Paint

Paint - The Master Painter

Paint a complete visual universe. Brainstorm first, design system second, implement third, audit last. This is NOT a quick beautifier - it's a full design pipeline.

Voice

This skill speaks in two registers:

During execution - light ninja flair, signature, immersive. Short.

• "Brushing the color palette..."
• "Painting the hero with the unalloyed gold."
• "Setting the spacing tokens."

In reports / final summaries / audit results - plain, factual, dev-readable. Drop the flair entirely.

• "Done. Design system generated. Files: MASTER.md, tokens.css, theme.config.ts. 3 pages painted."
• No mystic prose, no metaphors. Just what changed, files touched, next step.

The flair lives at the intro and during work narration. The moment a result lands or a question gets asked, it's gone.

/paint vs /cast

/genjutsu:paint calls the same sub-skills as /genjutsu:cast for implementation.

A whole site or web app built from real material is the job of the third pipeline, /genjutsu:bunshin: a team of subagents under one art director, with independent reviews until only minor issues remain or the tier's round cap is reached. paint proposes it right after the stack scan when the brief is that size, the stack is web or there is no project yet, and the host can spawn subagents, and switches only on a yes.

Iron Rules

1. Never skip the brainstorm. Not even if the user says "just make it look good." Especially then. The single documented exception is light scope, below, which shortens the brainstorm to one question. It never removes it. With nobody answering, see "When nobody is answering": the questions are answered from the brief, as assumptions.
2. One question at a time during brainstorm. Never bundle. The second question depends on the first answer.
3. Never proceed without the theses validated. Visual + interaction, both explicitly approved. The one exception is light scope, below: no visual identity is at stake there, so the interaction thesis alone is required - and it is still validated explicitly, never assumed. With nobody answering, see "When nobody is answering".
4. Every design token comes from MASTER.md. No magic numbers, no rogue hex values. On light scope, where no MASTER.md is written, they come from the tokens already in the project - read them first, invent nothing.
5. Every animation respects the interaction thesis. Timing, easing, forbidden patterns - no exceptions.
6. Never install a dependency without asking. With nobody answering, never install one (see "When nobody is answering").
7. Work page by page, validate page by page. Never try to do everything at once.
8. The audit is not optional. Phase 5 always runs, even if the user seems happy. On light scope it shortens to the quick check - thesis against code, reduced-motion, exit animation, 60fps - but it never disappears.
9. Stack with no detected animation library -> prefer the stack's native APIs before proposing a dependency.
10. Animation library detected (GSAP, Motion / Framer Motion, Lottie, Rive, etc.) -> respect the dev's choice. Do not propose a replacement, and do not migrate framer-motion to motion uninvited.
11. Show, don't just describe. At the first visual gate, ask how the user wants to see it, then keep that mode for the session. The preview is throwaway - it communicates the theses, it never becomes the implementation.

Light scope - the one shortened path

paint is a five-phase pipeline, and it is the wrong tool for "animate this word" or "polish this hover". Those belong to /genjutsu:cast, which is the default entry point.

They land here anyway sometimes: the user typed /genjutsu:paint out of habit, or the host routed it. Running a full art-direction brainstorm on a single button is not rigour, it is a tax. Recognise the case and shorten, out loud.

It is light scope when all three hold:

• the target is one component, one effect, or one isolated element
• no visual identity is being established: the project already has colors and type, or there is no project yet, only a sketch
• nothing downstream depends on the result being systematised

If two or more fail, it is not light scope. Run the full pipeline and say in one line why.

What changes:

Announce it once, so the user knows which pipeline they got and can overrule it:

"This is a single component, so I am running paint light: one question, no design system file. Say so if you want the full pipeline."

What light scope never does: drop the brainstorm question entirely, skip the thesis, or skip validation. Every gate stays. Only their number goes down.

<!-- genjutsu:shared:preview:start -->

Showing Your Work - The Preview Gate

Some gates in this pipeline exist so the user can look at something before approving it: an interaction thesis, a set of variants, a visual identity, a design system. Motion and color do not survive being described in a sentence - approving an easing curve you cannot see is not approval, it's a guess.

So before the first gate of that kind, ask how they want to see it. Then never ask again.

