direct

name direct description Set a redesign direction for an existing website. Analyzes the user's intent, picks a palette and visual direction, and writes the target spec (PRODUCT.md, DESIGN.md, DESIGN.json) plus a reasoning trace at stardust/direction.md. Use when the user asks to redesign a site, refresh the design, set a new design direction, define a redesign target, or invokes /stardust:direct. license Apache-2.0 stardust:direct Resolve the user's freeform redesign intent into a complete target specification : project-root PRODUCT.md and DESIGN.md (impeccable format), a DESIGN.json sidecar with the divergence audit trail, and a stardust/direction.md with the full reasoning trace. direct produces the spec against which prototype and migrate operate. It never writes prototypes or migrates pages — those are downstream sub-commands. Inputs <phrase> — optional positional. The user's freeform intent ("make it better", "more Linear less Salesforce", "feel more premium on a small screen"). If omitted, ask the user for one. --re-direct — optional. Replace the current direction with a new one. Triggers stale-flagging on prototyped / approved / migrated pages per skills/stardust/reference/state-machine.md . Default behaviour without the flag is additive: if a direction already exists, the agent asks before replacing. --rebrand — optional. Force rebrand mode (full divergence-seed roll, no Mode A inheritance). Without it the default is brand-faithful whenever the captured signal is signal-strong (§ Mode-detection precedence). --prep — optional. Run in migrate-prep mode : confirm the type catalog, finalize the module catalog, capture color reservations and brand-level metadata defaults, re-evaluate direction against the wider crawl. See § Prep mode below. Typically invoked via the prepare-migration orchestrator. --add-variant <name> — optional. Add a new variant against the existing direction without re-running intent reasoning or mode detection. Writes DESIGN-<name>.{md,json} at the project root and appends a per-variant section to stardust/direction.md ; existing prototypes are not stale-flagged. See § Add-variant mode below. Setup Run the master skill's setup ( skills/stardust/SKILL.md § Setup) — hard impeccable dep check, context loader, state read. Verify stardust/state.json exists and contains at least one extracted page. If not, stop and recommend $stardust extract <url> first. Read stardust/current/_brand-extraction.json . If absent, stop — extract did not complete brand-surface extraction; re-run extract. 3b. Cross-site brand inputs (when present). state.json.designSource (design-donor mode: Mode A pins bind to the donor's derived system) and _brand-extraction.json.origins[] (sibling-property evidence: widens what can be amplified, not what is pinned). Read reference/cross-site-brand-inputs.md for the pin and evidence rules; surface the active mode in the plan. Read stardust/direction.md if present. If a prior direction exists and --re-direct was not passed, ask whether the user wants to refine the existing direction or replace it. Validate provenance (prep mode only). When --prep is active, run the provenance validation per reference/prep-mode.md before typing or module detection. Classify the captured brand signal. Read _brand-extraction.json and stamp one of: signal-strong — palette has ≥ 3 distinct colors (after near-duplicate clustering and excluding pure black/white if they are the only entries) AND at least one captured type family is named in type.headingFamily.name or type.bodyFamily.name . This is the common case for any extracted commercial site. signal-thin — palette has 2 colors OR no captured type family OR type.scaleAudit.kind === "ad-hoc" with fewer than 3 distinct heading sizes. The brand exists but cannot fully anchor a refresh. signal-absent — palette has 1 color or 0, or _brand-extraction.json._provenance.notes flags the extraction as failed / login-walled / iframe-dominated. The classification feeds the Mode-detection precedence in Phase 2. Surface the classification in the plan when it would change the default mode. Procedure Phase 1 — Reasoning Run the full intent-reasoning procedure from skills/stardust/reference/intent-reasoning.md . Steps 1-6: restate the phrase in dimensional vocabulary, identify movement, identify gaps, ask at most two clarifying questions, map to an impeccable command sequence, show the plan to the user. Worked examples in skills/stardust/reference/intent-examples.md calibrate the style. Hard ceiling on questions: two per turn, no