html-sketch

html-sketch

Purpose

Encode the patterns Thariq Shihipar documented in The Unreasonable Effectiveness of HTML so the drafter has named templates for casual artifacts without reaching for the heavy machinery of component-composer.

Thariq's thesis, paraphrased: HTML is the best format for agent-to-human communication. You don't need a skill to use it well — you can just ask Claude to "make a HTML file." But there ARE recurring patterns worth naming so they're easy to reach for.

When to use this skill

Reach for html-sketch (or just prompt these patterns directly) when:

• You want a throwaway editor for one piece of data (triage 30 Linear tickets, edit feature-flag config, tune a system prompt)
• You want to compare variants side-by-side ("show me 6 different onboarding layouts in a single HTML grid")
• You want an interactive prototype with sliders, knobs, and a copy button that exports your tuned parameters back to a prompt
• You want a single-page report or explainer with TOC, anchors, inline SVG diagrams, code snippets
• You want a PR or code-review explainer with annotated diffs

When NOT to use this skill

• The artifact recurs — same shape made many times, with consistency requirements. Use component-composer for that.
• The artifact is a production dashboard with brand-token enforcement. Use component-composer.
• You need validated mechanical quality (contrast, font-size floors, token compliance). Use component-composer.

Operating mode

When you sketch an artifact, choose a pattern and adapt:

1. Throwaway editor — references/throwaway-editor.md
2. Compare variants — references/compare-variants.md
3. Interactive tuning — references/interactive-tuning.md
4. Single-page report — references/single-page-report.md

Each reference includes a small copyable template and notes on when to use it. The drafter adapts the template to the specific job.

Shared conventions

All four patterns share:

• Single self-contained HTML file (no external requests, opens offline)
• Inline <style>, inline <script>, no <link> to anything
• The Atomic Foundation type tokens are OPTIONAL — use them if you want consistency with composer-produced artifacts, skip them otherwise
• A copy-as-prompt footer where applicable (see references/copy-as-prompt.md)

Not enforced

No validator. No mandatory tokens. No theme switch. No heading-scale discipline. The drafter has full creative latitude. Quality is judged by you, the user, opening the file and deciding if it serves.

If you want a quality bar, you want component-composer, not this.

References

• references/throwaway-editor.md — single-purpose UI for one data set, with export
• references/compare-variants.md — N-up grid for exploring options
• references/interactive-tuning.md — sliders, knobs, copy-params button
• references/single-page-report.md — long-scroll explainer with TOC + diagrams
• references/copy-as-prompt.md — the round-trip footer pattern Thariq highlights