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generative-ui▌

himself65/finance-skills · updated Apr 8, 2026

$npx skills add https://github.com/himself65/finance-skills --skill generative-ui
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summary

This skill contains the complete design system for Claude's built-in show_widget tool — the generative UI feature that renders interactive HTML/SVG widgets inline in claude.ai conversations. The guidelines below are the actual Anthropic "Imagine — Visual Creation Suite" design rules, extracted so you can produce high-quality widgets directly without needing the read_me setup call.

skill.md

Generative UI Skill

This skill contains the complete design system for Claude's built-in show_widget tool — the generative UI feature that renders interactive HTML/SVG widgets inline in claude.ai conversations. The guidelines below are the actual Anthropic "Imagine — Visual Creation Suite" design rules, extracted so you can produce high-quality widgets directly without needing the read_me setup call.

How it works: On claude.ai, Claude has access to the show_widget tool which renders raw HTML/SVG fragments inline in the conversation. This skill provides the design system, templates, and patterns to use it well.

Step 1: Pick the Right Visual Type

Route on the verb, not the noun. Same subject, different visual depending on what was asked:

User says Type Format
"how does X work" Illustrative diagram SVG
"X architecture" Structural diagram SVG
"what are the steps" Flowchart SVG
"explain compound interest" Interactive explainer HTML
"compare these options" Comparison grid HTML
"show revenue chart" Chart.js chart HTML
"create a contact card" Data record HTML
"draw a sunset" Art/illustration SVG

Step 2: Build the Widget

Structure (strict order)

<style>  →  HTML content  →  <script>

Output streams token-by-token. Styles must exist before the elements they target, and scripts must run after the DOM is ready.

Philosophy

  • Seamless: Users shouldn't notice where the host UI ends and your widget begins
  • Flat: No gradients, mesh backgrounds, noise textures, or decorative effects. Clean flat surfaces
  • Compact: Show the essential inline. Explain the rest in text
  • Text goes in your response, visuals go in the tool — all explanatory text, descriptions, and summaries must be written as normal response text OUTSIDE the tool call. The tool output should contain ONLY the visual element

Core Rules

  • No <!-- comments --> or /* comments */ (waste tokens, break streaming)
  • No font-size below 11px
  • No emoji — use CSS shapes or SVG paths
  • No gradients, drop shadows, blur, glow, or neon effects
  • No dark/colored backgrounds on outer containers (transparent only — host provides the bg)
  • Typography: two weights only: 400 regular, 500 medium. Never use 600 or 700. Headings: h1=22px, h2=18px, h3=16px — all font-weight 500. Body text=16px, weight 400, line-height 1.7
  • Sentence case always. Never Title Case, never ALL CAPS
  • No mid-sentence bolding — entity names go in code style not bold
  • No <!DOCTYPE>, <html>, <head>, or <body> — just content fragments
  • No position: fixed — use normal-flow layouts
  • No tabs, carousels, or display: none sections during streaming
  • No nested scrolling — auto-fit height
  • Corners: border-radius: var(--border-radius-lg) for cards, var(--border-radius-md) for elements
  • No rounded corners on single-sided borders (border-left, border-top)
  • Round every displayed number — use Math.round(), .toFixed(n), or Intl.NumberFormat

CDN Allowlist (CSP-enforced)

External resources may ONLY load from:

  • cdnjs.cloudflare.com
  • cdn.jsdelivr.net
  • unpkg.com
  • esm.sh

All other origins are blocked — the request silently fails.

CSS Variables

Backgrounds: --color-background-primary (white), -secondary (surfaces), -tertiary (page bg), -info, -danger, -success, -warning Text: --color-text-primary (black), -secondary (muted), -tertiary (hints), -info, -danger, -success, -warning Borders: --color-border-tertiary (0.15α, default), -secondary (0.3α, hover), -primary (0.4α), semantic -info/-danger/-success/-warning Typography: --font-sans, --font-serif, --font-mono Layout: --border-radius-md (8px), --border-radius-lg (12px), --border-radius-xl (16px)

All auto-adapt to light/dark mode.

Dark mode is mandatory — every color must work in both modes:

  • In HTML: always use CSS variables for text. Never hardcode colors like color: #333
  • In SVG: use pre-built color classes (c-blue, c-teal, etc.) — they handle light/dark automatically
  • Mental test: if the background were near-black, would every text element still be readable?

sendPrompt(text)

A global function that sends a message to chat as if the user typed it. Use it when the user's next step benefits from Claude thinking. Handle filtering, sorting, toggling, and calculations in JS instead.

