Litmus

# Litmus

## Philosophy

A reading-instrument reimagination of E-Ink Neurography Manuals: the e-paper memory manual read as a continuous chart-recorder trace on a cool slate panel. A baseline waveform threads the whole layout; one warm signal-amber event bracket marks the single reading under examination. Conceived from the source brief in parallel to the faithful refinement Sōma, not derived from it.

### Values

- one signal read at a time, across time — a temporal trace, not a 2D plate
- evidence-first hierarchy — coordinates, amplitudes, confidences, states beat marketing copy
- one live reading — amber is the heated stylus, never a fill or a second highlight
- horizontal registers stacked like a chart-recorder drum, never tiled equal cards
- machine intimacy through labels, calibration ticks, erased-memory gaps, and e-ink refresh ghosts

### Anti-Values

- not warm-bone (Sōma) and not ink-navy (the retired Fathom) — the ground is a cool slate reading panel by intent
- no contour-plate-plus-corner-bracket layout, no specimen-pane + right rail — that is the refinement's execution
- no neon glow, matrix rain, cyberpunk gradients, or hacker-dashboard motifs
- no borders, accent edges, boxed-in nav, or nested cards
- no equal SaaS card grids; no full-character anime posters

## Tokens

### Colors

| Name | Value |
|------|-------|
| bg | `#23262B` |
| bg_deep | `#1B1E22` |
| surface | `#2B2F35` |
| surface_2 | `#313640` |
| recess | `#1B1E22` |
| plate | `#262A30` |
| text | `#ECECE4` |
| muted | `#9AA0A0` |
| tick | `#5A6068` |
| border | `#3A3F45` |
| accent | `#E8A23D` |
| accent_deep | `#B6791F` |
| accent_tint | `#3A3326` |
| on_accent | `#1B1305` |
| success | `#6BB58C` |
| warning | `#E8A23D` |
| error | `#D9685A` |
| info | `#7FA8C9` |

### Typography

- **Base Size**: 17px
- **Body Font**: IBM Plex Sans
- **Heading Font**: Space Mono
- **Mono Font**: IBM Plex Mono
- **Heading Weight**: 700
- **Heading Transform**: none
- **Letter Spacing**: 0.01em
- **Google Fonts Url**: https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Space+Mono:wght@400;700&family=IBM+Plex+Sans:wght@400;500;600&family=IBM+Plex+Mono:wght@400;500;600&display=swap

### Radii

- **Base**: 0px
- **Pane**: 16px
- **Pill**: 9999px

### Shadows

- **Sm**: 0 1px 2px rgba(0,0,0,.32)
- **Md**: 0 12px 30px rgba(0,0,0,.36)
- **Lg**: 0 26px 60px rgba(0,0,0,.44)

### Spacing

- **Base**: 4px
- **Scale**: ["4px","8px","12px","16px","24px","36px","56px","72px"]

### Surfaces

- **Ground**: cool slate reading panel #23262B
- **Channel**: lifted register #2B2F35 raised by soft flat shadow
- **Plate**: trace field #262A30
- **Recess**: #1B1E22 inset for form controls, below the ground
- **Erased Void**: dashed outline over rubbed hatch on #1B1E22

### Borders

- **Policy**: none — separate by space, the 24px annotation grid, recessed surfaces, and a soft flat shadow; never a card border, accent edge, or boxed-in nav

### Motion

- **Refresh**: 180ms steps(2,end) e-ink refresh ghost shift
- **Calibration**: 260ms ease-out tick drift, max 2px
- **Reveal**: 0.7s ease intersection reveal, gated behind .lit-anim; settled state visible with no JS
- **Reduced Motion**: respected — settled state is the default

## Rules

### Composition

Run one continuous baseline trace through the whole layout. Stack content as full-width horizontal registers (channels), each with an evidence header, a trace field, and a calibration ruler band. Avoid equal tiled card rows.

### Hierarchy

Operational state and evidence labels beat marketing copy. Amber marks state, exception, or proof only — and only on a single live reading.

### Density

Alternate quiet slate space with compressed 4px-8px annotation systems and mono readouts.

### Signature

A continuous waveform trace baseline with one two-armed amber event bracket on the single reading under examination; calibration tick ruler bands, e-ink refresh ghosts, and erased-memory voids recur as structure on cool slate.

