clide/docs/claude-design

clide · design handoff

Bundle for importing into the clide repo and driving further work with Claude Code.

---

What's in here

bundle/
├─ README.md                      ← this file
├─ Wireframe.html                 ← architectural snapshot of current code
├─ Wireframe - Flows.html         ← 8 interaction storyboards
├─ Clide Hi-Fi.html               ← 3 hi-fi scenes · 4 swappable themes
├─ Clide Design System.html       ← tokens · type · components · syntax
│
├─ tokens/                        ← framework-free token exports
│  ├─ clide.yaml                  (default · cool near-black + periwinkle)
│  ├─ midnight.yaml               (VS Code-adjacent muted dark)
│  ├─ paper.yaml                  (drafting-sheet light)
│  ├─ terminal.yaml               (near-black + amber)
│  └─ clide_tokens.dart           (all four themes · pure `dart:ui`, no Material)
│
└─ png/                           ← flat renders for tickets / PRs
   ├─ wireframe-layout.png
   ├─ wireframe-flows.png
   ├─ design-system.png
   ├─ hifi-clide-main.png
   ├─ hifi-clide-editor.png
   ├─ hifi-clide-welcome.png
   ├─ hifi-midnight-main.png
   ├─ hifi-paper-main.png
   └─ hifi-terminal-main.png

All four HTML files are fully self-contained — fonts, JS, CSS inlined. Open them with any browser, commit them to the repo, or hand their paths to claude directly.

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Using this with Claude Code

Drop the bundle into the repo (e.g. docs/design/) and point Claude at it:

claude "read docs/design/README.md and docs/design/Clide\ Design\ System.html,
         then adopt the clide palette from docs/design/tokens/clide.yaml
         into our theme pipeline"

Claude Code can parse the HTML natively and see every token value, component, and layout annotation. The YAML files match the clide theme pipeline format; the Dart file is there as a convenience for literal-paste.

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Design intent, in one pass

1 · Typography

• Display — Josefin Sans 300 for titles, section heads, and the wordmark. Light weight is load-bearing; using 400+ changes the feel entirely.
• UI + code — JetBrains Mono 400/500 for everything else. Tab labels, file paths, status bar, editor. Monospace is a deliberate choice — clide is an IDE for people who like their grids.

Open question — whether UI chrome text should be mono too, or reserved for code surfaces only. The hi-fi currently runs mono across the board; swapping to a prop sans in chrome is a ~5-file edit.

2 · Layout (classicPreset)

Three columns + statusbar. Every box in the frame is a SlotHost slot populated by TabContributions sorted by priority (lower = leftmost tab).

┌────────────┬──────────────────────┬──────────────┐
│ sidebar    │ workspace            │ context      │
│ 180 px     │ flex                 │ 300 px       │
│ 160–360    │                      │ 220–420      │
├────────────┴──────────────────────┴──────────────┤
│ statusbar · 24 px                                │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Sidebar navigates via a bottom icon rail (Files / Git / pql / Problems), not tabs at the top.

See Wireframe.html for the full architectural breakdown — every red-pencil annotation cites the source file it came from.

3 · Themes

Four presets ship by default. clide is the reference — the other three are variations on the same component vocabulary, differing only in palette values.

name	bg	accent	feel
clide	#20202C	#78A0F8	cool near-black + periwinkle
midnight	#1E1E1E	#569CD6	VS Code-adjacent
paper	#F4F1EA	#C14B2A	drafting sheet · light
terminal	#0A0A0A	#E0B050	near-black + amber

All four share the same palette keys (bg, surface, border, text*, accent, ok/warn/err/info) and syntax roles. A widget written against a semantic role will render correctly in all four.

4 · Token shape

No Material wrapper. Tokens ship in two flavors — pick whichever your pipeline already handles.

YAML (preferred — matches the clide theme pipeline):

name: clide
dark: true
palette:
  bg:          "#20202C"
  bgSunken:    "#1A1A24"
  surface:     "#242838"
  surfaceHi:   "#2C3046"
  border:      "#343850"
  borderHi:    "#3C445C"
  textHi:      "#E6E8F2"
  text:        "#B1BBE3"
  textDim:     "#78809C"
  textMute:    "#545C84"
  accent:      "#78A0F8"
  accentPress: "#6C90DC"
  accentSoft:  "rgba(120,160,248,0.13)"
  onAccent:    "#0D1020"
  ok:          "#7DD3A8"
  warn:        "#E6C370"
  err:         "#E87D7D"
  info:        "#78A0F8"
syntax:
  keyword:  "#C792EA"
  type:     "#78A0F8"
  string:   "#A8D99B"
  number:   "#E6C370"
  comment:  "#545C84"
  method:   "#82B1FF"
  punct:    "#78809C"

Dart (pure dart:ui — no Flutter material/cupertino imports):

import 'tokens/clide_tokens.dart';

final theme = ClideThemes.clide;
paintWith(theme.palette.accent);
highlightWith(theme.syntax.keyword);

clide_tokens.dart declares all four themes in one file — ClideThemes.clide, .midnight, .paper, .terminal, plus .all and .defaultTheme.

5 · Palette key reference

key	role
bg	page / editor canvas
bgSunken	sidebar, gutters, anything below the main surface
surface	cards, table header, pill backgrounds
surfaceHi	hover / selected row
border	hairlines, dividers
borderHi	outlined controls, focus rings
textHi	primary text
text	secondary labels
textDim	metadata
textMute	all-caps section labels, disabled
accent	brand / primary
accentPress	pressed state
accentSoft	tinted fills (13% alpha accent)
onAccent	text on accent bg
ok/warn/err	status
info	neutral info; often === accent

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Screens in the hi-fi

#	screen	purpose
1	Main IDE · at rest	cold-start settled · all slots populated · Claude primary
2	Claude + editor reference	Claude as workspace center · pinned editor in right pane
3	Welcome · no project	first-run landing · start actions + recent projects

Open Clide Hi-Fi.html and use the floating Tweaks panel (bottom-right, toggle from the toolbar) to swap between themes live.

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Flows not yet realized

From Wireframe - Flows.html — things with commands/contracts wired but no UI yet:

• Project picker (cold start with no lastProject)
• Multi-buffer editor tabs (editor is single-buffer today)
• Toolbar slot (Slots.toolbar reserved, no preset renders it)
• Command palette keybinding (⌘⇧P not bound by default)
• Secondary Claude panes (command exists; UI wiring pending)

These are the highest-leverage next design targets.

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File integrity

All HTMLs render offline, no network required after first open. Fonts are bundled as CSS and fall back to system monospace if Josefin Sans or JetBrains Mono are blocked.

Generated by the design pass · refreshed 2026-04 · v2 (tokens-only, no Material)