sokratai-design

name: sokratai-design description: Use this skill for any UI work on Сократ AI (sokratai.ru) — Russian Socratic-method AI tutor for ОГЭ/ЕГЭ prep. Covers tutor workplace (desktop), student learning app (mobile), and parent read-only overlay. Brand: deep green #1B6B4A + ochre #E8913A, Golos Text, KaTeX math. Use before making any design decision so all three modes stay coherent. user-invocable: true

Сократ AI — Design System (cross-kit handoff)

This is the system-level entry point. Read it once, then route to the kit-specific README you need. Do not redesign foundations, tutor kit, or student kit based on this file — it documents what exists, enforces how the pieces fit, and defines how new work extends the system without drifting.

Heavy detail lives in:

• README.md (top-level) — folder map, quick-start, completion status
• colors_and_type.css — tokens, fonts, mode rules, exam-stream rules
• ui_kits/tutor/README.md — tutor workplace kit
• ui_kits/student/README.md — student learning kit + parent overlay rules

1. System purpose

Сократ AI (sokratai.ru) is a Russian-language Socratic tutor for 9th- and 11th-grade students preparing for the ОГЭ and ЕГЭ state exams — math, physics, informatics.

The core product promise: the AI does not hand over answers. It asks leading questions so the student arrives at the solution themselves. This promise shapes every UI decision in this system — from the absence of a "show correct answer" state to the gamification boundaries that never use completion as a substitute for understanding.

2. Product truth

• Tutor is the primary operator. The business model is tutor-led. Build tutor-first.
• Student is the learner. Student surfaces host the Socratic loop — they are a classroom, not a game.
• Parent is an observer. Parent is a read-only lens on student surfaces, not its own product. If a parent-only workflow ever needs a dedicated surface, that is a separate design pass, not a reuse of student chrome.
• Russian-language only in product UI. Docs (this file, README.md, CLAUDE.md) are English. In-product copy is Russian.
• Exam-stream aware. ЕГЭ (green family) and ОГЭ (indigo #5B5FC7) are distinct streams with their own chip colors, folder covers, and filter semantics.
• Math-and-physics heavy. Every surface may render formulas. Math containers are non-optional.

3. Mode contract

Every surface wraps in:

<div class="sokrat" data-sokrat-mode="…"> … </div>

One of tutor, student, parent. The wrapper is mandatory — surfaces without it are not valid Сократ AI UI.

Parent mode is not a global lockout. It disables learning actions (Проверить, Открыть подсказку, Следующая задача, etc. — everything carrying data-learning-cta) and hides gamification ([data-parent-hide]). Contact-tutor, pay-invoice, and message-tutor controls remain fully interactive in parent mode — these are the legitimate parent actions.

4. Foundations (frozen)

Single source of truth: colors_and_type.css at project root.

• Tokens: --sokrat-* CSS variables (brand green, ochre, exam-stream, neutrals, state colors, spacing, radii, shadows, hit targets, durations).
• Fonts: Golos Text (400/500/600/700/800/900) served from local fonts/ — the system sans for all display, body, and UI. Math uses KaTeX and its own rendering stack. No other webfont families are loaded.
• Mode rules: .sokrat[data-sokrat-mode="…"] selectors that fold density, typography, gamification visibility, and motion into the wrapper.
• Exam-stream rules: .sokrat-stream-ege, .sokrat-stream-oge chip/tint classes.
• Assets: assets/sokrat-logo.png, assets/sokrat-chat-icon.png, assets/sokrat-hw-banner.png.

Do not reopen. If a token is missing, extend colors_and_type.css — never shadow it in a kit file, never inline a new hex value in a component.

5. Token hierarchy

Precedence, top wins:

1. Pass-1 CSS variables (--sokrat-*) — source of truth.
2. Kit helper classes in ui_kits/*/tokens.css — consume the variables, never redeclare them.
3. Component-level inline styles — only for one-off composition that a helper class cannot express cleanly.
4. Never: new hex values, new font stacks, new ad-hoc gradients, new shadow recipes outside foundations.

6. Component-family map

Tutor workplace (ui_kits/tutor/)

Student learning (ui_kits/student/)

Parent

No kit. Render student kit under data-sokrat-mode="parent". The ParentBanner component is the one piece unique to parent mode; everything else is the student tree with suppressed interactions.

Legacy previews (older passes)

• preview/ — token-level cards (colors, type, radii, shadows, buttons, chips, forms).
• ui_kits/website/ — legacy pre-foundations landing-page sketch of sokratai.ru.
• ui_kits/app/ — legacy pre-foundations chat-centric student sketch, superseded by ui_kits/student/.

Legacy kits are non-canonical. ui_kits/website/ and ui_kits/app/ predate colors_and_type.css and contain inline hex values (#1B6B4A, #E8913A, etc.). They are reference-only for brand feel. Do not copy their components, class names, or inline styles into new canonical work. All new surfaces must use the tutor or student kit under the mode contract.

