UI/Frontend Guidance

This is a composable overlay, not a standalone workflow. Use alongside the repo's implementation skill (e.g. coding-guidance-cpp, project-core-dev) when the change touches UI or frontend code.

Use this as the thin default overlay for ordinary UI work. If the task is redesign-heavy, frontend-polish heavy, or needs a stronger UX review checklist, prefer ui-design-guidance.

Routing examples:

• add a small control that matches nearby components -> use this skill
• fix spacing, labels, or responsive behavior within the existing visual

language -> use this skill

• redesign a page, introduce a new visual direction, or perform a UX-heavy

release review -> use ui-design-guidance

• product-security or permission-sensitive UI flows -> add security when the

main risk is trust, identity, or authorization rather than presentation

When to use

The repo includes graphical UI or web frontend code — web views, desktop UI, embedded panels, or rendering layers.

Not for

Terminal UIs (ncurses, TUI frameworks) unless the repo explicitly treats them as UI with design standards. Pure data visualization or plotting libraries are also out of scope.

Rules

• Preserve the existing design language unless the task explicitly calls for

redesign. Do not introduce new color palettes, spacing systems, or component patterns without justification.

• Accessibility, layout stability, and responsive behavior are part of done —

not follow-up work.

• UI changes must not bypass the repo's test and build hygiene.
• Verify visual output manually or with snapshot tests if the repo supports

them.

• If the repo does not document breakpoints, design tokens, or visual test

tooling, derive them from nearby UI code and record the fallback evidence in any implementation or review note you produce.

Decision Heuristics

• Design language check: before adding a new visual element, grep the

codebase for an existing element that serves a similar purpose. Match its spacing, color tokens, and component structure unless the task requires divergence.

• Evidence fallback: when the repo lacks UI docs, use the nearest existing

component or screen as the baseline and name the files inspected.

• Accessibility bar: if the change adds interactive elements, verify

keyboard navigation and screen reader labels. If the repo has no a11y testing, add manual verification to the review checklist.

• Layout stability: if the change affects layout, test at the repo's

supported viewport sizes. If those are undocumented, test at the common breakpoints already exercised by nearby code or styles. Flag layout shifts that appear on resize or content change.

Validation

A UI change is done when (in addition to the base implementation skill's validation):

• visual output matches the existing design language or the requested redesign
• interactive elements are keyboard-navigable
• layout is stable across supported viewports
• when automated UI verification is absent, any implementation or review note

you produce names the screenshots, snapshots, or manual checks used as evidence