI matches the design system consistently

### Structure of a DESIGN.md

Every DESIGN.md follows this structure:

```markdown
# DESIGN.md

## Visual Theme & Atmosphere
Mood, density, design philosophy (e.g., "dark cinematic", "clean editorial")

## Color Palette & Roles
| Name | Hex | Role |
|------|-----|------|
| Primary | #6366f1 | Interactive elements, CTAs |
| Background | #0a0a0b | Page background |
| Surface | #18181b | Cards, elevated content |
| Text Primary | #fafafa | Main content |
| Accent | #f97316 | Highlights, alerts |

## Typography Rules
Font families, size hierarchy (h1-h6, body, caption), weights, line heights

## Component Stylings
Buttons (primary, secondary, ghost), cards, inputs, navigation — with hover/active states

## Layout Principles
Spacing scale (4px base), max-width, grid columns, whitespace philosophy

## Depth & Elevation
Shadow system, border treatments, surface hierarchy

## Do's and Don'ts
Design guardrails: what to do and what to avoid

## Responsive Behavior
Breakpoints, touch targets, mobile adaptations
```

### Finding Pre-Made DESIGN.md Files

The [awesome-design-md](https://github.com/VoltAgent/awesome-design-md) collection has 58+ ready-to-use files extracted from real websites:

- **AI**: Claude, Cohere, ElevenLabs, Mistral, Ollama, Replicate, RunwayML
- **Dev Tools**: GitHub, Vercel, Supabase, Railway, Linear, Cursor
- **SaaS**: Stripe, Notion, Figma, Slack, Cal.com
- **Marketing**: Tailwind, shadcn/ui, Framer

### Creating Your Own DESIGN.md

Inspect the target website and extract:

1. **Colors**: Use browser DevTools → Computed styles → capture all colors used
2. **Typography**: Font families from CSS, size scale from headings
3. **Spacing**: Measure padding/margins, identify the base unit (usually 4px or 8px)
4. **Components**: Screenshot buttons, cards, inputs in all states
5. **Layout**: Note max-width, grid columns, responsive breakpoints

Write it all in markdown following the structure above.

## Examples

**Example 1: Build a SaaS landing page**

Drop Linear's `DESIGN.md` into your project:

```bash
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/VoltAgent/awesome-design-md/main/design-md/linear/DESIGN.md
```

Then tell the agent:
```
Build a landing page for a project management tool following DESIGN.md.
Include: hero with gradient, feature grid, pricing table, CTA section.
```

Result: The agent generates UI with Linear's exact color palette, typography, spacing, and component styles.

**Example 2: Consistent component library**

With DESIGN.md in place, every component the agent generates follows the same system:
```
Create a notification dropdown component following DESIGN.md.
```

The agent uses the correct surface color, border radius, shadow level, and typography from the design system — no manual correction needed.

## Guidelines

- Place `DESIGN.md` in project root alongside `AGENTS.md` and `CLAUDE.md`
- One DESIGN.md per project — it defines the entire visual language
- Update it when your design evolves (it's version-controlled markdown)
- For dark/light themes, include both color sets in the palette section
- Test with a simple component first to verify the agent reads it correctly
- Combine with `impeccable-design` skill for additional design quality rules

Files: 2

Size: 6.1 KB

Complexity: 18/100

Category: Design

Source: https://github.com/terminalskills/skills/tree/main/skills/design-md

Related in Design

contribute

Included

Local-only OSS contribution command center. Auto-refreshes the user's in-flight PR and issue state on invoke so conversations start with full context — no need to brief Claude on what's in flight. Helps the user find issues to contribute to on GitHub, builds per-repo dossiers of what each upstream expects (CLA, DCO, branch convention, AI policy, draft-first, review bots, issue templates), runs deterministic gates before any external action so AI-assisted contributions don't reach maintainers as slop. State is markdown-only: candidate files at ~/.contribute-system/candidates/, repo dossiers at ~/.contribute-system/research/, append-only event log at ~/.contribute-system/log.jsonl. No database, no cloud calls. Use when the user asks about their PRs / issues / contributions, wants to find new work to take on, claim an issue, build/refresh a repo's dossier, or draft a Design Issue or PR. Trigger with "/contribute", "what's my PR status", "find a contribution", "claim issue X", "draft a Design Issue for Y", "refresh dossier for Z".