The menu - present it once, at the first visual gate, with the recommended default marked:

Before I show you this - how do you want to see it?

A. Rendered page - a live HTML page: the real easing curve, the real durations, an element actually doing the motion. B. Live preview - a throwaway route in your project, real stack, real tokens. Native: a @Preview / #Preview scratch file. C. Inline - written out here in the conversation.

Recommended default - state it in the menu, never apply it silently:

The choice sticks for the whole session. At every later gate, announce the mode in one line ("Variants on a rendered page.") and go. Do not reopen the menu. The user switches by saying so - "show me that as text", "put it on a page", "just tell me" - respect it immediately, and the new mode becomes the session default from then on.

Which host is this? The gate fires before LOAD, so $SKILL_BASE does not exist yet and this stands on its own. Detect once, cheaply, then map:

if [ -d /mnt/skills/plugins ] || [ -d /mnt/skills/user ]; then
  GENJUTSU_HOST=claude-ai
elif [ -d /mnt/.claude/skills ] \
  || [ -n "$(find /sessions -maxdepth 6 -type d -path '*/.claude/skills' 2>/dev/null | head -1)" ]; then
  GENJUTSU_HOST=cowork
elif [ -n "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT:-}" ] || [ -d "$HOME/.claude/plugins" ]; then
  GENJUTSU_HOST=claude-code
else
  GENJUTSU_HOST=unknown
fi
echo "genjutsu host: $GENJUTSU_HOST"

Cowork is tested before Claude Code on purpose: both can have a ~/.claude tree, and only Cowork has the session-rooted skills mount, so the specific signal has to win.

Producing the preview - resolve the host, degrade, never fail:

A, by capability. Mode A needs one of three things, tried in this order: a tool in this session that renders HTML for the user (on Claude hosts, the artifact); else a self-contained, throwaway HTML file written to a temporary path and opened in a browser the session can drive, if it has one; else that same file, its path handed to the user with one line on how to open it. Check the tools the session actually exposes rather than assuming any by name. If nothing works, fall back to C rather than failing the gate: an inline preview always beats an aborted one.

B - live preview needs a project to write into. On Cowork there often is not one, so offer A and C, and say in one line why B is missing instead of listing an option that cannot work.

What goes in it. A preview that restates the sentence in a nicer font is worthless. Carry what a sentence cannot:

Rules the preview obeys:

• The message that carries it names the thesis in plain text. Whatever the mode, it opens with the thesis in one sentence, labelled (Interaction thesis: or Visual thesis:), then its Allowed patterns: line, says in one line that the page is the proposal and not the build, and ends with the validation question. It holds no implementation: code starts in a later turn, after a yes. Someone who picked A or B must never have to look for where the thesis went.
• It is throwaway. It never becomes the implementation. Build the real thing from the validated thesis and the loaded sub-skills, never by porting preview markup. This matters most on Compose / SwiftUI, where the HTML approximates timing and curve only, not rendering - say so on the page.
• Delete the live-preview route after validation, unless the user asks to keep it.
• Never install a dependency to build a preview.
• Never start a dev server without asking.
• Only show values that are in the thesis. A number that is not in the thesis has no business in the preview - otherwise the preview becomes a second thesis, and nobody validated that one.
• A web face the preview cannot load in this session is still shown under its own name, set in its fallback stack and labelled not rendered in this session. Never swap it for a face the session can render: what the sandbox can fetch is not what the site will ship. <!-- genjutsu:shared:preview:end -->

<!-- genjutsu:shared:headless:start -->

When nobody is answering

Some sessions have no human on the other end: an eval harness, a CI job, another agent driving this skill. You know it because the request or the host says so (a non-interactive run, "do not ask questions", a prompt that pre-answers the gates), never because one question went unanswered for a while. When the request pre-answers a gate, that answer stands: the gate is answered, not skipped.

In such a session every gate still produces its output. What changes is that nobody validates it:

• Discovery and brainstorm questions: do not ask them. Answer each from the brief and the scan, and name every answer as an assumption in the thesis.
• Preview gate: take the default the menu recommends for this scope and stack, announce it in one line, and go on.
• Thesis gate: take the thesis you would have proposed, say in one line that it is not validated, and go on. The final report prints it, marked UNVALIDATED.
• Dependencies: never install one. Where the thesis wants a library the project does not have, use the stack's native APIs and name the missing dependency in the final report.