## Layout

### Grid

Stacked full-width horizontal registers (strata) on desktop; a dominant active-channel register over secondary readout clusters and a ledger, not a specimen pane + rail.

### Whitespace

Preserve quiet slate space between strata; always pad above titles.

### Density

Dense mono labels only at decision points.

### Responsive

Desktop stacks registers full-width with a readout cluster; tablet collapses the readout grid; mobile is a single column of diagnostic sheets that hides non-essential columns and never overflows.

### Breakpoints

- **Mobile**: 390px
- **Tablet**: 760px
- **Desktop**: 1100px
- **Ultrawide**: 1700px

## Guidance

### Do

- Run the baseline trace through the composition and let it carry the structure.
- Keep amber to the single live reading — one event bracket per strip.
- Write labels as evidence: coordinates, amplitudes, confidences, timestamps, states.
- Stack content as full-width registers; preserve quiet space between strata.

### Don't

- Don't recolour Sōma — no contour-plate-plus-corner-bracket layout, no specimen-pane + rail.
- Don't light up more than one reading; don't let amber become a fill.
- Don't add neon, glow, matrix rain, or hacker-dashboard motifs.
- Don't box the nav into a pill bar or nest cards.

### Accessibility

Bone ink on slate clears AA for body and large text. Amber denotes state at readable sizes and is never the sole carrier of meaning — every state also has a text label. Focus warms the control to amber with a 2px ring. Motion is gated behind a class and prefers-reduced-motion is respected; the no-JS settled state shows the full page.

## Imagery Direction

### Pairs With

graphite-schematic

### Summary

Graphite-schematic technique applied to a chart-recorder reading on a cool slate panel: a long horizontal oscillographic waveform with stacked register channels, calibration ruler bands, leader-line coordinate tags, and one warm signal-amber event bracket on the reading under examination. Read on slate, not bone or navy.

### Subjects

- chart-recorder / EEG trace strips
- neural-map waveform readings
- stacked instrument register channels
- calibration plates
- erased-memory gap diagrams

### Usage

One full-bleed horizontal trace-strip hero spanning the width; thumbnails and inline diagrams reuse the same bone-on-slate hairline waveform technique; keep amber to a single event bracket; never render the medium itself; no text.

---
version: "alpha"
name: "Litmus"
description: "Agent-curated design language exported from Katagami as DESIGN.md."
colors:
  bg: "#23262B"
  bg_deep: "#1B1E22"
  surface: "#2B2F35"
  surface_2: "#313640"
  recess: "#1B1E22"
  plate: "#262A30"
  text: "#ECECE4"
  muted: "#9AA0A0"
  tick: "#5A6068"
  border: "#3A3F45"
  accent: "#E8A23D"
  accent_deep: "#B6791F"
  accent_tint: "#3A3326"
  on_accent: "#1B1305"
  success: "#6BB58C"
  warning: "#E8A23D"
  error: "#D9685A"
  info: "#7FA8C9"
typography:
  headline-lg:
    fontFamily: "Space Mono"
    fontSize: "2.075rem"
    fontWeight: 700
    lineHeight: 1.1
    letterSpacing: "0.01em"
  headline-md:
    fontFamily: "Space Mono"
    fontSize: "1.66rem"
    fontWeight: 600
    lineHeight: 1.15
    letterSpacing: "0.01em"
  body-md:
    fontFamily: "IBM Plex Sans"
    fontSize: "17px"
    fontWeight: 400
    lineHeight: 1.5
    letterSpacing: "0.01em"
  label-md:
    fontFamily: "IBM Plex Mono"
    fontSize: "0.75rem"
    fontWeight: 600
    lineHeight: 1
    letterSpacing: "0.08em"
rounded:
  base: "0px"
  pane: "16px"
  pill: "9999px"
spacing:
  base: "4px"
  xs: "4px"
  sm: "8px"
  md: "12px"
  lg: "16px"
  xl: "24px"
  2xl: "36px"
  3xl: "56px"
  4xl: "72px"
components:
  color-reference-bg:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.bg}"
  color-reference-bg_deep:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.bg_deep}"
  color-reference-surface:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.surface}"
  color-reference-surface_2:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.surface_2}"
  color-reference-recess:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.recess}"
  color-reference-plate:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.plate}"
  color-reference-text:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.text}"
  color-reference-muted:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.muted}"
  color-reference-tick:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.tick}"
  color-reference-border:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.border}"
  color-reference-accent:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.accent}"
  color-reference-accent_deep:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.accent_deep}"
  color-reference-accent_tint:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.accent_tint}"
  color-reference-on_accent:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.on_accent}"
  color-reference-success:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.success}"
  color-reference-warning:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.warning}"
  color-reference-error:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.error}"
  color-reference-info:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.info}"
  button-primary:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.accent}"
    textColor: "#000000"
    typography: "{typography.label-md}"
    rounded: "16px"
    padding: "{spacing.md}"
  card-surface:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.surface}"
    textColor: "{colors.text}"
    rounded: "16px"
    padding: "{spacing.md}"
  input-default:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.surface}"
    textColor: "{colors.text}"
    rounded: "16px"
    height: "44px"
---

