Extract design DNA from existing app screenshots, live URLs, or screen recordings using Google Stitch. Produces color palettes, typography specs, spacing tokens, component patterns, and motion specs as design-tokens.json or Tailwind config. Use when the user provides, uploads, links, or points to a screenshot, URL, or video and asks to extract the design, analyze the animations or scroll behavior, audit an existing design, create a design system from a live app, or ensure new pages match an established visual identity.

Command medium

Invoke

/ork:design-context-extract

Connections

Depends on

Design System Tokens Remember Memory

Used by

Brainstorm Design Import Design To Code

Agent

Design Context Extractor

Ai Ui Generation Audit Activation Audit Full Audit Skills Design Stylecards

Design Context Extract Extract design DNA from existing app screenshots, live URLs, or screen recordings using Google Stitch. Produces color palettes, typography specs, spacing tokens, component patterns, and motion specs as design-tokens.json or Tailwind config.

Design Context Extract

Extract the "Design DNA" from existing applications — colors, typography, spacing, and component patterns — and output as structured tokens.

/ork:design-context-extract /tmp/screenshot.png       # From screenshot
/ork:design-context-extract /tmp/recording.mp4         # From screen recording (motion spec)
/ork:design-context-extract https://example.com        # From live URL
/ork:design-context-extract current project            # Scan project's existing styles

Pipeline

Input (screenshot/URL/project)
  │
  ▼
┌──────────────────────────────┐
│ Capture                       │  Screenshot or fetch HTML/CSS
└──────────┬───────────────────┘
           │
           ▼
┌──────────────────────────────┐
│ Extract                       │  Stitch extract_design_context
│                               │  OR multimodal analysis (fallback)
│ → Colors (hex + oklch)        │
│ → Typography (families, scale)│
│ → Spacing (padding, gaps)     │
│ → Components (structure)      │
└──────────┬───────────────────┘
           │
           ▼
┌──────────────────────────────┐
│ Output                        │  Choose format:
│ → design-tokens.json (W3C)    │
│ → tailwind.config.ts          │
│ → tokens.css (CSS variables)  │
│ → Markdown spec               │
└──────────────────────────────┘

Step 0: Detect Input and Context

INPUT = ""

# 1. Create main task IMMEDIATELY
TaskCreate(subject="Extract design context: {INPUT}", description="Extract design DNA", activeForm="Extracting design from {INPUT}")

# 2. Create subtasks for each phase
TaskCreate(subject="Detect input type and context", activeForm="Detecting input type")             # id=2
TaskCreate(subject="Capture source material", activeForm="Capturing source")                       # id=3
TaskCreate(subject="Extract design tokens", activeForm="Extracting tokens")                        # id=4
TaskCreate(subject="Choose output format and generate", activeForm="Generating output")            # id=5
TaskCreate(subject="Recommend shadcn/ui style", activeForm="Recommending style")                   # id=6

# 3. Set dependencies for sequential phases
TaskUpdate(taskId="3", addBlockedBy=["2"])  # Capture needs input type detected
TaskUpdate(taskId="4", addBlockedBy=["3"])  # Extraction needs captured source
TaskUpdate(taskId="5", addBlockedBy=["4"])  # Output needs extracted tokens
TaskUpdate(taskId="6", addBlockedBy=["5"])  # Style recommendation needs output

# 4. Before starting each task, verify it's unblocked
task = TaskGet(taskId="2")  # Verify blockedBy is empty

# 5. Update status as you progress
TaskUpdate(taskId="2", status="in_progress")  # When starting
TaskUpdate(taskId="2", status="completed")    # When done — repeat for each subtask

# Determine input type
# "/path/to/file.png" → screenshot
# "/path/to/file.mp4|.mov|.webm|.gif" → screen recording (video pipeline)
# "http..." → URL
# "current project" → scan project styles

Step 1: Capture Source

For screenshots: Read the image directly (Claude is multimodal). Pasted/attached images are compressed to the same token budget as Read tool images (CC 2.1.97), so both workflows are equally efficient.

Resolution budget (Opus 4.8 / CC 2.1.111+): Max input is 2,576 px on the long edge (~3.75 MP) — roughly 3× the Opus 4.6 ceiling. Dense dashboards, dark-mode UIs, and technical diagrams benefit the most from the higher ceiling; extraction reads tiny labels, spacing ticks, and component boundaries that were previously blurred. Below 1,024 px, don't upscale — the source bitmap is the ceiling. Resize only when input exceeds 2,576 px.

For URLs:

# If stitch available: call build_site(prompt=<url + extraction goal>)
#   then get_screen_code / get_screen_image per generated screen
# If not: WebFetch the URL and analyze HTML/CSS

For current project:

Glob("**/tailwind.config.*")
Glob("**/tokens.css")
Glob("**/*.css")  # Look for design token files
Glob("**/theme.*")
# Read and analyze existing style definitions

For screen recordings (video): the only input mode that carries motion — easing, scroll choreography, transitions. Requires ffmpeg/ffprobe (skip with an install hint if missing).

# 1. Probe: duration, dimensions, frame rate
ffprobe -v error -show_entries format=duration,size:stream=width,height,r_frame_rate -of json "$VIDEO"

# 2. Extract frames at timeline beats — NOT uniform thumbnails.
#    Pass A: 1fps sweep to locate transitions; Pass B: re-extract around detected beats.
mkdir -p "$SCRATCHPAD/video-frames"
ffmpeg -y -i "$VIDEO" -vf fps=1 "$SCRATCHPAD/video-frames/frame-%03d.jpg"
# For scroll-heavy or long videos also grab start / middle / end explicitly.