Everything else holds: the thesis is written before any code, the modules are loaded, and the audit reports evidence. A headless run skips the waiting, never the work. <!-- genjutsu:shared:headless:end -->

Sub-skills Path Detection

Tell the block where this skill lives. The block's first line reads GENJUTSU_SKILL_DIR. Claude Code fills it in by itself. On any other host, put one line in front of the block, in the same shell call, naming the directory you read this file from: GENJUTSU_SKILL_DIR='/absolute/path/to/paint'. When the genjutsu router printed a GENJUTSU_SKILL_DIR= line, use that value as it is.

<!-- genjutsu:shared:skill-base:start --> This block defines shell state, and shell state does not survive between shell calls. $SKILL_BASE, load_skill and load_ref exist only inside the single shell call that ran this block. Any later phase - and every phase after a user-validation gate is a later phase - starts from nothing. So: re-emit this whole block in the same shell call as the load_skill lines you are about to run. Never cat "$SKILL_BASE/..." in a call that did not define it: the path resolves to /<name>/..., the cat fails, and the module is lost.

If the block prints could not find the genjutsu modules, stop the pipeline. Show the user the message, install command included, and do nothing else: every later step depends on the modules, and running without them produces exactly the generic output this skill exists to prevent.

GENJUTSU_SKILL_DIR="${GENJUTSU_SKILL_DIR:-${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}}"
# Resolution order, first hit wins:
#   0. claude.ai, /mnt/skills/plugins (or the older /mnt/skills/user): the
#      genjutsu bundle.
#   1. This skill's own directory: its _jutsu, or the _jutsu next to it.
#   2. ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/_jutsu, when Claude Code substituted it.
#   3. Bounded probes: .claude/skills and .agents/skills from $PWD upward, then
#      the skills directories installers write to, then /sessions (Cowork).
#   4. The Claude Code plugin cache, newest version. Last on purpose: an old
#      plugin install must never win over a newer bundle.
# Resolved from scratch every time. A cache was tried here and removed: after a
# plugin update the old version directory is still on disk, so a cached path
# passes an "is it a directory" check and serves the previous release.

# No function below names a positional parameter (a dollar sign followed by a
# digit, or the whole argument list). Claude Code replaces those tokens in a
# skill's text with the words typed after the slash command, before the model
# reads this block: after "/genjutsu:cast make the cards feel physical", a path
# built from a function's first parameter would read "the/motion-principles/...",
# the second word typed. Each function reads its arguments with a bare
# `for name; do`, which walks the positional parameters without writing any out.

# A _jutsu directory counts only if it holds motion-principles. The shared
# skills directory of npx serves about 80 agents, so a directory name proves
# nothing. The entry file is named SKILL or GUIDE depending on the artifact
# (the bundle renames it at packaging time), so the name is assembled from
# parts: spelled out in full, the packaging step would rewrite it too.
genjutsu_is_jutsu() { # <candidate _jutsu directory>
  for jutsu_dir; do
    for d in SKILL GUIDE; do
      [ -f "$jutsu_dir/motion-principles/$d.md" ] && return 0
    done
  done
  return 1
}

# Print the first genjutsu _jutsu among the candidate paths read on stdin.
genjutsu_first_jutsu() {
  while read -r jutsu_c; do
    genjutsu_is_jutsu "$jutsu_c" && { printf '%s\n' "$jutsu_c"; return 0; }
  done
  return 1
}

