Responsive Craft

Responsive Craft

Implement responsive design that works across all viewports — compensating for the lack of a visual canvas by making deliberate decisions upfront.

Quick Start

Transform an existing site: /responsive-craft audit or "make this responsive" or "fix the mobile layout" Build responsive from scratch: /responsive-craft build or "build this mobile-first" or "create a responsive layout" Preview all breakpoints: /responsive-craft preview or "show me the responsive preview" or "open the breakpoint preview"

Core Principles

1. Escalation model — Intrinsic CSS first (auto-fit, flex-wrap, clamp()) → container queries next (component-level) → media queries last (page-level only). If a simpler layer solves it, stop there.

2. Describe before you code — Without a canvas, explicitly describe responsive behavior before writing CSS. In Adaptive mode, use inline behavior notes (CSS comments). In Guided mode, write formal behavior specs (tables per component). Both catch design decisions a canvas would reveal passively.

3. Fluid by default, breakpoints by exception — Use clamp() for typography, spacing, sizing. Reserve hard breakpoints for structural changes: nav transforms, column count shifts, sidebar visibility.

4. Component containment — Components respond to their container, not the viewport. Use container queries. A card in a sidebar and a card in a full-width section should use the same CSS.

5. Test by dragging, not jumping — Slowly resize from 280px to 2560px in DevTools. Don't just check named breakpoints. This catches in-between failures.

6. Sticky/scroll needs explicit patterns — Sticky coordination, z-index stacking contexts, overflow ancestors, safe areas, virtual keyboards. These break silently. Use the patterns in references/sticky-scroll-patterns.md, don't improvise.

7. Recognize design forks, don't default silently — When a responsive translation has multiple valid approaches, present 2-3 options with tradeoffs and ask the user to choose. See references/responsive-design-forks.md.

The Three-Layer Responsive System

Escalation Decision Tree

Does this need to change layout?
  No  → clamp() for sizing. Done.
  Yes → Does it depend on CONTAINER size?
    Yes → Container query
    No  → Does it depend on VIEWPORT?
      Yes → Media query (page-level only)
      No  → :has() or intrinsic sizing (auto-fit, flex-wrap)

Mode Selection

This skill operates in three modes. Detect from $ARGUMENTS or ask.

Detection

• $ARGUMENTS contains "preview", "show breakpoints", "live preview" → Preview
• $ARGUMENTS contains "audit", "transform", "fix", "improve", "retrofit" → Transform Existing
• $ARGUMENTS contains "build", "create", "new", "from scratch" → Build Responsive
• User is working in an existing codebase with responsive issues → Transform Existing
• User is starting a new page/component → Build Responsive
• Ambiguous → Ask

If AskUserQuestion is available:

• Transform existing — Audit and improve responsive behavior of current code
• Build from scratch — Design responsive layout from the start
• Preview — Launch a live multi-breakpoint preview in the browser

Otherwise: "Are you transforming an existing site's responsive design, building something new, or just previewing?"

Interactivity Level

Skip for Preview mode — go straight to routing.

After mode selection, determine interactivity:

If AskUserQuestion is available:

• Adaptive — Moves fast. 1-2 discovery questions, then starts working. Surfaces design forks inline as they arise. No formal specs — decisions are made in the moment.
• Guided — Produces deliverables. Full discovery, writes behavior specs per component before coding, gets explicit approval before each stage. Best for complex layouts or when the user wants a spec to reference later.

Otherwise: "Do you want (1) Adaptive — fast, I'll ask as I go, or (2) Guided — I'll write behavior specs per component and get your approval before coding?"

Default to Adaptive if the user doesn't express a preference.

When to recommend Guided: If the layout has 5+ distinct responsive components, multiple sticky elements, or a dashboard-style layout, suggest Guided — the behavior specs prevent expensive rework later.

Routing

After mode and interactivity are selected:

Load other references on demand:

• references/sticky-scroll-patterns.md — when sticky, scroll-snap, or independent scroll regions are involved
• references/responsive-design-forks.md — when an ambiguous responsive translation is detected
• references/testing-checklist.md — during verification step
• references/modern-css-patterns.md — during Transform mode when implementing fixes

Gotchas — Where Claude Fails at Responsive Design

These are the most common mistakes. Check every responsive output against this list.

1. 100vh on mobile — Use svh/dvh with vh fallback. 100vh overflows behind mobile browser chrome.

2. Desktop-first media queries — Always use min-width (mobile-first), not max-width. Mobile loads fewer overrides.

3. Missing min-width: 0 on flex children — Default flex min-width is auto (content size). Long text/images overflow. Add min-width: 0 when content is dynamic.

4. overflow: hidden kills sticky — Any ancestor with overflow: hidden/scroll/auto breaks position: sticky. Use overflow: clip for visual clipping.

5. transform breaks position: fixed — Any transform on an ancestor makes fixed children position relative to that ancestor, not viewport.

6. iOS input zoom below 16px — Input font-size under 16px triggers Safari viewport zoom. Use font-size: max(16px, 1rem).

7. Missing safe area insets — Notched devices need env(safe-area-inset-*). Requires viewport-fit=cover in meta tag. Don't forget landscape orientation.

8. Z-index escalation — Values like 9999 signal misunderstanding of stacking contexts. Use isolation: isolate and a tiered z-index scale.

9. Missing align-self: start on sticky in flex/grid — Without this, the element stretches to full height and sticky has no room to stick. The #1 silent sticky failure.

10. Optimizing for one viewport — Code that looks perfect at 1440px breaks at 320px, 768px portrait, and ultrawide. Always test the full range.

For the complete list with code examples, see references/ai-failure-patterns.md.

Tools

This skill includes two CLI tools in scripts/ for visual responsive verification.

Run these commands from this skill directory, or replace scripts/... with the absolute path to this skill's scripts/ folder.

Live Multi-Viewport Preview

See all breakpoints simultaneously in the browser, with hot reload:

node scripts/preview.js http://localhost:3000
node scripts/preview.js ./index.html
node scripts/preview.js http://localhost:3000 --breakpoints 375,768,1024,1440,1920

Responsive Snapshots

Capture screenshots at every breakpoint. Supports before/after comparison:

# Capture current state
node scripts/snapshot.js http://localhost:3000

# Capture baseline, make changes, then capture again for comparison
node scripts/snapshot.js http://localhost:3000 --before
# ... make responsive changes ...
node scripts/snapshot.js http://localhost:3000
# → generates comparison.html with before/after at each breakpoint

Both tools require no dependencies — just Node.js. Snapshots require dev-browser for headless screenshots.

Reference Index

Workflow Index