/sddesign pipeline

The full spec-driven design pipeline — brief → tokens → shape → craft → converge → ship in one guided run. Writes .ui-craft/spec.md.

Updated 2026-06-25

/sddesign runs the whole spec-driven pipeline for a net-new surface in one guided pass. It doesn’t re-implement anything — it sequences the existing phase commands, detects which artifacts already exist, and reports honestly about anything skipped.

/sddesign dashboard

Run it when you’re starting a surface from scratch and want the full spine — durable brief, token system, a written spec, a built surface, a convergence loop, and a ship gate — instead of one-shotting.

The six gates

[ ] brief   [ ] tokens   [ ] shape (spec)   [ ] craft (build)   [ ] converge   [ ] ship

The pipeline prints this checklist and updates it as each gate resolves: [✓] done or skipped-with-artifact, [>] current, [–] skipped-without-artifact (degraded).

Gate	What runs	Artifact
1 · Brief	`/brief` if `.ui-craft/brief.md` is missing	`.ui-craft/brief.md`
2 · Tokens	`/tokens` if no token spine is detected	token system
3 · Shape (spec)	`/shape` — content inventory, ASCII layout, state list, open questions. Persists the spec by default inside the pipeline	`.ui-craft/spec.md`
4 · Craft (build)	`/craft <surface>` — builds against the spec; every acceptance-bar item must be green before “done”	the surface
5 · Converge	the `visual-anti-slop` loop — evaluate → fix one → re-evaluate until zero criticals or budget (default 3) is exhausted	—
6 · Ship	`/finalize` — the 10-pass finish bar + brief/token gate → READY / NOT READY / BLOCKED	verdict

Orchestrate-only

/sddesign contributes only gate detection, offer prompts, progress reporting, and degraded-mode honesty. Every composition rule, wireframe algorithm, craft rule, and convergence engine lives in the phase commands it calls. If you decline a gate, it marks it [–] and states the downstream cost (e.g. “no token spine → craft will establish a minimal inline set; it won’t match an existing system”).

Precedence

The brief’s learned constraints and the a11y/correctness floor take precedence over any spec.md composition choice, at every gate. If a constraint conflicts with a spec decision, the constraint wins and the spec section is updated to match.

The spec artifact

Shape’s Step 6 writes .ui-craft/spec.md — per-surface composition choice, layout skeleton, component inventory, state lattice, and acceptance bar. /craft reads it before building, so the chosen composition and acceptance bar take precedence over recipe defaults. The spec persists across sessions, so a later /craft or /finalize re-anchors to the same contract.

When to use which

/sddesign — net-new surface, want the full spine and a written spec.
/craft <surface> — known composition, no pipeline needed, one-shot build.
/shape — just the wireframe + state lattice before any JSX.

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