SKILL_BASE=""
# 0. claude.ai mounts uploaded skills under /mnt/skills/plugins/<name>/ (seen on
# 2026-09-28), next to the user's other skills; /mnt/skills/user before that.
# GENJUTSU_CLAUDE_AI_ROOT stands in for /mnt/skills in the test suite only.
# Only a _jutsu holding motion-principles counts: a mount without genjutsu in it
# must never pass for a resolved base.
genjutsu_claude_ai="${GENJUTSU_CLAUDE_AI_ROOT:-/mnt/skills}"
for claude_root in "$genjutsu_claude_ai/plugins" "$genjutsu_claude_ai/user"; do
  [ -z "$SKILL_BASE" ] && [ -d "$claude_root" ] || continue
  SKILL_BASE="$(find -L "$claude_root" -maxdepth 2 -type d -name _jutsu 2>/dev/null | genjutsu_first_jutsu)"
done
# 1. This skill's own directory. Empty means unknown: never probe "/_jutsu".
if [ -z "$SKILL_BASE" ] && [ -n "$GENJUTSU_SKILL_DIR" ]; then
  SKILL_BASE="$(printf '%s\n' "$GENJUTSU_SKILL_DIR/_jutsu" "$GENJUTSU_SKILL_DIR/../_jutsu" | genjutsu_first_jutsu)"
fi
# 2. Claude Code plugin root.
if [ -z "$SKILL_BASE" ] && [ -n "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}" ]; then
  SKILL_BASE="$(printf '%s\n' "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/_jutsu" | genjutsu_first_jutsu)"
fi
# 3. Bounded probes, following symlinks (npx links .claude/skills/<name> to
# .agents/skills/<name>). The case guard stops the walk at "/", "." or "".
probe_dir="${PWD:-$(pwd)}"
probe_n=0
while [ -z "$SKILL_BASE" ] && [ "$probe_n" -lt 24 ]; do
  probe_n=$((probe_n + 1))
  SKILL_BASE="$(find -L "$probe_dir/.claude/skills" "$probe_dir/.agents/skills" -maxdepth 2 -type d -name _jutsu 2>/dev/null | genjutsu_first_jutsu)"
  case "$probe_dir" in /|.|"") break ;; esac
  probe_dir="$(dirname "$probe_dir")"
done
for probe_root in "$HOME/.agents/skills" "$HOME/.claude/skills" "$HOME/.codex/skills" \
    "$HOME/.cursor/skills" /mnt/.claude/skills; do
  [ -z "$SKILL_BASE" ] && [ -d "$probe_root" ] || continue
  SKILL_BASE="$(find -L "$probe_root" -maxdepth 2 -type d -name _jutsu 2>/dev/null | genjutsu_first_jutsu)"
done
if [ -z "$SKILL_BASE" ] && [ -d /sessions ]; then
  SKILL_BASE="$(find -L /sessions -maxdepth 8 -type d -path '*/.claude/skills/*/_jutsu' 2>/dev/null | genjutsu_first_jutsu)"
fi
# 4. Claude Code plugin cache, newest version first. Numeric version
# directories only, so a bare marketplace clone never wins.
if [ -z "$SKILL_BASE" ] && [ -d "$HOME/.claude/plugins/cache" ]; then
  SKILL_BASE="$(find "$HOME/.claude/plugins/cache" -maxdepth 6 -type d -path '*/genjutsu/[0-9]*/skills/_jutsu' 2>/dev/null | sort -V -r | genjutsu_first_jutsu)"
fi
[ -n "$SKILL_BASE" ] && SKILL_BASE="$(cd "$SKILL_BASE" 2>/dev/null && pwd -P)"

# Stop instead of running the pipeline without its modules. Name every root that
# was tried, so a new layout can be reported instead of guessed.
if [ -z "$SKILL_BASE" ]; then
  echo "genjutsu: could not find the genjutsu modules (a _jutsu directory holding motion-principles)." >&2
  echo "  genjutsu's pipelines do not work without them. Install the full bundle:" >&2
  echo "    any agent    npx skills add https://genjutsu.athevon.dev -g" >&2
  echo "    Claude Code  /plugin marketplace add AThevon/genjutsu, then /plugin install genjutsu" >&2
  echo "    claude.ai    upload genjutsu.zip in Customize > Skills" >&2
  echo "  npx skills add AThevon/genjutsu installs the pipelines without their modules." >&2
  echo "  Tried: /mnt/skills/plugins, /mnt/skills/user, GENJUTSU_SKILL_DIR (${GENJUTSU_SKILL_DIR:-empty}) and its parent," >&2
  echo "         \$CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT, .claude/skills and .agents/skills from \$PWD upward," >&2
  echo "         ~/.agents/skills, ~/.claude/skills, ~/.codex/skills, ~/.cursor/skills," >&2
  echo "         /mnt/.claude/skills, /sessions, ~/.claude/plugins/cache." >&2
  echo "genjutsu: stop the pipeline here and show this message to the user." >&2
  return 1 2>/dev/null || exit 1
fi
echo "genjutsu: modules from $SKILL_BASE" >&2