exceptions. Hands-off mode (per skills/stardust/SKILL.md § Hands-off mode, state.json.handsOff: true ): ask nothing and wait for nothing. Derive every answer the questions would have collected from the captured evidence — density and ia-fidelity from their documented defaults and trigger conditions, audience and register from the captured surface — and record each as a named assumption in direction.md § Movements (e.g. density: balanced (hands-off default — multi-audience floor fired) ). The plan is still written; execution proceeds without the confirmation gate. Question budgets and gates below that say "ask the user" resolve the same way: derive, stamp the assumption, proceed. Density tuning (one-shot, only when unmoved) When the user's phrase does not move the density axis (per reference/intent-dimensions.md § 4), and the resolved register is brand , ask one short follow-up — count it within the two-question ceiling: Density tuning — (a) airy (NYT-Opinion-tier breathing, ~96px section padding), (b) balanced (calm but compact, ~64–72px), (c) packed (data-dense, ~40–48px). Default for brand-register sites with multi-audience IA is (b) balanced ; pick (a) only when the page is editorial-led with deep per-section density. If the user answers, stamp the chosen tier in direction.md § Movements as density: <tier> . If unanswered, default to balanced (not airy) for brand register and stamp density: balanced (default) . Skip this question entirely when: The user's phrase already moved density (any of "make it denser", "more breathing room", "compact", "tight", "spacious" count as movement). The register is product (default packed per § 4). The register is ambiguous and resolving it earlier in the reasoning is the higher-value question — defer density to the next turn rather than burning a question slot. Phase 4 reads the stamped tier to set spacing.sectionPadding ; it never re-asks. IA-fidelity tuning (one-shot, only when unmoved) When the user's phrase does not auto-pin ia-fidelity (per reference/intent-dimensions.md § 9 — i.e. none of "verbatim" , "same IA" , "keep the structure" , "swap the surface" , "don't rethink the IA" and none of "reimagine" , "rethink" , "deeper redesign" , "what if" appear), ask one short follow-up — count it within the two-question ceiling: IA fidelity — (a) verbatim (same section sequence, same content beats; variants explore surface only: color, type, density, motion), or (b) reimagined (variants may demote / promote / drop sections, move IA priorities, take "what if" positions on the spine of the page). Default (b) for the typical refresh; pick (a) when the customer asked to keep their site structurally identical and only swap the surface. If the user answers, stamp the chosen tier in direction.md § Movements as ia-fidelity: <tier> . If unanswered, default to reimagined and stamp ia-fidelity: reimagined (default) . Skip this question entirely when: The user's phrase already auto-pinned the axis (any trigger phrase in § 9 — "same IA, swap the surface" → verbatim; "what if we rethought the home page" → reimagined). An existing direction.md is being refined (the active tier holds unless the user explicitly re-pins). Phase 4 stamps the tier into iaPriorities[].mutability ; downstream prototype reads it. Pair this question with the density-tuning question when both are unmoved — "two things to pin before we resolve: (1) density …, (2) IA fidelity …" — to stay within the two-question ceiling. If resolving register (brand vs product) is also outstanding, prioritise register first; defer one of density / ia-fidelity to the next turn. Wait for the user's confirmation ( "go" , or a correction to the plan) before moving on. Phase 2 — Resolve the divergence inputs Once the plan is confirmed, resolve the divergence-toolkit inputs from skills/stardust/reference/divergence-toolkit.md . Before rolling the seed, run the mode-detection precedence below to decide whether the seed needs rolling at all. Mode-detection precedence (run first) The default mode for direct is determined by whether an extracted brand surface exists with usable signal — not by the user's freeform phrase alone. Ambiguous refresh phrases ("make it modern", "stunning new version", "design fatigue cure") are migration-shaped asks, not rebrand triggers. The precedence is asymmetric on purpose: the safer mode (Mode A — brand-faithful) catches ambiguous phrases; the riskier rebrand mode requires the user to name it. Site migration / refresh — DEFAULT. When the captured brand signal stamped in § Setup step 6 