Expert judgment, repeatable implementation.
Design quality, durable decisions, private learning, updates, and the honest boundaries around each one.
What is StyleSeed's goal — does it replace designers?
StyleSeed aims to make expert design judgment repeatable by coding agents, not replace experts with aesthetic preferences. People own intent, tradeoffs, and acceptance. The current engine compiles selected rules, preserves project choices, and supports implementation checks; passing those checks does not establish expert-level quality.
Can it work with our existing design system?
Preserving an approved system is a product priority, not a promise of universal import today. Start from the project's real components, semantic tokens, and decisions. Where the engine cannot express them, report the mismatch instead of silently choosing a StyleSeed preset. Component-contract integration and independent quality evaluation are planned research.
My app looks generic / AI-generated — how do I fix it?
StyleSeed fixes generic, “AI-slop” UI with 74 design rules covering color discipline, spacing rhythm, hierarchy, elevation, and motion. Install the project entry or invoke the installed StyleSeed workflow so Claude Code, Codex, or Cursor actually loads those rules for visual work. Instead of defaulting to slate neutrals and 8px radius on everything, the workflow pushes the output toward one intentional system. It's MIT-licensed and free.
I applied StyleSeed but the design still looks bad / colors are random / there's no key color — what do I do?
Consistency comes from constraints, and the one-paste prompt is the least-constrained path. Fix it in five steps. 1) Select the output grammar and surface adapter before code. 2) Lock a primary action color and define stable roles for any additional hues. 3) If you have references that StyleSeed does not model, run /ss-reference instead of copying them. 4) Install the provider's project entry or invoke the installed StyleSeed skill so visual work reads STYLESEED.md. 5) Run /ss-score, then render and inspect with /ss-verify; the reference demo was not one-shot either.
Why does the same prompt give a great result one time and a generic one the next?
A prompt alone may leave important decisions implicit, and models can still vary even with the same context. Record the approved system, load the relevant rules and implementation material, and inspect the result. More constraints are not automatically better: task fit, correct components, meaningful states, and human review matter alongside consistency.
Why does every shadcn app look the same, and how do I make mine different?
Unmodified shadcn converges on a “fingerprint”: slate/zinc neutrals, Inter at default sizes, 8px radius everywhere, a default primary. StyleSeed breaks that fingerprint with rules and 7 brand skins (Toss, Stripe, Linear, Notion, Raycast, Arc, Vercel) so your AI-built app gets a committed accent, a real type pairing, and a signature look — not the default.
How do I make my app look like Linear (or Stripe / Notion / Vercel)?
StyleSeed ships 7 brand skins — including Linear, Stripe, Notion, Vercel, Raycast, Arc, and Toss — that encode each product's neutrals, radius, type, density, and motion as rules your agent applies. Ask Claude Code, Codex, or Cursor to build “in the Linear skin” and you get the dense, monochrome, intentional look instead of a generic approximation.
How do I give Claude Code, Codex, or Cursor a design system so it stops making ugly UI?
StyleSeed is a design-method engine for that job. Its core ships 8 output grammars, 5 surface adapters, 48 React components, 7 brand skins, a router, and 22 canonical ss-* workflows. STYLESEED.md preserves bounded project decisions; installed project instructions and StyleSeed skills re-read it for visual work instead of reinventing spacing, colors, type, and motion.
Should I use StyleSeed or Anthropic's official frontend-design skill with Claude Code?
Use either or both based on the job. Anthropic's frontend-design skill is strong for choosing and executing a distinctive frontend direction. StyleSeed adds job-specific output grammars, persistent project decisions, reference compilation, a code score, and rendered pixel verification. They are complementary; StyleSeed is independent and is not an official Anthropic product.
Does it work with Codex / AGENTS.md (not just Claude Code and Cursor)?
Yes. StyleSeed ships an AGENTS.md entry point plus a repository .agents/skills bridge for Codex-facing workflows. Codex uses $ss-* calls or its skills picker, while Claude Code uses /ss-* calls; both resolve to the same canonical design engine and project-local STYLESEED.md lock. A fresh agent session should be started after installation if skill discovery is stale.
Can StyleSeed learn from corrections made by a designer?
An optional repository-only extension can, but it is not part of the core or public npx installation. With caller-attested review, $ss-learn turns an accepted correction into a generalized local candidate. Capture, review, packaging, bridge exposure, and promotion are separate decisions; one candidate never becomes a team or core rule automatically.
Does $ss-learn upload my code, prompts, screenshots, or brand data?
