Aired artifact

Aired Artifact Builder

Build premium React artifacts and publish them to shareable URLs on aired.sh.

Stack: React 18 + TypeScript + Tailwind + shadcn/ui + Framer Motion, bundled to single HTML.

Workflow

1. Scaffold (if no project exists)

bash scripts/init-artifact.sh <project-name>
cd <project-name>

Success criteria: package.json exists, npm run dev starts without errors, src/App.tsx renders the starter template.

2. Commit to a direction

Before writing code, decide: what's the ONE thing someone will remember about this artifact? A dramatic typography treatment? An unusual layout? A rich data visualization? Say it out loud, then build toward it.

Success criteria: One sentence describing the artifact's signature moment. Written down, not just thought.

3. Build components

Write React components in src/ — use shadcn/ui components from @/components/ui/, Framer Motion for animations, Tailwind for styling. Follow the design system in references/design-system.md.

Read references/anti-slop.md before writing any UI code — it has the ban list.

Success criteria: Components render without errors. No banned patterns from anti-slop list. Typography uses display + body + mono hierarchy.

4. Preview and validate

npm run dev

Run through the pre-output checklist before proceeding:

• No banned fonts, colors, or patterns from the anti-slop list
• Typography has clear hierarchy (display > heading > body > caption)
• Colors use CSS variables, not hardcoded hex
• At least one orchestrated entrance animation sequence
• Semantic HTML (main, section, article, header)
• prefers-reduced-motion media query present
• Print styles (@media print) included
• Layout is responsive (works at 375px)
• Dark mode works (if applicable)
• No console errors
• All interactive elements have hover/focus/active states
• Would someone say "AI made this"? If yes, fix it.

Success criteria: All checklist items pass. Dev server runs clean with zero console errors.

5. Bundle to single HTML

bash scripts/bundle-artifact.sh

Verify before publishing:

ls -lh bundle.html  # Should be 200-800KB. Over 1MB = something wrong.

If bundle is too large, check for unnecessary dependencies or unoptimized images.

Success criteria: bundle.html exists and is under 1MB. Opening it directly in a browser renders correctly.

6. Publish to aired.sh

bash scripts/publish-artifact.sh

Parse the JSON output for the URL. Share it with the user.

Success criteria: JSON output contains a URL. The URL loads correctly in a browser.

Updating an existing artifact

Edit source, re-bundle, then:

aired update <id> bundle.html --json

The aired CLI stores update tokens automatically.

Design System

Read references/design-system.md for full tokens. Key rules:

Typography

• Display: Geist (loaded via Google Fonts CDN)
• Body: Geist Sans
• Mono: Geist Mono (data, code, metrics)
• Headlines: font-weight: 700, letter-spacing: -0.03em, line-height: 1.08
• Body: font-weight: 400, letter-spacing: -0.011em, line-height: 1.6
• Size jumps must be dramatic (3x+), not timid (1.25x)

Colors

• HSL-based tokens with tinted neutrals (grays carry brand hue)
• Dark default: #0A0A0A bg, warm gray surfaces
• Light available: #FAFAF9 bg, crisp surfaces
• All colors via CSS variables — never hardcode hex in components

Spacing

• 8px base grid: 4, 8, 12, 16, 24, 32, 48, 64, 96
• Section padding: py-24 minimum — let it breathe
• Border-radius hierarchy: 4px (inputs) / 8px (cards) / 16px (modals) / 9999px (pills)

Animation

• Custom easing: cubic-bezier(0.32, 0.72, 0, 1) — the skill's signature curve
• Staggered entrance: 0.08s delay between elements on page load
• Hover: translateY(-2px) + shadow increase + scale(0.98) on active
• Duration: 150ms fast, 250ms normal, 400ms slow
• Always wrap in prefers-reduced-motion media query

Anti-Slop Rules

Read references/anti-slop.md for the full ban list. Critical bans:

• Inter, Roboto, Arial, Open Sans, Helvetica as primary font
• Purple-to-blue decorative gradients
• Pure #000000 or #FFFFFF — always tint
• linear or ease-in-out transitions
• Bounce or elastic easing
• Cards nested inside cards
• Generic fade-in on every element without orchestration
• Centered-everything layouts with no asymmetry
• "Build the future of..." / "Unleash your..." / "Best-in-class..." copy
• Frosted glass as default card treatment
• Standard 3-column pricing with "Most Popular" badge
• Big rounded icons above every heading
• Stats row under hero as reflex
• backdrop-filter: blur() on scrolling content (GPU killer)

Component Patterns

Read references/component-patterns.md for implementation details.

Key patterns:

• Double-Bezel cards — outer shell (subtle bg + hairline border + padding) wrapping inner core (distinct bg + inner shadow)
• Pill buttons — rounded-full, hover lift, nested icon circles
• Metric cards — muted 13px label, 28px/700 number, surface background
• Bento grid — asymmetric CSS Grid with varied cell sizes, not uniform cards
• Eyebrow badges — microscopic pill before headings (text-[10px] uppercase tracking-[0.2em])

Artifact Types

Read references/artifact-types.md for type-specific guidance:

• Dashboard — metric cards + charts + data tables, bento grid layout
• Report — editorial layout, long-scroll, section-based, print-optimized
• Presentation — slide-based, keyboard navigation, speaker notes
• Interactive tool — calculator/configurator/explorer with live state
• Landing page — hero + features + social proof + CTA

User Theme Override

Users can create .aired/theme.css in their project to override design tokens:

:root {
  --accent: oklch(0.65 0.2 145);
  --font-display: 'Clash Display', sans-serif;
}

The init script creates this file with all tokens documented. Import it in src/index.css.

Technical Notes

• shadcn/ui docs: https://ui.shadcn.com/docs/components
• Framer Motion: use motion.div with initial, animate, transition props
• Charts: use the shadcn Chart component (@/components/ui/chart) — wraps Recharts with theme-aware colors and provides ChartContainer, ChartTooltip, ChartTooltipContent, ChartLegend, ChartLegendContent. For raw Recharts, import from recharts.
• Icons: Lucide React (pre-installed) — use sparingly, not above every heading
• Bundle size: typical artifact is 200-500KB. Over 1MB means something's wrong.
• Fonts: loaded via Google Fonts CDN in index.html — they inline during bundling

Gotchas

• Parcel chokes on external URLs during inlining: The bundle script strips external <link> tags (Google Fonts CDN) before html-inline runs, then re-injects them via Node post-processing. If you add other external resources, they'll get stripped too — add them back in the post-process step of bundle-artifact.sh.
• Bundle size blowup from unused Radix primitives: The init script installs ALL Radix UI packages. Tree-shaking handles most of it, but if bundle exceeds 800KB, check if you're importing entire packages instead of specific components.
• Font rendering in single-file HTML: Fonts load from Google CDN at runtime — they're NOT inlined into the bundle. If the artifact is viewed offline, fonts fall back to system sans-serif. This is intentional (inlining fonts would add 500KB+).
• @ path alias breaks in Parcel: Parcel doesn't read tsconfig.json paths natively. The bundle script installs parcel-resolver-tspaths and creates .parcelrc to handle this. If you see "Cannot resolve @/components/..." during bundling, check that .parcelrc exists.
• HSL color format in CSS variables: The design system uses raw HSL values without hsl() wrapper (e.g., --background: 0 0% 4%). In Tailwind, reference as hsl(var(--background)). Don't add hsl() inside the CSS variable itself — shadcn/ui expects unwrapped values.