Frontend Design Extractor

Overview

Extract a reusable UI/UX design spec from a frontend codebase by inventorying UI sources, documenting foundations, cataloging components, and capturing page-level patterns and behaviors. Exclude business logic and domain-specific workflows. Framework-agnostic: adapt to the actual stack in the target repo.

Quick start

1) Confirm mode: new project (greenfield) or refactor existing. Clarify that business logic is out of scope. 2) If existing repo: run scripts/scan_ui_sources.sh to scan the repo root (no directory layout assumptions). It uses common globs + keyword hits, and ignores common build/cache dirs and extraction output folders by default. 3) Optionally: scripts/scan_ui_sources.sh <repo_root> [out_file] [extra_glob ...] or --root/--out/--ignore for nonstandard layouts. 4) Create the output folder (default ./ui-ux-spec) via scripts/generate_output_skeleton.sh and write all extraction results inside it. 5) Produce outputs in the default structure (see "Output structure").

Modes (choose one)

A) Greenfield (from blank)

Goal: create a reusable UI/UX foundation and starter UI without business logic.

1) Define foundations: tokens (color/typography/spacing/radius/shadow/motion), global styles, breakpoints, layout shell.
2) Create a baseline component set: Button, Input, Select, Card, Modal, Table/List, Tabs, Toast, EmptyState.
3) Create page templates: list/detail/form/dashboard skeletons with placeholder data.
4) Provide implementation notes for the target framework (CSS architecture, theming mechanism, file structure).
5) Optionally run scripts/generate_output_skeleton.sh [out_root] to scaffold folders and empty templates. Default output root is ./ui-ux-spec.

Deliverables:

• - Design tokens doc + global styles spec
• Component catalog with variants/states/a11y
• Page templates with layout rules
• Engineering constraints (naming, CSS approach, theming)

B) Refactor existing project

Goal: extract current UI/UX, normalize tokens, and plan safe, incremental improvements.

1) Inventory UI sources (scan script + manual inspection).
2) Normalize tokens and map existing styles to them.
3) Identify high-impact components/patterns for first pass.
4) Plan migration with minimal diffs (wrappers, theme adapters, gradual replacement).
5) Document behavioral and a11y gaps to fix progressively.

Deliverables:

• - Extracted design spec (same as greenfield)
• Migration plan (phased, low-risk steps)
• Component-by-component mapping notes

Refactor from spec (fixed flow)

Use this when applying an existing ui-ux-spec/ to a target project. Always work from a plan and execute step-by-step to avoid missing gaps.

0) Understand the target project

• - Identify framework, styling system, component library usage, and entry points.
• Confirm constraints: UI/UX only, business logic untouched.
• Keep existing project structure unchanged unless explicitly requested.

1) Build the refactor plan (required)

• - Compare spec → current project and list differences by category:

- Tokens & global styles - Components (priority order) - Patterns & pages - A11y gaps

• - Do not assume the spec folder structure matches the target project. Map by content, not by paths.
• Produce a phased plan (Phase 1 tokens, Phase 2 base components, Phase 3 pages, etc.).
• Do not proceed to edits until the plan is accepted.

2) Execute phase by phase

• - Apply changes for the current phase only.
• Re-check against the spec after each phase.
• Keep diffs minimal and reversible.
• Do not restructure folders or move files; update in place.

3) Summarize and verify

• - Provide a change list and remaining gaps.
• Suggest next phase only after current phase is done.

Refactor prompt templates

Use one of the templates below to keep requests precise and plan-driven.

Template A: Standard refactor

CODEBLOCK0

Template B: Phased refactor

CODEBLOCK1

Template C: Component-level refactor

CODEBLOCK2

Workflow

0) Scope and constraints

• - Confirm repo root, frameworks, and any design system packages.
• Confirm desired output format (Markdown by default).
• Ask for constraints: must-keep brand rules, target platforms, and accessibility level.
• Reconfirm: exclude business logic, business rules, and domain workflows.
• Do not assume a specific frontend framework or language; adapt to the project’s stack.

1) Source inventory (existing repos only)

• - Do not assume a fixed directory structure; scan results should guide where to read.
• Run the scan script and inspect results for:

- tokens/themes, global styles, theme providers - component libraries and local wrappers - Storybook, docs, or visual regression tests - assets and i18n sources

2) Foundations (tokens + global styles)

• - Document colors, typography, spacing, radius, shadows, z-index, and motion tokens.
• Capture reset/normalize, body defaults, link/form defaults, focus-visible, scrollbar.

3) Layout & information architecture

• - Document breakpoints, containers, grid rules, navigation structure, and layout shells.

4) Component catalog

• - For each component, capture: purpose, structure/slots, variants, states, interactions, a11y, responsive behavior, motion, and theming hooks.
• If a third-party library is used, focus on local wrapper components and overrides.

5) Page templates & composition rules

• - Extract page skeletons (list/detail/form/dashboard/etc.) and module ordering.
• Capture combined states: loading/empty/error/permission/readonly.

6) Behavior & content rules

• - Capture loading and error strategies, validation patterns, undo/optimistic updates.
• Capture microcopy conventions and i18n formatting constraints.

7) Package outputs

• - Produce at least:

- Design tokens doc - Component catalog - Page templates

• - Ensure outputs are written under a dedicated folder (default ui-ux-spec/).
• Use the output structure below unless the user asks for another layout.

Output structure (default)

This structure is a recommended documentation layout. It does not need to match the target project's directory structure, and it can be renamed or relocated (e.g., docs/ui-ux-spec/). CODEBLOCK3

Resources

• - scripts/scan_ui_sources.sh: find candidate UI sources in a repo.
• INLINECODE11: create the standard output folders and placeholder templates.
• INLINECODE12: detailed checklist derived from README.