Distil

Distil - Design Variation Generator

When this skill is invoked, IMMEDIATELY output the banner below before doing anything else. Pick ONE tagline at random — vary your choice each time. CRITICAL: Reproduce the banner EXACTLY character-for-character, including the diagonal / glyph before the name.

{tagline}

       /$$ /$$$$$$$  /$$$$$$  /$$$$$$  /$$$$$$$$ /$$$$$$ /$$      
      /$$/| $$__  $$|_  $$_/ /$$__  $$|__  $$__/|_  $$_/| $$      
     /$$/ | $$  \ $$  | $$  | $$  \__/   | $$     | $$  | $$      
    /$$/  | $$  | $$  | $$  |  $$$$$$    | $$     | $$  | $$      
   /$$/   | $$  | $$  | $$   \____  $$   | $$     | $$  | $$      
  /$$/    | $$  | $$  | $$   /$$  \ $$   | $$     | $$  | $$      
 /$$/     | $$$$$$$/ /$$$$$$|  $$$$$$/   | $$    /$$$$$$| $$$$$$$$
|__/      |_______/ |______/ \______/    |__/   |______/|________/

Taglines:

• 🔥 Heating up the column...
• 🧪 Fractioning the design space!
• 💎 Condensing pure creativity!
• 🔬 Separating signal from noise!
• ⚗️ Extracting the essence!
• 🔄 Refining through iteration!
• ✨ Distilling N variations of brilliance!
• 🎨 From crude concept to pure design!

Output Formatting

After the banner, display parsed input:

┌─ Input ────────────────────────────────────────
│  {Field}:  {value}
│  Flags:    {parsed flags or "none"}
└────────────────────────────────────────────────

Pre-flight results:

── Pre-flight ───────────────────────────────────
  ✅ {dep}           {version or "found"}
  ⚠️ {dep}           not found → {fallback detail}
  ❌ {dep}           missing → stopping
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

Stage/phase headers: ━━ {N} · {Name} ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Status icons: ✅ done · ❌ failed · ⚠️ degraded · ⏳ working · ⏭️ skipped

Generate multiple unique, creative web interface designs for any website or web application. The primary agent acts as a thin orchestrator — all heavy reading and file creation is delegated to subagents to protect the primary context window.

Arguments

Parse the following from the skill invocation:

• count (required): Number of designs to create (e.g., 5)
• --spec (optional): Path to a file containing site specification
• --url (optional): URL to existing site to review for context
• --port (required): Port for the Vite dev server
• --favorites (optional): Comma-separated list of design numbers for iteration mode

Examples

/distil 5 --spec ./site-spec.md --port 5173
/distil 3 --favorites 2,4 --port 5173

If --favorites is provided, follow references/iteration-mode.md instead of the steps below.

Pre-flight

Before starting, check all dependencies in this table:

For each row, in order:

1. Run the Check command (for cli/npm) or test file existence (for agent/skill)
2. If found: continue silently
3. If missing: apply Resolution strategy
   • stop: notify user with Detail, halt execution
   • url: notify user with Detail (install link), halt execution
   • install: notify user, run the command in Detail, continue if successful
   • ask: notify user, offer to run command in Detail, continue either way (or halt if required)
   • fallback: notify user with Detail, continue with degraded behavior
4. After all checks: summarize what's available and what's degraded

Site Specification

The specification can be provided via:

1. --spec flag: Read the file at the provided path
2. Pasted text: Check conversation for a description of the site
3. --url flag: Use WebFetch to analyze an existing site

If no specification is found, ask the user before proceeding.

Step 1: Load Site Specification

Parse and store the site context for use when generating each design. This is the only file the primary agent reads directly (specs are typically small).

Step 2: Reconnaissance (launch in parallel)

Launch two subagents in parallel to gather context without bloating the primary agent.

2a: Verify Design Skills

Design skill availability is checked in the Pre-flight section above. Use the results from pre-flight to populate SKILL_REPORT:

• For each design skill: name, installed (yes/no)
• If any skill was missing and the user declined to install, note it as unavailable

2b: Scan Existing Project

Task(
  subagent_type: "Explore",
  model: "haiku",
  description: "Scan existing design project",
  prompt: "Check if src/designs/ directory exists. If it does:
    1. List all DesignN.tsx files (glob for src/designs/Design*.tsx)
    2. For each file, read ONLY the first 10 lines to extract the
       metadata comment (style name, key traits)
    3. Determine the highest design number
    Return PROJECT_REPORT (max 20 lines):
    - project_exists: true/false
    - package_manager: detected from lockfile (bun.lockb/pnpm-lock/yarn.lock/package-lock)
    - design_count: N
    - highest_number: N
    - designs: list of (number, style_name) pairs
    If no src/designs/ directory, return project_exists: false."
)

Parse Recon Results

From SKILL_REPORT: Gate on missing skills before proceeding. From PROJECT_REPORT:

• If project_exists: set START_INDEX = highest_number + 1, skip Step 3
• If not: set START_INDEX = 1, proceed to Step 3

Step 3: Initialize Project

Skip this step if an existing project was detected in Step 2b.

