Retool UI Skills

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

When to Apply

Reference these guidelines when:

• Building light-mode interfaces

• Creating Retool-inspired design systems

• Implementing UIs with Inter font and 4px grid

Colors

• SHOULD use light backgrounds for primary surfaces

• MUST use #E3E6D7 as page background (surface-base )

• MUST use #80AEF2 for primary actions and focus states (accent )

• SHOULD reduce color palette (currently 21 colors detected)

• MUST maintain text contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for accessibility

Semantic Tokens

Token HEX RGB Usage

surface-base

#E3E6D7 rgb(227,230,215) Page background

surface-raised

#081319 rgb(8,19,25) Cards, modals, raised surfaces

surface-overlay

#3469F5 rgb(52,105,245) Overlays, tooltips, dropdowns

text-primary

#80AEF2 rgb(128,174,242) Headings, body text

text-secondary

#A49369 rgb(164,147,105) Secondary, muted text

text-tertiary

#646560 rgb(100,101,96) Additional text

border-default

#255DF1 rgb(37,93,241) Subtle borders, dividers

accent

#80AEF2 rgb(128,174,242) Primary actions, links, focus

warning

#9B7C4A rgb(155,124,74) Warning states, cautions

Typography

• MUST use Inter as primary font family

• SHOULD use single font family for consistency

• MUST use 54px / 700 for primary headings

• MUST use 19px / 500 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 54px 700 #C4C6BC 1

text-45px

Inter 45px 500 #6E6E6B 1

text-45px

Inter 45px 500 #C2C3BD 1

text-38px

Inter 38px 500 #B5B6AF 1

text-38px

Inter 38px 500 #6C6C69 1

text-36px

Inter 36px 500 #AFB0A9 1

text-36px

Inter 36px 500 #767673 1

text-36px

Inter 36px 500 #CECFC7 1

body

Inter 19px 500 #BDBEB8 1

body-secondary

Inter 18px 400 #7F7F7D 1

Typography Reference

Font Families:

• Inter (used 40x)

Font Sizes: 7px, 8px, 9px, 10px, 11px, 12px, 13px, 14px, 15px, 16px, 18px, 19px, 36px, 38px, 45px, 54px

Spacing

• MUST use 4px grid for spacing

• SHOULD use spacing from scale: 1px, 2px, 3px, 4px, 5px, 15px, 24px, 35px

• SHOULD use 2px 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: 2px, 3px, 4px, 19px, 32px, 99px

• SHOULD use 32px+ radius for pill-shaped elements

• SHOULD limit border widths to: 1px, 4px

• SHOULD use 32px 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: 2px, 3px, 4px, 19px, 32px, 99px

Layout

• MUST design for 1920px base viewport width

• SHOULD use consistent element widths: 8px, 11px, 7px, 6px, 1364px

• 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: 900px

• Main Content: width: 1307px, height: 661px

• Main Content: width: 1364px, height: 702px

• Header: height: 88px

Components

Buttons

Variant Background Text Border Height Radius

Ghost transparent #80AEF2 none

Interactive States

Focus

• MUST use 2px outline with accent color (#80AEF2 )

• MUST use 2px outline-offset

• NEVER remove focus indicators

Hover

• Buttons (primary): lighten background by 10%

• Buttons (secondary): use #081319 background

• List items: use #081319 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