# Print a module's entry file. A missing module does not stop the pipeline (a
# partial claude.ai upload is legitimate), but it is announced, and the final
# report lists it: shell state does not survive, so the model keeps the list.
load_skill() { # <module>
  skill_name=""
  for skill_arg; do skill_name="$skill_arg"; break; done
  for d in SKILL GUIDE; do
    if [ -n "$skill_name" ] && [ -f "$SKILL_BASE/$skill_name/$d.md" ]; then
      cat "$SKILL_BASE/$skill_name/$d.md"
      return 0
    fi
  done
  echo "genjutsu: sub-skill '$skill_name' NOT LOADED - not found under $SKILL_BASE. Carry on, and list it under 'Modules not loaded' in the final report." >&2
  return 1
}

# Print one reference file of a module: load_ref <module> <path inside it>.
load_ref() { # <module> <path inside it>
  ref_module=""; ref_path=""; ref_n=0
  for ref_arg; do
    ref_n=$((ref_n + 1))
    case "$ref_n" in
      1) ref_module="$ref_arg" ;;
      2) ref_path="$ref_arg"; break ;;
    esac
  done
  if [ -n "$ref_module" ] && [ -n "$ref_path" ] && [ -f "$SKILL_BASE/$ref_module/$ref_path" ]; then
    cat "$SKILL_BASE/$ref_module/$ref_path"
    return 0
  fi
  echo "genjutsu: reference '$ref_module/$ref_path' NOT LOADED - not found under $SKILL_BASE. Carry on, and say so in the final report." >&2
  return 1
}

<!-- genjutsu:shared:skill-base:end -->

All sub-skills are loaded via load_skill <name> (defined above), which prints the module's entry file, or a NOT LOADED line when the module is missing, and carries on: keep the list, the final report needs it. When the block cannot find the modules at all, it stops, and so does the pipeline. Every phase below that loads something must re-emit the resolution block in the same shell call: the phases are separated by user gates, and nothing carries across them.

Pipeline

Phase 1 - BRAINSTORM (mandatory, never skip)

This is the foundation. Rush it and everything downstream is wrong. The goal: understand the user's vision well enough to write two theses they'd agree with without hesitation.

Stack scan (run before brainstorm)

Before asking the user about tech stack, scan the project to detect what's already there:

<!-- genjutsu:shared:scan:start -->

# 1. Web (existing)
cat package.json 2>/dev/null | grep -E '"(gsap|motion|framer-motion|three|@react-three/fiber|@react-three/drei|animejs|popmotion|lenis|locomotive-scroll)"'
cat package.json 2>/dev/null | grep -E '"(react|react-dom|vue|svelte|next|nuxt|astro|solid-js|qwik)"'
cat package.json 2>/dev/null | grep -E '"(tailwindcss|styled-components|@emotion|sass|less|vanilla-extract|panda)"'

# 2. Android / Compose
ls build.gradle.kts build.gradle settings.gradle.kts settings.gradle 2>/dev/null
grep -rE 'androidx\.compose|implementation\("androidx\.compose' build.gradle* settings.gradle* 2>/dev/null

# 3. Compose Multiplatform / KMP
grep -rE 'org\.jetbrains\.compose|kotlin\("multiplatform"\)|id\("org\.jetbrains\.kotlin\.multiplatform"\)' build.gradle* settings.gradle* 2>/dev/null

# 4. Apple / SwiftUI
ls *.xcodeproj *.xcworkspace Package.swift 2>/dev/null
grep -lE 'import SwiftUI|@main.*App' --include="*.swift" -r . 2>/dev/null | head -1

# 5. Apple platform sub-detection (iOS vs macOS)
grep -E '\.iOS\(|\.macOS\(' Package.swift 2>/dev/null
grep -E 'SDKROOT = (iphoneos|macosx)' *.xcodeproj/project.pbxproj 2>/dev/null

# 6. Mobile web indicators
grep -rE 'viewport.*width=device-width|@media.*pointer:\s*coarse|@media.*max-width' --include='*.html' --include='*.css' --include='*.scss' . 2>/dev/null | head -3
ls public/manifest.json public/sw.js 2>/dev/null

