Theme System

Theme System

Core Rules

• Use semantic OpenChamber theme tokens; never hardcode hex colors or generic Tailwind palette colors.
• Use shared UI primitives before introducing feature-local controls.
• Use the shared Button; do not create button wrappers such as ButtonSmall or ButtonLarge.
• Every dropdown-style value-picker trigger takes its chrome from dropdownTriggerVariants in packages/ui/src/components/ui/dropdown-trigger.ts; call sites add layout classes only. Deliberately chrome-less pickers in composers or headers are the exception.
• Use the sprite-based Icon; never import icons directly from @remixicon/react.
• Apply hover tokens only to interactive elements.
• Use status colors only for actual status/feedback.
• Use selection tokens for selected state and primary tokens for primary actions.

Load References By Task

Load every matching reference before editing. User-facing or accessible text must load locale-ui-patterns. Settings composition is owned by settings-ui-patterns, which declares theme-system as its one-way companion.

Token Decision

1. Code display -> syntax.*
2. Error/warning/success/info -> status.*
3. Primary CTA -> primary.*
4. Hover/pressed/focus -> interactive.*
5. Selected/active state -> interactive.selection*
6. Background/text/border layer -> surface.* and semantic utility classes

Prefer CSS variables/classes for component styling. Use useThemeSystem() only when an API requires resolved color values.

Button Contract

Use Button from packages/ui/src/components/ui/button.tsx.

Do not hardcode button height/padding when a size variant exists. Do not recreate selection/destructive styling with ad-hoc classes.

Keyboard Navigation Contract

• Menus, selects, and autocomplete pickers with ArrowDown/ArrowUp navigation must also support Ctrl+N/Ctrl+P, including submenus and searchable lists.
• Keep this behavior in shared components so callers inherit it. Use the keyboard mapping in packages/ui/src/components/ui/dropdown-navigation.ts; feature code must not duplicate key detection.
• Lists that own their active option or stop keyboard propagation must call the shared navigation helper at their own event boundary. Wrapping a custom list in a dropdown does not guarantee that its navigation events reach the wrapper.
• Route both key pairs through the same selection logic, preserving disabled-item skipping, boundary or wrap behavior, highlight, and scroll visibility. Consume each navigation event once, only while the menu or picker is active; preserve IME text entry and other modifier chords.
• Verify Ctrl+N/P alongside arrow keys in the real component, including search-input focus, submenus, and closed state. A key-mapping unit test alone does not verify event propagation or focus behavior.

Icon Contract

import { Icon } from '@/components/icon/Icon';

<Icon name="check" className="size-4" />

Use IconName for icon values stored in arrays, objects, state, or config. Icon has no size prop. Run bun run icons:generate when introducing a sprite name, and never edit sprite.ts manually. Load references/icons.md for the complete workflow.

Animation Contract

Animate only transform and opacity. Use transform: rotate(...), not the individual rotate property. Non-composited properties recalculate style continuously; geometry also triggers layout, and wrappers, will-change, contain, or stepped timing do not remove that cost. Animate only while conveying live information.

For any other technique, load performance-engineering and scripts/perf/DOCUMENTATION.md, measure it with bun run profile:animation, and add a fixture variant when needed. This skill owns animation styling; performance-engineering owns performance evidence.

Completion Criteria

• Animations are limited to transform and opacity, or their cost was measured and accepted.
• No hardcoded/palette colors were introduced.
• Buttons use shared variants and sizes.
• Menus and pickers satisfy the keyboard navigation contract without caller-specific key handling for standard shared components.
• Icons use Icon/IconName, and generated sprite changes are intentional.
• Hover, selection, primary, and status semantics are distinct.
• Light/dark/high-contrast and long-text states remain legible.
• Every applicable contract and loaded task reference was verified with relevant type-check, visual/runtime validation, and generated-asset checks.