6.1 KiB
Guardrails
Hard rules that MUST be followed in every iteration. Violating these will produce incorrect output.
Design Direction
When: Making ANY aesthetic decision
Rule: The direction is Clinical Luxury — the structure of clinical software (tables, status dots, coded entries, patient banner, sidebar) with premium execution (refined shadows, generous spacing, premium typography, atmospheric depth). This is NOT a faithful NHS clone. Why: The previous "clinical utilitarian" direction produced generic, flat output. The new direction keeps the clinical metaphor but makes it beautiful.
Design System Guardrails
When: Writing ANY visual component
Rule: Light-mode only. Do NOT add dark mode classes, dark: prefixes, or theme toggles.
Why: The design direction is light-mode only.
When: Setting border-radius on cards, inputs, or table elements
Rule: Use 4px border-radius (rounded in Tailwind). The only exception is the LoginScreen card which uses 12px.
Why: Clinical systems use minimal rounding. This precision is part of the Clinical Luxury feel.
When: Using monospace/code font
Rule: Use Geist Mono (font-family: 'Geist Mono', monospace), NOT Fira Code, for coded entries, timestamps, clinical codes, and data values in the PMR interface. Fira Code is used in boot/ECG phases only.
Why: Geist Mono is the specified monospace font for the PMR interface.
When: Choosing the UI text font
Rule: Use [UI font] — either Elvaro Grotesque or Blumir (see CLAUDE.md for setup). Do NOT use Inter, Roboto, or system defaults for the PMR interface. Why: Premium typography is the primary vehicle for the luxury feel. Generic fonts undermine the entire direction.
When: Adding shadows to cards or panels
Rule: Use multi-layered shadows per the design system: 0 1px 2px rgba(0,0,0,0.04), 0 4px 12px rgba(0,0,0,0.03). Cards should feel like they float slightly above the content surface. Do NOT use flat, borderless cards or overly dramatic Material Design shadows.
Why: Layered shadows create the subtle depth that distinguishes Clinical Luxury from both flat clinical software and generic SaaS.
When: Styling borders
Rule: All card and table borders must be 1px solid #E5E7EB (gray-200). Keep borders on tables — they're authentically clinical.
Why: Borders provide clinical texture. Combined with shadows, they create the luxury-clinical contrast.
Sidebar Label Convention
When: Building or modifying sidebar navigation labels
Rule: Labels MUST be CV-friendly: Summary, Experience, Skills, Achievements, Projects, Education, Contact. Do NOT use clinical jargon (Consultations, Medications, etc.) as labels. The clinical metaphor lives in the LAYOUT of each view, not the labels. Why: Non-clinical visitors should immediately understand what each section contains.
Navigation Guardrails
When: Switching between sidebar views
Rule: View switching must be INSTANT. No crossfade, no slide animation, no opacity transition. Why: Clinical systems use instant tab switching. This preserves the "application" feel.
When: Building navigation
Rule: URL hash routing is required. Each view updates window.location.hash.
Why: Direct linking to specific views is required.
Login Screen Guardrails
When: Building the login typing animation
Rule: Username types at 80ms/char. Password dots at 60ms/dot. After typing completes, the "Log In" button becomes interactive — the user clicks it. It is NOT auto-triggered. Why: The natural pace lets users absorb what's happening. The interactive button creates a moment of user agency.
Component Guardrails
When: Expanding/collapsing entries
Rule: Height animation ONLY (200ms, ease-out). Do NOT fade opacity on content. Why: The spec explicitly states content grows/shrinks without opacity change.
When: Displaying traffic light status indicators
Rule: Colored dots must ALWAYS have text labels. Never use color as the sole indicator. Why: WCAG — color cannot be the only means of communicating information.
When: Rendering the clinical alert
Rule: Use Framer Motion type: "spring" animation for entrance (not ease-out). Amber colors: bg #FEF3C7, left border #F59E0B, text #92400E.
Why: Spring animation with slight overshoot makes alerts feel alive and demanding.
When: Writing table markup
Rule: Use semantic <table>, <thead>, <th scope="col">, <tbody>, <tr>, <td>. No div-based tables.
Why: Screen readers require native table semantics.
Data Guardrails
When: Displaying CV content
Rule: All data must come from src/data/*.ts files. Do NOT hardcode content in components or change any numbers/dates.
Why: Data has been validated against CV_v4.md.
Visual Review Guardrails
When: Completing any visual task
Rule: After quality checks, open http://localhost:5173 via Claude in Chrome tools, take a screenshot, and compare against the ref file spec. Fix visual discrepancies. If browser tools are unavailable, note in progress.txt and proceed.
Why: Code review alone cannot catch visual issues.
When: Browser tools fail
Rule: Skip visual review, note it in progress.txt, continue. Do NOT retry more than twice. Why: Visual review is valuable but not blocking.
Technical Guardrails
When: Writing TypeScript
Rule: No any types. All props must have typed interfaces.
Why: Strict typing prevents runtime errors.
When: Adding animations
Rule: All animations must respect prefers-reduced-motion. With reduced motion: all animations skip to final state instantly.
Why: Accessibility requirement.
When: Building visual components
Rule: Each ref file in Ralph/refs/ contains a "Design Guidance" section with design direction and code patterns. Read it BEFORE writing code. Do NOT invoke /frontend-design at runtime.
Why: Design guidance is pre-baked to avoid context overflow.
When: Running quality checks
Rule: Run npm run typecheck, npm run lint, and npm run build after EVERY task. Fix all errors before committing.
Why: Build failures compound across iterations.