Motion Token System
Give the app one shared vocabulary of durations and easing curves instead of ad hoc numbers.
What it adds
A named set of durations and easing curves, each tied to a category of motion, replacing the timing values scattered through the app's components.
What your agent is told to do
5
What your agent is told to do
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Inventory every duration and easing value currently written into the app and group them by what they do: something entering, something leaving, something being emphasised, and something changing size or position.
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Name a small set of durations — roughly instant, quick, standard, and deliberate — and a small set of curves, then map each motion category to a pairing. Four or five of each is enough for an entire product.
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Give entrances and exits different treatment. Something arriving should decelerate into place; something leaving should accelerate away and take less time, because nobody wants to wait for a dismissal.
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Define a reduced-motion value for every token rather than a single global switch that sets everything to zero. Some motion should shorten, some should become a cross-fade, and some should vanish entirely.
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Do not use a single easing curve for everything. A curve that suits a panel sliding in makes a hover state feel sluggish, and the same curve on a layout change reads as the interface hesitating.
Edge cases it handles
7
Edge cases it handles
7- Every token needs a defined behaviour when the user has asked for reduced motion, and the answer is not always zero — a shortened fade often communicates better than an instant jump.
- One curve applied to every kind of motion is the failure this feature exists to prevent; entrances, exits, emphasis, and layout changes each need their own pairing.
- Motion attached to something a user does many times an hour — a menu opening, a row expanding — must sit at the short end of the scale, because a duration that feels elegant once feels like lag on the fiftieth repetition.
- Interrupting a transition partway through must resolve from the current position rather than snapping to the start, or rapid clicking produces visible jumps.
- This entry owns the values only. Which properties are allowed to animate and where motion is omitted belongs to Transition Consistency, and the mounting and unmounting lifecycle belongs to Enter and Exit Animation Pattern.
- Durations must survive being read from a stylesheet by scripted animation too, so the two do not drift apart.
- Tokens need to be inspectable at runtime, or nobody will be able to tell which one a given element is using when it looks wrong.
Definition of done
8
Definition of done
8- Durations and easing curves are defined once as named tokens and referenced everywhere.
- No component in the app carries a hardcoded duration or curve.
- Entrances, exits, emphasis, and layout changes each map to a distinct pairing.
- Every token has a defined reduced-motion counterpart.
- Frequently repeated interactions use the shortest durations in the scale.
- Scripted animation and stylesheet animation read the same token values.
- The feature matches the existing design system.
- No existing functionality is broken.
Related features
Z-Index Registry
Z-Index Registry
Keep every stacking value in one file so nobody has to guess a bigger number.
What it does
A single source of named z-index tokens, with reserved ranges per layer and a check that blocks raw values.
How it works
- 1 Find every z-index in the codebase, including inline styles and values buried in third-party overrides, and list them with the component that owns each. The count is usually higher than anyone expects and several will be arbitrary large numbers.
- 2 Reserve a range for each layer rather than assigning single values, so a new dropdown can slot between existing ones without renumbering everything above it. Leave real gaps between ranges.
- 3 Name each token after the layer it belongs to and derive the ordering from Elevation Layer Map. That feature decides what covers what; this one holds the numbers and stops them being invented locally.
Copy the prompt
No account needed
Add this feature to my app:
https://addthisfeature.com/x/z-index-registry
Shadow Scale
Shadow Scale
Replace ad hoc shadows with a small set tied to what each surface actually is.
What it does
A fixed ladder of shadow tokens, each named for an elevation role rather than a blur radius.
How it works
- 1 Collect every shadow currently declared anywhere in the app and group them by what they sit on — a resting card, a hovered card, a dropdown, a dialog, a toast. Most apps have a dozen near-identical values that collapse into four or five roles.
- 2 Name each step for its role, not its appearance. A token called menu tells the next person which surfaces may use it; a token called shadow-md-2 does not.
- 3 Use a single light source for the whole scale, so offset, blur, and spread grow together as elevation rises. Two shadows lit from different directions on the same screen read as a rendering bug.
Copy the prompt
No account needed
Add this feature to my app:
https://addthisfeature.com/x/shadow-scale
Spacing Scale
Spacing Scale
Reduce the app's spacing to a small set of steps that repeat across every surface.
What it does
A named spacing scale covering gaps, padding, and section rhythm, with every existing value in the app mapped onto it.
How it works
- 1 Collect every spacing value currently in the codebase and count how often each appears. The result is usually a handful of genuine intentions surrounded by dozens of near-misses that were nudged once and never revisited.
- 2 Define a scale that is fine at the small end, where control padding lives, and coarse at the large end, where section separation lives. A linear scale gives too many indistinguishable large steps and too few small ones.
- 3 Separate the tokens used inside a component from the ones used between components and between page sections, and name them so the difference is obvious. The same number serving both purposes means a change to button padding also changes the gap between sections.
Copy the prompt
No account needed
Add this feature to my app:
https://addthisfeature.com/x/spacing-scale
How it works
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1
Copy the link
Grab the Markdown instruction URL for this feature.
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2
Give it to your AI
Paste it into Claude Code, Cursor, v0, Lovable — whatever you build with.
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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.