design-guide

name design-guide description Paperclip UI design system guide for building consistent, reusable frontend components. Use when creating new UI components, modifying existing ones, adding pages or features to the frontend, styling UI elements, or when you need to understand the design language and conventions. Covers: component creation, design tokens, typography, status/priority systems, composition patterns, and the /design-guide showcase page. Always use this skill alongside the frontend-design skill (for visual quality) and the web-design-guidelines skill (for web best practices). Paperclip Design Guide Paperclip's UI is a professional-grade control plane — dense, keyboard-driven, dark-themed by default. Every pixel earns its place. Always use with: frontend-design (visual polish) and web-design-guidelines (web best practices). 1. Design Principles Dense but scannable. Maximum information without clicks to reveal. Whitespace separates, not pads. Keyboard-first. Global shortcuts (Cmd+K, C, [, ]). Power users rarely touch the mouse. Contextual, not modal. Inline editing over dialog boxes. Dropdowns over page navigations. Dark theme default. Neutral grays (OKLCH), not pure black. Accent colors for status/priority only. Text is the primary visual element. Component-driven. Prefer reusable components that capture style conventions. Build at the right abstraction — not too granular, not too monolithic. 2. Tech Stack React 19 + TypeScript + Vite Tailwind CSS v4 with CSS variables (OKLCH color space) shadcn/ui (new-york style, neutral base, CSS variables enabled) Radix UI primitives (accessibility, focus management) Lucide React icons (16px nav, 14px inline) class-variance-authority (CVA) for component variants clsx + tailwind-merge via cn() utility Config: ui/components.json (aliases: @/components , @/components/ui , @/lib , @/hooks ) 3. Design Tokens All tokens defined as CSS variables in ui/src/index.css . Both light and dark themes use OKLCH. Colors Use semantic token names, never raw color values: Token Usage --background / --foreground Page background and primary text --card / --card-foreground Card surfaces --primary / --primary-foreground Primary actions, emphasis --secondary / --secondary-foreground Secondary surfaces --muted / --muted-foreground Subdued text, labels --accent / --accent-foreground Hover states, active nav items --destructive Destructive actions --border All borders --ring Focus rings --sidebar-* Sidebar-specific variants --chart-1 through --chart-5 Data visualization Radius Single --radius variable (0.625rem) with derived sizes: rounded-sm — small inputs, pills rounded-md — buttons, inputs, small components rounded-lg — cards, dialogs rounded-xl — card containers, large components rounded-full — badges, avatars, status dots Shadows Minimal shadows: shadow-xs (outline buttons), shadow-sm (cards). No heavy shadows. 4. Typography Scale Use these exact patterns — do not invent new ones: Pattern Classes Usage Page title text-xl font-bold Top of pages Section title text-lg font-semibold Major sections Section heading text-sm font-semibold text-muted-foreground uppercase tracking-wide Section headers in design guide, sidebar Card title text-sm font-medium or text-sm font-semibold Card headers, list item titles Body text-sm Default body text Muted text-sm text-muted-foreground Descriptions, secondary text Tiny label text-xs text-muted-foreground Metadata, timestamps, property labels Mono identifier text-xs font-mono text-muted-foreground Issue keys (PAP-001), CSS vars Large stat text-2xl font-bold Dashboard metric values Code/log font-mono text-xs Log output, code snippets 5. Status & Priority Systems Status Colors (consistent across all entities) Defined in StatusBadge.tsx and StatusIcon.tsx : Status Color Entity types active, achieved, completed, succeeded, approved, done Green shades Agents, goals, issues, approvals running Cyan Agents paused Orange Agents idle, pending Yellow Agents, approvals failed, error, rejected, blocked Red shades Runs, agents, approvals, issues archived, planned, backlog, cancelled Neutral gray Various todo Blue Issues in_progress Indigo Issues in_review Violet Issues Priority Icons Defined in PriorityIcon.tsx : critical (red/AlertTriangle), high (orange/ArrowUp), medium (yellow/Minus), low (blue/ArrowDown). Agent Status Dots Inline colored dots: running (cyan, animate-pulse), active (green), paused (yellow), error (red), offline (neutral). 6. Component Hierarchy Three tiers: shadcn/ui primitives ( ui/src/components/ui/ ) — Button, Card, Input, Badge, Dialog, Tabs, etc. Do not modify these directly; extend via composition. Custom composites ( ui/src/components/ ) — StatusBadge, EntityRow, MetricCard, etc. These capture Paperclip-specific design language. Page components ( ui/src/pages/ ) — Compose primitives and composites into full views. See references/component-index.md for the complete component inventory with usage guidance. When to Create a New Component Create a reusable component when: The same visual pattern appears in 2+ places The pattern has interactive behavior (status changing, inline editing) The pattern encodes domain logic (status colors, priority icons) Do NOT create a component for: One-off layouts specific to a single page Simple className combinations (use Tailwind directly) Thin wrappers that add no semantic value 7. Composition Patterns These patterns describe how components work together. They may not be their own component, but they must be used consistently across the app. Entity