Then Read the extracted frames (multimodal) and analyze in layers:

Layer	What to capture
Layout	viewport framing, grids, sticky zones, section order
Motion	reveal timing, easing curves, parallax, pinned/scrubbed sections, hover states, loops
Visual	same token extraction as screenshots (colors, type, spacing)
Rebuild	name the mechanism: CSS transition, IntersectionObserver, GSAP ScrollTrigger, `video.currentTime` scrub, WebGL

Video inputs additionally emit a motion-spec.md alongside the token output: per-interaction durations (ms), easing, trigger (scroll/hover/load), and a reduced-motion fallback for each entry. Never describe motion as "smooth" or "nice" — convert taste into mechanism + numbers.

Step 2: Extract Design Context

If stitch MCP is available:

# Official Stitch MCP tools (stitch.withgoogle.com/docs/mcp):
#   - build_site(prompt)          → generates the target design
#   - get_screen_code(screenId)   → React/HTML output per screen
#   - get_screen_image(screenId)  → PNG rasterization per screen
#
# Also consider Figma Dev Mode MCP as a complementary extraction path
# when the source is a Figma file:
#   - get_variable_defs    → design tokens straight from Figma variables
#   - get_design_context   → layout + typography + spacing
#   - search_design_system → locate existing tokens/components

If stitch MCP is NOT available (fallback):

# Multimodal analysis of screenshot:
# - Identify dominant colors (sample from regions)
# - Detect font families and size hierarchy
# - Measure spacing patterns
# - Catalog component types (cards, buttons, headers, etc.)
#
# For URLs: parse CSS custom properties, Tailwind config, computed styles

Extracted data structure:

{
  "colors": {
    "primary": { "hex": "#3B82F6", "oklch": "oklch(0.62 0.21 255)" },
    "secondary": { "hex": "#10B981", "oklch": "oklch(0.69 0.17 163)" },
    "background": { "hex": "#FFFFFF" },
    "text": { "hex": "#1F2937" },
    "muted": { "hex": "#9CA3AF" }
  },
  "typography": {
    "heading": { "family": "Inter", "weight": 700 },
    "body": { "family": "Inter", "weight": 400 },
    "scale": [12, 14, 16, 18, 24, 30, 36, 48]
  },
  "spacing": {
    "base": 4,
    "scale": [4, 8, 12, 16, 24, 32, 48, 64]
  },
  "components": ["navbar", "hero", "card", "button", "footer"]
}

Step 3: Choose Output Format

AskUserQuestion(questions=[{
  "question": "Output format for extracted tokens?",
  "header": "Format",
  "options": [
    {"label": "Tailwind config (Recommended)", "description": "tailwind.config.ts with extracted theme values"},
    {"label": "W3C Design Tokens", "description": "design-tokens.json following W3C DTCG spec"},
    {"label": "CSS Variables", "description": "tokens.css with CSS custom properties"},
    {"label": "Markdown spec", "description": "Human-readable design specification document"}
  ],
  "multiSelect": false
}])

Step 4: Generate Output

Write the extracted tokens in the chosen format. If the project already has tokens, show a diff of what's new vs existing.

After extracting design DNA, map the extracted characteristics to the best-fit shadcn/ui v4 style:

# Map extracted design DNA → shadcn style recommendation
radius = extracted["radius"]      # e.g., "large", "pill", "none", "small"
density = extracted["spacing"]    # e.g., "generous", "balanced", "compact", "dense"
elevation = extracted["shadows"]  # e.g., "layered", "subtle", "none"

STYLE_MAP = {
    # (radius, density, elevation) → style
    ("pill/large", "generous", "layered"):  "Luma — polished, macOS-like",
    ("medium",     "balanced", "subtle"):   "Vega — general purpose",
    ("medium",     "compact",  "subtle"):   "Nova — dense dashboards",
    ("large",      "generous", "subtle"):   "Maia — soft, consumer-facing",
    ("none/sharp", "balanced", "none"):     "Lyra — editorial, dev tools",
    ("small",      "dense",    "none"):     "Mira — ultra-dense data",
}
# Present recommendation with the style picker URL:
# "Based on extracted design DNA, recommended style: Luma"
# "Pick and install: https://ui.shadcn.com/create  (select 'Luma' style)"
# Apply to existing project (CLI v4 apply command, Apr 2026):
# "$ npx shadcn@latest apply luma"

Skip condition: If the user only needs raw tokens (not a shadcn project), skip this step.

Anti-Patterns

NEVER guess colors without analyzing the actual source — use precise extraction
NEVER skip the oklch conversion — all colors must have oklch equivalents
NEVER output flat token structures — use three-tier hierarchy (global/alias/component)

Quality Bar

Done means all of these hold:

Every color was sampled from the actual source, has an oklch equivalent, and carries a role name
Typography includes family, weight, and the observed size scale — not "modern sans-serif"
Output file written in the chosen format and verified to parse (JSON/TS/CSS)
Video inputs: motion-spec.md names mechanism + duration + easing + reduced-motion fallback per interaction
If the project already had tokens, the diff of new-vs-existing was shown

ork:design-to-code — Full pipeline that uses this as Stage 1
ork:design-system-tokens — Token architecture and W3C spec compliance
ork:component-search — Find components that match extracted patterns

Design Context Extract

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