design-and-refine

Design and Refine

A Claude Code plugin that helps you make confident UI design decisions through rapid iteration.

What It Does

Design and Refine generates multiple distinct UI variations for any component or page, lets you compare them side-by-side in your browser, collects your feedback on what you like about each, and synthesizes a refined version—repeating until you're confident in the result.

Instead of guessing at the right design or going back-and-forth on revisions, you see real options, pick what works, and iterate quickly.

When to Use It

• Starting a new component or page — explore different approaches before committing
• Redesigning existing UI — see alternatives to what you have today
• Stuck on a design direction — generate options when you're not sure what you want
• Getting stakeholder buy-in — show concrete variations instead of describing ideas
• Learning what works — see how different layouts, densities, and patterns feel in your actual codebase

Why Use It

1. Uses your existing design system — infers colors, typography, spacing from your Tailwind config, CSS variables, or component library
2. Generates real code — not mockups, actual working components in your framework
3. Side-by-side comparison — view all variations at /__design_lab in your dev server
4. Iterative refinement — tell it what you like about each, get a synthesized version
5. Clean handoff — outputs DESIGN_PLAN.md with implementation steps when you're done
6. No mess left behind — automatically cleans up all temporary files

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Setup

1. Add the marketplace

In Claude Code, run:

/plugin marketplace add 0xdesign/design-plugin

2. Install the plugin

/plugin install design-and-refine@design-plugins

That's it. The plugin is now available in any project.

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Usage

Start a session

/design-and-refine:start

Or with a specific target:

/design-and-refine:start ProfileCard

What happens next

1. Preflight — detects your framework (Next.js, Vite, etc.) and styling system (Tailwind, MUI, etc.)

2. Style inference — reads your existing design tokens from Tailwind config, CSS variables, or theme files

3. Interview — asks about:

   • What you're designing (component vs page, new vs redesign)
   • Pain points and what should improve
   • Visual and interaction inspiration
   • Target user and key tasks

4. Generation — creates 5 distinct variations exploring different:

   • Information hierarchy
   • Layout models (cards, lists, tables, split-pane)
   • Density (compact vs spacious)
   • Interaction patterns (modal, inline, drawer)
   • Visual expression

5. Review — open http://localhost:3000/__design_lab (or your dev server port) to see all variations side-by-side

6. Feedback — use the interactive feedback overlay or describe what you like:

   • Click "Add Feedback" to enter feedback mode
   • Click any element to leave a comment (Figma-style)
   • Click "Submit Feedback" to copy to clipboard, then paste in terminal
   • Or just describe what you like about each variation in chat

7. Iterate — repeat until you're confident

8. Finalize — all temp files are deleted, DESIGN_PLAN.md is generated with implementation steps

Clean up manually (if needed)

/design-and-refine:cleanup

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Supported Frameworks

• Next.js (App Router & Pages Router)
• Vite (React, Vue)
• Remix
• Astro
• Create React App

Supported Styling

• Tailwind CSS
• CSS Modules
• Material UI (MUI)
• Chakra UI
• Ant Design
• styled-components
• Emotion

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Interactive Feedback

The Design Lab includes a Figma-style feedback overlay for precise comments:

1. Enter feedback mode — click the "💬 Add Feedback" button (bottom-right)
2. Click any element — a comment panel appears near your click
3. Type your feedback — "Make this button larger" or "Love this spacing"
4. Save — click Save or press ⌘+Enter
5. Repeat — add comments to multiple elements across different variants
6. Submit — fill in "Overall Direction" and click "Submit Feedback"
7. Paste — the formatted feedback is copied to clipboard, paste it in your terminal

Claude receives structured feedback with element selectors, so it knows exactly which elements you're referring to.

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Tips for Best Results

Be specific in the interview. The more context you give about pain points, target users, and inspiration, the more distinct and useful the variations will be.

Reference products you admire. "Like Linear's density" or "Stripe's clarity" gives Claude concrete direction.

Don't settle on round one. The synthesis step is where it gets good—describe what you like about each variant and let it combine them.

Keep your dev server running. The plugin won't start it for you (that would block). Just have it running in another terminal.