Skill metadata
Reference: full SKILL.md
The following is the complete skill definition that Mibyan loads when this skill is triggered. This is what the agent sees as instructions when the skill is active.
Sketch
Use this skill when the user wants to see a design direction before committing to one — exploring a UI/UX idea as disposable HTML mockups. The point is to generate 2-3 interactive variants so the user can compare visual directions side-by-side, not to produce shippable code. Load this when the user says things like “sketch this screen”, “show me what X could look like”, “compare layout A vs B”, “give me 2-3 takes on this UI”, “let me see some variants”, “mockup this before I build”.When NOT to use this
- User wants a production component — use
claude-designor build it properly - User wants a polished one-off HTML artifact (landing page, deck) —
claude-design - User wants a diagram —
excalidraw,architecture-diagram - The design is already locked — just build it
If the user has the full GSD system installed
Ifgsd-sketch shows up as a sibling skill (installed via npx get-shit-done-cc --mibyan), you can use gsd-sketch for the fuller workflow: persistent .planning/sketches/ with MANIFEST, frontier mode analysis, consistency audits across past sketches, and integration with the rest of GSD. This skill is the lightweight standalone version — one-off sketching without the state machinery.
Note: The upstream GSD project (gsd-build/get-shit-done) is archived / no longer maintained on GitHub. The npm package (get-shit-done-cc) still installs, but treat it as an archived community project — this standalonesketchskill is the maintained path and needs nothing extra.
Core method
1. Intake (skip if the user already gave you enough)
Before generating variants, get three things — one question at a time, not all at once:- Feel. “What should this feel like? Adjectives, emotions, a vibe.” — “calm, editorial, like Linear” tells you more than “minimal”.
- References. “What apps, sites, or products capture the feel you’re imagining?” — actual references beat abstract descriptions.
- Core action. “What’s the single most important thing a user does on this screen?” — the variants should all serve this well; if they don’t, they’re just decoration.
2. Variants (2-3, never 1, rarely 4+)
Produce 2-3 variants in one go. Each variant is a complete, standalone HTML file. Don’t describe variants — build them. The point is comparison. Each variant should take a different design stance, not different pixel values. Three good variant axes:- Density: compact / airy / ultra-dense (pick two contrasting poles)
- Emphasis: content-first / action-first / tool-first
- Aesthetic: editorial / utilitarian / playful
- Layout: single-column / sidebar / split-pane
- Grounding: card-based / bare-content / document-style
3. Make them real HTML
Each variant is a single self-contained HTML file:- Inline
<style>— no build step, no external CSS - System fonts or one Google Font via
<link> - Tailwind via CDN (
<script src="https://cdn.tailwindcss.com"></script>) is fine - Realistic fake content — actual sentences, actual names, not “Lorem ipsum”
- Interactive: links clickable, hovers real, at least one state transition (open/close, filter, toggle). A frozen static image is a worse spike than a sloppy animated one.
browser_vision returns an AI description of what’s actually on the page plus a screenshot path — catches layout bugs that pure source inspection misses (e.g. a font import that silently failed, a flex container that collapsed). Fix and re-navigate until each variant looks right.
Default CSS reset + system font stack for fast starts:
4. Variant README
Each variant’sREADME.md answers:
5. Head-to-head
After all variants are built, present them as a comparison. Don’t just list — opinionate:Theming (when the project has a visual identity)
If the user has an existing theme (colors, fonts, tokens), put shared tokens insketches/themes/tokens.css and @import them in each variant. Keep tokens minimal:
Interactivity bar
A sketch is interactive enough when the user can:- Click a primary action and something visible happens (state change, modal, toast, navigation feint)
- See one meaningful state transition (filter a list, toggle a mode, open/close a panel)
- Hover recognizable affordances (buttons, rows, tabs)
Frontier mode (picking what to sketch next)
If sketches already exist and the user says “what should I sketch next?”:- Consistency gaps — two winning variants from different sketches made independent choices that haven’t been composed together yet
- Unsketched screens — referenced but never explored
- State coverage — happy path sketched, but not empty / loading / error / 1000-items
- Responsive gaps — validated at one viewport; does it hold at mobile / ultrawide?
- Interaction patterns — static layouts exist; transitions, drag, scroll behavior don’t
Output
- Create
sketches/(or.planning/sketches/if the user is using GSD conventions) in the repo root - One subdir per variant:
NNN-stance-name/index.html+README.md - Tell the user how to open them:
open sketches/001-calm-editorial/index.htmlon macOS,xdg-openon Linux,starton Windows - Keep variants disposable — a sketch that you felt the need to preserve should be promoted into real project code, not curated as an asset
Attribution
Adapted from the GSD (Get Shit Done) project’s/gsd-sketch workflow — MIT © 2025 Lex Christopherson (gsd-build/get-shit-done). The upstream GSD repo is now archived/unmaintained on GitHub; the get-shit-done-cc npm package still installs (npx get-shit-done-cc --mibyan --global) and ships persistent sketch state, theme/variant pattern references, and consistency-audit workflows, but treat it as an archived community project.
