Scan Design System

Quick Summary

Goal: Scan project for design system artifacts → populate docs/​project-reference/​design-system/​README.md with overview, app-to-documentation mapping, design token inventory, and component catalog. (read directly when relevant; do not rely on hook-injected conversation text)

Workflow:

1. Classify — Detect design system type and approach before scanning
2. Scan — Parallel sub-agents discover structure, components, tokens
3. Report — Write findings incrementally to report file
4. Generate — Build/​update reference doc from report
5. Fresh-Eyes — Round 2 verification validates paths and token values

Key Rules:

• Generic — works with any design system approach
• Discover organization dynamically from file system MUST ATTENTION detect design system TYPE first — agent emphasis depends on type
• Every reference must point to real files — NEVER fabricate component names or token values

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Scan Design System

Phase 0: Classify Design System Type

Before any other step, run in parallel:

1. Read docs/​project-reference/​design-system/​README.md

   • Detect mode: Init (placeholder) or Sync (populated)
   • In Sync mode: extract section list → skip re-scanning well-documented sections

2. Detect design system type:

1. Resolve config-driven paths from docs/​project-config.json:

   • designSystem.canonicalDoc — single source of truth for new code
   • designSystem.tokenFiles — drop-in token files
   • Read these names from config — content varies per project; never hardcode them.

2. Check for app-specific design docs in the same directory

Evidence gate: Confidence <60% on design system type → report uncertainty, proceed with Agent 1 (structure) only.

Phase 1: Plan

Create TaskCreate entries for each sub-agent and each verification step. Do not start Phase 2 without tasks created.

Phase 2: Execute Scan (Parallel Sub-Agents)

Launch 3 general-purpose sub-agents in parallel. Each MUST:

• Write findings incrementally after each category — NEVER batch at end
• Cite file:line for every finding
• Confidence: >80% document; 60-80% note as "observed (unverified)"; <60% omit

All findings → plans/​reports/​scan-design-system-{YYMMDD}-{HHMM}-report.md

Agent 1: Design System Structure

Think: How is the design system organized? What's the canonical doc? What's the token chain? Which apps have design docs and which don't?

• Glob for docs/​project-reference/​design-system/​** to map all design docs
• Find design token files (CSS custom properties, SCSS variables, JSON tokens)
• Discover Storybook stories (*.stories.ts, *.stories.tsx, *.stories.mdx)
• Find component library entry points (index files, barrel exports)
• Map app-to-design-doc relationships
• Verify canonical doc at {docsPath}/​{canonicalDoc} has expected sections. Flag missing sections.
• Verify token files at {docsPath}/​{tokenFiles[i]} exist and contain variable declarations. Flag empty/​missing.

Agent 2: Component Inventory

Think: What dimensions define a complete component inventory? Consider: Discoverability (can I find it?), Categorization (what type?), Variant coverage (size/​color/​state?), Accessibility (ARIA/​keyboard?), Documentation completeness (JSDoc/​README/​Storybook?), Icon/​asset library coverage.

For each dimension, derive the specific grep/​glob patterns from what the project actually uses — do NOT hardcode Angular/​React/​Vue-specific patterns unless confirmed.

• Find reusable UI components (shared component directories, exported components)
• Find component categories (layout, forms, feedback, navigation, data display)
• Discover component variants (size, color, state variations)
• Find icon sets or asset libraries
• Look for accessibility patterns (ARIA roles, keyboard support)
• Find documentation for individual components

Agent 3: Token & Component Source Discovery

Think: What design tokens actually exist in source code (not just what's documented)? Which are declarations (authoritative) vs usages (derived)?

Source scope (whitelist, not full repo):

• src/​**/​styles/​**/​*.{scss,css}, src/​**/​themes/​**/​*.{scss,css}, src/​**/​tokens/​**/​*.{scss,css}
• src/​**/​*.scss ONLY when path contains theme, token, palette, design, style-guide, or variables
• Exclude node_modules, dist, .nx, coverage, component-local styles

Discovery rules (declarations only, NOT usages):

• CSS custom properties (declarations): --[a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9_-]*\s*: — capture LHS only, dedupe
• SCSS variable declarations: ^\s*\$[a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9_-]*\s*: — anchor to start-of-line
• Color values used ≥3 times across whitelist (hex, rgb, hsl)
• Spacing scale (declarations): (padding|margin|gap)\s*:\s*[\d.]+(px|rem|em) — extract values, dedupe
• Typography (declarations): (font-family|font-size|font-weight)\s*: — extract RHS, dedupe
• Breakpoints: @media[^{]*\((min|max)-width:\s*[\d.]+(px|em|rem)\) — extract widths, dedupe

Categorise: Colors / Typography / Spacing / Breakpoints / Z-Index / Elevation / Component-prefixes / Other. Persist incrementally — append to report after each category. Quality gate: If a category has <3 unique entries OR >200 entries, log "scope too narrow/​broad — manual refinement required".

Phase 3: Analyze & Generate

Read report. Build target sections.

Round 1 (main agent): Build section drafts from report findings.

