Component Boundary Rules

Decide which layers of the UI may import from which, and enforce it.

moderate Components & Primitives

What it adds

A stated dependency direction between primitives, patterns, and product components, checked automatically on every change.

What your agent is told to do

1
Name the layers that already exist in the codebase — typically primitives, composed patterns, and product-specific components — and write the permitted direction of dependency between them. Do not invent a layering nobody is using; describe the one that is mostly there and then correct the exceptions.
2
State the direction as a rule with a reason. Primitives may not reach upward into product components because a primitive that knows about an invoice screen cannot be reused anywhere else, and cannot be tested without that screen's data.
3
Detect circular imports as part of the same check. Cycles between components produce initialisation-order failures that appear as an undefined component in an unrelated screen, long after the import that caused them.
4
Keep the boundary between code that renders on the server and code that requires the browser explicit, and make crossing it a deliberate, marked act rather than something discovered when a build fails.
5
Do not enforce this by review alone. Encode the rules in the automated checks that run on every change, and allow narrow exceptions only as individually justified entries with a comment saying why, so the exception list can be read and shrunk.

Edge cases it handles

Circular imports must be detected and rejected, because a cycle fails at module initialisation and surfaces as an undefined component somewhere unrelated to the file that introduced it.
Exceptions must be possible but narrow. Each one belongs in a list, scoped to a specific file and a specific rule, with a written reason — a blanket exemption for a whole directory silently repeals the rule.
The line between server-rendered and browser-only code needs its own boundary rule, since a component that reaches for the browser environment from a server-rendered layer fails at build or hydration rather than at import.
Rules must be enforced in linting and in the automated checks on every change. A boundary policed by code review holds until the first busy week.
Test files, stories, and playground examples legitimately import across layers and need their own rule set, or the exception list fills with entries that are not really violations.
Type-only imports do not create a runtime dependency and can usually be permitted where a value import would not be, but the distinction has to be stated rather than left to the checker's defaults.
The rules must be introduced with the existing violations recorded as a fixed baseline that can only shrink, otherwise the change is unmergeable and gets abandoned.

Definition of done

The layers and the permitted dependency direction between them are written down with reasons.
Violations fail the automated checks rather than depending on review.
Circular imports between components are detected and rejected.
Exceptions exist only as individually scoped entries carrying a stated reason.
Server-rendered and browser-only code have an explicit, enforced boundary.
Tests, stories, and examples are governed by their own rule set.
Pre-existing violations are captured in a baseline that cannot grow.
The feature matches the existing design system.
No existing functionality is broken.

Related features

Avatar Group

Stepper Component

Dropdown Menu Primitive

How it works

1

Copy the link

Grab the Markdown instruction URL for this feature.
2

Give it to your AI

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