accounted/.claude/rules/design.md

paths

paths
app/** components/**

Design Context & Design System

Always use the /frontend-design skill for new UI. The conventions below are locked: deviating from them on existing pages is a regression.

Users

Swedish sole traders (enskild firma) and small business owners (aktiebolag) who manage their own bookkeeping. They are not accountants; they are professionals (consultants, freelancers, shop owners) who want to stay compliant without hiring one. They use Accounted in short, focused sessions: sending an invoice, categorizing bank transactions, filing a VAT declaration. Speed and clarity matter.

Brand & Aesthetic

Editorial monochrome. Paper-white surfaces, hairline borders, serif headlines. The interface should feel like a well-made instrument, considered, quiet, confident. Anti-references: enterprise software (SAP/Oracle density), neon SaaS coldness.

• Palette: Achromatic foundation. Pure white background, warm beige (40 11% 89%) for chips / active sidebar / hover / secondary buttons. Achromatic primary (no cool tint). Semantic colors (--success sage, --warning ochre, --destructive terracotta) exist but are data-only: they appear in charts and financial numbers (positive/negative deltas), never as chrome backgrounds. In chrome, only --destructive survives.
• Typography: Hedvig Letters Serif for display headings, Geist (sans) for body, forms, and tables. Hedvig is single-weight (400): do not apply font-medium to display text; its natural high-contrast strokes carry the weight. Tabular numbers everywhere financial data appears.
• Surfaces: The page itself is a rounded panel (12px) floating on a warm-toned frame (--frame); the sidebar sits borderless on the frame. Cards sit flat on the page: no shadow, full-opacity hairline border (border-border), rounded-lg (8px). Card background matches page background; the border carries hierarchy. Dark mode drops the warm tint from secondary for a pure-gray mood shift; light mode keeps the beige.
• Spacing: Generous whitespace. Dense data (tables, ledgers) uses tighter spacing but never feels cramped.
• Motion: Functional, not decorative. No press-scale, no hover-lift, no spring overshoot. Hover state is a flat background shift (bg-secondary/60). transition-colors duration-150 is the default. Stagger animations on list entry are fine. Respect prefers-reduced-motion (already wired).
• Icons: Lucide: 15px in navigation, slightly larger in empty states.

Design Principles

1. Clarity over cleverness: Swedish labels, obvious hierarchy.
2. Earned minimalism: remove what doesn't serve the task, keep compliance context.
3. Numbers are first-class: tabular-nums, alignment, positive/negative clarity.
4. Trust through consistency.
5. Speed is a feature: optimize for the 90-second session.

Accessibility

WCAG AA (4.5:1 text, 3:1 UI). Keyboard-navigable + visible focus rings. Respect prefers-reduced-motion. Color never sole state indicator. Touch targets ≥40px (44px for mobile-critical). Icon-only buttons need aria-label.

Locked UI-migration conventions

Decided during the 2026-07 concept work (dev_docs/ui_migration_plan.md); they apply system-wide and override anything below that conflicts.

1. Frame layout. The page is a rounded panel (12px) on a warm-toned frame (--frame). The panel keeps --background; the sidebar is borderless on the frame.
2. Page title is exactly 24px/32px Hedvig Letters Serif (text-2xl leading-8 via PageHeader).
3. Buttons are pills. Radius 99px, default padding 7px 16px, 13px text. Set once in components/ui/button.tsx, app-wide, never per page.
4. Table rows are one line. Secondary info (descriptions, OCR, roles) belongs in the detail view or a click-popup, never as sub-rows in lists.
5. Chips mark exceptions. Normal states render as muted text; Badge only when the row deviates. Same chip on every row means the chip is wrong.
6. Attention is one ochre sentence, not a banner: the .attn pattern (12.5px, --warning tone, single line, optionally with an embedded action link). Max one per page.
7. Help text lives behind a "?" right after the H1: a small (17px) circular button opening a popover anchored at the button. No instructional copy in the page flow.
8. One context picker per page, far right in the toolbar: fiscal year or account/source as a chip-dropdown with a check on the active choice. A chip that looks like a picker must be a picker.
9. The primary action lives in the page header, right side. Multiple create paths collapse into a split button whose caret menu remembers the last-used mode (persisted in user_preferences, not localStorage).
10. Confirm up front, don't comment afterwards. Actions that post or send open a small confirm dialog describing the outcome ("Bokförs som verifikat A-217 ...") instead of writing outcome text into the page afterwards.
11. Content lands with stagger. .stagger-enter is the standard entry for list/table content, on server render and on client-fetch completion alike.
12. Status colors are data, not chrome: sage/ochre/terracotta only in numbers, exception chips and .attn.
13. Overlays: centered modal for create/confirm (template, assistant, confirmations, settings); right slide-over for reviewing an object (Granskning detail). Both with veil, Esc, and click-outside.
14. Manual base, AI as opt-in. Base flows work without AI; AI entry points are clearly labeled discrete choices (e.g. "Skapa med assistenten") and no AI suggestion posts without Granskning.

Design System Tokens

Spacing scale. Only use Tailwind values 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12. Forbidden: 2.5, 5, hardcoded pixels in page logic.

Token	Tailwind	Use for
4	1	icon padding
8	2	tight inline gaps
12	3	dense list rows, badge gaps
16	4	default form / control / grid gap
24	6	card padding default (p-6)
32	8	between page sections (space-y-8 on page root)
40	10	hero spacing
48	12	top of page after header

Compact metric cards (e.g. dashboard tiles, salary KPI row) use p-4. Detail cards use p-6. Never mix p-5.

Layout (frame layout).

