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Generative UI Skill
This skill contains the complete design system for Claude's built-in show_widget tool — the generative UI feature that renders interactive HTML/SVG widgets inline in claude.ai conversations. The guidelines below are the actual Anthropic "Imagine — Visual Creation Suite" design rules, extracted so you can produce high-quality widgets directly without needing the read_me setup call.
How it works: On claude.ai, Claude has access to the show_widget tool which renders raw HTML/SVG fragments inline in the conversation. This skill provides the design system, templates, and patterns to use it well.
Step 1: Pick the Right Visual Type
Route on the verb, not the noun. Same subject, different visual depending on what was asked:
| User says | Type | Format |
|---|---|---|
| "how does X work" | Illustrative diagram | SVG |
| "X architecture" | Structural diagram | SVG |
| "what are the steps" | Flowchart | SVG |
| "explain compound interest" | Interactive explainer | HTML |
| "compare these options" | Comparison grid | HTML |
| "show revenue chart" | Chart.js chart | HTML |
| "create a contact card" | Data record | HTML |
| "draw a sunset" | Art/illustration | SVG |
Step 2: Build the Widget
Structure (strict order)
<style> → HTML content → <script>Output streams token-by-token. Styles must exist before the elements they target, and scripts must run after the DOM is ready.
Philosophy
- Seamless: Users shouldn't notice where the host UI ends and your widget begins
- Flat: No gradients, mesh backgrounds, noise textures, or decorative effects. Clean flat surfaces
- Compact: Show the essential inline. Explain the rest in text
- Text goes in your response, visuals go in the tool — all explanatory text, descriptions, and summaries must be written as normal response text OUTSIDE the tool call. The tool output should contain ONLY the visual element
Core Rules
- No
<!-- comments -->or/* comments */(waste tokens, break streaming) - No font-size below 11px
- No emoji — use CSS shapes or SVG paths
- No gradients, drop shadows, blur, glow, or neon effects
- No dark/colored backgrounds on outer containers (transparent only — host provides the bg)
- Typography: two weights only: 400 regular, 500 medium. Never use 600 or 700. Headings: h1=22px, h2=18px, h3=16px — all font-weight 500. Body text=16px, weight 400, line-height 1.7
- Sentence case always. Never Title Case, never ALL CAPS
- No mid-sentence bolding — entity names go in
code stylenot bold - No
<!DOCTYPE>,<html>,<head>, or<body>— just content fragments - No
position: fixed— use normal-flow layouts - No tabs, carousels, or
display: nonesections during streaming - No nested scrolling — auto-fit height
- Corners:
border-radius: var(--border-radius-lg)for cards,var(--border-radius-md)for elements - No rounded corners on single-sided borders (border-left, border-top)
- Round every displayed number — use
Math.round(),.toFixed(n), orIntl.NumberFormat
CDN Allowlist (CSP-enforced)
External resources may ONLY load from:
cdnjs.cloudflare.comcdn.jsdelivr.netunpkg.comesm.sh
All other origins are blocked — the request silently fails.
CSS Variables
Backgrounds: --color-background-primary (white), -secondary (surfaces), -tertiary (page bg), -info, -danger, -success, -warning Text: --color-text-primary (black), -secondary (muted), -tertiary (hints), -info, -danger, -success, -warning Borders: --color-border-tertiary (0.15α, default), -secondary (0.3α, hover), -primary (0.4α), semantic -info/-danger/-success/-warning Typography: --font-sans, --font-serif, --font-mono Layout: --border-radius-md (8px), --border-radius-lg (12px), --border-radius-xl (16px)
All auto-adapt to light/dark mode.
Dark mode is mandatory — every color must work in both modes:
- In HTML: always use CSS variables for text. Never hardcode colors like
color: #333 - In SVG: use pre-built color classes (
c-blue,c-teal, etc.) — they handle light/dark automatically - Mental test: if the background were near-black, would every text element still be readable?
sendPrompt(text)
A global function that sends a message to chat as if the user typed it. Use it when the user's next step benefits from Claude thinking. Handle filtering, sorting, toggling, and calculations in JS instead.
Step 3: Render with show_widget
The show_widget tool is built into claude.ai — no activation needed. Pass your widget code directly:
{
"title": "snake_case_widget_name",
"widget_code": "<style>...</style>\n<div>...</div>\n<script>...</script>"
}| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
title | string | Yes | Snake_case identifier for the widget |
widget_code | string | Yes | HTML or SVG code. For SVG: start with <svg>. For HTML: content fragment |
For SVG output: start widget_code with <svg — it will be auto-detected and wrapped appropriately.
