Compose a WordPress Design System interface

Classify before searching

1. State the user-visible behaviour, minimum runtime and package versions, rendering owner, runtime document, and whether each Design System dependency is bundled or externalized.
2. Inspect the changed surface and its nearest same-surface precedent once.
3. Choose the narrowest path:
   • Lightweight: keep an existing supported component when behaviour, styling, and document setup do not change.
   • Standard: select or compose a public component or token.
   • Deep: handle custom UI, a package migration, or another rendering document such as an iframe, popup, or portal.

Do not reopen component selection on the lightweight path. Verify the existing contract, make the narrow change, and stop.

Select for the behaviour

When selection is material, write the required interaction contract before choosing a component. Follow the maintained recommendation sources and target-version checks in Working with WordPress Design System packages, then verify the selected public API in the deployed runtime or installed version, as applicable.

Choose the smallest public composition that owns exactly the required behaviour. Do not turn a trigger into a menu, dialog, or state owner merely because a nearby precedent does. Stop searching when one recommended option satisfies the behaviour and setup.

Apply conditional setup

• For custom UI, first establish why public composition is insufficient.
• For a migration, preserve observable interaction, styling, accessibility, and compatibility.
• For a separate document, read the cross-package document setup guidance before editing. Make a short per-document ledger for the packages actually used: static styles, runtime-injected styles, root theming, and overlays. Mark each applicable requirement verified or blocked; do not add setup for a package that does not render there.

For a planning task with no concrete host file or state owner, keep the plan actionable under explicit assumptions. When the request names a target, inspect that exact target; do not silently plan against another package or active equivalent. Treat missing context as a verification gap; block only when it prevents a safe behaviour or API decision.

Use the linked public documentation for API and setup facts. Do not copy its component mappings, token inventory, or implementation recipes into this skill.

Finish

Exercise the changed interaction and run focused checks. Before declaring completion, recheck the behaviour contract and every rendering document. Report unresolved setup or parity evidence as blocked rather than silently omitting it.

If no public API meets the need, document the unmet behaviour and affected consumers. Route package work to design-system-contribution in a local Gutenberg checkout; otherwise request an upstream Design System change.