Storybook Codex

Storybook Codex

Create, document, update, review, sync, and audit Storybook work across React, Vue, and Svelte.

Use this skill for Storybook authoring and maintenance across the UI stacks design-system teams actually ship:

• React components and .stories.tsx
• Vue single-file components and .stories.ts
• Svelte components and .stories.svelte when the repo uses native Svelte CSF
• .stories.mdx docs pages or docs-tagged CSF stories when autodocs alone is not enough

Default behavior

1. Inspect the repo before editing anything.
2. Detect the framework, Storybook version, title conventions, preview globals, and existing story style before choosing a format.
3. Detect provider trees, token globals, parent-context usage, and existing docs conventions before generating wrapper stories, docs pages, or preview decorators.
4. If the task needs deterministic analysis before editing, run story_blueprint.py.
5. If the task is documentation-heavy, run story_docs.py.
6. Prefer updating the local convention over imposing a generic template.
7. Keep stories and docs compact, editorial, and reviewable instead of generating prop cartesian products.
8. Use storybook/test for fn, userEvent, within, and expect when the story needs action logging or a play() flow.

Built-in modes

Blueprint mode

Use the blueprint helper when you need deterministic analysis before writing stories.

python3 skills/storybook-codex/scripts/story_blueprint.py path/to/Component.tsx

It can:

• suggest stories by lens
• mine usage signals from the repo
• suggest parent-context composition stories
• detect prop co-occurrence clusters
• detect props that gate UI branches
• suggest interaction stories
• suggest accessibility stories
• propose a visual-regression-codex capture set

Useful flags:

• --repo-root for usage mining
• --review-story path/to/Component.stories.tsx for a deterministic story critique
• --watch for active component work

Docs mode

Use docs mode when autodocs is not enough and the component needs purpose, usage guidance, or implementation snippets.

python3 skills/storybook-codex/scripts/story_docs.py path/to/Component.tsx

Prefer:

• a docs-tagged CSF story when the repo keeps everything in .stories.tsx or .stories.ts
• a .stories.mdx page when the repo already uses docs blocks or when Svelte docs should stay separate from story syntax

Docs mode should:

• reuse the existing story title when possible and append /Docs
• mine two or three real usage snippets from the repo before inventing examples
• generate purpose, when-to-use, when-not-to-use, and prop decision guidance
• use parameters.docs.description for CSF docs output instead of long comments in the story body

Composition mode

Use composition mode when the component only makes sense inside a real parent or sibling layout.

python3 skills/storybook-codex/scripts/story_composition.py path/to/Component.tsx

It finds:

• likely parent components that already render the target component
• sibling components that affect spacing or focus order
• literal props that can become args
• expression bindings that should move into a render wrapper or fixture state

Diff mode

Use diff mode when a branch changed component props and the story file should keep up.

python3 skills/storybook-codex/scripts/story_diff_update.py . --diff --write

It can:

• detect changed component files from git diff
• auto-add missing exports for new state or decision props
• append managed diff blocks instead of rewriting the whole file
• flag existing stories that still reference removed or renamed props

Audit mode

Use the audit helper when the task is "review this Storybook repo" or "gate this PR."

python3 skills/storybook-codex/scripts/storybook_audit.py path/to/repo --format markdown

It reports a Story Health Score and flags:

• missing lens coverage
• missing interaction coverage
• missing accessibility coverage
• missing visual regression coverage
• legacy story syntax
• components that still have no story file

Token-aware mode

Use the token helper when stories should reflect design tokens or toolbar globals.

python3 skills/storybook-codex/scripts/token_catalog.py path/to/repo

It detects CSS custom properties and Tailwind-style theme tokens, then suggests globalTypes for theme and density controls.