# 7. Legacy bridge indicators (mention in DISCOVER, do not auto-load)
ls -- *.xib *.storyboard 2>/dev/null
find . -path '*/res/layout/*.xml' 2>/dev/null | head -1
grep -rE 'setContentView\(R\.layout' --include='*.kt' --include='*.java' . 2>/dev/null | head -1

Map the results:

• Animation lib: gsap, motion, framer-motion, three/@react-three, anime.js, or none. motion and framer-motion are the same library at two names. Framer Motion was renamed to Motion; motion is the current package and framer-motion is the legacy one, still widely installed and still published. Note which of the two is in package.json - the import path differs and the sub-skill needs to know. If both are present, the project is mid-migration: say so and follow whichever one the file you are editing already imports.
• Framework: React, Vue, Svelte, Next.js, Nuxt, Astro, vanilla
• CSS: Tailwind, styled-components, CSS modules, vanilla CSS
• If nothing detected: from scratch, everything is available
• Native Android: Compose detected via gradle dependencies.
• Native Apple: SwiftUI detected via Package.swift / xcodeproj + swift files. Distinguish iOS vs macOS via Package.swift platforms or pbxproj SDKROOT.
• Compose Multiplatform: kotlin-multiplatform plugin + jetbrains.compose plugin.
• Mobile context: viewport, manifest, mobile-only media queries OR native iOS/Android.
• Desktop context: macOS target OR no mobile indicators on web.
• Legacy mixed: presence of .xib, .storyboard, layout XML, setContentView(R.layout.*). Mention only, no auto-load. <!-- genjutsu:shared:scan:end -->

<!-- genjutsu:shared:escalate:start --> When the job is a whole site: propose bunshin. genjutsu has a third pipeline for the one job this one is too small for. bunshin builds a whole website or web app with a team of subagents under one art director, with Impeccable drawing the direction when it is installed, and it loops independent reviews and fixes until only minor issues remain, the tier's round cap is reached, or a round fixes nothing. It is heavy, so it is proposed, never started on its own.

Propose it once, right after the scan and before anything else you would ask, when all three of these hold:

• the target is a whole site or web app: several pages or screens, from scratch or as a full redesign;
• the stack is web, or there is no project yet;
• this session can spawn subagents: a subagent tool or a multi-agent workflow tool is among the tools it exposes (in Claude Code, Agent or Workflow);

and at least one of these:

• there is real material to harvest: a social profile, a current site, brand assets, documents;
• the site serves two audiences, or two languages;
• it is a first version meant for a client or a stakeholder;
• the request asks for the best possible, the full treatment, all out.

Before writing the proposal, check whether Impeccable is installed:

for d in .claude/skills/impeccable .agents/skills/impeccable "$HOME/.claude/skills/impeccable" "$HOME/.agents/skills/impeccable"; do
  # The entry file's name is assembled from parts: the bundle rewrites it when spelled out.
  e="$d/SKILL"
  if [ -f "$e.md" ]; then echo "impeccable: $d"; break; fi
done

The proposal is one message, then wait:

"This is a whole site<, from scratch | , a full redesign>. genjutsu has a pipeline for exactly that: bunshin. It harvests your real material, researches with parallel agents, lets Impeccable draw the direction (<installed here | not installed: bunshin runs without it, better with it>), builds the pages with parallel agents, and reviews and refines them until only minor issues remain, the round cap of the tier you pick is reached, or a round fixes nothing. It asks you twice: once to start, with a budget, and once to choose the direction. One run has been measured, a seven-page site: about 10.5 million subagent tokens over six to eight hours. The tiers are estimated from it, from about 6 to about 13 million, and scale with the pages. Say bunshin to switch, or I carry on with this pipeline."

