ui-skills-root

Use it when:: You start UI work and want the agent to pull in only the UI guidance the task needs.
It does:: Checks the task is UI work, picks a category, lists its skills with npx ui-skills and loads the narrowest ones.
You get:: One skill by default, two when the task has two clear angles, three at most for broad reviews or redesigns.
Needs:: Node.js, to run npx ui-skills.

TL;DR

The routing layer of UI Skills, ibelick's registry of skills for design engineers, and the skill that npx ui-skills start shows. When an agent in Codex, Cursor or Claude Code has a UI goal, it first decides whether the task is UI-related and returns 'no skill needed' if not, asking one short question when the goal is unclear. It then identifies the likely category, inspects it with the ui-skills CLI, and loads only the skills it selects, by slug. It routes by topic, then stack, then specificity: specific skills over broad ones, framework-specific ones when the stack is obvious, and the narrowest craft, visual or layout skill for quick cleanups. With that context loaded, it implements the change.

Summarizes the skill at 00db7d6.

npx skills add https://github.com/ibelick/ui-skills --skill ui-skills-root

skills.sh page Source on GitHub All skills from ibelick/ui-skills

Total Downloads: 8,100 on skills.sh, Nov 9, 2026
Repo stars: 10,844 ibelick/ui-skills
First seen: Jun 14, 2026 on skills.sh

Weekly Downloads

552

+20% over the 8 weeks to Nov 9

Weekly values

Week to	Installs
Sep 21	461
Sep 28	470
Oct 5	427
Oct 12	401
Oct 19	439
Oct 26	462
Nov 2	422
Nov 9	552

Category	category:skill-tools category:design category:software-engineering Find, write, vet and route to other skills. Taste for interfaces that don't look generated: direction, motion and accessibility. Everything for building software: planning, coding, debugging, design, frameworks, cloud, agents and skills.
Type	type:router An entry point that picks and loads other skills. Retired skills that only redirect count as routers.
Effect	effect:none Adds no side effects of its own. It shapes how the agent thinks, writes or reviews. Guidelines and routers are always effect:none, even when the task they support edits code.
Needs	needs:cli A specific command-line tool or desktop app must be installed, such as gh, agent-browser, LibreOffice, Obsidian or a vendor CLI.
Publisher	by:official A verified publisher on skills.sh, or the company or maintainer behind the product the skill operates.
Topics	skill-discovery design

SKILL.md

From ibelick/ui-skills at 00db7d6. Checked daily, last changed Nov 6, 2026.

Frontmatter

name: ui-skills-root
description: Use before UI-related work to select the smallest useful UI Skills context through the ui-skills CLI.
license: MIT
metadata:
  author: ibelick
  version: "1.0.0"

UI Skills Root

You are the routing layer for UI Skills.

This skill is shown by npx ui-skills start and is also available in the registry.

Use it when an agent in Codex, Cursor, or Claude Code has a clear UI goal.

If the goal is unclear, ask one short question.

If the goal is clear, choose the right category, load the smallest useful skill context, then implement.

Protocol

decide if the task is UI-related
if not, return no skill needed
identify the likely category
inspect that category with the CLI
select the smallest useful skill set
load only selected skill(s)
implement using that context

CLI

npx ui-skills start
npx ui-skills categories
npx ui-skills list --category <category>
npx ui-skills get <slug>

Selection Rules

Prefer 1 skill.

Use 2 only when the task needs two clear angles.

Use 3 only for broad review, redesign, or multi-surface work.

Never use more than 3.

Route by topic, then stack, then specificity.

Prefer specific skills over broad skills.

Prefer framework-specific skills when the stack is obvious.

For quick cleanup, prefer the most specific craft, visual, or layout skill available.

If unsure, inspect categories and pick the safest narrow skill.