Round 2 (fresh sub-agent, zero memory): Independently verifies:

• All doc paths exist on filesystem (Glob check — not just "looks right")
• All token values are from actual declarations, not usages or fabricated
• Component names in inventory match actual files (Grep check)
• Gap Analysis section present (what's missing, not just what exists)

Target Sections

Authoring (init mode only)

When init mode detected (canonical doc missing or placeholder):

1. Author {docsPath}/​{canonicalDoc} from Agent 3 findings:
   • Prepend regen marker: <!-- Generated by /​scan-design-system on YYYY-MM-DD; refine sections manually -->
   • Sections: Foundations, Tokens, Components, Patterns, Accessibility, Adoption Strategy
2. Author each {docsPath}/​{tokenFiles[i]} from grouped declarations:
   • First: REMOVE PLACEHOLDER_MARKER_SCSS sentinel before writing real tokens
   • .scss: SCSS variable block per category + CSS custom property mirrors in :root {}
   • Categories: Colors, Typography, Spacing, Breakpoints, Z-Index, Elevation/​Shadow
3. Preserve manual content in sync mode — DO NOT overwrite populated doc/​token file

Phase 4: Write & Verify

1. Write updated doc with <!-- Last scanned: YYYY-MM-DD --> at top
2. Surgical update only — preserve unchanged sections
3. Verify config-driven paths: {docsPath}/​{canonicalDoc} and every {docsPath}/​{tokenFiles[i]}
4. Verify (Glob): ALL component paths in inventory exist — not just 3
5. Verify (Grep): Token names in doc match actual declarations in source
6. Verify: Gap Analysis section present
7. Report: sections updated / unchanged / gaps documented / canonical + token presence

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[IMPORTANT] Use TaskCreate to break ALL work into small tasks BEFORE starting — including tasks per file read. Prevents context loss from long files. Simple tasks: ask user whether to skip.

Prerequisites: MUST ATTENTION READ before executing:

<!-- SYNC:critical-thinking-mindset -->

Critical Thinking Mindset — Every claim needs traced proof, confidence >80% to act. Anti-hallucination: Never present guess as fact — cite sources, admit uncertainty, self-check output, cross-reference independently. Certainty without evidence = root of all hallucination.

<!-- /​SYNC:critical-thinking-mindset --> <!-- SYNC:scan-and-update-reference-doc -->

Scan & Update Reference Doc — Surgical updates only, NEVER full rewrite.

1. Read existing doc first — understand structure and manual annotations
2. Detect mode: Placeholder (headings only) → Init. Has content → Sync.
3. Scan codebase (grep/​glob) for current patterns
4. Diff findings vs doc — identify stale sections only
5. Update ONLY diverged sections. Preserve manual annotations.
6. Update metadata (date, version) in frontmatter/​header
7. NEVER rewrite entire doc. NEVER remove sections without evidence obsolete.

<!-- /​SYNC:scan-and-update-reference-doc --> <!-- SYNC:output-quality-principles -->

Output Quality — Token efficiency without sacrificing quality.

1. No inventories/​counts — stale instantly
2. No directory trees — use 1-line path conventions
3. No TOCs — AI reads linearly
4. One example per pattern — only if non-obvious
5. Lead with answer, not reasoning
6. Sacrifice grammar for concision in reports
7. Unresolved questions at end

<!-- /​SYNC:output-quality-principles --> <!-- SYNC:ai-mistake-prevention -->

AI Mistake Prevention — Failure modes to avoid:

Verify AI-generated content against actual code. AI hallucinates component names/​token values. Grep to confirm existence before documenting. NEVER invent variable values, hex colors, or mixin signatures. Grep to confirm before documenting. Trace full dependency chain after edits. Always trace full chain. Surface ambiguity before coding. NEVER pick silently.

<!-- /​SYNC:ai-mistake-prevention --> <!-- SYNC:scan-and-update-reference-doc:reminder -->

IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION read existing doc first, scan codebase, diff, surgical update only. Never rewrite entire doc.

<!-- /​SYNC:scan-and-update-reference-doc:reminder --> <!-- SYNC:output-quality-principles:reminder -->

IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION output quality: no counts/​trees/​TOCs, 1 example per pattern, lead with answer.

<!-- /​SYNC:output-quality-principles:reminder --> <!-- SYNC:critical-thinking-mindset:reminder -->

MUST ATTENTION apply critical thinking — every claim needs traced proof, confidence >80% to act. Anti-hallucination: never present guess as fact.

<!-- /​SYNC:critical-thinking-mindset:reminder --> <!-- SYNC:ai-mistake-prevention:reminder -->

MUST ATTENTION apply AI mistake prevention — holistic-first debugging, fix at responsible layer, surface ambiguity before coding, re-read files after compaction.

<!-- /​SYNC:ai-mistake-prevention:reminder -->

Closing Reminders

IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION break work into small TaskCreate tasks BEFORE starting IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION detect design system TYPE in Phase 0 — agent emphasis depends on it IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION NEVER invent variable values, hex colors, or mixin signatures — Grep to confirm IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION sub-agents write findings incrementally after each category — NEVER batch at end IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION Gap Analysis section is mandatory — document what's missing, not just what exists IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION when Round 1 finds issues, Round 2 fresh-eyes after fixing validates paths and token values. Clean Round 1 ENDS the scan.

Anti-Rationalization:

[TASK-PLANNING] Before acting, analyze task scope and break into small todo tasks and sub-tasks using TaskCreate.