Getting Started

Getting Started with Design System Skills

Overview

This plugin provides 28 skills for building design systems: token generators, component patterns, accessibility guidance, framework integrations, and tool workflows. Each skill is a focused guide Claude uses to help you implement specific parts of a design system.

Quick Start

Building a new design system? Start here:

1. Token foundation: Use design-tokens-structure to plan your architecture
2. Colors: Use color-scale to generate your palette
3. Spacing/Typography: Use spacing-scale and type-scale
4. Components: Use your framework skill (react, vue, svelte, angular)

Adding to an existing project? Jump to the skill you need:

| Task | Skill | |------|-------| | Add dark mode | dark-mode | | Fix contrast issues | color-contrast | | Improve animations | animation-principles + motion-scale | | Set up Storybook | storybook | | Multi-platform tokens | style-dictionary |

Available Skills

Tokens (10 skills)

Generate design tokens in CSS, Tailwind, or JSON:

| Skill | Purpose | |-------|---------| | color-scale | OKLCH color palettes from brand colors | | spacing-scale | Margin/padding/gap token scales | | type-scale | Typography with modular ratios | | shadow-scale | Elevation and depth tokens | | radius-scale | Border radius tokens | | breakpoints | Responsive breakpoint tokens | | motion-scale | Animation duration and easing | | z-index-scale | Layering/stacking tokens | | design-tokens-structure | Token architecture (primitive → semantic → component) | | responsive-typography | Fluid type with clamp() |

Patterns (6 skills)

Implementation patterns for common challenges:

| Skill | Purpose | |-------|---------| | dark-mode | Theme switching with semantic tokens | | compound-components | Radix/Headless UI patterns | | icon-system | SVG sprites and icon components | | layout-primitives | Stack, Cluster, Grid, Sidebar | | animation-principles | Disney's 12 principles for UI |

Frameworks (4 skills)

Framework-specific component patterns:

| Skill | Purpose | |-------|---------| | react | React + TypeScript components | | vue | Vue 3 + Composition API | | svelte | Svelte 5 + runes | | angular | Angular + signals |

Tools (4 skills)

Design tool and build integrations:

| Skill | Purpose | |-------|---------| | figma | Figma Variables and Tokens Studio | | storybook | Component documentation | | framer | Framer token integration | | style-dictionary | Multi-platform token transformation |

Accessibility (3 skills)

WCAG compliance and a11y patterns:

| Skill | Purpose | |-------|---------| | color-contrast | WCAG contrast validation | | focus-states | Keyboard focus indicators | | aria-patterns | ARIA for interactive components |

Documentation (2 skills)

Generate documentation:

| Skill | Purpose | |-------|---------| | token-docs | Design token documentation | | component-docs | Component API documentation |

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Recommended Paths

Path A: New Design System

1. design-tokens-structure  → Plan your token architecture
2. color-scale              → Generate color palette
3. spacing-scale            → Generate spacing tokens
4. type-scale               → Generate typography tokens
5. shadow-scale             → Generate elevation tokens
6. dark-mode                → Add theme support
7. [framework skill]        → Build components
8. storybook                → Document components

Path B: Add Design Tokens to Existing Project

1. design-tokens-structure  → Understand token layers
2. color-scale              → Convert existing colors to tokens
3. spacing-scale            → Standardize spacing
4. style-dictionary         → Set up build process

Path C: Improve Accessibility

1. color-contrast           → Audit and fix contrast
2. focus-states             → Add visible focus indicators
3. aria-patterns            → Fix interactive components

Path D: Cross-Platform Design System

1. design-tokens-structure  → Plan architecture
2. style-dictionary         → Multi-platform output
3. figma                    → Sync with design tool

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How Skills Work

Each skill provides:

1. When to use: Scenarios that trigger the skill
2. Quick reference: Tables and cheat sheets
3. The process: Step-by-step workflow
4. Implementation checklist: Trackable progress (for complex skills)
5. Code examples: CSS, Tailwind, JSON, framework-specific

Skills output in multiple formats:

• CSS custom properties: --color-primary: #3b82f6
• Tailwind config: theme.extend.colors.primary
• JSON tokens: Design token format for tools

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Tips for Best Results

1. Be specific: "Generate a blue color scale" → uses color-scale
2. Mention format: "in Tailwind format" → gets Tailwind config output
3. Chain skills: "Create spacing tokens then document them" → uses spacing-scale + token-docs
4. Reference existing: "Match my existing token structure" → adapts to your patterns

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Getting Help

• Find a skill: Describe what you're trying to do
• Learn a concept: Ask about tokens, theming, accessibility
• Debug issues: "Why isn't my dark mode working?"
• Best practices: "What's the best way to structure tokens?"

This plugin is maintained by buoy.design.

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: dylantarre
• Source: dylantarre/design-system-skills
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.