name: stark
description: Use for UI/UX design, product flows, frontend or native interface design, design audits, design translation, asset planning, motion direction, design tokens, or distinctive non-generic apps and websites. Covers web and React, Windows and WinUI/Mica, Apple and SwiftUI, Android and Jetpack Compose/Material, cross-platform UI, and token export. Route to the focused skill, then load only the references required for the selected surface and failure mode.
Stark
Stark is a design router for AI coding agents. Use it to make product, platform, visual, interaction, and quality decisions before implementation.
Operating rule
Keep context proportional to the task:
- Select no more than two routed skills.
- Load two core references for the selected surface.
- Add at most two conditional references for a specific risk or failure mode.
- Load post-render gates only after rendered evidence exists.
Do not read the entire reference library. Use references/ui-patterns/README.md, references/ux-patterns/README.md, and references/web-patterns/README.md as catalogs when the tables below do not cover the request.
Route the request
| Request | Routed skill |
|---|
| Web UI, landing page, dashboard, React, Next, Astro, Tailwind | skills/web-design/SKILL.md |
| Product flow, onboarding, checkout, IA, usability, forms | skills/ux-design/SKILL.md |
| Windows, WinUI, WPF, Fluent | skills/windows-design/SKILL.md |
| Apple, iOS, iPadOS, macOS, SwiftUI | skills/apple-design/SKILL.md |
| Android, Material, Jetpack Compose | skills/android-design/SKILL.md |
| Tauri, Electron, React Native, Flutter, CMP, shared UI | skills/cross-platform-design/SKILL.md |
| Design tokens, themes, token export | skills/design-tokens/SKILL.md |
| Platform is genuinely unclear | skills/design-router/SKILL.md |
Combine UX with one platform skill when the request includes both workflow and implementation. Preserve the UX brief when platform guidance is applied.
Use scripts/detect_platform.py only as a deterministic fallback. Treat ambiguous as a request for one short clarification, not permission to default to web.
Select a reference bundle
Choose one primary bundle. Read its two core references. Add conditional references only when their trigger is present.
Product application
Core:
references/ux-patterns/task-ergonomics.md
references/ui-patterns/interaction-state-matrix.md
Conditional:
- Responsive or multi-viewport:
references/ui-patterns/responsive-adaptation-gate.md
- Complex navigation:
references/ui-patterns/navigation-information-architecture.md
- Direct manipulation:
references/ui-patterns/interaction-physics-direct-manipulation.md
- Reusable components:
references/ui-patterns/component-api-variant-contract.md
Landing page or product proof
Core:
references/ui-patterns/creative-direction.md
references/ui-patterns/page-proof-architecture.md
Conditional:
- Conversion or pricing:
references/ui-patterns/conversion-proof-system.md
- Distinct identity:
references/ui-patterns/brand-identity-motif-system.md
- Product media:
references/ui-patterns/asset-realism-matrix.md
- Cinematic surface:
references/ui-patterns/cinematic-landing-system.md
Animation-led surface
Core:
references/ui-patterns/animation-creation.md
references/ui-patterns/choreography-state-machine.md
Conditional:
- Library selection:
references/ui-patterns/motion-library-playbooks.md
- Authored timelines or Rive/Lottie:
references/ui-patterns/designer-authored-motion-handoff.md
- Heavy runtime:
references/ui-patterns/performance-budget-contract.md
- Acceptance frames:
references/ui-patterns/motion-frame-qa-contract.md
Dashboard or analytics
Core:
references/ui-patterns/dashboard-insight-hierarchy.md
references/ui-patterns/data-visualization-library-selection.md
Conditional:
- Realistic fixtures:
references/ui-patterns/product-data-content-system.md
- Dense repeated work:
references/ux-patterns/task-ergonomics.md
- Responsive replacement:
references/ui-patterns/adaptive-composition-system.md
- Data states:
references/ui-patterns/interaction-state-matrix.md
Design system or reusable library
Core:
references/ui-patterns/design-system-production-loop.md
references/ui-patterns/token-implementation-contract.md
Conditional:
- Public component API:
references/ui-patterns/component-api-variant-contract.md
