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Skill S15 · Vitrine — Component Architect

/component-architect

Designs a component's API before its looks: what's fixed, what's configurable, which variants exist, and how its prompt, preview and code stay in agreement.

When adding a configurable component to a library, or when one component has grown props that fight each other.

A configurable component makes three promises: the preview shows it, the code implements it, and the description or prompt explains it. Most library bugs come from those three disagreeing.

1. Split fixed from configurable

Write two lists.

  • Fixed: purpose, structure, core interaction, motion model, accessibility contract, responsive behaviour, dependencies. These are always true, and they belong in the base description.
  • Configurable: each axis that changes, such as colour, theme, layout, density, interaction mode or content. For each axis, list its values and exactly what each one changes.

If a "variant" changes structure or behaviour rather than appearance, it is a different component or a mode prop, not a palette.

2. Props follow axes

  • One prop per axis (palette, theme, mode), each taking a small union of named values, plus an escape hatch for custom values (e.g. colors={[...]}).
  • Defaults give the most common case. Props never contradict each other; if two do, merge them into one axis.
  • Accessibility props (labels, motion="reduced") are first-class and documented, not afterthoughts.

3. Describe the selection, not the catalogue

Keep a base description of what's fixed. Each variant gets its own short description of what it alone looks like and which props produce it. The text a user copies is base + the selected variant, never a list of every option.

Add a check in the build that fails when:

  • a variant has no description;
  • the base description names a specific variant;
  • one variant's description names a sibling.

4. One source of selection

The preview, the prompt and any code snippet read the same selection state. Put it in the URL (?variant=) so it survives a reload and can be shared. Copy buttons read the state at click time, so the copied text is never stale.

5. Test every state

For each variant:

  • render it;
  • read the generated description;
  • assert that it contains this variant and no sibling;
  • assert that the props it names exist in the source.

Also test reload, rapid switching, mobile width and reduced motion.

Output

The fixed/configurable table, the props signature, the per-variant descriptions, and the test results.

Featured

01Glassbreak ButtonA solid plate that fractures from one impact point, cracks racing outward as the shards drift apart.04Liquid GlassA capsule of glass that bends what's behind it, carries a specular highlight around its rim toward your pointer, and squashes like a drop of liquid when pressed.07Phosphor Glass ButtonA liquid-glass pill that senses you coming: its rim light turns to face the cursor and the pill leans in to meet it.08Iris ShutterAn async button with a camera iris for a status light — blades close and turn while it works, then open onto the result.
81Atmosphere CardSmoked-glass link cards: colour pooled in the corners, slow contour currents underneath, a field that leans toward you.93Eclipse Event CardAn editorial event plate with an oversized date and an orbital eclipse bleeding in from the right, alive with slow drift.94Specimen CardAn object mounted under glass: hover lifts the pane with a sweep of reflection and swings out a paper catalogue tag.
95Silk FieldDomain-warped light that pours like liquid silk, with an optional glass lens that refracts the flow under your cursor.106IsobarA living weather map — contour lines traced over a drifting pressure field, with your cursor as a system of its own.
151Prompt ComposerA chat composer where attached files tuck into its top edge like tabs in a folder — they rise from behind it when added and sink back when removed. Send turns into stop while the reply streams.157Aura FieldA writing field where colour only exists while the AI is touching your text: the edge becomes a turning band of light and the words are rewritten in place, one by one, out of a soft blur.
205Halftone CTAA tall CTA banner where slow gold paint drifts beneath a fixed halftone grid, visible only through the dots.
212Nocturne Sign-inA single quiet column on near-black with a breathing seam of frost light behind it — email, password, magic link, nothing more.222Sigil Sign-inA split sign-in whose left half grows a geometric mark from your email — the same address always draws the same sigil.
275Voices CarouselA testimonial exhibition: one large quote at a time on frosted glass, crossfading between voices without ever resizing.
279Feral TitleA brutal condensed wordmark — heartbeat in the dark, letters slam in, a gash tears through and the word bleeds.
301 components