premium-saas-stack

Premium SaaS Stack — the bounded menu

One-line model: "Premium" is ~70% token discipline, 20% layout, 10% effects — no library sells you the vibe (Linear/Vercel ship zero 3D and almost no effects). So this skill locks a small vetted menu per layer. You COMPOSE from the menus; the union of menus IS the scope. Stay inside → output is premium by construction. Step outside → that's drift, and it's a gated decision, not a default.

This is a capability registry for taste, not code: the menus are the registry, the scope fence is the drift-gate. Lead with Layer 0 (tokens) — skipping it and reaching for effects is the #1 way "premium" collapses into "generic dark theme with a glow on it."

When to use / when not

• Use for: dark/premium marketing or product-marketing surfaces (landing, hero, feature sections, pricing), picking the animation/shader/particle/scroll stack, or auditing a build for "why doesn't this feel premium."
• Not for: light-mode/illustrative brand sites, dashboards/app UI (different rules — no smooth-scroll, no ambient effects), copywriting/conversion strategy, or the harvest/scraper tooling (that's a separate concern; scraped assets are reference only — never ship third-party SVG/Lottie verbatim; clean-rebuild).

The one law (the scope fence — load-bearing)

Compose only from the locked menus below. Introducing any library, font, effect, or color outside a menu is DRIFT — stop and treat it as a registry change (justify it, then add it to the menu), never a silent one-off. A second hard rule: restraint budgets are part of the menu (e.g. one accent, ≤2 ambient effects per viewport). Exceeding a budget is the same as escaping scope. This is what keeps "recompose freely" from degrading into "kitchen-sink and generic."

Decision procedure (the output)

Produce a concrete stack by resolving, in order:

1. Pick the genre tier — gates which layers are even allowed:
   • Tier 1 · Restraint/Editorial (Linear, Vercel, Resend): tokens + type + whitespace + grain. NO 3D, ≤1 ambient effect, reserved motion. Hardest to copy — it's discipline.
   • Tier 2 · Atmospheric (daytona, Supabase, most YC dev tools): Tier 1 + one ambient background + a couple component idioms (animated diagram, marquee, count-up) + scroll reveals. Default target.
   • Tier 3 · Immersive/3D (awwwards/agency/launch): Tier 2 + WebGL shaders or Three.js/Spline + heavier scrollytelling. Highest wow, easiest to over-do.
2. Pick the framework — the deciding fork (each menu is tagged [agnostic] HTML/CSS/JS or [react]):
   • Agnostic (HTML/CSS/SVG/JS) — the default lean; ~90% of Tier 1–2 is reachable in pure CSS+SVG.
   • React/Next — unlocks the shadcn/Magic UI/Aceternity copy-paste ecosystem.
3. Fill each layer slot from its menu (respecting the tier gate + budgets).
4. Run the Premium self-check (the observable gate at the bottom). Revise every FAIL before shipping.

When in doubt, ship Tier 2 · Agnostic — it's the daytona target and the safest premium default.

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Layer 0 — Tokens & type (ALL tiers · the real source of premium)

Non-negotiable. This layer alone separates "expensive" from "generic." Lock:

Token	Locked rule	Picks
Canvas	near-black, never #000	#0a0a0a (warm-neutral) or #010102 (blue-cast, Linear)
Accent	exactly one saturated hue, used ONLY on CTA / status dot / focus ring	violet #5e6ad2 · electric green · cyan. No second chromatic color.
Elevation	surface ladder, not drop shadows — 4 steps	#0f1011 → #141516 → #18191a → #191a1b
Borders	hairlines at white 6–10% opacity — present but weightless	—
Type	one tight grotesque + one mono sibling; negative tracking -0.02 to -0.04em on display	Geist + Geist Mono (free) · Inter Display + JetBrains Mono
Space	8pt grid; 96–128px section padding (generous = confident)	—
Radius	sharp or minimal	0–8px (one pill scale for CTAs is allowed)

Token starter files (paste-ready hex/font/spacing): shadcn.io/design/linear and /design/vercel (DESIGN.md).