• The dashboard wrapper is bg-frame (--frame: 40 18% 96% light, 0 0% 5% dark). <main> is the page panel: bg-background rounded-xl border border-border, 10px margin against the frame, own inner scroll (md:h-[calc(100vh-20px)] md:overflow-y-auto). Defined once as MAIN_PANEL_CLASS in app/(dashboard)/layout.tsx; never restyle per page.
• The panel is the desktop scroll container: position: sticky binds to it automatically; never assume window scroll on dashboard pages. Scroll reset on navigation lives in MainContainer.
• Sidebar width: md:w-64 (256px), borderless and transparent on the frame. Panel offset: md:ml-64.
• Main container: max-w-5xl mx-auto px-5 py-8 md:px-8 md:py-10 (via components/dashboard/MainContainer.tsx).
• Page root: <div className="space-y-8">.
• Mobile keeps the pre-frame layout: full-width document flow, bottom nav; the panel styles are md:-gated.

Primitives: always use these, don't hand-roll.

Need	Component	Notes
Page title + action	components/ui/page-header.tsx PageHeader	Use this, not bespoke <h1> + <p> blocks. Drop the description prop when it just paraphrases the title.
Data table	components/ui/table.tsx Table / TableHeader / TableHead / TableRow / TableCell	Header style is baked in: text-[11px] font-medium uppercase tracking-wider text-muted-foreground. Wrap in <CardContent className="p-0"> when the table is a card's primary content. Add tabular-nums to numeric cells.
Status indicator	components/ui/badge.tsx <Badge variant>	Chips mark exceptions only: normal states (Aktiv, Bokförd, Betald-i-tid) render as muted text (text-muted-foreground text-xs); Badge is reserved for rows that deviate (Utkast, Förfallen, Ej bokförd). A table where every row carries the same chip is wrong. Variants: default / secondary / success / warning / destructive / outline. Never use raw Tailwind colors (bg-blue-100, bg-emerald-500/10, etc.) for status. Map status → variant via a small Record per feature.
No-data state	components/ui/empty-state.tsx EmptyState	Don't hand-roll <div className="flex flex-col items-center py-12">…</div>. Preset variants exist (EmptyInvoices, EmptyCustomers, EmptyTransactions, etc.).
Loading placeholder	components/ui/skeleton.tsx <Skeleton>	Don't hand-roll bg-muted rounded animate-pulse divs.
Inline help / formulas	components/ui/info-tooltip.tsx InfoTooltip	Hover-revealed; don't use always-visible info buttons.
Fiscal year picker	components/common/FiscalYearSelector.tsx	Don't use raw <select> for fiscal periods.

Tabular display rules.

• All financial values get tabular-nums.
• Dates in tables: tabular-nums for fixed width.
• Right-align numeric columns (text-right).
• For group bands inside tables (Resultatrapport-style): <tr className="bg-muted/30"><td colSpan={n} className="px-4 py-2 text-[12px] font-semibold text-muted-foreground">{label}</td></tr>.

Date formatting. Two helpers in lib/utils.ts:

• formatDate(x) → 2026-05-11 (ISO yyyy-MM-dd). Use for accounting data: transaction dates, invoice dates, payment dates, voucher dates. Aligns in tables, matches SIE/BFL convention.
• formatDateLong(x) → 11 maj 2026 (Swedish long form). Use for metadata: when something was created, linked, verified, expires. Settings panels and audit displays.

Never render raw {x.invoice_date} directly: always route through formatDate() for code consistency.

Currency. formatCurrency(n, currency?) from lib/utils.ts. Default SEK.

Typography.

• Page title: use PageHeader (renders font-display text-2xl leading-8 tracking-tight, exactly 24px/32px, locked). Do not hand-roll an <h1>.
• Card title: <CardTitle className="text-base"> for sections, default for primary cards. The primitive already drops font-medium: do not add it back.
• Section divider header inside a page: <h2 className="text-sm font-medium uppercase tracking-wider text-muted-foreground">.
• Headline number: font-display text-xl tabular-nums. No font-medium: Hedvig's natural weight carries the gravitas.
• Display font (font-display, Hedvig Letters Serif) reserved for h1/h2/h3 and primary financial numbers. If a specific font-display numeral reads weak inside a compact metric card, override that call site with font-sans tabular-nums (Geist), better legibility on small numerals.

Forbidden / dead patterns.

• Page descriptions that paraphrase the page title (e.g. <PageHeader title="Fakturor" description="Hantera dina fakturor">) → drop the description.
• Two different status indicators on the same element (e.g. colored card border and Badge for status) → pick one (prefer Badge).
• Mobile-specific <select> duplicating desktop tabs in code: use a single Tabs primitive or a single grouped Select.
• Hand-rolled icon buttons smaller than h-10 w-10. Use shadcn Button size="icon".
• Color-coded status using full-rainbow Tailwind palette (bg-amber-100, bg-emerald-500/10, etc.). Use Badge variants tied to the brand palette.
• shadow-sm / shadow-md / shadow-lg on cards, buttons, or list items. The aesthetic is flat-with-hairlines: surfaces use border-border, not elevation. Shadows survive only on dialogs/popovers/dropdowns (anything that overlays the page).
• active:scale-[...] on buttons. Buttons do not bounce.
• bg-gradient-to-* on page or card backgrounds. Flat surfaces only.
• font-medium on display elements (font-display, h1/h2/h3, CardTitle, PageHeader title). Hedvig is single-weight by design.
• rounded-xl (12px) on cards. Cards are rounded-lg (8px). rounded-xl survives on the page panel (frame layout) and prominent hero-style surfaces only.
• Overriding the Button pill radius per call site (rounded-lg, rounded-md on a <Button>). Buttons are pills app-wide; the radius lives in components/ui/button.tsx alone.
• Opacity-suffixed border classes (border-border/30, border-border/60) on cards and primary surfaces. Use full-opacity border-border: the new border token is calibrated for that.