Steer Design
Generate or refine
— the design guidelines document. This document is the canonical reference for design decisions, the system in use, tokens, patterns, and accessibility requirements that every designer and implementer must follow.
See
references/design-template.md
for the expected document shape.
Process
1. Check if the document already exists
Use the Read tool to attempt reading
.
If the file
exists, call
with:
-
: "docs/steering/DESIGN.md already exists. What would you like to do?"
-
-
:
[{label: "Refine it", description: "Review and improve the existing document"}, {label: "Exit", description: "Leave it as-is"}]
-
Refine it → read the current document, then skip to step 4 (use existing doc as context, only ask about gaps or outdated sections).
-
Exit → exit immediately.
If the file does not exist, continue to step 2.
2. Research the codebase and design artifacts
Use the Agent tool to extract design facts directly from the codebase. Do not ask the user for things that can be read:
- Design system: look for a Storybook config, component library imports, design-system packages in
- Tokens: CSS custom properties (, ), Tailwind config, theme files, token definition files
- Components: existing UI components and their structure (look for , , )
- Figma links: any Figma URLs in README, existing issues, or
- Accessibility: existing WCAG references, axe configs, jest-axe usage
- Responsive breakpoints: Tailwind config, CSS media queries, layout files
- VISION.md if it exists — extract any design principles already stated there
Also check
for any existing principles that should carry over.
Synthesise findings. Produce a draft of Stack, Tokens, and Component Patterns from this research alone where possible.
3. Interview the user for gaps only
Only ask about what research could not determine. Work through questions
one at a time using
.
Topics that may need input:
- Design principles — "What 3–5 principles guide every design decision for this product?"
- Pre-fill with principles inferred from VISION.md or any existing design docs.
- Design system — "What design system are you using? Do you have a Figma library?"
- Pre-fill with anything found in the codebase or imports.
- Token gaps — "Are there tokens not yet defined in code that designers rely on?"
- Pre-fill with gaps inferred from the design system research.
- Responsive strategy — "How does the layout adapt across breakpoints?"
- Pre-fill with breakpoints found in the codebase.
- Accessibility target — "Are there any accessibility requirements beyond WCAG 2.1 AA?"
- Pre-fill with any existing a11y config found.
Skip any topic already answered by research.
4. Draft the document
Using
references/design-template.md
as the shape reference, fill in all sections with gathered context. Replace every
with real content.
Writing rules:
- Tokens must reflect what is actually defined in the codebase — not aspirational values
- Component patterns reference real component paths where they exist
- Accessibility section always includes the baseline rules from the project's CLAUDE.md (if present) plus any additions
- Principles are written as design directives, not engineering constraints
5. Review with user
Show the draft. Then call
with
question: "Does this reflect the design direction accurately?"
,
, and
options: [{label: "Looks good — save it", description: "Write to docs/steering/DESIGN.md"}, {label: "I have changes", description: "I want to adjust something first"}]
.
Apply edits, then proceed.
6. Write the document
Write the final content to
.
Commit the file:
bash
git add docs/steering/DESIGN.md
git commit -m "docs: add design guidelines steering document"
Print the file path.
7. Offer wiki sync
- : "Would you like to sync this to the GitHub wiki?"
- : "Wiki sync"
- :
[{label: "Yes — push to wiki", description: "Publish DESIGN.md as a wiki page"}, {label: "Not now", description: "Skip wiki sync"}]
If yes:
bash
REPO=$(gh repo view --json nameWithOwner -q .nameWithOwner)
git clone https://github.com/$REPO.wiki.git /tmp/wiki-sync
cp docs/steering/DESIGN.md /tmp/wiki-sync/WTF-Design.md
cd /tmp/wiki-sync && git add WTF-Design.md && git commit -m "Sync: design guidelines" && git push
rm -rf /tmp/wiki-sync
8. Offer to continue
- : "What's next?"
- : "Next step"
- :
[{label: "Create QA.md", description: "Run
to document the QA standards"}, {label: "Create TECH.md", description: "Run
to document the technical guidelines"}, {label: "Create VISION.md", description: "Run
to document the product vision"}, {label: "Stop here", description: "Exit — no further action"}]
Route to the appropriate skill based on the answer.