Layer 1 — Layout (ALL tiers)

• Hero — pick ONE: product-UI-as-hero (choreographed app UI) · code-snippet hero (dev tools) · interactive-demo hero (live query/command). Must load < 1s; one primary CTA.
• Features: bento grid — size = hierarchy (one 2×2 hero cell, 1×1 supporting); uniform gutters; reflow-don't-shrink on mobile. [agnostic] CSS grid · [react] Magic UI / Aceternity blocks.
• Optional (Tier 2+): ONE scrollytelling sticky-canvas moment — used sparingly (it torches Core Web Vitals if overused).
• Pricing = 3 columns, minimal. Logo cloud above the fold.
• Reference galleries: Land-Book, SaaS Pages, SaaSFrame.

Layer 2 — Background / surface effects (Tier 1: grain only · Tier 2+: grain + ONE ambient)

Budget: ≤ 2 ambient effects per viewport. Grain is the always-on premium texture; everything else is one pick.

Slot	Pick	Framework
Grain/noise (always-on)	inline <svg feTurbulence> data-URI, mix-blend-mode:overlay, opacity ~0.03	[agnostic] · [react] shadcn Grain
ONE ambient bg (Tier 2+)	mesh-gradient @paper-design/shaders (vanilla and react, zero-dep) · OR aurora (layered radial-gradient, animate transform not stops) · OR dot/retro grid	[agnostic]+[react]
Card depth	surface-ladder + hairline (Tier 1) · OR glass (backdrop-filter:blur + 1px chroma border)	[agnostic] · [react] Glin UI
Accent glow	conic/radial gradient in OKLCH, low opacity	[agnostic]

Layer 3 — Motion & scroll (ALL tiers)

Rule: reserved motion. Spring physics, NOT default ease/linear (the Linear signature). Always gate on prefers-reduced-motion.

Slot	Pick	Framework
Smooth scroll	Lenis (~4kb) — marketing pages only, never dashboards	[agnostic] (+ lenis/react)
Scroll-bound	GSAP ScrollTrigger (now free) for pin/scrub/reveal · OR native CSS scroll-driven animations for simple fade/parallax	[agnostic]
Component motion	Motion (ex-Framer-Motion) — spring transitions, layout animations	[react]

Sync note: when using Lenis + GSAP, drive Lenis from gsap.ticker and lenis.on('scroll', ScrollTrigger.update).

Layer 4 — Component idioms (Tier 2+ · the "daytona vocabulary")

Pick only the idioms the page actually needs. Each: [react] = Magic UI / Aceternity; [agnostic] = rebuild with GSAP/CSS + SVG (an animated beam is just an SVG cubic-bezier + a traveling gradient).

Idiom	[react]	[agnostic]
Animated connector / beam	Magic UI AnimatedBeam	SVG bezier + gradient-flow CSS, or GSAP MotionPath
Orbiting icons / integration hub	OrbitingCircles	CSS orbital
Logo marquee	Marquee	CSS keyframe marquee
Terminal / code window	Terminal (typewriter)	GSAP SplitText typewriter
Count-up metric	NumberTicker	small JS lerp
Node graph / DAG	React Flow (@xyflow/react)	VizCraft / Svelte Flow
Globe + arcs	Aceternity Globe	cobe / three-globe
SVG draw-on / morph	—	GSAP DrawSVG / MorphSVG (free) · Vivus · anime.js v4

Layer 5 — Particles · cursor · kinetic text (the most-used families)

Budgets: ≤ 1 particle field per page (FPS-capped); cursor effects gated on pointer:fine; one signature text reveal, not on every heading.

Slot	Pick	Framework
Particles (2D ambient / confetti)	tsParticles — canvas, @tsparticles/slim default; presets: links/confetti/fireworks/ribbons	[agnostic] (+ @tsparticles/react)
Particles (GPU 3D field) → Tier 3 only	R3F + shaders (bufferGeometry/FBO) · Three-VFX / threeparticles (WebGPU)	[react]/[agnostic]
Cursor / micro-interaction	mouse-animations (<5kb: magnetic, tilt, spotlight, trail, parallax)	[agnostic]
Magnetic (React)	use-magnetic (1.3kb, a11y-first) · shadcn tilt/spotlight buttons	[react]
Kinetic text	GSAP SplitText (free, the standard; masking, autoSplit) · Griffo (kerning-aware) · Motion splitText (0.7kb)	[agnostic]/[react]

Pick a small set of reveal styles (fade · blur · clip-mask stagger) and reuse them — variety reads as noise.

