WRNexusJS/docs/plans/2026-10-19-design-system-phase-1-implementation.md

Design-system Phase 1 implementation

Date: 2026-10-19. Status: engine and opt-in legacy integration implemented; Phase 2 component recipes/studio remain unimplemented.

Delivered

• New dependency-free, browser-safe @wrnexus/design-system package and structural JSON Schema v1.
• Typed token validation with a bounded CSS grammar, stable diagnostic codes and paths.
• Explicit token aliases, type checks, reference cycles/missing-reference checks, ordered system inheritance and bounded traversal.
• Mode/density overrides, retained legacy bindings, resolved values and source/reference provenance.
• Deterministic token CSS, optional owner scope and collision detection.
• Legacy adapter and opt-in theme.designSystem configuration in the existing styles pipeline; SSR and production consume the existing resolved theme representation.
• Explicit application token/default/cookie/accent preferences retained. Imported systems suppress the implicit accent default so it cannot overwrite the brand; explicitly configured and selected accents still work.
• Data-only CLI commands: wrnexus design validate|inspect|compile system.json, with optional mode, density and registry inputs.
• Usage documentation, a square-system example, workspace dependencies and a narrowly updated public API baseline for the new package.

See package documentation for the actual supported format and APIs. Canonical token fields are intentionally smaller than the eventual complete studio specification. Unsupported future fields fail explicitly rather than being silently ignored.

Compatibility choices

No UI component source, prop, event, slot, behavior, CSS rule or SSR insertion order was changed. Tokens map through existing --wrn-* variables. Existing hard-coded component styles and explicit variants retain their behavior. The engine does not yet compile component recipes, so it does not introduce the later recipe-vs-local-style precedence problem. Recipe insertion/specificity still requires a Phase 2 proof before hooks are advertised as stable.

The runtime adapter emits mapped legacy variables only. Standalone token CSS emits namespaced design variables as well. Avoid loading both outputs without intentionally managing their cascade. Density selection is compile/config time; scoped overlay propagation and runtime density controls are not implemented.

Verification

• Combined engine, CLI, styles, UI and SSR suites: 323 passing tests, no failures at the initial full verification. Subsequent targeted validation tests are recorded with the final delivery.
• Browser-target bundling verifies no filesystem/provider dependency in the engine entry.
• CLI smoke test validates the saved square-system example.
• A compiled legacy Button is rendered through SSR extraction and checked in happy-dom: imported tokens apply, explicit application overrides win, mode switching updates geometry, and removing opt-in restores current baseline values.
• New source lint and formatting checks are run separately.
• Native Edge headless invocation on this host returned no document output. The reliable cascade check is a DOM simulator check, not native-browser or screenshot certification.
• Workspace-wide type checking remains blocked by errors outside the new engine/CLI module, including existing build/auth typing and CSR/dev-server/UI test typing. A focused engine/theme/CLI type check isolates this delivery.
• The global public API checker also detects pre-existing API drift in other packages. The baseline addition is limited to @wrnexus/design-system; unrelated APIs were not silently accepted by regenerating the entire baseline.

Phase 2 entry work

Implement versioned component descriptors and additive owner/part hooks for the representative families. Verify state mapping and actual variants from sources; introduce recipe compilation only after nested ownership, specificity, SSR/development/production, CSP, explicit instance props, application overrides and overlay-context fixtures pass. Add native-browser screenshots for the three contrasting systems before claiming visual coverage.