Step 4: Chart.js Template
For charts, use onload callback pattern to handle script load ordering:
<div style="display: grid; grid-template-columns: repeat(auto-fit, minmax(140px, 1fr)); gap: 12px;">
<div style="background: var(--color-background-secondary); border-radius: var(--border-radius-md); padding: 1rem;">
<div style="font-size: 13px; color: var(--color-text-secondary);">Label</div>
<div style="font-size: 24px; font-weight: 500;" id="stat1">—</div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="position: relative; width: 100%; height: 300px; margin-top: 1rem;">
<canvas id="myChart"></canvas>
</div>
<div style="display: flex; align-items: center; gap: 12px; margin-top: 1rem;">
<label style="font-size: 14px; color: var(--color-text-secondary);">Parameter</label>
<input type="range" min="0" max="100" value="50" id="param" step="1" style="flex: 1;" />
<span style="font-size: 14px; font-weight: 500; min-width: 32px;" id="param-out">50</span>
</div>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/Chart.js/4.5.1/chart.umd.js" onload="initChart()"></script>
<script>
function initChart() {
const slider = document.getElementById('param');
const out = document.getElementById('param-out');
let chart = null;
function update() {
const val = parseFloat(slider.value);
out.textContent = val;
document.getElementById('stat1').textContent = val.toFixed(1);
const labels = [], data = [];
for (let x = 0; x <= 100; x++) {
labels.push(x);
data.push(x * val / 100);
}
if (chart) chart.destroy();
chart = new Chart(document.getElementById('myChart'), {
type: 'line',
data: { labels, datasets: [{ data, borderColor: '#7F77DD', borderWidth: 2, pointRadius: 0, fill: false }] },
options: {
responsive: true,
maintainAspectRatio: false,
plugins: { legend: { display: false } },
scales: { x: { grid: { display: false } } }
}
});
}
slider.addEventListener('input', update);
update();
}
if (window.Chart) initChart();
</script>Chart.js rules:
- Canvas cannot resolve CSS variables — use hardcoded hex
- Set height ONLY on the wrapper div, never on canvas itself
- Always
responsive: true, maintainAspectRatio: false - Always disable default legend, build custom HTML legends
- Number formatting:
-$5Mnot$-5M(negative sign before currency symbol) - Use
onload="initChart()"on CDN script tag +if (window.Chart) initChart();as fallback
Step 5: SVG Diagram Template
For flowcharts and diagrams, use SVG with pre-built classes:
<svg width="100%" viewBox="0 0 680 H">
<defs>
<marker id="arrow" viewBox="0 0 10 10" refX="8" refY="5" markerWidth="6" markerHeight="6" orient="auto-start-reverse">
<path d="M2 1L8 5L2 9" fill="none" stroke="context-stroke" stroke-width="1.5" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"/>
</marker>
</defs>
<!-- Single-line node (44px tall) -->
<g class="node c-blue" onclick="sendPrompt('Tell me more about this')">
<rect x="250" y="40" width="180" height="44" rx="8" stroke-width="0.5"/>
<text class="th" x="340" y="62" text-anchor="middle" dominant-baseline="central">Step one</text>
</g>
<!-- Connector arrow -->
<line x1="340" y1="84" x2="340" y2="120" class="arr" marker-end="url(#arrow)"/>
<!-- Two-line node (56px tall) -->
<g class="node c-teal" onclick="sendPrompt('Explain this step')">
<rect x="230" y="120" width="220" height="56" rx="8" stroke-width="0.5"/>
<text class="th" x="340" y="140" text-anchor="middle" dominant-baseline="central">Step two</text>
<text class="ts" x="340" y="158" text-anchor="middle" dominant-baseline="central">Processes the input</text>
</g>
</svg>SVG rules:
- ViewBox always 680px wide (
viewBox="0 0 680 H"). Set H to fit content + 40px padding - Safe area: x=40 to x=640, y=40 to y=(H-40)
- Pre-built classes:
t(14px),ts(12px secondary),th(14px medium 500),box,node,arr,c-{color} - Every
<text>element must carry a class (t,ts, orth) - Use
dominant-baseline="central"for vertical text centering in boxes - Connector paths need
fill="none"(SVG defaults tofill: black) - Stroke width: 0.5px for borders and edges
- Make all nodes clickable:
onclick="sendPrompt('...')"
Step 6: Interactive Explainer Template
For interactive explainers (sliders, live calculations, inline SVG):
<div style="display: flex; align-items: center; gap: 12px; margin: 0 0 1.5rem;">
<label style="font-size: 14px; color: var(--color-text-secondary);">Years</label>
<input type="range" min="1" max="40" value="20" id="years" style="flex: 1;" />
<span style="font-size: 14px; font-weight: 500; min-width: 24px;" id="years-out">20</span>
</div>
<div style="display: flex; align-items: baseline; gap: 8px; margin: 0 0 1.5rem;">
<span style="font-size: 14px; color: var(--color-text-secondary);">$1,000 →</span>
<span style="font-size: 24px; font-weight: 500;" id="result">$3,870</span>
</div>
<div style="margin: 2rem 0; position: relative; height: 240px;">
<canvas id="chart"></canvas>
</div>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/Chart.js/4.5.1/chart.umd.js" onload="initChart()"></script>
<script>
function initChart() {
// slider logic, chart rendering, sendPrompt() for follow-ups
}
if (window.Chart) initChart();
</script>Use sendPrompt() to let users ask follow-ups: sendPrompt('What if I increase the rate to 10%?')
Step 7: Respond to the User
After rendering the widget, briefly explain:
- What the widget shows
- How to interact with it (which controls do what)
- One key insight from the data
Keep it concise — the widget speaks for itself.
Reference Files
references/design_system.md— Complete color palette (9 ramps × 7 stops), CSS variables, UI component patterns, metric cards, layout rulesreferences/svg_and_diagrams.md— SVG viewBox setup, font calibration, pre-built classes, flowchart/structural/illustrative diagram patterns with examplesreferences/chart_js.md— Chart.js configuration, script load ordering, canvas sizing, legend patterns, dashboard layout
Read the relevant reference file when you need specific design tokens, SVG coordinate math, or Chart.js configuration details.
