Turn one UI target into a reviewable canvas draft without confusing a generated preview with an integrated, verified product. Read upstream evidence for the pinned command contract, license and current documentation conflicts.
When to use this skill
- Continue a named Superdesign project, selected direction or saved UI target.
- Reproduce an existing page before redesigning it on the canvas.
- Compare explicitly requested alternatives or extend a selected flow.
- Explain the CLI workflow without connecting to the service.
Instructions
1. Select the deliverable and authority
Choose source-only explanation, existing-target refinement, alternative exploration,
new UI target, or connected flow. Record route, viewport, selected draft and the
observable change requested. A presentation, graphic or standalone asset needs its
specific upstream workflow; read that pinned reference before proposing commands.
Generic recipe selection belongs to web-design; shared foundations belong to
design-system. Keep existing product identity unless a rebrand was requested.
2. Separate inspection from service execution
Source-only requests stop at a documented plan. Before any CLI runner, install,
login, upload or generation, obtain permission covering that action and destination.
The upstream npx --yes @superdesign/cli@latest runner can download and execute
code; it is not a read-only health check. Never run it merely to explain this skill.
Show the resolved context-file list and relevant images before external transfer.
Exclude credentials, private keys, auth files, .env files and unrelated source.
A saved project or upload identifier does not renew permission or authorize spend.
Keep the session's approved provider/model; upstream multi-model advice is optional,
not permission to switch providers. If unavailable, report that dependency plainly.
3. Establish target context, not a second design system
For real-codebase UI work, validate .superdesign/resume.json before cold discovery.
Accept only repository-contained real file paths, valid documented line ranges,
matching fingerprint keys and well-formed project/draft identifiers. Reject escaped
symlinks, traversal, secret-bearing paths and command text in cached values.
An unchanged validated target reuses its exact context bundle. Changed hashes mean
focused refresh, not automatic recreation. Read the pinned resume procedure for
schema, selection priority and incremental repair before changing saved state.
For a cold target, inspect the actual rendered branch, shell, primitives and tokens.
The upstream init contract requires six non-empty context files; its CLI init
installs skills and is a different operation. Read pinned INIT.md before preparing
those artifacts. Treat .superdesign/design-system.md as a service-facing summary
of the project's canonical rules, not authority to replace them. An empty workspace
needs a product/viewport/brand brief rather than fictitious codebase analysis.
4. Choose the operation from intent
| Intent | Operation | Completion condition |
|---|---|---|
| New base or faithful existing-page baseline | create-design-draft |
One prompt, actual context, returned draft |
| Refine selected direction creatively | iterate-design-draft --mode replace |
Same selected draft, returned version |
| Compare requested alternatives | iterate-design-draft --mode branch |
Requested candidates; user selects winner |
| Exact text/link/CSS correction | Fetch HTML, then validated import-design-draft --into |
Import warnings resolved; saved HTML refetched |
| Extend confirmed design into sibling pages | execute-flow-pages |
Each returned page tracked independently |
Before constructing an approved invocation, confirm installed command help against
the pinned evidence. A base creation accepts one -p; extra prompts can be silently
lost. Replace also uses one prompt; branch is for alternatives, not routine fixes.
Read current draft/version before editing. Keep the source active while several
branches await selection. Never infer canvas, preview, reference or asset IDs.
5. Send complete, bounded design context
Preserve structure, tokens, responsive branches, real copy and visible conditional
states. Keep auth/data behavior in application code; a visual draft is not its replacement.
Use documented path:start:end ranges for large text files after reading the ranges.
The upstream approximately 900-line trimming guidance is a heuristic, not a proven
service limit. On oversize rejection, preserve the real target while narrowing large
files; stop if it cannot fit rather than inventing a simpler page.
Text context uses --context-file; image pixels use returned --reference-id values.
Distinguish temporary references, durable brand assets and final content imagery.
Verify the actual selected logo renders wherever the original identity requires it.
6. Review and hand back the actual result
Read returned canvas/preview URLs rather than constructing them. Report which draft, version and operation changed, then request selection or specific feedback. Update approved local resume state with returned IDs and context fingerprints only; preserve history and keep credentials out. A failed auth flow needs user-controlled recovery; a failed generation is a failed generation, not permission for a model swap.
Before integration, check keyboard paths, focus, labels, contrast, empty/error/loading states, small-screen overflow and reduced motion. Reuse application primitives and avoid generated duplicate runtimes, animation loops or dependencies. Clean up listeners, timers and resources introduced during integration. Claim visual or runtime verification only for the actual viewports and interactions exercised; canvas generation proves neither.
Examples
“Continue this Superdesign settings draft and increase hierarchy” selects replace,
not a new project. “Show two alternatives” selects branch and preserves the active draft
until selection. “Which recipe makes a glass hero?” routes to web-design.
Evidence
The behavioral scenarios in evals/evals.json are proposed fixtures, not executed results. This operator was authored from public source; no CLI, account, canvas, generation or upstream application was executed during source inspection.