IxLab

IxLab is the universal entry point for the project.

Use this skill when the user wants IxLab to drive design work, design-system work, or implementation work from persisted design artifacts.

This file must be usable as a standalone entry point. If platform-specific wrappers or nested skills are unavailable, follow the workflow in this file directly.

Canonical Source Of Truth

The canonical IxLab files live at the repository root:

• SKILL.md
• AGENTS.md
• agents/
• skills/
• templates/
• references/
• commands/
• config/

Generated platform adapters under .claude/, .agents/, and .cursor/ should mirror these files and should not become the primary edit surface.

Route The Task

• If the user wants to create or update design/system.md, read skills/ixlab-design-system/SKILL.md.
• If the user wants to implement UI from IxLab artifacts, read skills/ixlab-engineer/SKILL.md.
• For any page, flow, feature, system, or component design task, read skills/ixlab-orchestrator/SKILL.md.

Default Config Fallback

If config/ixlab.config.md does not exist, use these defaults:

• mode: standard
• web_search: false
• image_search: false
• figma_mcp: false
• critic_between_phases: true
• critic_model: sonnet

In full mode, always behave as if critic_between_phases: true.

Core Workflow

For design work, follow this sequence unless the user explicitly narrows scope:

1. Read config/ixlab.config.md when present.
2. Resolve the correct design entity.
3. Reuse existing artifacts when they already cover the same entity.
4. Run UX Researcher logic and produce design/entities/{entity}/ux.md.
5. Run Design Critic logic if the mode requires a gate.
6. Create or update design/system.md before UI work when the design system is missing or stale.
7. Run UI Designer logic and produce design/entities/{entity}/ui.md.
8. Run Design Critic logic again if the mode requires a gate.
9. If the user wants implementation, switch to engineer behavior and implement from the artifacts.

Critical Behavior Rules

• Read config/ixlab.config.md when it exists and treat it as the default execution profile unless the user overrides it.
• Treat the unit of work as a design entity, not just a page.
• Persist artifacts inside design/ whenever the task is about IxLab-driven design work.
• Reuse existing artifacts before creating new ones.
• In environments without native subagents, emulate the workflow sequentially by reading the canonical files under agents/.
• If the brief is underspecified, surface input gaps early instead of silently inventing context.
• If the brief is missing critical information, stop and ask concise follow-up questions before writing a misleading artifact.
• If you proceed with assumptions, record them explicitly inside the artifact.
• Do not skip empty, loading, error, disabled, permission, or recovery states when they are relevant.
• Do not treat optional research tools as guaranteed. They are conditional.

Conditional Capabilities

• Use web research only when configuration enables it and the runtime actually exposes search.
• Use image reference search only when configuration enables it and the runtime actually exposes it.
• Use Figma context only when configuration enables it and the runtime actually exposes it.
• Use docs MCP or equivalent documentation context only when the runtime actually exposes it and the current task depends on framework or component-library specifics.
• If any optional capability is unavailable, continue with the base IxLab workflow instead of blocking.

MCP and Research Rules

• Prefer trusted, primary, or high-signal sources when using web research.
• Keep external queries narrow and directly tied to the current artifact or implementation decision.
• Treat Figma context as supporting evidence, not as a substitute for IxLab artifacts.
• Treat docs MCP results as implementation guidance, not as a reason to ignore the design artifacts.
• Never make the core IxLab flow depend on optional MCP availability.

Task-Specific Fallback

If nested skills are unavailable, apply these rules directly:

• Design task: run UX -> Critic -> UI -> Critic according to mode.
• Design-system task: create or update design/system.md using the design-system template.
• Implementation task: read design/system.md, ux.md, and ui.md before touching code, then preserve state coverage and interaction intent.

Canonical Artifact Contract

• design/system.md
• design/entities/{entity}/ux.md
• design/entities/{entity}/ui.md
• design/components/{component}.md

Finish Condition

IxLab work is complete only when the next consumer of the artifact or code does not need to guess the intent, missing states, or scope boundaries.