AddThisFeature

Button System

Replace the app's accumulated button variants with one predictable set of rules.

moderate Components & Primitives

What it adds

A single button contract covering hierarchy, size, icon placement, and the disabled and loading states.

What your agent is told to do

5
  1. 1

    Inventory every button-like control already in the app and record which visual treatment each one uses. Most codebases have three primary styles that were meant to be one.

  2. 2

    Settle on a small hierarchy — primary, secondary, and quiet — and allow exactly one primary action per view or per dialog. If two actions both look primary, the hierarchy is not doing any work.

  3. 3

    Define each size step with its own padding, text size, icon size, and minimum hit area, so a small button in a table row and a small button in a toolbar are genuinely the same size.

  4. 4

    Keep buttons and links semantically distinct: something that navigates is a link and must be openable in a new tab, something that acts is a button and must respond to the space key. A button styled as a link is still a button.

  5. 5

    Do not add a variant per screen. If a new context appears to need a fourth hierarchy level, the answer is almost always the wrong layout, and every extra variant permanently weakens the ones already there.

Edge cases it handles

7
  • Buttons and links must not be interchangeable in markup. A navigation styled as a button loses middle-click, right-click, and open-in-new-tab; an action wired as a link is skipped by the space key and reported wrongly to screen readers.
  • An icon-only button has no visible text and therefore needs an accessible name supplied another way, or assistive technology announces nothing but the word button.
  • Every size step must keep a hit area of at least 44 by 44 pixels on touch, even where the visible button is smaller. Shrink the padding, not the target.
  • A button that swaps its label for a spinner changes width and pushes the rest of the row sideways. Reserve the resting width, or place the indicator without removing the label.
  • Disabled buttons are typically skipped by keyboard navigation and give no explanation, so a permanently disabled primary action is a dead end unless the reason is stated nearby.
  • Buttons carrying long or translated labels must wrap or truncate predictably rather than overflowing their container in German or Finnish.
  • Focus rings must remain visible on every variant including the quiet one, where a subtle background often swallows the default outline.

Definition of done

8
  • Every button in the app resolves to one of the defined hierarchy levels and size steps.
  • No view presents more than one primary action.
  • Actions are buttons and navigations are links, regardless of how either is styled.
  • Every size step meets the minimum touch target on a touch device.
  • Entering the loading state does not change the button's width or shift adjacent content.
  • Each variant has a visible focus state that passes contrast against its own background.
  • The feature matches the existing design system.
  • No existing functionality is broken.

Related features

How it works

  1. 1

    Copy the link

    Grab the Markdown instruction URL for this feature.

  2. 2

    Give it to your AI

    Paste it into Claude Code, Cursor, v0, Lovable — whatever you build with.

  3. 3

    It inspects, then implements

    Your agent reads your existing app first, then adds the feature to fit it.

Works with your stack

These instructions are written to adapt. They tell the agent to detect your framework, match your existing design system, and reuse what you already have — rather than assuming a particular stack.

Need it tighter than that? Customize the feature and tell it exactly what you're running.