is signal-strong , Mode A is active by default. The user's phrase moves expressive , distinctiveness , tone , and density axes inside Mode A — but palette and type are pinned to the captured surface, and the image-reuse contract (below) holds. Signature preservation also holds: a captured signature hero medium (background video / canvas / Lottie / scroll-motion, elevated as _brand-extraction.json#voice.heroMedium ) or a site-wide motif is reproduced, not flattened — per skills/stardust/reference/ intent-dimensions.md § 8b, and exempt from the surprise budget. Surface in the plan: "Brand-faithful mode active — palette and type pinned to the captured brand surface. Pass --rebrand to override." Rebrand — explicit opt-in. Mode A is overridden when any of the following triggers fire: The user's phrase contains an explicit rebrand signal: any of rebrand , new brand , clean slate , start over , from scratch , replace the brand , not brand-faithful , editorial reimagination , completely new , redo the brand . The --rebrand flag is passed. Captured signal is signal-absent (no usable inheritance). Surface this case as an automatic switch with reason; the user can correct. In rebrand mode, run the standard divergence-seed roll per "Default mode (no constraints)" below. Surface in the plan: "Rebrand mode active — full divergence-seed roll. Mode A bypassed because ." Brand-faithful + targeted exploration. When the user requests N variants (e.g. "3 variants" , "4 directions" ) and Mode A is active, the variant role contract in reference/multi-variant.md applies (trigger: § Phase 2.6). Variant A is locked to strict Mode A (palette and type pinned, IA preserved, every improvements-list item applied). Variants B+ may amplify one captured trait (a motif, a photo treatment, an IA priority the current site underplays) but cannot: introduce a font outside the captured surface, introduce a color outside the captured palette, shift the register from PRODUCT.md. Signal-thin fallback. When captured signal is signal-thin , Mode A activates but warns: "Captured brand surface is thin — {reason}. Variants will inherit what is available; some dimensions will need to be filled by the divergence toolkit." The user may either re-run extract with a wider crawl ( --cap 25 ) or proceed with reduced fidelity. After mode-detection completes, run the existing mode definitions below (Mode A procedure, Mode B anchor-reference precedence, Mode C ground-family override) as applicable. Mode A — Brand-faithful mode Triggered automatically when the captured brand signal is signal-strong and no rebrand-mode override fired (see § Mode-detection precedence above), OR when the user pinned both type and palette (via explicit phrase: "keep typography and palette", "preserve the existing brand", "brand-faithful redesign"; or via constraints listing both as anchors). In this mode, direct does not roll the type or palette dimensions of the seed — they are already locked. The mode procedure: Record font_deck.name = "brand-inherited" and font_deck.picked_by = "user-constraint" . Do not invoke reference/palette-picker.md . Record palette.source = "inherited from _brand-extraction.json" and palette.picked_by = "user-constraint" . Apply role-renaming per toolkit § 4 if the inherited names violate the brand-native rule (this is still useful — role renaming is presentational, not a divergence choice). Still roll the seed for the non-locked dimensions (decade, register, ground-family-as-applicable per Mode C below). These dimensions still drive divergence — the visual register and the era can shift even when type and palette are pinned. Auto-emit the brand_faithful_inversions[] block in extensions.divergence per reference/direction-format.md § Brand-faithful inversions. The list is mostly mechanical (see § Brand-faithful inversions in direction-format.md for the canonical patterns). Surface in the user report which dimensions had teeth and which were inert: Divergence (brand-faithful mode): decade ✓ rolled → 2025-now craft ✓ rolled → Riso print register ✓ rolled → Memoir-adjacent ground-family inherited → stark-white (brand-native) font deck inherited → existing site stack palette inherited → existing 5-color set Image-reuse contract. Captured images are reused via their public URLs (or the local copies in stardust/current/assets/media/ written by extract Phase 2) at the same semantic position as on the source site. Hero stays hero. Story-tile portrait stays story-tile portrait. Program-card image stays program-card image. Background-motif image