basic — Claude Code skill: what it does, how to install
This skill guides AI toward print-inspired interfaces for books, magazines, and reports. Use it when you need editorial grids, expressive type, and explicit accessibility rules.
npx skills add bergside/awesome-design-skills --skill basic -a claude-codeWhat basic does
basic gives an AI coding assistant a practical design-system brief for editorial interfaces. It sets a modern visual direction for books, magazines, and reports, with Nunito for primary text, Oswald for display type, JetBrains Mono for monospace text, a defined token palette, and a 4/8/12/16/24/32 spacing scale.
The skill includes a workflow for writing implementation-ready guidance. It covers intent, foundations, component anatomy, variants, states, responsive behavior, accessibility criteria, content tone, anti-patterns, migration notes, and a QA checklist. It asks for states such as default, hover, focus-visible, active, disabled, loading, and error when relevant.
For your project, that means design advice is tied to semantic tokens, semantic HTML, keyboard interaction, and visible focus. Accessibility is a hard constraint: the guidance names WCAG 2.2 AA, reduced-motion support, high contrast, and 44px+ touch targets. Check that those constraints fit your interface before applying the skill broadly.
What it helps with
- build an editorial design system
- define color, type, and spacing tokens
- specify component states and interactions
- check UI guidance against accessibility criteria
- prepare a code-review QA checklist
Example prompts for the agent
- Apply the
basicskill to this report page and define its grid, tokens, and type scale. - Write component rules for default, hover, focus-visible, disabled, and error states using
basic. - Review this design system against WCAG 2.2 AA and produce a code-review checklist.
How to install basic
1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add bergside/awesome-design-skills --skill basic -a claude-code2Manually: put the files in place
~/.claude/skills/basic/SKILL.mdCopy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/basic/
1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add bergside/awesome-design-skills --skill basic -a codex2Manually: put the files in place
.agents/skills/basic/SKILL.mdFor all projects use ~/.agents/skills/
1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add bergside/awesome-design-skills --skill basic -a cursor2Manually: put the files in place
.cursor/skills/basic/SKILL.mdCursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/
1GitHub CLI
gh skill install bergside/awesome-design-skills basic2Manually: put the files in place
.github/skills/basic/SKILL.md1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add bergside/awesome-design-skills --skill basic -a gemini-cli2Platform CLI
gemini skills install https://github.com/bergside/awesome-design-skills --path skills/basicManually: put the files in place
.devin/skills/basic/SKILL.mdThe legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works
Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add bergside/awesome-design-skills --skill basic -a opencodeClaude.ai
Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills
Step by step, with commands for each platform: How to install skills in Claude Code: five ways
Questions about basic
How do I install basic in Claude Code?
Run npx skills add bergside/awesome-design-skills --skill basic -a claude-code, then run npx skills add bergside/awesome-design-skills --skill basic -a claude-code again. The skill file is placed at ~/.claude/skills/basic/SKILL.md.
What does the basic skill do?
It guides an AI assistant in writing implementation-focused design-system rules with an editorial visual direction. The guidance covers tokens, components, states, responsive behavior, accessibility, content tone, anti-patterns, and QA.
Which platforms support basic?
The skill is available for Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, and OpenCode.
Source text
SKILL.md · MIT
--- name: basic description: Print-inspired visual language for books, magazines, and reports with editorial grids and expressive typography. license: MIT metadata: author: typeui.sh --- <!-- TYPEUI_SH_MANAGED_START --> # Basic Design System Skill (Universal) ## Mission You are an expert design-system guideline author for Basic. Create practical, implementation-ready guidance that can be directly used by engineers and designers. ## Brand Basic design style defines the visual language of books, magazines, and reports, ranging from clean minimalism to ornate, expressive, or retro aesthetics ## Style Foundations - Visual style: modern, editorial - Typography scale: desktop-first expressive scale | Fonts: primary=Nunito, display=Oswald, mono=JetBrains Mono | weights=100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900 - Color palette: primary, neutral, success, warning, danger | Tokens: primary=#A855F7, secondary=#0A1829, success=#16A34A, warning=#D97706, danger=#DC2626, surface=#FFFFFF, text=#0A1829 - Spacing scale: 4/8/12/16/24/32 ## Accessibility WCAG 2.2 AA, keyboard-first interactions, visible focus states, semantic HTML before ARIA, screen-reader tested labels, reduced-motion support, 44px+ touch targets, high-contrast support ## Writing Tone concise, confident, professional ## Rules: Do - prefer semantic tokens over raw values - preserve visual hierarchy - keep interaction states explicit - design for empty/loading/error states - ensure responsive behavior by default - document accessibility rationale ## Rules: Don't - avoid low contrast text - avoid inconsistent spacing rhythm - avoid decorative motion without purpose - avoid ambiguous labels - avoid mixing multiple visual metaphors - avoid inaccessible hit areas ## Expected Behavior - Follow the foundations first, then component consistency. - When uncertain, prioritize accessibility and clarity over novelty. - Provide concrete defaults and explain trade-offs when alternatives are possible. - Keep guidance opinionated, concise, and implementation-focused. ## Guideline Authoring Workflow 1. Restate the design intent in one sentence before proposing rules. 2. Define tokens and foundational constraints before component-level guidance. 3. Specify component anatomy, states, variants, and interaction behavior. 4. Include accessibility acceptance criteria and content-writing expectations. 5. Add anti-patterns and migration notes for existing inconsistent UI. 6. End with a QA checklist that can be executed in code review. ## Required Output Structure When generating design-system guidance, use this structure: - Context and goals - Design tokens and foundations - Component-level rules (anatomy, variants, states, responsive behavior) - Accessibility requirements and testable acceptance criteria - Content and tone standards with examples - Anti-patterns and prohibited implementations - QA checklist ## Component Rule Expectations - Define required states: default, hover, focus-visible, active, disabled, loading, error (as relevant). - Describe interaction behavior for keyboard, pointer, and touch. - State spacing, typography, and color-token usage explicitly. - Include responsive behavior and edge cases (long labels, empty states, overflow). ## Quality Gates - No rule should depend on ambiguous adjectives alone; anchor each rule to a token, threshold, or example. - Every accessibility statement must be testable in implementation. - Prefer system consistency over one-off local optimizations. - Flag conflicts between aesthetics and accessibility, then prioritize accessibility. ## Example Constraint Language - Use "must" for non-negotiable rules and "should" for recommendations. - Pair every do-rule with at least one concrete don't-example. - If introducing a new pattern, include migration guidance for existing components. <!-- TYPEUI_SH_MANAGED_END -->
© typeui.sh · MIT · bergside/awesome-design-skills