# DESIGN GATE — Auto-detect design tasks, ensure the design toolchain is active Inline snippet. Include in any agent STEP 0 that may touch UI/design. ## WHEN TO RUN Run this gate when the task description OR target files match design signals. ## DETECTION Check BOTH the task description AND the filesystem: **Task description signals** (case-insensitive match on $ARGUMENTS): - UI keywords: `component`, `button`, `card`, `modal`, `dialog`, `tooltip`, `dropdown`, `sidebar`, `navbar`, `header`, `footer`, `layout`, `grid`, `form`, `input`, `table` - Style keywords: `css`, `style`, `theme`, `color`, `font`, `spacing`, `margin`, `padding`, `border`, `shadow`, `animation`, `transition`, `hover`, `motion`, `animate`, `responsive`, `dark mode`, `light mode` - Design keywords: `design`, `ui`, `ux`, `visual`, `polish`, `pixel`, `figma`, `mockup`, `wireframe`, `prototype` - Framework UI: `tailwind`, `styled-component`, `emotion`, `chakra`, `radix`, `shadcn`, `headless` **Filesystem signals** (quick check, no deep scan): - Target files have `.tsx`, `.jsx`, `.css`, `.scss`, `.less`, or `.module.css` extension - `tailwind.config` or `postcss.config` present in project root - `tokens/`, `theme/`, or `design-system/` directory exists - Storybook config (`.storybook/`) present - Animation lib in `package.json` deps: `motion`, `motion-v`, `framer-motion` (legacy), `gsap`, `@gsap/react`, `lottie-react`, `react-spring`, `popmotion`, `@formkit/auto-animate` ## DECISION Source of truth for activation is the **profile system** — never an atomic per-tool toggle. The gate's whole job: confirm the design toolchain is active, and if not, point at ONE command — `/profile design`. ### 1. Tier — does the gate even apply? - **Trivial** (≤2 files, single cosmetic value, one CSS tweak — same scope as `/hotfix`) → no design tools required. Skip the gate, proceed. - **Build UI / design system / review-audit** → toolchain required, continue. - In doubt (trivial tweak vs real UI change) → do NOT silently skip: ask the user, or default to the Build tier. Tier does NOT change WHAT gets checked. Every non-trivial design tier draws from the one `design` profile — so the gate checks that profile's **design-core tools** (the `# GATE-BLOCK:` allowlist in `design.profile`: ui-ux-pro-max, frontend-design, emil-design-eng, design-motion-principles, design-html, design-review, design-consultation, magic). The profile also bundles browser/plan/shotgun tooling and graphify for convenience; those never trip the gate. Motion (`design-motion-principles`) and static-HTML (`design-html`) are already in the core set — checked regardless; their CLAUDE.md "+motion / +static" notes say which tool you'll lean on, not a separate activation step. ### 2. State — run the deterministic check bash "$HOME/.claude/lib/design-tool-gate.sh" It reads the design-core tools (`# GATE-BLOCK:` in `design.profile`) plus their types (`profile.sh show design --plain`) and checks each on its own channel — skill symlink, `claude plugin list`, `claude mcp list`, `command -v`. It never reads `disabledMcpServers` (unreliable for bi-modal servers like magic/context7). The core set lives in `design.profile`, not in the script or here — single source. Exit codes: `0` = ready · `11` = ready-but-unverified (proceed, but surface it) · `10` = incomplete (gate trips) · `2` = error. ### 3. Branch on the result - **0 / `READY`** → proceed silently. Toolchain is active. - **10 / `INCOMPLETE`** → STOP. The script reports up to three groups; relay them and the remedy to the user: 🎨 DESIGN DETECTED — the design toolchain isn't fully active. activate with /profile design: required + manual step: → run /profile design to activate it, then continue. - **activate with /profile design** → skills + the plugin; `/profile design` turns them on directly. - **required + manual step** → required tools the profile can't flip silently. **magic lands here: it TRIPS the gate** (it's required for Build), it is NOT a silent "optional". `/profile design` runs `toggle-external.sh` for magic, which needs a valid `MAGIC_API_KEY` in `~/.claude/.env` — tell the user to verify it. - Do NOT hand-activate individual tools. The profile is the unit of activation. - **11 / `READY BUT UNVERIFIED`** → `claude` was unreachable, so the design plugin/MCP (magic, ui-ux-pro-max) could NOT be