The polish skill performs a meticulous final pass to catch all the small details that separate good work from great work. It’s the difference between shipped and polished.Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/pbakaus/impeccable/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
When to Use
Use the polish skill when you need to:- Perform a final quality pass before shipping
- Fix subtle alignment and spacing issues
- Ensure all interaction states are implemented
- Catch typography, color, and consistency issues
- Add missing micro-interactions and transitions
- Perfect edge cases and error states
- Bring work from “good enough” to “exceptional”
Parameters
The specific feature or area to polish. If not specified, polishes the entire interface.
Important Prerequisites
Workflow
The polish skill follows a systematic approach:Pre-Polish Assessment
Understand the current state and goals:Review completeness:
- Is it functionally complete?
- Are there known issues to preserve (mark with TODOs)?
- What’s the quality bar? (MVP vs flagship feature?)
- When does it ship? (How much time for polish?)
- Visual inconsistencies
- Spacing and alignment issues
- Interaction state gaps
- Copy inconsistencies
- Edge cases and error states
- Loading and transition smoothness
Polish Dimensions
The polish skill addresses these areas systematically:Visual Alignment & Spacing
- Pixel-perfect alignment: Everything lines up to grid
- Consistent spacing: All gaps use spacing scale (no random 13px gaps)
- Optical alignment: Adjust for visual weight (icons may need offset for optical centering)
- Responsive consistency: Spacing and alignment work at all breakpoints
- Grid adherence: Elements snap to baseline grid
Typography Refinement
- Hierarchy consistency: Same elements use same sizes/weights throughout
- Line length: 45-75 characters for body text
- Line height: Appropriate for font size and context
- Widows & orphans: No single words on last line
- Hyphenation: Appropriate for language and column width
- Kerning: Adjust letter spacing where needed (especially headlines)
- Font loading: No FOUT/FOIT flashes
Color & Contrast
- Contrast ratios: All text meets WCAG standards
- Consistent token usage: No hard-coded colors, all use design tokens
- Theme consistency: Works in all theme variants
- Color meaning: Same colors mean same things throughout
- Accessible focus: Focus indicators visible with sufficient contrast
- Tinted neutrals: No pure gray or pure black—add subtle color tint (0.01 chroma)
- Gray on color: Never put gray text on colored backgrounds—use a shade of that color or transparency
Interaction States
Every interactive element needs all states:- Default: Resting state
- Hover: Subtle feedback (color, scale, shadow)
- Focus: Keyboard focus indicator (never remove without replacement)
- Active: Click/tap feedback
- Disabled: Clearly non-interactive
- Loading: Async action feedback
- Error: Validation or error state
- Success: Successful completion
Micro-interactions & Transitions
- Smooth transitions: All state changes animated appropriately (150-300ms)
- Consistent easing: Use ease-out-quart/quint/expo for natural deceleration. Never bounce or elastic—they feel dated.
- No jank: 60fps animations, only animate transform and opacity
- Appropriate motion: Motion serves purpose, not decoration
- Reduced motion: Respects
prefers-reduced-motion
Content & Copy
- Consistent terminology: Same things called same names throughout
- Consistent capitalization: Title Case vs Sentence case applied consistently
- Grammar & spelling: No typos
- Appropriate length: Not too wordy, not too terse
- Punctuation consistency: Periods on sentences, not on labels (unless all labels have them)
Forms & Inputs
- Label consistency: All inputs properly labeled
- Required indicators: Clear and consistent
- Error messages: Helpful and consistent
- Tab order: Logical keyboard navigation
- Auto-focus: Appropriate (don’t overuse)
- Validation timing: Consistent (on blur vs on submit)
Edge Cases & Error States
- Loading states: All async actions have loading feedback
- Empty states: Helpful empty states, not just blank space
- Error states: Clear error messages with recovery paths
- Success states: Confirmation of successful actions
- Long content: Handles very long names, descriptions, etc.
- No content: Handles missing data gracefully
- Offline: Appropriate offline handling (if applicable)
Performance
- Fast initial load: Optimize critical path
- No layout shift: Elements don’t jump after load (CLS)
- Smooth interactions: No lag or jank
- Optimized images: Appropriate formats and sizes
- Lazy loading: Off-screen content loads lazily
Code Quality
- Remove console logs: No debug logging in production
- Remove commented code: Clean up dead code
- Remove unused imports: Clean up unused dependencies
- Consistent naming: Variables and functions follow conventions
- Type safety: No TypeScript
anyor ignored errors - Accessibility: Proper ARIA labels and semantic HTML
Polish Checklist
Go through systematically:- Visual alignment perfect at all breakpoints
- Spacing uses design tokens consistently
- Typography hierarchy consistent
- All interactive states implemented
- All transitions smooth (60fps)
- Copy is consistent and polished
- Icons are consistent and properly sized
- All forms properly labeled and validated
- Error states are helpful
- Loading states are clear
- Empty states are welcoming
- Touch targets are 44x44px minimum
- Contrast ratios meet WCAG AA
- Keyboard navigation works
- Focus indicators visible
- No console errors or warnings
- No layout shift on load
- Works in all supported browsers
- Respects reduced motion preference
- Code is clean (no TODOs, console.logs, commented code)
Usage Example
Best Practices
DO:- Zoom in and scrutinize details
- Use the feature yourself
- Test on real devices
- Get fresh eyes to review
- Maintain consistent quality level throughout
- Polish before it’s functionally complete
- Spend hours on polish if it ships in 30 minutes (triage)
- Introduce bugs while polishing (test thoroughly)
- Ignore systematic issues (if spacing is off everywhere, fix the system)
- Perfect one thing while leaving others rough (consistent quality level)
Important Notes
The polish skill starts by checking the frontend-design skill for design principles and anti-patterns. Make sure this skill is available for the best results.