Layer 6 — 3D / WebGL (Tier 3 ONLY · max 1–2 per page)

• 2.5D shader background (mid-weight, high ROI — the "wow" without 3D models): @paper-design/shaders [agnostic+react] · Unicorn Studio (no-code WebGL, layer editor) · Vanta.js (quick 3D bg).
• Full 3D scene (heavy): Three.js / React Three Fiber + Drei, authored visually in Spline (exports React/vanilla/iframe). Cap pixel ratio (dpr=[1,1.5]), lazy-load, provide a CSS fallback.
• Honesty rule: full 3D is a different genre, not what makes Linear/Vercel/daytona premium. Don't reach for Tier 3 to rescue a weak Tier-1/2 surface — fix the tokens first.

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The two locked default stacks (canonical compositions)

Agnostic · Tier 2 (the daytona default): Geist + Geist Mono · CSS-var tokens · CSS bento · feTurbulence grain + paper-design/shaders mesh · Lenis + GSAP (ScrollTrigger / SplitText / DrawSVG) · tsParticles · mouse-animations. (Tier 3 adds: Vanta or three.js.)

React · Tier 2: shadcn + Geist · Tailwind tokens · Magic UI / Aceternity (idioms + effects) · Motion + Lenis + GSAP · @tsparticles/react + use-magnetic · @paper-design/shaders-react. *(Tier 3 adds: R3F + Drei

• Spline.)*

Premium self-check (the gate — audit before shipping; revise every FAIL)

Observable, countable criteria — not vibes:

1. Canvas is near-black, not #000; exactly one accent hue, and it appears ONLY on CTA / status / focus.
2. Display type carries negative tracking AND a mono sibling is present.
3. Section padding ≥ 96px; every border is ≤ white 10%; elevation uses the surface ladder (no heavy drop shadows).
4. ≤ 2 ambient background effects in any one viewport; grain present.
5. Every animation is spring/eased (no default-linear) and respects prefers-reduced-motion; cursor effects gated on pointer:fine.
6. Tier gate honored (no 3D in Tier 1/2; ≤ 1 particle field; ≤ 1–2 3D scenes in Tier 3).
7. No library/font/color used that isn't in a menu — or, if there is, it was a logged registry change, not a one-off.

If any item FAILS, the surface is off-scope or off-premium. Fix tokens/budgets first, effects last.

Anti-patterns (these kill "premium")

• ❌ Pure #000 canvas · ❌ a second accent color · ❌ default letter-spacing on display type · ❌ rounded-everything · ❌ 3+ stacked background effects · ❌ default-ease/linear motion · ❌ reaching for 3D to rescue weak tokens · ❌ a different reveal style on every heading · ❌ shipping a scraped third-party asset verbatim (IP — rebuild clean) · ❌ adding a library outside the menu without gating it (silent drift).

What this skill does NOT cover

Copywriting / conversion-rate strategy · backend / data · dashboards & in-app UI (different motion + density rules) · light-mode or illustrative brand systems · the scraper/harvest pipeline · accessibility beyond the motion/pointer gates named above (do a full a11y pass separately).

Optimization log & open questions

• Seed menus derived from 2026-06 EXA research (Linear/Vercel/Stripe teardowns, bento/scrollytelling guides, GSAP/Lenis 2026 stack, paper-design/shaders, tsParticles, mouse-animations, GSAP SplitText) + a live recon of daytona.io (Framer + Lottie, Tier 2, near-black + single accent).
• Open: lock a default font license set for commercial use; decide whether Rive earns a slot for interactive state-machine motion; add a measured perf budget (LCP/CLS) per tier.