ui-craft-editorial
Editorial / magazine / long-form / Medium / Substack / content-heavy UIs. Locked knobs: CRAFT=9, MOTION=4, DENSITY=3. Serif display + humanist body, wide reading column, drop caps, OpenType. Trigger on: editorial, magazine, long-form, blog, Medium-like, Substack-like.
What this skill does
# UI Craft — Editorial
Pre-committed editorial style: magazine, long-form, content-first. Typography carries the hierarchy; layout serves the reading experience.
## Knobs (locked)
- **CRAFT_LEVEL = 9** — editorial typography only works at high refinement; Polish Pass mandatory.
- **MOTION_INTENSITY = 4** — reading-aware: fade on reveal, link hovers, no entrance stagger.
- **VISUAL_DENSITY = 3** — wide reading column, generous vertical rhythm, 1 item per row for features.
Do not re-ask these in Discovery. Confirm accent + serif/sans pairing only.
## Style anchors
- Serif display for headings + humanist body sans/serif for reading.
- Baseline grid feel. `leading-relaxed` (1.7) on body.
- Wide reading column `max-w-[65ch]`. Generous vertical rhythm.
- Accent used for emphasis — pull quotes, drop caps, link underlines — not decoration.
- OpenType features ON: small caps, ligatures, stylistic sets, tabular figures where relevant.
- Asymmetric, text-heavy heroes. Featured image large.
- Motion respects reading: fades only, never pulls the eye away.
- Black text, warm/ivory canvas, one accent. Color is a voice, not a decoration.
## Base rules (inherited)
All rules in `../ui-craft/SKILL.md` apply. This file overrides knob defaults and adds style-specific guidance below. The anti-slop and craft tests still apply in full.
## Style-specific overrides
**Typography (the whole point)**
- Display: Playfair Display, Fraunces, Lora, or Source Serif 4 for headings and pull quotes.
- Body: Alegreya, Source Sans 3, ITC Charter, or a humanist pairing. Do NOT use Inter as primary body — it reads as product UI, not editorial.
- Max two families: one display + one body.
- Headings: `text-wrap: balance`, `font-optical-sizing: auto`, tracking near 0 or slightly negative on large sizes.
- Body: `text-wrap: pretty`, `line-height: 1.7`, `font-feature-settings: "liga", "kern"`.
- Drop caps via `p:first-of-type::first-letter { float: left; font-size: 4.5em; line-height: 0.85; padding: 6px 10px 0 0; font-family: <display>; }`.
- Small caps via `font-variant-caps: small-caps` for section labels, bylines.
- Opt-in OpenType: `font-feature-settings: "ss01", "cv11"` when the chosen font supports them.
- Pull quotes: serif, large (1.75-2.25em), one accent color, short rule above.
**Color**
- Canvas: ivory or warm white — `oklch(98% 0.01 85)` — not pure `#fff`.
- Text: `oklch(18% 0.01 40)` warm near-black.
- Restricted palette: black, ivory/warm white, ONE accent. That's it.
- Accent applied to: drop cap, pull quote, inline link underline, section rule. Not buttons that don't need it.
**Spacing & layout**
- Reading column: `max-w-[65ch]` for body; hero and featured image can break out to `max-w-5xl`.
- Vertical rhythm on body: paragraph spacing = line-height × 0.6 minimum.
- Asymmetric heroes: left-aligned display headline + byline + featured image below or offset.
- Section breaks: centered ornament or a short rule, not a full-width divider.
**Motion**
- Fade on scroll reveal for hero/featured image only, 300-400ms ease-out.
- Inline link hover: underline-offset grows 1px, color shifts to accent, 120ms.
- No entrance stagger, no parallax, no page transitions that fight the reading flow.
- Honor `prefers-reduced-motion` — cut all reveals.
**Content components**
- Byline: small caps, tracking-wide, secondary text color.
- Dateline + read time: tabular-nums, separated by a bullet `·`.
- Inline images: full-width or breakout beyond column, with italic serif caption underneath.
- Blockquote: left border in accent, serif italic, `max-w-[55ch]`.
## Reference files to read first
Load these from `../ui-craft/references/`:
- `typography.md` — the primary reference for this style
- `layout.md` — reading column, rhythm, hierarchy
- `color.md` — warm palette, accent discipline
- `copy.md` — editorial voice, headings, empty states
Skip `dashboard.md`, `sound.md` unless relevant.
## Anti-patterns for THIS style
- Inter, Geist, DM Sans as primary body. They signal product UI, not editorial.
- Three font families. Always one display + one body.
- Pure `#fff` canvas. Warm it.
- Tight `leading-tight` on body copy. Reading needs 1.6-1.8.
- Colored pull quote backgrounds, gradient text on headlines, emoji in section rules.
- Scroll-triggered stagger or parallax — breaks reading flow.
- Card grids for articles — use stacked list with thumbnail + dek.
- Sans-serif display headlines by default. If you need sans display, the user probably wants minimal variant.
- Uppercase headlines. Sentence case, always (small caps for bylines is the exception).
- CTAs with heavy pill backgrounds — prefer inline underlined links in the serif voice.
Related in Design
contribute
IncludedLocal-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".
architectural-analysis
IncludedUser-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).
mcp
IncludedModel 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.
react-native-skia
IncludedDesign, 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.
plaid
IncludedProduct 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".
nextjs-framer-motion-animations
IncludedAdds 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.