Step 3: Render with show_widget

The show_widget tool is built into claude.ai — no activation needed. Pass your widget code directly:

{
  "title": "snake_case_widget_name",
  "widget_code": "<style>...</style>\n<div>...</div>\n<script>...</script>"
}
Parameter Type Required Description
title string Yes Snake_case identifier for the widget
widget_code string Yes HTML or SVG code. For SVG: start with <svg>. For HTML: content fragment

For SVG output: start widget_code with <svg — it will be auto-detected and wrapped appropriately.

Step 4: Chart.js Template

For charts, use onload callback pattern to handle script load ordering:

<div style="display: grid; grid-template-columns: repeat(auto-fit, minmax(140px, 1fr)); gap: 12px;">
  <div style="background: var(--color-background-secondary); border-radius: var(--border-radius-md); padding: 1rem;">
    <div style="font-size: 13px; color: var(--color-text-secondary);">Label</div>
    <div style="font-size: 24px; font-weight: 500;" id="stat1">—</div>
  </div>
</div>

<div style="position: relative; width: 100%; height: 300px; margin-top: 1rem;">
  <canvas id="myChart"></canvas>
</div>

<div style="display: flex; align-items: center; gap: 12px; margin-top: 1rem;">
  <label style="font-size: 14px; color: var(--color-text-secondary);">Parameter</label>
  <input type="range" min="0" max="100" value="50" id="param" step="1" style="flex: 1;" />
  <span style="font-size: 14px; font-weight: 500; min-width: 32px;" id="param-out">50</span>
</div>

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/Chart.js/4.4.1/chart.umd.js" onload="initChart()"></script>
<script>
function initChart() {
  const slider = document.getElementById('param');
  const out = document.getElementById('param-out');
  let chart = null;

  function update() {
    const val = parseFloat(slider.value);
    out.textContent = val;
    document.getElementById('stat1').textContent = val.toFixed(1);

    const labels = [], data = [];
    for (let x = 0; x <= 100; x++) {
      labels.push(x);
      data.push(x * val / 100);
    }

    if (chart) chart.destroy();
    chart = new Chart(document.getElementById('myChart'), {
      type: 'line',
      data: { labels, datasets: [{ data, borderColor: '#7F77DD', borderWidth: 2, pointRadius: 0, fill: false }] },
      options: {
        responsive: true,
        maintainAspectRatio: false,
        plugins: { legend: { display: false } },
        scales: { x: { grid: { display: false } } }
      }
    });
  }

  slider.addEventListener('input', update);
  update();
}
if (window.Chart) initChart();
</script>

Chart.js rules:

  • Canvas cannot resolve CSS variables — use hardcoded hex
  • Set height ONLY on the wrapper div, never on canvas itself
  • Always responsive: true, maintainAspectRatio: false
  • Always disable default legend, build custom HTML legends
  • Number formatting: -$5M not $-5M (negative sign before currency symbol)
  • Use onload="initChart()" on CDN script tag + if (window.Chart) initChart(); as fallback

Step 5: SVG Diagram Template

For flowcharts and diagrams, use SVG with pre-built classes:

<svg width="100%" viewBox="0 0 680 H">
  <defs>
    <marker id="arrow" viewBox="0 0 10 10" refX="8" refY="5" markerWidth="6" markerHeight="6" orient="auto-start-reverse">
      <path d="M2 1L8 5L2 9" fill="none" stroke="context-stroke" stroke-width="1.5" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"/>
    </marker>
  </defs>

  <!-- Single-line node (44px tall) -->
  <g class="node c-blue" onclick="sendPrompt('Tell me more about this')">
    <rect x="250" y="40" width="180" height="44" rx="8" stroke-width="0.5"/>
    <text class="th" x="340" y="62" text-anchor="middle" dominant-baseline="central">Step one</text>
  </g>

  <!-- Connector arrow -->
  <line x1="340" y1="84" x2="340" y2="120" class="arr" marker-end="url(#arrow)"/>

  <!-- Two-line node (56px tall) -->
  <g class="node c-teal" onclick="sendPrompt('Explain this step')">
    <rect x="230" y="120" width="220" height="56" rx="8" stroke-width="0.5"/>
    <text class="th" x="340" y="140" text-anchor="middle" dominant-baseline="central">Step two</text>
    <text class="ts" x="340" y="158" text-anchor="middle" dominant-baseline="central">Processes the input</text>
  </g>
</svg>