No automatic upload exists. The repository-only learning contract rejects project code, prompt text, screenshots, URLs, local paths, brand tokens, and arbitrary extra fields. Its scanner is a guardrail, not an anonymization guarantee, so review the exact package before exposure. The development bridge stays disabled until a host-owned proof adapter is verified; enabling it would reveal one exact approved package to the connected client and model after a one-time grant.
Why can $ss-update find an update when the semantic version has not changed?
StyleSeed tracks both engineVersion and engineRevision. The version names the release line; the revision hashes the exact maintained method, 23 skills, plugin boundary, and palette engine. $ss-update compares installed, project-recorded, and published revisions, then refreshes the engine and re-resolves the project lock without replacing project-owned code or design decisions.
Is the StyleSeed Codex plugin available in a public plugin directory?
Not yet. The repository contains a development Codex package with 23 core skills, but public directory release is not verified. The default/core package contains neither ss-learn nor a learning MCP. Public installation remains npx skills add bitjaru/styleseed until a plugin-directory build is independently verified and released there.
Installing the skills asks for permission or gets blocked — is that normal? Do I even need them?
Yes, that's normal and expected: the /ss-* skills are executable, so your agent asks you to trust them once on first use — the same approval any third-party skill needs (good security), not a StyleSeed-specific block. But you don't need the skills at all. StyleSeed's core is the rules — plain markdown (CLAUDE.md / AGENTS.md / DESIGN-LANGUAGE.md) — which install with zero permissions. Paste the one-sentence prompt, or copy those files in, and you already get the design judgment. The skills are just optional automation on top.
Does it handle UX writing / microcopy too, or just visuals?
Both. StyleSeed covers verbal judgment as well as visual — buttons that name the action (“Send $2,400”, not “Submit”), error messages that help instead of blame (“Check the card number” not “Invalid input”), empty states that invite, calm money copy, one term per concept. The rules install with everything else, so your agent applies them to button labels, errors, and toasts automatically. Korean/CJK projects get writing principles grounded in Toss's published “8 Writing Principles.”
How do I make my app look more professional / polished / expensive?
Start with the task and your approved design system, then review hierarchy, typography, density, states, and responsive behavior using real content. StyleSeed supplies maintained guidance and an implementation/check loop when invoked. It does not guarantee professional quality, and a preset, extra shadow, or passing score cannot replace an expert review.
My spacing feels off and my layout looks cramped — how do I fix it?
StyleSeed enforces spatial rhythm: a consistent 8pt spacing scale, “inside vs. outside” grouping so related items sit tighter than unrelated ones, and intentional whitespace around focal elements. The agent stops emitting ad-hoc paddings, so your React or Next layout reads as deliberate and scannable rather than cramped or arbitrary.
How do I give my dashboard better visual hierarchy?
StyleSeed's hierarchy rules drive contrast through size, weight, color, and position so there's a clear focal point and scan path — plus dashboard patterns ready to use. Your Claude Code, Codex, or Cursor dashboard stops looking like a flat default admin template where every element competes for the same attention.
Why does my app look amateur or unfinished?
Missing hierarchy, inconsistent components, incomplete states, and unclear ownership can all leave a product unfinished. StyleSeed helps the agent apply recorded decisions and inspect the result. Design ownership stays with people: identify which choices need expert input rather than handing that authority to the agent or treating visual polish as automatic.
How do I stop my UI from looking like a template?
StyleSeed replaces template defaults with intentional, branded choices: a committed radius, a stable action color, a deliberate type pairing, and a coherence rule. STYLESEED.md keeps those decisions in the repo; the installed project entry or StyleSeed workflow must load the lock for later visual tasks so new screens do not silently revert to template defaults.
I'm vibe coding without a designer — how do I get good-looking UI?
You can use StyleSeed's maintained guidance as a starting point, make explicit choices, and run its implementation and visual-check workflows. Treat the result as something to review, not expert-approved output. StyleSeed is free and MIT-licensed; it helps apply recorded judgment but does not replace user research, design expertise, or final acceptance.
How do I fix too many colors / a messy palette?
StyleSeed's color-discipline rules cut your palette to one saturated accent plus semantic tokens, used sparingly and consistently. The agent stops decorating with color and starts using it to signal meaning, which is the single fastest fix for a UI that feels noisy, cheap, or off.
Is there a free / open-source design tool for AI coding agents?
Yes — StyleSeed is MIT-licensed and free. It's a design engine for Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and vibe coding that gives the agent 74 design rules, 48 React components, 7 brand skins, and a named motion system. It works with React, TypeScript, Tailwind, Radix, and shadcn/ui.