- State coverage:
references/ui-patterns/component-state-gallery.md
- Theme and density:
references/ui-patterns/theme-mode-density-system.md
- Automation:
references/ui-patterns/frontend-quality-automation-gate.md
Audit or repair
Core:
references/ui-patterns/ui-audit-rubric.md
references/ui-patterns/visual-repair-playbook.md
Conditional:
- Usability concern:
references/ux-patterns/usability-heuristic-evaluation.md
- Accessibility concern:
references/ui-patterns/accessibility-acceptance-gate.md
- Generic or repetitive output:
references/ui-patterns/design-fingerprint-diversity-gate.md
- Implementation drift:
references/ui-patterns/implementation-review-loop.md
Research or reference-led work
Core:
references/ui-patterns/reference-board-workflow.md
references/ui-patterns/research-synthesis-contract.md
Conditional:
- Compare against a stronger example:
references/ui-patterns/benchmark-repair-loop.md
- Avoid copying identity:
references/ui-patterns/reference-analysis.md
First-run or risky flow
Core:
references/ux-patterns/first-run-empty-state-system.md
references/ux-patterns/task-flow-acceptance-harness.md
Conditional:
- Forms and validation:
references/ui-patterns/form-state-validation-system.md
- Checkout or trust:
references/ui-patterns/conversion-proof-system.md
- Permissions and accessibility:
references/ui-patterns/accessibility-interaction-contract.md
Produce a compact decision brief
Before code, state:
- product job and primary user;
- target platform and implementation track;
- primary object and action;
- selected structural pattern;
- visual direction and one product-specific motif;
- required states and recovery path;
- responsive or native adaptation;
- motion level and library owner, if any;
- selected references and why they apply;
- acceptance evidence.
Keep this brief actionable. Do not turn it into a design essay.
Implement and validate in stages
- Define the product object, primary action, states, and recovery.
- Choose platform idiom and structural pattern.
- Choose typography, material, assets, and motion according to the surface.
- Implement in the user's existing stack unless a change is explicitly requested.
- Inspect the rendered result.
- Load only the relevant post-render gate:
- visual:
references/ui-patterns/rendered-quality-gate.md
- usability:
references/ux-patterns/rendered-usability-acceptance-gate.md
- typography:
references/ui-patterns/rendered-typography-quality-gate.md
- advanced libraries:
references/ui-patterns/capability-stack-rendered-gate.md
- Apply the highest-impact repair and re-check the failed evidence.
Commands
Use command briefs when the user explicitly asks for one of these modes:
| Mode | Command |
|---|
| General design | commands/stark.md |
| Audit | commands/stark-audit.md |
| Full design direction | commands/stark-director.md |
| Quality scoring | commands/stark-quality.md |
| Browser/runtime QA | commands/stark-qa.md |
| Release-quality gate | commands/stark-quality-gate.md |
| Usability | commands/stark-usability.md |
| Animation | commands/stark-animation.md |
| Assets | commands/stark-assets.md |
| Reference research | commands/stark-reference-board.md |
| Second attempt | commands/stark-regenerate.md |
| Design translation | commands/stark-translate.md |
| Dogfood evaluation | commands/stark-dogfood.md |
Helper scripts
- Use
scripts/detect_platform.py only when semantic platform routing remains ambiguous.
- Use
scripts/token_export.py when converting Stark token bundles to CSS, Tailwind, SwiftUI, Compose, or WinUI.
- Maintainers use
scripts/validate_repository.py and scripts/build_package.py; they are not part of normal design execution.
Guardrails
- Prefer product-specific structure over generic cards, gradients, and slogans.
- Do not force expressive landing-page composition onto repeated-use tools.
- Preserve keyboard, focus, semantics, reflow, reduced motion, and recovery paths.
- Treat advanced libraries as dependencies with an owner, fallback, budget, QA probe, and removal rule.
- Borrow principles from references, never trade dress, proprietary assets, or copied layouts.
- Do not claim rendered quality without rendered evidence.
- Keep the user's framework and conventions unless the request clearly authorizes a change.