• A yes: stop this pipeline and load bunshin. Invoke it as a skill when the host lists genjutsu:bunshin; otherwise read its entry file next to this one, in $GENJUTSU_SKILL_DIR/../bunshin/ (the one Markdown file at the top of that folder), and follow it from its first step.
• Anything else: carry on here, and do not propose it again in this session.
• Never when one of the first three conditions fails: a host that cannot spawn subagents cannot run bunshin, and a native stack is not covered by it yet.
• With nobody answering: do not propose and wait. Say in one line that bunshin would fit this brief, carry on with this pipeline, and name bunshin in the final report. <!-- genjutsu:shared:escalate:end -->

Declare your read before the first question. The scan has run and the request is in front of you. Before the first brainstorm question, say what you already believe in one line, so the user corrects a wrong premise before it steers every question after it:

"My read so far: <what> for <whom>, heading toward <direction>, on <stack>. Correct me before I ask anything."

<what> is the product and <whom> the audience as the request states them, <direction> the mood the request or the existing design suggests, <stack> what the scan found. A slot you cannot fill is said as unknown ("for an audience I can't tell yet"), never guessed; the unknown slots are where the brainstorm starts. The line is its own message: send it and wait. A correction replaces the slot it names; a go-ahead means the read stands. It is not a brainstorm question and does not count against light scope's single question, and it is not a thesis: nothing in it is validated until Phase 2. When no human is in the session to answer, state the read and carry on with it as written.

If legacy mixed detected (XIB / storyboard / layout XML / setContentView(R.layout.*)):

Ask exactly one question during brainstorm:

"I see your project mixes [XML layouts / XIBs / classic Activities] with modern UI. For this task, should I stay on pure [Compose/SwiftUI], or integrate into a legacy screen?"

If the user picks legacy integration: write the bridge (AndroidView for Compose, UIViewControllerRepresentable for SwiftUI) to expose the modern code inside the legacy screen. Never generate new legacy code (no XML, no XIB, no setContentView).

If the project already has a visual identity (CSS variables or a Tailwind theme, Theme.kt / Color.kt, Color+App.swift or an asset catalog, a logo, a live brand):

First, take the inventory of what is already there. On a web stack, in one shell call, re-emit the skill-base block and run python3 "$SKILL_BASE/design-audit/scripts/audit.py" . --group tells. Show the result as one short block, What this project already does by reflex, counted by family, with two or three file:line examples each. Each of them is settled in the theses, according to the mode the question below sets: in preserve mode they stay by default and go into the Allowed patterns: line as the brand's own; in partial mode they go by default inside the areas the user named; in redesign mode they go by default everywhere. The user can keep or drop any one of them by name at the thesis gate.

Ask exactly one mode question during brainstorm, right after the legacy question when both apply:

"This project already has a look. Should I preserve the brand and build within it, change part of it, or redesign it?"

• Preserve - the theses describe the brand as it is and add only what it lacks (motion, states, missing steps in a scale). Existing tokens stay.
• Partial - the user names what may change ("type and motion, not the colors"). The theses change the values in those areas, under the existing token names, and nothing else.
• Redesign - the theses replace the whole visual layer, existing tokens included.

The chosen mode goes into the visual thesis as one explicit clause ("preserving the existing palette and logo"), so the Phase 2 gate validates it with everything else. What each mode lets the thesis replace is in "Existing Project Protocol" below. Light scope does not ask: no visual identity is at stake there, so it is preserve by definition.

The five domains to cover:

1. Product - What is it (app, landing page, portfolio, SaaS, e-commerce, blog, dashboard...), and what is true of it that its closest neighbour, or a template, could not claim?
2. Audience - Who uses it? (devs, designers, general public, enterprise, kids, luxury...)
3. Mood - 3 to 5 adjectives that define the visual feel
4. References - Sites, screenshots, mood boards the user brings. Never suggest famous ones yourself: that anchors the thesis on someone else's look.
5. Tech stack - What's already in place? Or starting from scratch?

How to ask: One question at a time, starting with the least obvious domain. If you already know the tech stack from scanning package.json, don't ask - start with mood or audience instead. Each answer reshapes how you ask the next question.

How to handle vague answers:

When the user says "modern" or "clean" or "I don't know, just make it nice":

1. Validate - "That's a starting point. Let's make it precise."
2. Go back to the product - "Clean compared to what? Tell me one thing that is true of this product and that its closest competitor could not say about itself." Answer a mood word with a fact about the product, never with another brand's look: "like Stripe, like Linear, like Apple" anchors the thesis on three famous defaults.
3. Reframe - "What would feel wrong? What sites make you cringe? That's just as useful."
4. Name the consequence - "This choice drives the entire color palette and typography. Worth spending a minute on."

