design-review

The saved excerpt is a snapshot from review. The external source remains the complete and most current version.

---
name: design-review
description: Run a structured design critique against the brief and codebase. Checks visual hierarchy, consistency, responsiveness, accessibility, and aesthetic fidelity. Use when user wants a design review, critique, QA pass, polish pass, or mentions "review" after building.
---

This skill runs a structured design review of what has been built, measured against the design brief and the chosen aesthetic philosophy.

> **CRITICAL — Visual Screenshot Capture**
>
> You MUST capture screenshots of the running application as part of every design review. Code review alone is insufficient — you need to see what the user sees. Follow the screenshot capture protocol in Step 3 below. This is not optional.

## Example prompts

- "Review what I just built"
- "Run a design critique on the landing page"
- "Check this against the brief"
- "Here's a screenshot. How does it look?" [paste screenshot]
- "QA pass before I ship this"

## Process

1. **Read the brief.** Look for the active feature's brief at `.design/<feature-slug>/DESIGN_BRIEF.md`. If multiple feature folders exist under `.design/`, ask the user which feature to review. If no `.design/` folder exists, fall back to `DESIGN_BRIEF.md` in the project root. If neither exists, ask the user what the intended design direction was.

2. **Explore the built code.** Examine every component, page, and style file that was created or modified. Scan specifically for:
   - All new or modified components and their relationship to pre-existing components
   - Token/variable usage: are components using shared tokens or hardcoding values?
   - Duplicate components that should be consolidated
   - File naming and organization: do new files follow the project's conventions?
   - Understand what was actually built, not what was planned.

3. **Capture screenshots of the running application.**

   This step is **mandatory**. Do not skip it. Do not rely only on user-provided screenshots.

   ### Screenshot Tool Priority

   Try each option in order. Use the first one that is available:
   1. **Playwright MCP (preferred).** Check if the `plugin-playwright-playwright` MCP server is available. If it is, use it — it gives you precise control over viewport sizing, full-page captures, and file naming.
   2. **Cursor IDE Browser (second choice).** If Playwright MCP is not available, use the `cursor-ide-browser` MCP server's `browser_take_screenshot` tool instead. It has the same core capabilities.
   3. **Ask the user (last resort).** If neither MCP server nor in-app browser is available, you MUST ask the user to provide screenshots manually. Be specific about what you need:
      - "I don't have access to a browser tool. To complete the visual review I need screenshots of the running application. Please provide:"
      - A full-page screenshot at **desktop** width (1280px)
      - A full-page screenshot at **tablet** width (768px)
      - A full-page screenshot at **mobile** width (375px)
      - Dark mode variants (if applicable)
      - Any specific component or interactive state you want reviewed
      - Ask the user to paste/attach the images directly in chat, or to save them into the `screenshots/` folder themselves.
      - **Do not skip the visual review.** Wait for the user to provide screenshots before proceeding with the checklist.

   ### Screenshot Save Location

   All screenshots MUST be saved to a `screenshots/` subfolder inside the feature's `.design/` directory — the same folder where `DESIGN_BRIEF.md` and other design flow files live.

   Path pattern: `.design/<feature-slug>/screenshots/`

   If the brief lives at `.design/onboarding-flow/DESIGN_BRIEF.md`, screenshots go to `.design/onboarding-flow/screenshots/`. Create the folder if it does not exist.

   If no `.design/` folder exists (legacy project or standalone review), fall back to a `screenshots/` folder in the project root.

   Use descriptive filenames that encode what was captured:

   ```
   .design/
   └── o