# Phase Preview

> Preview a signed-off design one release phase at a time — cut it down into a series of phase screens, each showing only what exists by that phase with the layout untouched, then put them on a scrubber you drag to watch the screen fill in release by release. Use when the user wants a Phase 1 / MVP version of an existing wireframe or mockup, phased or staged screens, a design sliced by release phase or story map, or wants to see what a screen looks like before later features land.

- Skill: `cavalry-collective/phase-preview` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 3 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add cavalry-collective/phase-preview`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/cavalry-collective/phase-preview/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: Cavalry-Collective (https://skillmd.com/u/cavalry-collective)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/cavalry-collective/phase-preview

---


One design in, one screen per phase out. Each phase file shows everything available **by** that
phase and nothing that isn't, in exactly the positions the approved design already put them — so a
phase screen is the real build target for that release, not a redrawing of it. Nothing here is
drawn: this is the approved design with the later releases taken out, which is why it can be
checked mechanically rather than by eye.

```
base.html ──┬──► phase-1/base.html    only what ships in phase 1
            ├──► phase-2/base.html    phase 1 + phase 2
            └──► phase-3/base.html    phase 1 + 2 + 3   ( = the base, if phases cover it all )
```

**Subtract only.** Nothing is moved, resized, restyled or repositioned; nothing new is invented. That
is the entire discipline of this skill, and §4 proves it mechanically rather than trusting the eye.

## 1 · Resolve the two inputs

**The base wireframe** — one self-contained HTML file. If the user hasn't named one, ask; don't guess
among the files in `design/`. Never work from an already-phased file: every phase is cut from the
original.

**The phases, and what belongs to each.** In priority order:

1. A **story map** (`*.json` from `/vstack:user-story-map`) — `phases[]` gives the order and goals,
   `stories[]` give what lands when. This is the best input; ask for one if a story map exists.
2. A **spec** with P1/P2/P3 priorities, or a roadmap.
3. **The user tells you** the phases in the conversation.

If none of those exist, stop and ask — inventing a release plan is not this skill's job.

## 2 · Write the phase plan before touching any HTML

Open the base and inventory **every** element, component and interaction in it. Assign each one the
**earliest phase it exists in**. Write that out and show the user before generating anything:

```markdown
| Element | Earliest phase | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Candidate table + search | 1 | "Search candidates by name" |
| Bulk-select toolbar | 2 | "Move several candidates at once" |
| "Ask AI" button + drawer | 3 | "Summarise a candidate with AI" |
| Export button | — | not in any story — flag it |
```

This step is the one that makes the rest mechanical. Doing it up front means each phase is a lookup
rather than a fresh judgement call, and it surfaces the two things worth a conversation:

- **Elements no story covers.** Say so rather than silently keeping or cutting them. Chrome that
  every phase needs (nav, page title, empty states) is phase 1 by default — call that out too.
- **Phase-1 features gated behind later ones.** These need the skeleton rule in §3; find them now,
  not mid-edit.

Confirm the plan, then generate. If the user re-slices the story map afterwards, come back here.

## 3 · Generate the phases, one at a time, in order

For each phase 1, 2, 3 … **in order**, and only starting the next once the current one is written,
checked and shown:

1. **Start from the original full wireframe.** Never from the previous phase's output — errors compound.
2. **Subtract every element, component and interaction that does not belong to the current phase or
   any earlier phase.** Phases are cumulative: phase 2 shows phase 1 *and* phase 2.
3. **Keep the exact same layout, spacing, alignment, sizes and visual hierarchy.** Do not move,
   resize, restyle or reposition any remaining element. Leave the stylesheet exactly as it is —
   rules that no longer match anything are fine and expected.
4. **Fully implement the features available in this phase** (and earlier). What survives still works;
   a control that can't act is removed, not left dead.
5. **A current-phase feature gated behind a later-phase one** stays in its original place, and the
   later-phase gate is replaced with the absolute minimum skeleton — an empty container, a disabled
   placeholder, or a plain frame — so the current-phase feature stays visible and reachable.
   **Every skeleton element carries `data-phase-skeleton`**, which is what lets §4 tell an allowed
   placeholder apart from an invented element.
6. **Do not invent new elements or redesign anything. Only subtract.**

Write each to `<dir>/phase-<n>/<name>.html` — the sibling layout `/vstack:review` and the
Cavalry `design/` convention both expect — and suffix the `<title>` with ` — Phase <n>` so the file
names itself wherever it's opened.