checked. Do NOT report a plain "ready": proceed only after telling the user that N tool(s) went unverified and having them confirm with `claude mcp list` / `claude plugin list`. Fail-visible, not fail-silent — the most important tool (magic) is exactly an unverifiable one. ### 4. Animation library — suggest-only (fires only on a real motion signal) Orthogonal to the toolchain check above: §2-3 are about Claude's design TOOLS; this is about the PROJECT's runtime dep. Evaluate it only once the toolchain is resolved and you're actually proceeding with the build (READY, or after the user ran `/profile design`). Never on the INCOMPLETE stop path — that path has one action only (`/profile design`); don't stack an optional note on it. **Fires only when ALL THREE hold** — drop any one → no suggestion, stay silent: 1. **Motion signal** — the task matched a motion keyword from §DETECTION: `animation`, `transition`, `hover`, `motion`, or `animate`. A static button / card / layout with no motion signal needs no anim lib → skip. 2. **Stack eligible** — `detect_anim_eligibility` returns `eligible|…`. 3. **No anim lib yet** — `is_anim_lib_installed` finds none. Only if condition 1 holds, run the helper for 2 and 3 — do NOT re-list packages here; the helper's `is_anim_lib_installed` is the single source of which libs count: source "$HOME/.claude/lib/animation-lib-check.sh" result=$(detect_anim_eligibility) # '||' status=$(echo "$result" | cut -d'|' -f1) pkg=$(echo "$result" | cut -d'|' -f2) reason=$(echo "$result" | cut -d'|' -f3) if [ "$status" = "eligible" ] && ! is_anim_lib_installed >/dev/null; then cmd=$(recommend_anim_install_cmd "$pkg") # pnpm/yarn/bun/npm per lockfile # → surface the one-line suggestion below. Do NOT run $cmd. fi **Surface — always this single line (non-blocking, suggest-only):** 🎬 Stack motion-eligible (), no anim lib — ``? (optional; say the word, I'll add it) **Rules:** - **Suggest-only, never auto-install.** Run `` ONLY on explicit user consent. BDR-005: mid-session + existing `package.json` = consent required — same contract as `/onboard` STEP 2.5, opposite of `/init-project` STEP 5e (auto-install on a just-validated fresh scaffold). - **Non-blocking.** Never halts the build; NOT a second gate. The toolchain stop (§3, exit 10) is the only STOP. Surface the line, keep going. - **Stateless dedup, by construction.** The suggestion is ALWAYS the single line above — no first-time-block / later-short split. That split would need session state the gate doesn't have, and a file marker would persist forever (per project, not per session). Determinism here comes from having nothing to remember, not from a behavioral "the agent recalls it" guard. Re-fire is one ignorable line, on a narrow population: condition 3 (`is_anim_lib_installed`, 10 libs incl gsap / react-spring / lottie) kills it the instant any anim lib lands, so only "eligible + pure-CSS + actively declined" ever sees it twice. - **Two "motion"s (agent-facing).** The lib `motion` (npm dep, this step) ≠ the skill `design-motion-principles` (`# GATE-BLOCK:` core set, §2-3). The toolchain check handles the skill; this step handles the lib. Don't conflate them when talking to the user. ### Other toolchains The script defaults to the `design` profile. A task needing another profile's toolchain passes it: `design-tool-gate.sh `. Scope comes from that profile's `# GATE-BLOCK:` line (absent → every skill/plugin/mcp entry). The remedy is always `/profile ` — a profile, never a lone tool. ## IMPORTANT - Remedy is ALWAYS a profile (`/profile design`), never an atomic tool toggle — the profile system is the single source of truth for what's active. - magic is REQUIRED (it trips the gate), but `/profile design` only enables it if `MAGIC_API_KEY` is in `~/.claude/.env` — the gate says so; surface that to the user. - The design-core set (what trips the gate) is declared in `design.profile` on the `# GATE-BLOCK:` line(s) — edit there to add/remove a blocking design tool, not in the script. - The state check shells out to `claude` (plugin/mcp list): a few seconds. Trivial / non-design tasks skip it entirely (no signal, or trivial tier). - `design-tool-gate.sh`'s per-type state checks MIRROR `profile.sh:skill_status()` — change one, sync the other. - Do NOT run this gate on pure backend/API/CLI tasks (no signals = no gate).