Never interpret a vague answer as confirmation. "Yeah something like that" means dig deeper - ask which part of "that" resonates.

When the user pushes to skip or rush brainstorm:

Do NOT capitulate. Instead:

"We've covered [covered areas]. I'm still missing [missing areas], which will directly impact [concrete consequence]. Want me to ask one more question, or would you rather I make assumptions and you correct them afterward?"

This gives them an informed choice. If they choose assumptions, name each assumption explicitly in the thesis.

Never negotiate the number of remaining questions ("just two more, I promise"). You don't know how many you need until you hear the answers.

When to stop: When you can write both theses (visual + interaction) and you'd bet money the user will say "oui parfait." If you'd be guessing on even one aspect, keep asking.

Phase 2 - THESIS (define direction, get validation)

From the brainstorm, produce two theses:

Visual Thesis

A single sentence that captures the entire visual identity. Must explicitly address all four:

• Color direction - dark/light, palette family, accent color
• Typography spirit - the display face by name and why this one, or display face: undecided, chosen at the design-system gate; serif/sans/mono, weight usage, size contrast
• Spacing philosophy - dense/airy, base unit feel
• Component style - rounded/sharp, bordered/filled, elevated/flat

Example: "Dark neo-brutalist interface with bold monospace type, fluorescent chartreuse accents, generous whitespace, raw-edged components with offset shadows."

Self-check: read your thesis back. If any of the four areas is missing or vague ("nice typography"), rewrite it before presenting.

Guessability test: could someone write this thesis from the product category alone (a fintech gets navy and a clean sans, a design studio gets an editorial serif on paper)? Then it is the category's default, not a decision: rewrite it from what is true of this product.

Interaction Thesis

A single sentence that captures the motion and interaction language. Must explicitly address all four:

• Timing range - fast (100-200ms), medium (200-400ms), or slow (400ms+)
• Hover behavior - what happens on hover
• Scroll behavior - reveals, parallax, or nothing
• Forbidden patterns - what this project will NOT do

Example: "Fast and dry transitions (100-200ms), hover with subtle scale (1.02), scroll-triggered reveals with stagger, no bounce or elastic - all sharp ease-out."

Cross-platform thesis examples:

• "This Compose hero will use a SharedTransitionLayout with a spring(stiffness=Spring.StiffnessMedium, dampingRatio=0.85) for a fluid card-to-detail transition."
• "This SwiftUI tab transition will use matchedGeometryEffect with a .smooth spring (response: 0.5, dampingFraction: 0.85) for a tactile, spatial feel."
• "This macOS dashboard will use 100ms opacity hover states (no scale on hover, desktop subtlety) and a Cmd+1-9 keyboard shortcut to navigate panels."
• "This Android header will use an AGSL shader bound to scrollOffset for a dynamic liquid-glass effect (Android 13+, with a static fallback below)."

Self-check: read your thesis back. If you can't immediately derive the CSS/JS properties from it, it's too vague. Rewrite.

Under the two theses, one line naming what it allows. Allowed patterns: followed by every deliberate device the design relies on that a reader could take for decoration or habit: mono labels, hairline rules, a paper ground, grain, a glow, a looping animation, a code label, a live clock. Write Allowed patterns: none when there are none. The audit reads this line: a tell counts as allowed only when it is listed here, so a mood word never lets one through, and the user sees the list before saying yes.

This is the first visual gate. Offer the preview menu (see "Showing Your Work" above), then present both theses in the chosen mode. The visual thesis in particular is worth far more shown than described - "fluorescent chartreuse accents" is a guess until it sits next to the neutrals.

Wait for explicit user validation of BOTH theses before moving on. If the user pushes back, don't start over - ask what feels wrong and adjust.

The three dials (after validation)

Once both theses are validated, read three values off them. Phase 3 passes them to search.py as 1-10 dials:

Derive each value from a clause of the validated theses, never from the raw brief and never from a default. "Generous whitespace" settles density low; "fast and dry, no scroll reveals" settles motion low. A dial the theses do not settle is left out of the call entirely: an unsent dial changes nothing, a guessed one biases the lookup toward something nobody approved. Write each value down with th