sb-explore — sandboxed iteration (Build mode: Explore)

SkillMedia

Iterate on a new or redesigned component in a sandboxed Explore story outside src/components/ (+ Figma), checked against a graduation gate. Use for 'prototype this', 'try a v2', 'explore from Figma', or net-new UI not ready to ship.

Instructions available. Your AI can read the instructions. Execution depends on the setup they require.

Account requirements not reviewed. Check the skill instructions before use; ahel provides instructions and does not run this skill.

Add ahel to your AI once: Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Claude Code or Codex. Then ask it to use this.

Then ask your AI: use the sb-explore skill

What this skill tells your AI

The instructions your AI receives, as published by strongeron/storybook-workbench in skills/sb-explore/SKILL.md and read by ahel’s review.

The component is new or being redesigned. It lives outside src/components/ so production code can't depend on it. Load references/labs-workflow.md before scaffolding. If the user pasted a Figma URL, ALSO load references/figma-to-storybook.md. Do NOT load composition-patterns.md (that's Compare → sb-wrappers).

Naming: Explore is the canonical term used throughout this skill (titles, disk paths, tags). references/labs-workflow.md predates the rename and says Labs / src/stories/labs/ — read it as the same track (Explore = Labs). Author with Explore; treat Labs only as a legacy alias you may meet in an existing repo.

Before scaffolding (ask yourself)

Iterating on a shipping component, or net-new? Determines Path A vs Path B at Ship time.
Figma URL pasted? If yes — set parameters.design = { type: 'figma', url } immediately and iterate against the frame (see figma-to-storybook.md).
API stable enough to graduate? See the 4 criteria in labs-workflow.md. If not — stay in Explore.

Scaffold

Disk path — honor the recorded storiesLocation (.storybook/audit/status.md): when stories are isolated (the audit/client default), scaffold the experiment under .storybook/explore/<topic>/ — don't scatter into a src/ you don't own. Only use src/explore/<topic>/ when the user opted into co-located for a project they own. Vite excludes either from the production bundle.
Title — Explore/<topic>/<name> — last in storySort.order, bottom of sidebar.
Tags — ['explore', '!autodocs', '!test']. Optional: 'motion', 'figma-sync', 'v2-preview'.

Graduation gate (Explore → Component)

Four criteria in labs-workflow.md: stable API · ≥3 callsites planned · designer-reviewed · tokens not magic numbers. When all met → trigger sb-ship (it preserves the experiment, never git mv). Until then, keep iterating here.

Iterate; when the gate is met, hand off to sb-ship. Append progress to .storybook/audit/status.md so an interrupted session resumes cleanly (CONTEXT.md resume protocol).

Signals

GitHub stars: 37
Last commit: Oct 2026

Advanced

Item type: skill
Key: sb-explore
Source: github.com/strongeron/storybook-workbench

github.com/strongeron/storybook-workbench