# Litmus

## Overview

A reading-instrument reimagination of E-Ink Neurography Manuals: the e-paper memory manual read as a continuous chart-recorder trace on a cool slate panel. A baseline waveform threads the whole layout; one warm signal-amber event bracket marks the single reading under examination. Conceived from the source brief in parallel to the faithful refinement Sōma, not derived from it.

### Values

- one signal read at a time, across time — a temporal trace, not a 2D plate
- evidence-first hierarchy — coordinates, amplitudes, confidences, states beat marketing copy
- one live reading — amber is the heated stylus, never a fill or a second highlight
- horizontal registers stacked like a chart-recorder drum, never tiled equal cards
- machine intimacy through labels, calibration ticks, erased-memory gaps, and e-ink refresh ghosts

### Anti-Values

- not warm-bone (Sōma) and not ink-navy (the retired Fathom) — the ground is a cool slate reading panel by intent
- no contour-plate-plus-corner-bracket layout, no specimen-pane + right rail — that is the refinement's execution
- no neon glow, matrix rain, cyberpunk gradients, or hacker-dashboard motifs
- no borders, accent edges, boxed-in nav, or nested cards
- no equal SaaS card grids; no full-character anime posters

## Colors

Use the YAML color tokens as the normative palette. The prose below names the roles agents should preserve when generating UI.

| Token | Value |
|-------|-------|
| bg | `#23262B` |
| bg_deep | `#1B1E22` |
| surface | `#2B2F35` |
| surface_2 | `#313640` |
| recess | `#1B1E22` |
| plate | `#262A30` |
| text | `#ECECE4` |
| muted | `#9AA0A0` |
| tick | `#5A6068` |
| border | `#3A3F45` |
| accent | `#E8A23D` |
| accent_deep | `#B6791F` |
| accent_tint | `#3A3326` |
| on_accent | `#1B1305` |
| success | `#6BB58C` |
| warning | `#E8A23D` |
| error | `#D9685A` |
| info | `#7FA8C9` |

## Typography

- **Headline-Lg**: Space Mono, 2.075rem, weight 700, line-height 1.1.
- **Headline-Md**: Space Mono, 1.66rem, weight 600, line-height 1.15.
- **Body-Md**: IBM Plex Sans, 17px, weight 400, line-height 1.5.
- **Label-Md**: IBM Plex Mono, 0.75rem, weight 600, line-height 1.

## Layout

### Spacing Tokens

- **Base**: `4px`
- **Xs**: `4px`
- **Sm**: `8px`
- **Md**: `12px`
- **Lg**: `16px`
- **Xl**: `24px`
- **2xl**: `36px`
- **3xl**: `56px`
- **4xl**: `72px`

### Grid

Stacked full-width horizontal registers (strata) on desktop; a dominant active-channel register over secondary readout clusters and a ledger, not a specimen pane + rail.

### Whitespace

Preserve quiet slate space between strata; always pad above titles.

### Density

Dense mono labels only at decision points.

### Responsive

Desktop stacks registers full-width with a readout cluster; tablet collapses the readout grid; mobile is a single column of diagnostic sheets that hides non-essential columns and never overflows.