SVG rules:

  • ViewBox always 680px wide (viewBox="0 0 680 H"). Set H to fit content + 40px padding
  • Safe area: x=40 to x=640, y=40 to y=(H-40)
  • Pre-built classes: t (14px), ts (12px secondary), th (14px medium 500), box, node, arr, c-{color}
  • Every <text> element must carry a class (t, ts, or th)
  • Use dominant-baseline="central" for vertical text centering in boxes
  • Connector paths need fill="none" (SVG defaults to fill: black)
  • Stroke width: 0.5px for borders and edges
  • Make all nodes clickable: onclick="sendPrompt('...')"

Step 6: Interactive Explainer Template

For interactive explainers (sliders, live calculations, inline SVG):

<div style="display: flex; align-items: center; gap: 12px; margin: 0 0 1.5rem;">
  <label style="font-size: 14px; color: var(--color-text-secondary);">Years</label>
  <input type="range" min="1" max="40" value="20" id="years" style="flex: 1;" />
  <span style="font-size: 14px; font-weight: 500; min-width: 24px;" id="years-out">20</span>
</div>

<div style="display: flex; align-items: baseline; gap: 8px; margin: 0 0 1.5rem;">
  <span style="font-size: 14px; color: var(--color-text-secondary);">$1,000 →</span>
  <span style="font-size: 24px; font-weight: 500;" id="result">$3,870</span>
</div>

<div style="margin: 2rem 0; position: relative; height: 240px;">
  <canvas id="chart"></canvas>
</div>

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/Chart.js/4.4.1/chart.umd.js" onload="initChart()"></script>
<script>
function initChart() {
  // slider logic, chart rendering, sendPrompt() for follow-ups
}
if (window.Chart) initChart();
</script>

Use sendPrompt() to let users ask follow-ups: sendPrompt('What if I increase the rate to 10%?')

Step 7: Respond to the User

After rendering the widget, briefly explain:

  1. What the widget shows
  2. How to interact with it (which controls do what)
  3. One key insight from the data

Keep it concise — the widget speaks for itself.

Reference Files

  • references/design_system.md — Complete color palette (9 ramps × 7 stops), CSS variables, UI component patterns, metric cards, layout rules
  • references/svg_and_diagrams.md — SVG viewBox setup, font calibration, pre-built classes, flowchart/structural/illustrative diagram patterns with examples
  • references/chart_js.md — Chart.js configuration, script load ordering, canvas sizing, legend patterns, dashboard layout

Read the relevant reference file when you need specific design tokens, SVG coordinate math, or Chart.js configuration details.

Discussion

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general reviews

Ratings

4.7★★★★★50 reviews
  • ★★★★★Kwame Sanchez· Dec 28, 2024

    generative-ui fits our agent workflows well — practical, well scoped, and easy to wire into existing repos.

  • ★★★★★Kwame Abbas· Dec 24, 2024

    I recommend generative-ui for anyone iterating fast on agent tooling; clear intent and a small, reviewable surface area.

  • ★★★★★Shikha Mishra· Dec 12, 2024

    Registry listing for generative-ui matched our evaluation — installs cleanly and behaves as described in the markdown.

  • ★★★★★Kwame Thompson· Nov 19, 2024

    We added generative-ui from the explainx registry; install was straightforward and the SKILL.md answered most questions upfront.

  • ★★★★★Kwame Li· Nov 15, 2024

    Useful defaults in generative-ui — fewer surprises than typical one-off scripts, and it plays nicely with `npx skills` flows.

  • ★★★★★Rahul Santra· Nov 3, 2024

    Keeps context tight: generative-ui is the kind of skill you can hand to a new teammate without a long onboarding doc.

  • ★★★★★Pratham Ware· Oct 22, 2024

    I recommend generative-ui for anyone iterating fast on agent tooling; clear intent and a small, reviewable surface area.

  • ★★★★★Kwame Wang· Oct 10, 2024

    generative-ui reduced setup friction for our internal harness; good balance of opinion and flexibility.

  • ★★★★★Kwame Ramirez· Oct 6, 2024

    Registry listing for generative-ui matched our evaluation — installs cleanly and behaves as described in the markdown.

  • ★★★★★Olivia Verma· Sep 17, 2024

    Solid pick for teams standardizing on skills: generative-ui is focused, and the summary matches what you get after install.

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