Row with Status + Priority The standard list item for issues and similar entities: < EntityRow leading={ <> < StatusIcon status = "in_progress" /> < PriorityIcon priority = "high" /> </> } identifier= "PAP-001" title= "Implement authentication flow" subtitle= "Assigned to Agent Alpha" trailing={ < StatusBadge status = "in_progress" /> } onClick={ () => {}} /> Leading slot always: StatusIcon first, then PriorityIcon. Trailing slot: StatusBadge or timestamp. Grouped List Issues grouped by status header + entity rows: <div className= "flex items-center gap-2 px-4 py-2 bg-muted/50 rounded-t-md" > < StatusIcon status = "in_progress" /> < span className = "text-sm font-medium" > In Progress </ span > < span className = "text-xs text-muted-foreground ml-1" > 2 </ span > </div> < div className = "border border-border rounded-b-md" > < EntityRow ... /> < EntityRow ... /> </ div > Property Row Key-value pairs in properties panels: <div className= "flex items-center justify-between py-1.5" > < span className = "text-xs text-muted-foreground" > Status </ span > < StatusBadge status = "active" /> </div> Label is always text-xs text-muted-foreground , value on the right. Wrap in a container with space-y-1 . Metric Card Grid Dashboard metrics in a responsive grid: <div className= "grid md:grid-cols-2 xl:grid-cols-4 gap-4" > < MetricCard icon = {Bot} value = {12} label = "Active Agents" description = "+3 this week" /> ... </div> Progress Bar (Budget) Color by threshold: green (<60%), yellow (60-85%), red (>85%): <div className= "w-full h-2 bg-muted rounded-full overflow-hidden" > < div className = "h-full rounded-full bg-green-400" style = {{ width: `${ pct }%` }} /> </div> Comment Thread Author header (name + timestamp) then body, in bordered cards with space-y-3 . Add comment textarea + button below. Cost Table Standard <table> with text-xs , header row with bg-accent/20 , font-mono for numeric values. Log Viewer bg-neutral-950 rounded-lg p-3 font-mono text-xs container. Color lines by level: default (foreground), WARN (yellow-400), ERROR (red-400), SYS (blue-300). Include live indicator dot when streaming. 8. Interactive Patterns Hover States Entity rows: hover:bg-accent/50 Nav items: hover:bg-accent/50 hover:text-accent-foreground Active nav: bg-accent text-accent-foreground Focus focus-visible:ring-ring focus-visible:ring-[3px] — standard Tailwind focus-visible ring. Disabled disabled:opacity-50 disabled:pointer-events-none Inline Editing Use InlineEditor component — click text to edit, Enter saves, Escape cancels. Popover Selectors StatusIcon and PriorityIcon use Radix Popover for inline selection. Follow this pattern for any clickable property that opens a picker. 9. Layout System Three-zone layout defined in Layout.tsx : ┌──────────┬──────────────────────────────┬──────────────────────┐ │ Sidebar │ Breadcrumb bar │ │ │ (w-60) ├──────────────────────────────┤ Properties panel │ │ │ Main content (flex-1) │ (w-80, optional) │ └──────────┴──────────────────────────────┴──────────────────────┘ Sidebar: w-60 , collapsible, contains CompanySwitcher + SidebarSections Properties panel: w-80 , shown on detail views, hidden on lists Main content: scrollable, flex-1 10. The /design-guide Page Location: ui/src/pages/DesignGuide.tsx Route: /design-guide This is the living showcase of every component and pattern in the app. It is the source of truth for how things look. Rules When you add a new reusable component, you MUST add it to the design guide page. Show all variants, sizes, and states. When you modify an existing component's API, update its design guide section. When you add a new composition pattern, add a section demonstrating it. Follow the existing structure: <Section title="..."> wrapper with <SubSection> for grouping. Keep sections ordered logically: foundational (colors, typography) first, then primitives, then composites, then patterns. Adding a New Section < Section title= "My New Component" > < SubSection title = "Variants" > {/* Show all variants */} </ SubSection > < SubSection title = "Sizes" > {/* Show all sizes */} </ SubSection > < SubSection title = "States" > {/* Show interactive/disabled states */} </ SubSection > </ Section > 11. Component Index See references/component-index.md for the full component inventory. When you create a new reusable component: Add it to the component index reference file Add it to the /design-guide page Follow existing naming and file conventions 12. File Conventions shadcn primitives: ui/src/components/ui/{component}.tsx — lowercase, kebab-case Custom components: ui/src/components/{ComponentName}.tsx — PascalCase Pages: ui/src/pages/{PageName}.tsx — PascalCase Utilities: ui/src/lib/{name}.ts Hooks: ui/src/hooks/{useName}.ts API modules: ui/src/api/{entity}.ts Context providers: ui/src/context/{Name}Context.tsx All components use cn() from @/lib/utils for className merging. All components use CVA for variant definitions when they have multiple visual variants. 13. Common Mistakes to Avoid Using raw hex/rgb colors instead of CSS variable tokens Creating ad-hoc typography styles instead of using the established scale Hardcoding status colors instead of using StatusBadge/StatusIcon Building one-off styled elements when a reusable component exists Adding components without updating the design guide page Using shadow-md or heavier — keep shadows minimal (xs, sm only) Using rounded-2xl or larger — max is rounded-xl (except rounded-full for pills) Forgetting dark mode — always use semantic tokens, never hardcode light/dark values