### Breakpoints

- **Mobile**: 390px
- **Tablet**: 760px
- **Desktop**: 1100px
- **Ultrawide**: 1700px

## Elevation & Depth

### Shadows

- **Sm**: 0 1px 2px rgba(0,0,0,.32)
- **Md**: 0 12px 30px rgba(0,0,0,.36)
- **Lg**: 0 26px 60px rgba(0,0,0,.44)

## Shapes

### Rounded

- **Base**: `0px`
- **Pane**: `16px`
- **Pill**: `9999px`

### Surfaces

- **Ground**: cool slate reading panel #23262B
- **Channel**: lifted register #2B2F35 raised by soft flat shadow
- **Plate**: trace field #262A30
- **Recess**: #1B1E22 inset for form controls, below the ground
- **Erased Void**: dashed outline over rubbed hatch on #1B1E22

### Borders

- **Policy**: none — separate by space, the 24px annotation grid, recessed surfaces, and a soft flat shadow; never a card border, accent edge, or boxed-in nav

## Components

### Composition

Run one continuous baseline trace through the whole layout. Stack content as full-width horizontal registers (channels), each with an evidence header, a trace field, and a calibration ruler band. Avoid equal tiled card rows.

### Hierarchy

Operational state and evidence labels beat marketing copy. Amber marks state, exception, or proof only — and only on a single live reading.

### Density

Alternate quiet slate space with compressed 4px-8px annotation systems and mono readouts.

### Signature

A continuous waveform trace baseline with one two-armed amber event bracket on the single reading under examination; calibration tick ruler bands, e-ink refresh ghosts, and erased-memory voids recur as structure on cool slate.

## shadcn/ui Usage

When the target app uses shadcn/ui, copy DESIGN.md with shadcn instead of the plain DESIGN.md. It contains the same Katagami design-language source plus the shadcn/ui primitives, imports, theme variables, component recipes, and preview-shot guidance.

DESIGN.md with shadcn: `/language/en-019ef800-89b7-7112-af1c-8cc1d276b43a/DESIGN.with-shadcn.md`.

The shadcn page also exposes optional machine-readable files for automation, but the human-facing handoff is DESIGN.md with shadcn.

Install recommended primitives with `npx shadcn@latest add button card input textarea select dialog sheet tabs badge separator checkbox switch slider tooltip dropdown-menu table`.

Use these primitives in shadcn apps:
- button
- card
- input
- textarea
- select
- dialog
- sheet
- tabs
- badge
- separator
- checkbox
- switch
- slider
- tooltip
- dropdown-menu
- table

Implementation rule for agents: import shadcn primitives from `@/components/ui/*`, apply the generated CSS variables first, then compose the language-specific recipes from the companion MD. Katagami remains the source of truth; shadcn names are the implementation surface.

## Do's and Don'ts

- Do Run the baseline trace through the composition and let it carry the structure.
- Do Keep amber to the single live reading — one event bracket per strip.
- Do Write labels as evidence: coordinates, amplitudes, confidences, timestamps, states.
- Do Stack content as full-width registers; preserve quiet space between strata.
- Don't Don't recolour Sōma — no contour-plate-plus-corner-bracket layout, no specimen-pane + rail.
- Don't Don't light up more than one reading; don't let amber become a fill.
- Don't Don't add neon, glow, matrix rain, or hacker-dashboard motifs.
- Don't Don't box the nav into a pill bar or nest cards.

### Accessibility

Bone ink on slate clears AA for body and large text. Amber denotes state at readable sizes and is never the sole carrier of meaning — every state also has a text label. Focus warms the control to amber with a 2px ring. Motion is gated behind a class and prefers-reduced-motion is respected; the no-JS settled state shows the full page.

## Imagery Direction

### Pairs With

graphite-schematic

### Summary

Graphite-schematic technique applied to a chart-recorder reading on a cool slate panel: a long horizontal oscillographic waveform with stacked register channels, calibration ruler bands, leader-line coordinate tags, and one warm signal-amber event bracket on the reading under examination. Read on slate, not bone or navy.