stays background motif. This is part of brand-faithful inheritance: swapping a captured portrait for a placeholder, or demoting the hero photo to a thumbnail, erases the brand's most load-bearing trust signal. The only legitimate ways to deviate from semantic position-preservation under Mode A: The captured image is broken (404, blocked by referrer-policy , CORS-walled, or recorded with localPath: null and a downloadError ). The brand-review surfaced the image as a tension (e.g. T-stock-photography when added — flagging the captured image as obviously templated stock that the brand team would replace anyway). The improvements list (Phase 2.5) explicitly notes a crop or positioning fix for that image — in which case the same image is reused at the corrected crop or position. Synthesised placeholders are forbidden under Mode A. When a captured image cannot be reused, the prototype shape brief declares the gap explicitly and the rendered prototype shows a placeholder-with-signature element so reviewers see the gap rather than a fabricated photo. The user can correct the mode at the plan-confirmation gate (e.g. "actually let me move the palette" or "actually rebrand it") before it locks. Mode A+ — Brand-adjacent refinement (bounded, evidence-gated) The middle tier between Mode A's hard pins and --rebrand : when the improvements list (Phase 2.5) names a captured type or color weakness with evidence, bounded same-classification upgrades are permitted — each audited in extensions.divergence. brand_adjacent_refinements[] , never active by default. Read reference/mode-a-plus.md before applying any refinement. Mode B — Anchor-reference precedence When the user provides anchor references (Q1/Q2 answers like "Pentagram nonprofits, This American Life, NYT Opinion longform"), those references already imply seed dimensions (Pentagram → decade 2025-now editorial; This American Life → register Memoir -adjacent). Do not roll dimensions the references already imply. Agent-sourced anchors (default when the user provides none). Mode B no longer waits for the user to name references: run the reference-research procedure ( skills/stardust/reference/reference-research.md ) to source 3–5 real-world anchors matched to the brand's category, register, and the resolved direction movement. Researched anchors carry the same implied-dimension weight as user-provided ones and are recorded as picked_by: "reasoned: <anchor>" with the full citation in extensions.divergence.references_used[] . User-provided references always outrank researched ones on conflict. When research is unavailable (ladder exhausted per reference-research.md § 1), Mode B degrades to the deterministic roll for the un-implied dimensions. Precedence rule: If anchor references are present, extract their implied dimensions: Decade from era of the references (Pentagram → 2025-now; vintage Penguin → 1960s). Craft from medium of the references (TAL → audio editorial ≠ a craft per se, but Bandcamp → web-print hybrid; Riso-print anthology → Riso). Register from cultural reference set (Memoir, Tabloid, Catalogue, etc.). Ground-family from typical ground of those references (NYT Opinion → cream/parchment; Pentagram nonprofit → stark-white or monochrome-tint). Mark each implied dimension as picked_by = "anchor-reference: <ref-name>" . Roll the seed only for un-implied dimensions. Record the anchor → dimension mapping in extensions.divergence.seed.anchors[] . Mode B can compose with Mode A: anchor-references narrow the seed, brand-faithful constraints lock type/palette, the remaining roll is whatever the anchors didn't already imply. Mode C — Brand-faithful ground-family override When Mode A is active and the seed's ground_family roll disagrees with the brand's existing ground (e.g. seed rolled monochrome-tint but the brand's captured background is #ffffff stark-white), the brand's ground wins. The seed roll is not discarded — it informs the alt-section surface instead (per divergence-toolkit.md § 4 Color roles). Record the override in extensions.divergence.seed.ground_family.override with one of three reasons: brand-faithful — Mode A active and brand has a fixed ground. print-paper — manual override for print/paper categories (existing toolkit rule). direction-driven — seed wins (default; no override). The three reasons are mutually exclusive; surface the chosen one in the user report. Default mode (no constraints) When neither Mode A nor Mode B applies (rebrand or thin-signal runs with no user anchors), the procedure is research-first, roll as fallback :