Guides

Design tokens, AI build context, and less generic UI

Researched, cited guides on pulling a real design system out of any page and handing it to your AI, so it builds from a reference instead of the defaults everyone ships.

• glossaryJul 4, 2026

  what is MCP (Model Context Protocol), and why designers should care

  A plain-English MCP explainer for designers and frontend engineers: what it is, how it actually works, and how tools like Figma and uiscanner plug in.

• glossaryJul 4, 2026

  what is 'AI slop' UI, and how to avoid it

  AI-slop UI is the generic median an AI agent reaches for by default: indigo gradients, Inter, three feature cards. Here is why, and how to avoid it.

• glossaryJul 4, 2026

  what is a design token?

  A design token is a named value for one design decision (a color, size, radius, shadow, or motion), reused everywhere instead of hardcoded.

• glossaryJul 4, 2026

  what is a design system teardown?

  A design system teardown deconstructs a live page into tokens, structure, motion, and a rebuild path. Here is what a good one contains and why.

• glossaryJul 4, 2026

  what is a build prompt?

  A build prompt is the design context you hand an AI coding agent: tokens, structure, and constraints, not a one-line ask. Here is what belongs in one.

• comparisonJul 4, 2026

  Uizard Screenshot Scanner alternative: from a screenshot to real design tokens

  Uizard turns a screenshot into an editable wireframe you rebuild by hand. uiscanner reads the real page into tokens plus a build prompt your AI codes from.

• comparisonJul 4, 2026

  uiscanner vs Snable: a CSS inspector, or a build brief for your AI?

  Snable is a fast CSS and color inspector for people. uiscanner turns a page into tokens plus a build prompt your AI agent acts on. Here's the real difference.

• comparisonJul 4, 2026

  uiscanner vs MiroMiro: an extension panel, or an agent build brief?

  MiroMiro copies a page's real HTML and tokens into your file. uiscanner turns a page into tokens, structure, and a build prompt for your AI agent.

• comparisonJul 4, 2026

  uiscanner vs browser devtools: a whole design system, not one element

  Devtools inspect one node at a time. uiscanner extracts the whole token system, section structure, and a build prompt in one pass, then pipes it to AI.

• glossaryJul 4, 2026

  Stripe's design system, broken down

  A readable breakdown of Stripe's design language: color, type, spacing, motion, and page structure, grounded in real observations.

• how-toJul 4, 2026

  how to stop Cursor from shipping generic AI UI

  Cursor defaults to generic UI because it has no real design reference in context. Wire uiscanner in via MCP and hand it a teardown to build from.

• comparisonJul 4, 2026

  screenshot to code vs real design tokens: why vision guesses miss the real button

  A screenshot cannot tell you the true primary button, the exact hex, or the real spacing scale. Reading the rendered page plus the DOM can. Here's why.

• glossaryJul 4, 2026

  Linear's design language, explained

  Linear's look decoded: near-black surfaces, one lavender accent, Inter with cv01/ss03, negative-tracking display type, and a keyboard-first grid.

• how-toJul 4, 2026

  how to turn any landing page into a build prompt for your AI agent

  A step-by-step: pick a reference page, run a teardown, hand the build prompt to Cursor or Claude Code, iterate, then retarget for a different archetype.

• listicleJul 4, 2026

  9 ways to give your AI coding agent real design taste

  Taste is context, not vibes. Nine concrete moves that make Cursor, Claude Code, and Codex build UI that looks intentional instead of averaged.

• listicleJul 4, 2026

  how to fix 'AI slop' UI in Cursor and Claude Code

  A checklist for killing AI-slop UI: cap the palette, fix the type scale, enforce a spacing rhythm, restore hierarchy, and feed a real reference.

• how-toJul 4, 2026

  how to feed a real design system to Codex, v0, and Bolt

  v0, Bolt, and Codex go generic when you give them nothing. Here is how to inject real tokens and structure into each, accurately per tool.

• how-toJul 4, 2026

  how to extract design tokens from any website

  The real options for pulling colors, type, spacing, radii, shadows and motion off a live page, from DevTools to CLI agents, and how to feed your AI.

• glossaryJul 4, 2026

  design tokens vs CSS variables vs theme: what's the difference?

  A token is the design decision, a CSS variable is one way to deliver it, a theme is a coordinated set you swap. Where each fits, with code.

• how-toJul 4, 2026

  how to clone a website's design system the legal, transformative way

  Learning a design system and rebuilding it in your own stack is fair. Re-hosting asset bytes and lifting logos is not. Here's the mental model.

• how-toJul 4, 2026

  how to give Claude Code real design context with MCP

  A copy-pasteable MCP setup for Claude Code: the claude mcp add command, the five uiscanner tools, and a scan-then-build workflow that skips generic AI UI.

• listicleJul 4, 2026

  the best MCP servers for designers and frontend engineers

  A short MCP explainer, then an honest roundup of design and frontend MCP servers: Figma, uiscanner, Playwright, Chrome DevTools, shadcn, Context7.

• listicleJul 4, 2026

  12 best-designed SaaS websites to study in 2026

  A curated list of Stripe, Linear, Vercel, Figma, Notion, Framer and more, each with the one thing to steal and a link to its real token data.

• listicleJul 4, 2026

  the best design token extractors in 2026

  An honest roundup of Snable, Peek, MiroMiro, CSS Stats, Project Wallace, devtools, and uiscanner, compared on what they actually hand you.

• listicleJul 4, 2026

  the best design-to-code tools in 2026

  A fair roundup of v0, Bolt, Lovable, Figma Make, and the Figma-to-code plugins, plus where context feeders like uiscanner actually fit.