Decorator mode

Use decorator mode when Storybook needs the app's provider tree.

python3 skills/storybook-codex/scripts/storybook_decorators.py path/to/repo --framework react

It detects:

• React provider trees from App.tsx, main.tsx, or providers.tsx
• Vue app.use(...) plugin chains from main.ts
• setup constants like queryClient or pinia
• preview snippets for .storybook/preview.tsx or .storybook/preview.ts

Sync mode

Use story sync when the same component exists in more than one framework.

python3 skills/storybook-codex/scripts/story_sync.py src/Button.stories.tsx --target vue

Mirror the story structure, then adapt only the framework-specific render details.

Story design lenses

Use these lenses to avoid flat, repetitive story files:

• Baseline: the normal default state every component needs.
• Decision: size, tone, theme, density, variant, or similar choices.
• State: disabled, loading, selected, open, error, dismissible, compact.
• Boundary: long content, dense content, empty-ish content, awkward wrapping, or overflow.
• Action: fn() handlers and play() flows.
• A11y: keyboard, focus, labeling, and screen-reader-sensitive states.
• Visual: stable stories worth snapshotting in Chromatic or Playwright.

Do not force every lens into every component. Use the smallest set that makes the component legible and reviewable.

Story rules

• Default to the extension that matches the local framework and repo convention.
• Use object stories with Meta and StoryObj where the framework expects them.
• For Svelte repos using @storybook/addon-svelte-csf, prefer native .stories.svelte files with defineMeta and ``.
• Do not generate Template.bind({}), ComponentStory, or other older CSF2 patterns for new work.
• Prefer component-level args for shared defaults.
• Add named stories for meaningful states and one interaction story when the component has a real event surface.
• Preserve existing titles, foldering, decorators, loaders, play functions, and docs blocks unless they are clearly obsolete.

Visual regression and Chromatic

• Only scaffold Chromatic when the user explicitly asks for it or the repo already shows Chromatic usage.
• If the repo wants local baselines, use the Playwright visual template in assets/templates/visual-regression.spec.ts.
• Treat visual-regression-codex as the mode where story writing and screenshot verification happen together.

Component library heuristics

• shadcn/ui: hide asChild, focus on the local implementation, and keep stories close to the app's real variants.
• Radix UI: write render wrappers for compound primitives and cover data-state, keyboard, and focus flows.
• Headless UI: use real composed render trees and explicit focus-trap stories.

References

• Read [references/react-stories.md](references/react-stories.md) for React story shapes.
• Read [references/vue-stories.md](references/vue-stories.md) for Vue story authoring.
• Read [references/svelte-stories.md](references/svelte-stories.md) for native Svelte CSF.
• Read [references/story-design-lenses.md](references/story-design-lenses.md) when deciding which stories matter.
• Read [references/controls-and-autodocs.md](references/controls-and-autodocs.md) for controls, autodocs, and action args.
• Read [references/documentation-stories.md](references/documentation-stories.md) for MDX vs CSF docs decisions and editorial guidance.
• Read [references/interaction-stories.md](references/interaction-stories.md) for play() heuristics.
• Read [references/accessibility-stories.md](references/accessibility-stories.md) for a11y stories and WCAG-oriented checks.
• Read [references/visual-diff.md](references/visual-diff.md) for screenshot strategy.
• Read [references/design-tokens.md](references/design-tokens.md) for token-aware toolbars.
• Read [references/composition-stories.md](references/composition-stories.md) for parent-context story heuristics.
• Read [references/change-aware-updates.md](references/change-aware-updates.md) for git diff workflows and managed update blocks.
• Read [references/global-decorators.md](references/global-decorators.md) for provider detection and preview scaffolding.
• Read [references/multi-framework-sync.md](references/multi-framework-sync.md) for cross-framework parity.
• Read [references/component-library-patterns.md](references/component-library-patterns.md) for shadcn/ui, Radix UI, and Headless UI specifics.
• Read [references/storybook-9-readiness.md](references/storybook-9-readiness.md) when migrating or normalizing story syntax.
• Read [references/storybook-audit.md](references/storybook-audit.md) for repo-wide review and PR gates.
• Use the starter files in [assets/templates](assets/templates/) only as templates. Always adapt them to the local repo.

Source & license

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

• Author: ychampion
• Source: ychampion/storybook-codex
• License: MIT

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