**The last phase usually equals the base.** When the plan leaves nothing to subtract, say so and
point at the base file instead of writing a duplicate.

## 4 · Prove each phase is a subtraction

Before showing a phase, run it:

```bash
SKILL=<this skill dir>
node "$SKILL/assets/check-subtraction.mjs" --base design/app.html --phase design/phase-1/app.html
```

| Check | Fails when |
|---|---|
| **css-untouched** | any `<style>` block differs from the base — something was restyled |
| **nothing-invented** | an element isn't in the base, or appears more often than it does. `data-phase-skeleton` elements are exempt |
| **nothing-moved** | the surviving elements aren't in the base's relative order — something was moved, reparented or hoisted |

It prints how much was removed and exits non-zero on any violation. **Fix the file and re-run until
it passes** — don't explain a failure away, and don't show the user a phase that hasn't passed. It
doesn't read copy or data, so still diff the file yourself for changed text.

`--json` gives the same result as an object.

## 5 · Review each phase

A phase file is a design the user should be able to argue with. Hand each one to
**`/vstack:review`** — it opens the page in the review workspace, takes comments straight on it,
and publishes the next version. Review phase N and settle it before generating phase N+1; a comment
on phase 1 usually changes the plan for every later phase.

Comments that amount to *"this belongs in a different phase"* are a §2 change, not an edit: update
the plan, then regenerate the affected phases from the base.

## 6 · Put them on a scrubber

Files one at a time answer *"what does phase 2 look like?"*. The question people actually ask is
*"what does this screen become, release by release?"* — which is one control:

```bash
SKILL=<this skill dir>
node "$SKILL/assets/phase-view.mjs" --dir design --name candidate-pipeline \
  --labels phases.json          # optional: { "1": { "label": …, "goal": … } }
```

It writes `<name>-phases.html` — one self-contained file, the review workspace running in **phase
mode**: same chrome, same browser window, the rail showing releases instead of versions. Drag along
it and the screen fills in. **Highlight new** outlines what the phase in view adds over the one
before it.

Give the labels if you have them — a story map's `phases[]` already carries the name and goal, and
`P2 · Move people in bulk · a dozen at a time after a screening day` says more than `Phase 2`.

**The per-phase files stay the source of truth.** They are what the build stages consume; this is a
way of looking at them, generated from them, and safe to delete and rebuild.

**It is view-only, and that is deliberate** — no annotate, no comments, no Send. Moving a feature
between phases is a re-slice of the story map, not an edit of this page, and nobody has designed
what editing here would mean. A viewer that can't lie beats an editor that edits the wrong file.
Review happens on the phase files themselves, through §5.

## Notes

- **Self-contained, like the base.** No external fonts, stylesheets or scripts — the phase files get
  opened, reviewed and bundled exactly as the base does.
- **Interactions count as elements.** A filter that only works because of a phase-3 index, a button
  that opens a phase-2 modal — these are subtracted too, even when the markup looks phase-1.
- **Don't delete the CSS for what you removed.** Unused rules are harmless, and editing the
  stylesheet is the fastest way to fail §4 and to drift the design.
- **`data-phase-skeleton` is a real marker, not a comment.** It stays in the file: it tells the
  checker what to allow, and tells a reviewer that the empty frame is deliberate.
- **Highlight new is a heuristic, and says so.** It matches elements between two phases by tag, id,
  classes and their own text, because subtraction leaves a surviving element textually intact. Two
  identical buttons read as one; an element whose text changed reads as new. Both are wrong on the
  page, in front of you, which is the right place for a wrong answer to show up.

## State & handoff

**No `.vstack/pipeline.json`?** You're standalone — a base wireframe and a set of phases are all
this needs, and that is a first-class way to run it. Skip this section, and **never create the state
file**: only `/vstack:start` and `/vstack:requirements` bring a pipeline into being.

With a state file:

- **Read** `specs/story-map.json` for the phases — their order, names and goals, and which stories
  land when. `artifacts.wireframes[]` for the base page. While a story map exists it is the phase
  truth; don't re-derive phases from anything else.
- **Write** `artifacts.wireframes[].phases` — the per-phase files, against the wireframe they were
  cut from — plus `stage: "phase-preview"` and a history entry. The generated `<name>-phases.html`
  (§6) is a view, not an artifact: don't record it, and don't let a later stage read it.
- **Next** — `/vstack:phase-build` plans and builds phase 1. Offer to run it; don't ask whether to
  continue.