Designscripts

architectural-analysis

Included

User-triggered deep architectural analysis of a codebase or scoped subtree across eight modes — information architecture, data flow, integration points, UI surfaces, interaction patterns, data model, control flow, and failure modes. This skill should be used when the user asks to "diagram this codebase," "map the architecture," "show the data flow," "give me an ERD," "trace control flow," "find the integration points," "verify the layout pattern," "audit the UX architecture," or any similar request whose primary deliverable is mermaid diagrams plus cited reports under docs/architecture/. Dispatches haiku/sonnet sub-agents in parallel for per-mode exploration, then verifies every citation mechanically before any node lands in a diagram. Not for one-off prose explanations of code (use code-explanation) or for high-level system design from scratch (use system-design).

Designscripts

mcp

Included

Model Context Protocol (MCP) server development and tool management. Languages: Python, TypeScript. Capabilities: build MCP servers, integrate external APIs, discover/execute MCP tools, manage multi-server configs, design agent-centric tools. Actions: create, build, integrate, discover, execute, configure MCP servers/tools. Keywords: MCP, Model Context Protocol, MCP server, MCP tool, stdio transport, SSE transport, tool discovery, resource provider, prompt template, external API integration, Gemini CLI MCP, Claude MCP, agent tools, tool execution, server config. Use when: building MCP servers, integrating external APIs as MCP tools, discovering available MCP tools, executing MCP capabilities, configuring multi-server setups, designing tools for AI agents.

Designscripts

react-native-skia

Included

Design, build, debug, and optimise high-polish animated graphics in React Native or Expo using @shopify/react-native-skia, Reanimated, and Gesture Handler. Use when the user wants canvas-driven UI, shaders, paths, rich text, image filters, sprite fields, Skottie, video frames, snapshots, web CanvasKit setup, or performance tuning for custom motion-heavy elements such as loaders, hero art, cards, charts, progress indicators, particle systems, or gesture-driven surfaces. Also use when the user asks for fluid, glow, glass, blob, parallax, 60fps/120fps, or GPU-friendly animated effects in React Native, even if they do not explicitly say "Skia". Do not use for ordinary form/layout work with standard views.

Designscripts

plaid

Included

Product Led AI Development — guides founders from idea to launched product. Six capabilities: Idea (discover a product idea), Validate (pressure-test the idea against fatal flaws, problem reality, competition, and 2-week MVP feasibility), Plan (vision intake + document generation), Design (translate image references into a design.md spec), Launch (go-to-market strategy), and Build (roadmap execution). Use when someone says "PLAID", "plaid idea", "help me find an idea", "product idea", "idea from my business", "idea from my expertise", "plaid validate", "validate my idea", "pressure-test", "is this idea good", "find fatal flaws", "validate the problem", "plan a product", "define my vision", "generate a PRD", "product strategy", "plaid design", "design from image", "translate image to design", "create design.md", "extract design tokens", "plaid launch", "go-to-market", "launch plan", "GTM strategy", "launch playbook", "plaid build", "build the app", "start building", or "execute the roadmap".

Designscripts

nextjs-framer-motion-animations

Included

Adds production-safe Motion for React or Framer Motion animations to Next.js apps, including reveal, hover and tap micro-interactions, whileInView, stagger, AnimatePresence, layout and layoutId transitions, reorder, scroll-linked UI, and lightweight route-content transitions. Use when the user asks to add, refactor, or debug Motion or Framer Motion in App Router or Pages Router codebases, especially around server/client boundaries, reduced motion, LazyMotion, bundle size, hydration, or route transitions. Avoid for GSAP-style timelines, WebGL or 3D scenes, heavy scroll storytelling, or CSS-only effects unless Motion is explicitly requested.

Designscripts