### Subjects

- chart-recorder / EEG trace strips
- neural-map waveform readings
- stacked instrument register channels
- calibration plates
- erased-memory gap diagrams

### Usage

One full-bleed horizontal trace-strip hero spanning the width; thumbnails and inline diagrams reuse the same bone-on-slate hairline waveform technique; keep amber to a single event bracket; never render the medium itself; no text.

```json
{
  "$schema": "https://ui.shadcn.com/schema/registry-item.json",
  "name": "litmus",
  "type": "registry:theme",
  "title": "Litmus shadcn Theme",
  "cssVars": {
    "theme": {},
    "light": {
      "background": "#23262B",
      "foreground": "#ECECE4",
      "card": "#2B2F35",
      "card-foreground": "#ECECE4",
      "popover": "#2B2F35",
      "popover-foreground": "#ECECE4",
      "primary": "#ECECE4",
      "primary-foreground": "#111111",
      "secondary": "#f4f4f5",
      "secondary-foreground": "#111111",
      "muted": "#9AA0A0",
      "muted-foreground": "#ECECE4",
      "accent": "#E8A23D",
      "accent-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "destructive": "#D9685A",
      "border": "#3A3F45",
      "input": "#3A3F45",
      "ring": "#E8A23D",
      "chart-1": "#ECECE4",
      "chart-2": "#f4f4f5",
      "chart-3": "#E8A23D",
      "chart-4": "#6BB58C",
      "chart-5": "#E8A23D",
      "sidebar": "#2B2F35",
      "sidebar-foreground": "#ECECE4",
      "sidebar-primary": "#ECECE4",
      "sidebar-primary-foreground": "#111111",
      "sidebar-accent": "#7FA8C9",
      "sidebar-accent-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "sidebar-border": "#3A3F45",
      "sidebar-ring": "#E8A23D",
      "radius": "0px"
    },
    "dark": {
      "background": "#0f1115",
      "foreground": "#f8fafc",
      "card": "#181b22",
      "card-foreground": "#f8fafc",
      "popover": "#181b22",
      "popover-foreground": "#f8fafc",
      "primary": "#ECECE4",
      "primary-foreground": "#111111",
      "secondary": "#252a33",
      "secondary-foreground": "#f8fafc",
      "muted": "#252a33",
      "muted-foreground": "#a1a1aa",
      "accent": "#E8A23D",
      "accent-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "destructive": "#D9685A",
      "border": "#303642",
      "input": "#303642",
      "ring": "#E8A23D",
      "chart-1": "#ECECE4",
      "chart-2": "#f4f4f5",
      "chart-3": "#E8A23D",
      "chart-4": "#6BB58C",
      "chart-5": "#E8A23D",
      "sidebar": "#181b22",
      "sidebar-foreground": "#f8fafc",
      "sidebar-primary": "#ECECE4",
      "sidebar-primary-foreground": "#111111",
      "sidebar-accent": "#E8A23D",
      "sidebar-accent-foreground": "#ffffff",
      "sidebar-border": "#303642",
      "sidebar-ring": "#E8A23D",
      "radius": "0px"
    }
  },
  "meta": {
    "source": "katagami",
    "languageId": "en-019ef800-89b7-7112-af1c-8cc1d276b43a",
    "slug": "litmus",
    "componentManifest": [
      "button",
      "card",
      "input",
      "textarea",
      "select",
      "dialog",
      "sheet",
      "tabs",
      "badge",
      "separator",
      "checkbox",
      "switch",
      "slider",
      "tooltip",
      "dropdown-menu",
      "table"
    ],
    "installCommand": "npx shadcn@latest add button card input textarea select dialog sheet tabs badge separator checkbox switch slider tooltip dropdown-menu table",
    "nativeTokenNames": {
      "colors": [
        "accent",
        "accent_deep",
        "accent_tint",
        "bg",
        "bg_deep",
        "border",
        "error",
        "info",
        "muted",
        "on_accent",
        "plate",
        "recess",
        "success",
        "surface",
        "surface_2",
        "text",
        "tick",
        "warning"
      ],
      "typography": [
        "base_size",
        "body_font",
        "google_fonts_url",
        "heading_font",
        "heading_transform",
        "heading_weight",
        "letter_spacing",
        "mono_font"
      ],
      "radii": [
        "base",
        "pane",
        "pill"
      ],
      "shadows": [
        "lg",
        "md",
        "sm"
      ],
      "spacing": [
        "base",
        "scale"
      ],
      "surfaces": [
        "channel",
        "erased_void",
        "ground",
        "plate",
        "recess"
      ],
      "borders": [
        "policy"
      ],
      "motion": [
        "calibration",
        "reduced_motion",
        "refresh",
        "reveal"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```