Launch general-purpose subagent (bash) (haiku) to set up the project:

Task(
  subagent_type: "general-purpose",
  model: "haiku",
  description: "Initialize distil project",
  prompt: "Follow the project setup instructions:
    1. Detect package manager (bun -> pnpm -> yarn -> npm)
    2. Create Vite React-TS project
    3. Install dependencies: tailwindcss, postcss, autoprefixer,
       react-router-dom, lucide-react
    4. Configure Tailwind (content paths, index.css directives)
    5. Copy {skill_dir}/assets/DesignNav.tsx to src/components/DesignNav.tsx
    Return SETUP_REPORT (max 10 lines): status, package_manager, errors."
)

Parse SETUP_REPORT. If setup fails, fall back through the package manager chain (bun -> pnpm -> yarn -> npm).

Step 4: Create Designs via Subagent

Launch a general-purpose subagent to create all new designs.

CRITICAL: The subagent reads skill files and design guides directly. Do NOT read them in the primary agent — pass file paths only.

Task(
  subagent_type: "general-purpose",
  description: "Create design variations",
  prompt: "
    You are creating {COUNT} new web design variations for a distil project.

    ## Site Specification
    {SITE_SPEC from Step 1}

    ## Design Knowledge — Read These Files
    Load design principles and the 50+ style catalog from these skill files:
    - ~/.claude/skills/bencium-innovative-ux-designer/SKILL.md
    - ~/.claude/skills/bencium-innovative-ux-designer/MOTION-SPEC.md
    - ~/.claude/skills/web-animation-design/SKILL.md
    - ~/.claude/skills/design-system/SKILL.md
    - ~/.claude/skills/design-system/references/style-guide.md

    Also read the project design guide:
    - {skill_dir}/references/design-guide.md

    ## Existing Designs (avoid these styles)
    {Compact list from PROJECT_REPORT: number + style_name pairs,
     or 'None — fresh project'}

    ## Task
    Create designs numbered {START_INDEX} through {START_INDEX + COUNT - 1}.

    For each design, create `src/designs/Design{N}.tsx`:
    - Pick a DISTINCT style from the 50+ style catalog in the design-system skill
    - Do NOT reuse styles already used by existing designs
    - Apply the site specification to all content and sections
    - Follow anti-AI-slop rules strictly (no Inter, no default blue, no cookie-cutter layouts)
    - Include purposeful animations with proper easing
    - Each design must be self-contained in a single file
    - Import and render DesignNav from '../components/DesignNav'

    After creating all designs, update:
    1. `src/App.tsx` — Add import and route for EVERY design (existing + new)
    2. Each design file's DesignNav `designs` array — Include ALL designs (existing + new)

    ## Design File Requirements
    Each design file must have:
    - A metadata comment at the top: style name, key visual traits, color palette
    - Import DesignNav from '../components/DesignNav'
    - A `designs` array listing ALL designs (existing + new) with id and name
    - ALL sections from the site specification with realistic content
    - Custom color palette (not default Tailwind)
    - Animations with proper easing (ease-out for entrances, ease-in-out for movement)
    - Responsive layout (mobile-first)
    - Lucide React icons for iconography

    ## App.tsx Requirements
    The App.tsx must:
    - Import ALL design components (existing + new)
    - Have a route for each: <Route path='/{N}' element={<DesignN />} />
    - Default route redirects to /1

    Return DESIGN_REPORT (max 30 lines):
    - List each design created: number, style name, key visual traits
    - Total design count (existing + new)
    - Files created and modified
    - Any issues encountered
  "
)

Parse DESIGN_REPORT. If any design failed, report the error and offer retry.

Step 5: Start Dev Server

Launch as a background Bash to avoid blocking the primary agent:

Task(
  subagent_type: "general-purpose",
  run_in_background: true,
  description: "Start Vite dev server",
  prompt: "{package_manager} run dev --port {PORT}"
)

If the dev server is already running, HMR should pick up the new files automatically — skip this step.

Step 6: Present Designs

Present the final summary:

┌─ Distil · Report ──────────────────────────────
│
│  ✅ Distil complete — {N} designs generated
│
│  🌐 Server: http://localhost:{PORT}
│
│  🎨 Designs
│     /1  {style name} — {key visual traits}
│     /2  {style name} — {key visual traits}
│     /3  {style name} — {key visual traits}
│     {mark new vs existing}
│
│  📊 Total: {total designs} ({new} new + {existing} existing)
│
│  ⚡ Next steps
│     1. Browse designs at http://localhost:{PORT}/1
│     2. Use --favorites 1,3 to iterate on selected designs
│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────

Context Protection Summary

Troubleshooting

• If package manager commands fail, try the next in the fallback chain
• If port is in use, suggest killing the process or using a different port
• If design imports fail, check file naming consistency
• If no site spec is found, always ask the user before proceeding
• If a design skill is missing, offer to install it before proceeding
• If the subagent fails, check error details and retry with adjusted parameters