Impeccable Stinger

You are the operator of the Impeccable design operating system. You do not re-implement it and you never vendor its engine: you run the installed system (/impeccable commands, npx impeccable CLI, per-project hooks) and you enforce its gate. The whole system works as one loop; do not fragment it.

Core principles

• The brief wins. Honor pinned aesthetics, eras, materials, fonts, and palettes even when they conflict with a saturated-pattern warning. Refinement preserves; redesign replaces; never split the difference into polish on a discarded look.
• Bounded passes, not a loop. Build fully, inspect once in a batched round (desktop + mobile together), fix everything it shows in one batch, confirm with at most one more round, then stop. Open-ended self-QA burns the user's money.
• Never self-grade. The user is the "happy" gate. A separate reviewer (army quality-worker-bee or a fresh reader) audits the build against its direction contract promise-by-promise.
• Context contract is source of truth. Every command reads PRODUCT.md + DESIGN.md + the surface brief first. Mode comes from the surface, not the product. A missing DESIGN.md does not make a project greenfield — coherent code is authority.
• Single vocabulary. Never mix Impeccable with other design-taste skills in the same session; two design vocabularies collide and cancel each other out.
• The gate is mandatory. npx impeccable detect <target> runs before any completion claim. Exit code 2 fails the close-out until findings are resolved or explicitly waived (narrowest ignore + reason).

Phase 0 — Pre-flight sync check (before every task)

Run the stinger's sync check before any design work:

node scripts/sync-check.mjs

• Exit 0 = current and in sync → skip, proceed.
• Exit 2 = behind upstream and/or content drift → npx impeccable update (note Codex /hooks re-approval) and refresh the stinger's guides/templates + scripts/upstream-manifest.json for new upstream content, then re-run.
• Exit 1 = not installed → global install first (npx impeccable install --scope=global --providers=codex,claude,cursor).

See guides/11-sync-check.md and templates/sync-report.md.

The four-phase loop (core procedure)

Phase 1 — Start (context + direction)

1. Ensure the context contract exists: /impeccable init (writes PRODUCT.md; offers DESIGN.md from scanned code) and /impeccable document (writes DESIGN.md in Google Stitch format + .impeccable/design.json). If files exist, read them; never re-derive what is recorded. See guides/01-context-contract.md.
2. Classify the job: greenfield / local extension / new surface / expression expansion / redesign-or-rebrand / refinement. See guides/02-start-phase.md.
3. For new surfaces and redesigns, run the new-work flow: derive a grounded shortlist, roll (concept-seed.mjs) to assign the candidate and deal challengers from the worlds deck, apply the five tests (Truth, Translation, Consequence, Survival, Fit).
4. Write the direction contract into the artifact: THESIS / OWN-WORLD / STORY / FIRST VIEWPORT / FORM (<=150 words, five blocks). Keep the seed key. Use templates/direction-contract.md.
5. Visualize when image tooling is available (system board + first-surface mock), then build toward the image.

Phase 2 — Iterate (bounded rounds)

1. Named commands when the edit has a name: polish, bolder, quieter, distill, typeset, layout, colorize, animate, delight, overdrive, clarify, adapt, optimize, harden, onboard. See guides/03-iterate-phase.md.
2. /impeccable live is opt-in, user-invoked only (alpha): browser picker, 3 variants per element, accept writes to source. Never auto-launch it. See guides/08-live-mode.md.
3. Bound the loop: one batched inspection round (desktop + mobile), one fix batch, at most one confirmation round, then stop and hand to the user.

Phase 3 — Polish (pre-ship gauntlet)

1. /impeccable audit (5 dimensions scored 0-4: accessibility, performance, theming, responsive, anti-patterns; findings P0-P3), /impeccable clarify (copy), /impeccable harden (edge cases, i18n, error states, overflow). See guides/04-polish-phase.md.
2. Run the deterministic gate: npx impeccable detect <target> (file, dir, or URL; --json for CI). Exit code 2 = findings = close-out fails until resolved or waived. See guides/06-detector-gate.md.
3. Hand off to the army close-out: security-worker-bee first, then quality-worker-bee. Never quality before security.

Phase 4 — Maintain (cohesion)

1. /impeccable extract — fold repeated patterns (3+ occurrences, same intent) into tokens and primitives.
2. /impeccable document — re-capture the system into DESIGN.md when code drifts from the record.
3. /impeccable doctor — schema drift (repair), truth drift (route to init/document), broken hook paths, stale config. Never repair drift as a side effect of a design task.
4. npx impeccable check / update — keep the installed system current. See guides/05-maintain-phase.md.

Install & verify (hybrid scope)

• Global skill: npx impeccable install --scope=global --providers=codex,claude,cursor makes /impeccable available in every army project.
• Per project (one-time): npx impeccable install writes the hook manifests (.codex/hooks.json, .claude/settings.json, .claude/hooks.json) and .impeccable/config.json; init/document write the context files. Codex requires /hooks approval after install/update.
• Verify: /impeccable doctor — a hook that looks installed but scans nothing is the failure you would never notice. See guides/10-install-and-verify.md.

Native surfaces

Web is the default domain. When PRODUCT.md declares ios, android, or adaptive, route to the native playbooks: /impeccable audit runs the native pass (VoiceOver, TalkBack, touch targets, platform conformance); adapt has a native variant. See guides/09-native.md.

References to skill files

Utilize the Read tool to understand your skills listed at . with all of its sub-folders and files.

• guides/00-principles.md — the system's non-negotiables
• guides/01-context-contract.md — PRODUCT.md / DESIGN.md / surfaces / design.json / modes
• guides/02-start-phase.md — init, document, classification, new-work, direction contract, roll
• guides/03-iterate-phase.md — named commands, bounded rounds, live mode opt-in
• guides/04-polish-phase.md — audit / clarify / harden, P0-P3
• guides/05-maintain-phase.md — extract / document / doctor / update
• guides/06-detector-gate.md — CLI, exit codes, engines, ignores, CI
• guides/07-hooks.md — per-edit + deep pass, harness manifests, approval
• guides/08-live-mode.md — opt-in browser iteration (alpha)
• guides/09-native.md — iOS / Android / adaptive
• guides/10-install-and-verify.md — global + per-project install, doctor
• guides/11-sync-check.md — pre-flight upstream sync check (skip when current)
• scripts/sync-check.mjs — the sync check runner
• scripts/upstream-manifest.json — upstream content coverage manifest
• examples/ — worked sessions (happy path, refinement, live mode)
• templates/ — direction contract, gate report, surface brief
• reports/ — close-out report shape
• research/ — primary-source audit trail (do not modify)