233 lines
12 KiB
Markdown
233 lines
12 KiB
Markdown
# Design System Introduction
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> How `whynot-design` fits into the broader `whynot` workflow — from atelier exploration to production deploys.
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>
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> Audience: anyone (human or agent) about to add `whynot-design` as a dependency, or contribute changes back to it.
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---
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## 1. Mental model — three places, three jobs
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`whynot-design` is one of three surfaces. Each has a different job. Don't confuse them.
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| Place | Job | What lives there |
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| **Claude atelier project** (`WhyNot Design System` template) | Explore, decide, mock | HTML cards, UI-kit JSX prototypes, the README that defines the rules. Source of truth for the *language* of the system. |
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| **`whynot-design` repo** (this one) | Distribute | A versioned, publishable package: CSS tokens, components, the logo bundle. Source of truth for the *artefact*. |
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| **`whynot-*` consuming repos** (apps, prototypes, marketing sites) | Use | `pnpm add @whynot/design`, import tokens + components, build the app. |
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This mirrors the existing organisational logic. `whynot-control` is the *control* surface (intent, scope, decisions, governance). `whynot-design` is the *implementation* surface for the visual language. Same separation, same vocabulary.
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> The Claude-Design template is the atelier for the *next* design exploration — mocking a new screen, a beta landing page, a signal-record view. It is **not** what production code consumes. Production consumes this repo.
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---
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## 2. What this repo contains
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```
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whynot-design/
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├── README.md Quick start + manifest.
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├── DesignSystemIntroduction.md This file.
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├── SKILL.md Agent Skill manifest — also usable by Claude Code.
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├── CONTRIBUTING.md How to propose, review, and ship a change.
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├── CHANGELOG.md Hand-edited, one entry per release.
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├── package.json Name: @whynot/design.
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│
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├── tokens/ Source-of-truth design tokens (JSON).
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│ ├── colors.json
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│ ├── type.json
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│ └── spacing.json
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│
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├── src/
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│ ├── styles/
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│ │ └── colors_and_type.css Drop-in CSS variables + semantic element styles.
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│ ├── components/ JSX, consumed from source (no build step at A1).
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│ └── index.js Barrel export.
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│
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├── assets/ Logo, favicon-ready marks, future imagery.
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├── examples/
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│ └── whynot-control/ Working UI-kit recreation — also the visual-regression target.
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└── .gitea/workflows/
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└── ci.yml Lint + Playwright screenshot diff on PR.
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```
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There is intentionally **no build step**. Consumers import the JSX and CSS directly. This keeps the A1 pipeline trivially debuggable. Add a build step when the system grows past ~30 components or needs to support non-React consumers.
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---
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## 3. Integrating with a consuming codebase
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### 3.1 The two viable distribution channels at A1
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In order of effort:
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**a) pnpm workspaces (recommended for now)** — put `whynot-design` and your consuming app in the same monorepo (or use `file:` / `link:` references). Zero registry, zero auth, instant updates.
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```jsonc
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// consuming-app/package.json
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{
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"dependencies": {
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"@whynot/design": "workspace:*"
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}
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}
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```
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**b) Install directly from Gitea** — no registry needed.
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```sh
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pnpm add git+ssh://git@gitea.example.com/whynot/whynot-design.git#v0.3.1
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```
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Pin to a tag, not `main`. Tag-pinning is the entire versioning discipline at A1.
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When you outgrow either of these (a second team needs read access without repo cloning, or you want semver resolution), publish to **Gitea Packages** (supports npm protocol natively) or set up a private Verdaccio.
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### 3.2 What a consumer imports
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```jsx
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// At the root of the consuming app — once.
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import "@whynot/design/styles/colors_and_type.css";
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// In any component file.
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import { Button, Tag, PrototypeCard, Eyebrow } from "@whynot/design";
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export default function NewBetaPage() {
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return (
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<article>
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<Eyebrow>whynot · closed beta</Eyebrow>
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<h1>Concierge prototype triage</h1>
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<p className="lead">Five seats. Two weeks. One learning question.</p>
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<Button variant="primary">Request an invite</Button>
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</article>
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);
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}
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```
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Three rules of consumption:
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1. **Import the CSS exactly once**, at the app's root.
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2. **Use CSS variables for any colour, type, or spacing decision**, not hex codes. If the token doesn't exist, that's a signal to extend the system — not to invent.
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3. **Don't restyle components by overriding their CSS.** If a component doesn't fit a use case, add a variant in `whynot-design` itself. The discipline that makes a design system valuable is the discipline of not forking it locally.
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### 3.3 Bootstrapping a new consuming repo
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```sh
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mkdir whynot-prototype-WNO-022
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cd whynot-prototype-WNO-022
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pnpm init
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pnpm add react react-dom
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pnpm add git+ssh://git@gitea.example.com/whynot/whynot-design.git#v0.1.0
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echo 'import "@whynot/design/styles/colors_and_type.css"' >> src/main.jsx
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```
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That's the whole onboarding. If it takes longer than this, the design system is fighting you.
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---
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## 4. Propagation pipeline — five hops
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The end-to-end flow for a single design change:
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```
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[Claude atelier] [whynot-design] [Consuming repo] [Deploy]
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explore variants ──► PR with token / ──► Renovate / pnpm ──► staging
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in the template component change up opens PR bumping
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user approves + Playwright diff @whynot/design │
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+ CHANGELOG entry ▼
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│ │ prod
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tag v0.3.1 CI runs visual
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CI publishes / regression on the
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attaches release consuming app
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asset │
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│ merge if green
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└──────────────────────────────┘
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```
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### Hop-by-hop
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1. **Atelier → `whynot-design` PR.** Someone (you, a designer, or an agent) takes a change agreed in the Claude project — "the prototype card's hover bar is 3px not 2px" — and opens a PR against `whynot-design`. The PR description quotes the atelier decision, e.g. *"Decided in atelier 2026-04-12: thicker hover bar reads better at 14” preview sizes."*
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2. **`whynot-design` CI** runs:
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- Lint + (optional) typecheck.