7. Template map

8. Anti-drift rules (the ten laws)

1. One source of truth. colors_and_type.css owns every token. Do not shadow or fork.
2. Mode wrapper mandatory. No surface renders without data-sokrat-mode.
3. Gamification is student-only. Ochre is celebration-only — never chrome, never CTA.
4. Brand green ≠ success. State colors come from --sokrat-state-*, not --sokrat-green-*.
5. Parent is an overlay, not a kit. Same tree, fewer active surfaces. Learning actions inert; parent actions (contact, pay, message) remain active.
6. No ready-answer state. Wrong → Socratic hint or question. The UI never reveals the solution on its own.
7. Math never in sans. Only FormulaBlock / SFormulaBlock / InlineMath render math.
8. Hit targets. 36 px min on tutor desktop, 44 px min on student mobile, 52 px for primary student learning CTAs.
9. No density bleed. Tutor's 32-px rows and 13-px body never appear on student mobile. Student's 52-px CTAs never appear on tutor chrome.
10. No cards inside cards. Use inset, rowgroup, or Section primitives.

9. Extending the system

Before shipping any new component, pattern, or token, answer this checklist:

• Does an existing primitive cover 80% of the need? If yes → refine, do not add.
• Which mode owns this? (tutor / student / shared) — place accordingly.
• Does it obey the mode contract (§3) in all three modes? Verify parent too.
• Does it introduce a new color, font, shadow, radius, or hit-target? → Stop. Extend colors_and_type.css first, then use the token.
• Does it break any of the ten anti-drift rules (§8)? → Redesign before coding.
• Is parent-mode behavior documented? (gamification hidden, learning CTAs inert, motion off, parent actions allowed.)
• Does it keep hit targets in the right bucket for its mode?
• Does math go through the correct container?
• Is the Russian copy verbatim and reviewed, or draft? Flag drafts.

If any item fails, the component is not ready. Fix before merging.

10. Implementation handoff

For developers and Claude Code instances:

• Preserve the include order. colors_and_type.css first, then kit tokens.css, then kit JSX files in the order listed in the kit README.
• Preserve the mode wrapper. <div class="sokrat" data-sokrat-mode="…"> on every page-level surface. This is not stylistic — the foundations CSS keys off it.
• Copy kit files verbatim. Do not port them to a different styling system (Tailwind, MUI, styled-components) in a one-shot rewrite. Tailwind already underlies the codebase; the sokrat-* tokens already map into it.
• Use CSS variables, not copied hex values. var(--sokrat-green-600), not #1B6B4A.
• Russian copy is canonical. Do not rewrite copy for clarity without the founder's sign-off — tone is part of the brand.
• Math goes through KaTeX + the FormulaBlock wrapper. Never render raw LaTeX into sans-body text.
• Assets are PNGs. sokrat-logo.png and sokrat-chat-icon.png are bitmap by design — do not redraw as SVG.

Claude Code handoff (repo integration)

When porting this system into the Vite + React + Tailwind + shadcn app (github.com/Vladimir03/sokratai):

• Copy into the app: colors_and_type.css, fonts/ (all six Golos Text weights), and assets/ (logos, chat icon, banner). Place colors_and_type.css alongside the app's src/index.css and import it before the Tailwind layers.
• Reference-only, do not drop in: ui_kits/tutor/*.jsx and ui_kits/student/*.jsx are design references, not a runtime component library. Re-implement the components in the app's existing conventions (shadcn primitives + Tailwind classes consuming the --sokrat-* tokens). Keep names and prop shapes parallel so the design reference stays readable.
• Token mapping. Map --sokrat-* variables into the application styling layer:
  • --sokrat-green-700 → --primary / socrat.primary
  • --sokrat-ochre-500 → --accent / socrat.accent
  • --sokrat-fg1/2/3 → --foreground scale
  • --sokrat-surface / --sokrat-card → --background / --card
  • --sokrat-state-* → --success / --warning / --destructive / --info
  • --sokrat-border* → --border, --input
  • Integration template: the imported repo's src/index.css and tailwind.config.ts under src/ in this project show the existing HSL/CSS-var wiring — follow that pattern, overriding only the values that drifted (see the palette caveat in the root README).
• Mode wrapper in app code. Wrap each route under the correct mode — tutor routes under data-sokrat-mode="tutor", student routes under data-sokrat-mode="student", the parent progress view under data-sokrat-mode="parent". Parent enforcement (learning-CTA inertness, gamification hiding) is handled entirely by foundations CSS — no parent-specific component branches needed.

11. Pre-flight checks (must-pass before PR)

Literal checklist to run on every new surface:

• Wrapped in .sokrat[data-sokrat-mode="tutor|student|parent"].
• Loads colors_and_type.css before any kit CSS.
• No hex values outside foundations.
• No new font families.
• Hit targets meet the mode minimum.
• Exactly one primary CTA per screen (where applicable). Ghost / icon-only / secondary actions sitting next to the primary do not count as competing primaries.
• Parent mode: learning CTAs inert, gamification hidden, parent actions active.
• Math rendered through KaTeX inside a FormulaBlock / SFormulaBlock / InlineMath / SInlineMath.
• No ochre outside celebration/streak/XP/milestone contexts.
• No "show the answer" state in student surfaces.
• Russian copy uses «ты» to students, «вы» to tutors and parents.
• Tabular-lining numerals on any number that can change.

North stars (non-negotiable):

• Warm, judgement-free tone. Patient tutor, not a cool AI product.
• Never a direct answer when a hint would teach more.
• Deep-green primary + ochre CTA/celebration. Never swap the hierarchy.
• Cyrillic first in all product copy.
• No bluish-purple gradients, no AI-slop "shiny" aesthetics. Earthy, book-ish, human.