ihlamury

linear-ui-skills

Linear's UI design system. Use when building interfaces inspired by Linear's aesthetic - dark mode, Inter font, 4px grid.

ihlamury 84 12 Updated 7mo ago

Resources

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GitHub

Install

npx skillscat add ihlamury/design-skills/linear-ui-skills

Install via the SkillsCat registry.

About this skill

This skill implements Linear's UI design system, enforcing dark mode, Inter font, and a 4px grid for consistent interface development. It solves the problem of maintaining design consistency by providing predefined colors, typography, and semantic tokens. Use it when building interfaces requiring Linear's aesthetic or adhering to its accessibility and grid standards.

SKILL.md

Linear UI Skills

Opinionated constraints for building Linear-style interfaces with AI agents.

When to Apply

Reference these guidelines when:

  • Building dark-mode interfaces
  • Creating Linear-inspired design systems
  • Implementing UIs with Inter font and 4px grid

Colors

  • MUST use dark backgrounds (lightness < 20) for primary surfaces - detected lightness: 4
  • MUST use #080A0A as page background (surface-base)
  • SHOULD limit color palette to 10 distinct colors
  • MUST maintain text contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for accessibility

Semantic Tokens

Token HEX RGB Usage
surface-base #080A0A rgb(8,10,10) Page background
surface-raised #D2D2D3 rgb(210,210,211) Cards, modals, raised surfaces
surface-overlay #E3E3E6 rgb(227,227,230) Overlays, tooltips, dropdowns
text-primary #5C5C5C rgb(92,92,92) Headings, body text
text-secondary #2D2E30 rgb(45,46,48) Secondary, muted text
text-tertiary #444749 rgb(68,71,73) Additional text
border-default #B0B1B1 rgb(176,177,177) Subtle borders, dividers

Typography

  • MUST use Inter as primary font family
  • SHOULD use single font family for consistency
  • MUST use 60px / 700 for primary headings
  • MUST use 17px / 400 for body text
  • SHOULD reduce font weights (currently 4 detected)
  • MUST use text-balance for headings and text-pretty for body text
  • SHOULD use tabular-nums for numeric data
  • NEVER modify letter-spacing unless explicitly requested

Text Styles

Style Font Size Weight Color Count
heading-1 Inter 60px 700 #E2E4E3 1
body Inter 17px 400 #444749 1
body-secondary Inter 16px 400 #5C5C5C 1
body-secondary Inter 15px 500 #2D2E30 1
text-14px Inter 14px 400 #B2B3B3 1
text-13px Inter 13px 400 #4C4C4C 1
text-13px Inter 13px 400 #525355 1
text-12px Inter 12px 400 #525456 1
caption Inter 9px 400 #545557 1
label Inter 9px 400 #565759 1

Typography Reference

Font Families:

  • Inter (used 13x)

Font Sizes: 9px, 12px, 13px, 14px, 15px, 16px, 17px, 60px

Spacing

  • MUST use 4px grid for spacing
  • SHOULD use spacing from scale: 5px, 11px, 12px, 13px, 14px, 16px, 19px, 20px
  • SHOULD use 5px as default gap between elements
  • NEVER use arbitrary spacing values (use design scale)
  • SHOULD maintain consistent padding within containers

Borders

  • MUST use border-radius from scale: 6px, 8px
  • MUST use 1px border width consistently
  • SHOULD use 6px as default border-radius
  • NEVER use arbitrary border-radius values (use design scale)
  • SHOULD use subtle borders (1px) for element separation

Border Radius Reference

Scale: 6px, 8px

Layout

  • MUST design for 1920px base viewport width
  • SHOULD use consistent element widths: 52px
  • SHOULD maintain text-heavy layout with clear hierarchy
  • NEVER use h-screen, use h-dvh for full viewport height
  • MUST respect safe-area-inset for fixed elements
  • SHOULD use size-* for square elements instead of w-* + h-*

Detected Layout Patterns

  • Main Content: width: 1920px, height: 1013px
  • Header: height: 63px

Components

Buttons

Variant Background Text Border Height Radius
Ghost transparent #5C5C5C none - -

Interactive States

Focus

  • MUST use 2px outline with accent color (#5E6AD2)
  • MUST use 2px outline-offset
  • NEVER remove focus indicators

Hover

  • Buttons (primary): lighten background by 10%
  • Buttons (secondary): use #D2D2D3 background
  • List items: use #D2D2D3 background

Disabled

  • MUST use opacity: 0.5
  • MUST use cursor: not-allowed

Interaction

  • MUST use an AlertDialog for destructive or irreversible actions
  • SHOULD use structural skeletons for loading states
  • MUST show errors next to where the action happens
  • NEVER block paste in input or textarea elements
  • MUST add an aria-label to icon-only buttons

Animation

  • NEVER add animation unless it is explicitly requested
  • MUST animate only compositor props (transform, opacity)
  • NEVER animate layout properties (width, height, top, left, margin, padding)
  • SHOULD use ease-out on entrance animations
  • NEVER exceed 200ms for interaction feedback
  • SHOULD respect prefers-reduced-motion

Performance

  • NEVER animate large blur() or backdrop-filter surfaces
  • NEVER apply will-change outside an active animation
  • NEVER use useEffect for anything that can be expressed as render logic