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- **Visual regression** — Playwright screenshots `examples/whynot-control/index.html` and any other registered example, diffs against baselines. This is the single most valuable piece of automation; everything else is bookkeeping.
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- A `CHANGELOG.md` entry is required (enforce with a small CI check, or use `changesets` once you outgrow hand-editing).
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3. **Merge → tag → publish.** On merge to `main`:
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- Bump `package.json` (patch for token tweaks, minor for new components, major for renames/removals).
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- Tag `v0.3.1`.
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- Push tag. CI uploads release notes from the CHANGELOG. (Once a registry is in use, this step also runs `npm publish`.)
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4. **Consumer auto-PR.** Renovate or Dependabot watches `@whynot/design` and opens a PR in every consuming repo bumping the version. Renovate config groups these so all `whynot-*` prototypes update on the same schedule (e.g. weekly).
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5. **Consumer CI + deploy.** The consuming repo's *own* CI runs *its* visual regression — does the new token change anything in *this* app's screens? If not, auto-merge (Renovate can do this for patch versions with green CI). If yes, a human reviews. Merge triggers the existing deploy to staging → prod.
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The whole loop, warm, takes minutes. The key insight: **automation works only because every step has a deterministic check** — visual regression on the design-system side, visual regression on the consumer side, semver, changelogs. Skip those and the "pipeline" is a slow manual process with extra tools.
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---
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## 5. Versioning discipline
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Strict semver, even at A1.
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| Change | Bump |
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| Token value tweak that doesn't visibly break any existing example | **patch** — `0.1.0 → 0.1.1` |
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| New component, new variant, new token | **minor** — `0.1.1 → 0.2.0` |
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| Removing / renaming a component, prop, or token; changing default behaviour | **major** — `0.2.0 → 1.0.0` |
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Stay in `0.x.x` until something is in production. While in `0.x.x`, **minor bumps are allowed to break things** — that's the convention. This gives you permission to iterate without ceremony.
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Promotion past `1.0.0` should appear in `whynot-control/DECISIONS.md`. Same rule as promotion to Helix or Coulomb: it's a deliberate act, not a release-script side-effect.
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---
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## 6. Where Claude fits
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Two distinct roles, both useful:
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- **The Claude atelier template** — used at hop 1. Designer (or you) opens a new project from the template, mocks variations, decides, hands off a PR description + diff to whoever (or whatever) writes the `whynot-design` PR. The atelier never publishes anything to production directly.
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- **Claude Code with `SKILL.md`** — used at hop 1 *and* hop 5. The same SKILL file works in both contexts:
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- Pointed at `whynot-design`, Claude Code knows the rules and can write component PRs.
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- Pointed at a consuming repo, Claude Code knows the rules and can build screens that respect them.
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That's why `SKILL.md` ships with this repo. Drop it into `.claude/skills/` of any consuming repo (or copy its contents into a project-level `CLAUDE.md`) and any agent operating in that repo will know the visual language.
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---
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## 7. Pragmatic A1 staging — don't build the whole pipeline yet
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Right now, `whynot` is at A1 Incubating with one or two prototype apps in flight. Build the smallest pipeline that still has the right *shape*. Promote each piece only when a real signal demands it.
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| Hop | A1 version | Promote to full when… |
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| Atelier | Claude template, as-is. | Never — stays here. |
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| `whynot-design` repo | This seed. CSS + JSX consumed from source. No build step. | Second non-React consumer appears, or bundle size becomes a measurable problem. |
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| Distribution | pnpm workspace, or `git+ssh` install from tags. | An external collaborator needs read access without cloning. |
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| Visual regression | One Playwright test screenshotting `examples/whynot-control/index.html`. | The system has >20 components or >2 consuming apps. |
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| Dependency updates | Manual `pnpm up` once a week. | More than two consuming repos. |
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| Release notes | Hand-edited `CHANGELOG.md`. | More than two contributors, or releases become weekly. |
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| Component-level visual coverage | One screenshot of the whole UI kit. | The system has >20 components. |
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This staging is exactly the *"low-cost learning first"* posture in `whynot-control/OPERATING_MODEL.md`. A design system with one consumer and one author does not need Chromatic. A design system with five consumers and three authors absolutely does. Don't pay the cost of the second one until you're in it.
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---
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## 8. First-week checklist
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For whoever is bootstrapping this repo right now:
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- [ ] Push the seed contents to `gitea.example.com/whynot/whynot-design`.
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- [ ] Tag `v0.1.0` immediately so consumers can pin.
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- [ ] Add the repo as a remote dependency in **one** consuming app and verify imports work.
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- [ ] Open one trivial PR against `whynot-design` (e.g. a CHANGELOG typo) to confirm CI passes end-to-end.
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- [ ] Record this bootstrap in `whynot-control/DECISIONS.md` as DEC-004 or similar — *"Established whynot-design as the implementation surface for the visual language."*
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- [ ] Update `whynot-control/SCOPE.md` to mention `whynot-design` in the out-of-scope list (it's a sibling, not absorbed scope).
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That's it. Anything more is over-engineering for the current stage.
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---
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> A design system can be interesting and still be parked. `whynot-design` exists to reduce visual uncertainty across prototypes, not to create more obligations.
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