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Skillskilo-design

kilo-design

Design & creation

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Updated 10-15 23:46

About this skill

Kilo Design

Design guidance for the Kilo Code frontend. Use this skill whenever the task involves how something looks, how it behaves, how it reads, or how it adapts.

Canonical rule: design contract first

Root DESIGN.md is the source of truth for token names, exact values, domain mappings, typography roles, radius, and spacing. reference/kilo-brand.md explains how to apply that contract. When guidance, existing CSS, or a component conflicts with DESIGN.md, treat it as implementation drift rather than precedent.

Load DESIGN.md and reference/kilo-brand.md on every invocation before picking tokens, typography, layout, or motion. Together they define:

  • Kilo's dark-first web theme and six-role surface ladder.
  • Brand yellow-green primary token as the primary CTA color, used once per surface.
  • Fixed status-domain mappings, syntax colors, and diff colors.
  • Inter / Roboto Mono typography roles and editor-only JetBrains Mono usage.
  • Spacing, radius, component, and motion conventions.
  • Kilo-specific anti-patterns to reject on sight.

Register

Identify the register of the surface before designing:

  • Product UI — web app, dashboards, settings, billing, admin, Storybook components, mobile app screens. Calm, compact, task-oriented. Fixed type scale. Restrained accent use.
  • Brand / Marketing — landing pages, docs, pricing, hero surfaces, campaign moments. More visual expression permitted (hero type, animation, committed color, imagery) while still using Kilo tokens.

When unclear, treat the surface as Product UI.

Routing

Given a user prompt that invokes this skill:

  1. Always load root DESIGN.md, then reference/kilo-brand.md.
  2. Identify the dominant concern from the prompt and load the matching reference(s):
Prompt signal Load
typography, fonts, type scale, hierarchy, readability reference/typography.md
color, palette, contrast, accent, theming, gradient, a11y colors reference/color-and-contrast.md
spacing, layout, grid, rhythm, padding, alignment, cards reference/spatial-design.md
motion, animation, transitions, easing, micro-interactions reference/motion-design.md
forms, focus, hover, states, dialog, dropdown, keyboard nav reference/interaction-design.md
responsive, mobile, breakpoints, touch, tablet, adapt reference/responsive-design.md
copy, microcopy, error messages, labels, empty state copy reference/ux-writing.md
audit / critique / polish / general redesign all references above

  1. If the prompt targets a specific file, component, or route, read that file first before proposing or making changes. Do not guess what the current code looks like.

  2. When the user asks for implementation, produce code; when the user asks for a review, produce a diff-ready report with file paths, line references, specific token/utility suggestions, and a short rationale per finding.

Operating rules

Follow these on every task:

  1. Inspect before editing. Open root DESIGN.md, apps/web/src/app/globals.css, the relevant component under apps/web/src/components/, and any Storybook story before proposing visual changes.
  2. Prefer compliant tokens, utilities, and components. Reuse existing implementation only when it maps to DESIGN.md. If it differs, report or fix the drift instead of copying it.
  3. Do not rename or restructure the shadcn UI layer unless the user explicitly asks for a design-system refactor.
  4. Use the primary token for primary CTAs. The product primary is the Kilo brand yellow-green. Blue is reserved for links and legacy drift that should be migrated when touched.
  5. Do not add new motion libraries. motion/react and tw-animate-css are already available.
  6. Respect prefers-reduced-motion on any motion change beyond trivial opacity/transform hover feedback.
  7. Design all interactive states: default, hover, focus-visible, active, disabled, loading, error, success — whichever are relevant.
  8. Check responsive behavior for any visual change: mobile (~375px), tablet/laptop (~768–1024px), wide desktop (~1440px+).
  9. Use Kilo voice (see reference/ux-writing.md) for any copy you add or rewrite.
  10. Surface conflicts. If the user's ask conflicts with DESIGN.md, raise the conflict and propose a path forward before silently overriding the design contract.

Implementing code changes

When producing code:

  • Use Tailwind utilities that map to semantic tokens before hex: bg-background, text-foreground, border-border, bg-primary, and text-primary-foreground for broad semantics; bg-surface-inset, bg-surface-raised, bg-surface-overlay, bg-surface-hover, and bg-surface-selected for exact surface roles; syntax, diff, and status utilities for those domains.
  • Extend cva variants in existing ui/ primitives rather than cloning.
  • Icons: lucide-react, typically size-4, inheriting currentColor; use size-icon-sm for canonical 14px compact/status icons.
  • Add aria-label to icon-only buttons.
  • Use Radix + shadcn wrappers for overlays (dialog, dropdown, popover, tooltip, sheet) — do not hand-roll positioning.
  • Match compact rhythm: h-8 / h-control-default / h-10 controls, h-14 topbar, and p-6 cards. Use h-control-touch or size-control-touch where touch targets need 44px.
  • Prefer gap-* over ad-hoc margins.

Running a design review

When producing a review:

  • Reference code locations as file_path:line_number.
  • Group findings by severity: Blocker (accessibility failure, brand violation, broken behavior), Improvement (inconsistency, refinement opportunity), Nit (optional polish).
  • Propose specific Tailwind utilities, tokens, or components for each fix.
  • Call out responsive, reduced-motion, keyboard, and screen-reader gaps explicitly — they're the most commonly missed.

Mobile surfaces

apps/mobile/ uses React Native + NativeWind, with its own shadcn-style setup in apps/mobile/src/global.css and apps/mobile/components.json. Web Tailwind patterns do not always translate:

  • CSS-variable theme colors do not compose with Tailwind opacity modifiers (/40) in NativeWind.
  • env(safe-area-inset-*) is web-only; mobile uses react-native safe area tooling.
  • Hover states do not apply. Design the pressed state instead.

Consult apps/mobile/AGENTS.md (if present) and existing components before styling.

Non-goals

This skill is intentionally scoped. It does not:

  • Run automated anti-pattern scans.
  • Run or expose Impeccable's "live mode."
  • Generate or redefine root DESIGN.md; it must still enforce the existing contract.
  • Migrate every legacy hardcoded blue CTA unless the owning surface is being updated. Broad migrations belong in separate design-system-scoped PRs.

Reference map

File What it covers
Root DESIGN.md Canonical token contract and application rules. Load first, always.
reference/kilo-brand.md Kilo-specific implementation guidance. Load after DESIGN.md, always.
reference/typography.md Inter/mono usage, hierarchy, tabular nums, OpenType polish.
reference/color-and-contrast.md Exact palette, brand vs action color, dark-first contrast rules.
reference/spatial-design.md Spacing, radius scale, grid patterns, optical alignment.
reference/motion-design.md Durations, easings, reduced motion, Kilo brand flourishes.
reference/interaction-design.md Focus, forms, overlays, destructive actions, keyboard nav.
reference/responsive-design.md Breakpoints, input-method queries, safe areas, images.
reference/ux-writing.md Kilo voice, labels, error copy, empty states, i18n.

See NOTICE.md for Impeccable attribution and licensing.