chameleon-adapt

Chameleon Adapt

The chameleon doesn't force its environment to change. It reads the light, understanding where it lives. It sketches its form, creating structure. It shifts its hues, matching the forest around it. It adds texture—rough bark, smooth leaves, shifting light. Finally, it adapts completely, becoming one with its surroundings. The result feels organic, like it was always meant to be there.

When to Activate

• User asks to "design this page" or "make it look Grove"
• User says "add some visual polish" or "theme this"
• User calls /chameleon-adapt or mentions chameleon/adapting
• Creating or enhancing pages for Grove sites
• Implementing seasonal decorations or weather effects
• Building glassmorphism containers for readability
• Adding nature components (trees, birds, particles)
• Working with the color palette system

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The Adaptation

READ → SKETCH → COLOR → TEXTURE → ADAPT
  ↓       ↲        ↓         ↲         ↓
Understand Create   Apply    Add      Final
Light    Structure Palette  Effects  Form

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Reference Routing Table

Phase	Reference	Load When
READ	—	No reference needed (context assessment)
SKETCH	references/layout-patterns.md	When designing page structure
COLOR	references/color-palette.md	When applying seasonal colors
COLOR	references/groveterm-system.md	When writing user-facing text
TEXTURE	references/glass-components.md	When adding glassmorphism
TEXTURE	references/nature-components.md	When adding nature decorations

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Phase 1: READ

The chameleon reads the light, understanding where it lives...

Before choosing a single color, understand the environment. Assess three things:

What season is it?

import { season } from '$lib/stores/season';

const isSpring = $derived($season === 'spring');
const isAutumn = $derived($season === 'autumn');
const isWinter = $derived($season === 'winter');
// Summer is the default (no flag needed)

What's the emotional tone?

Tone	Season	Mood
Hope, renewal	Spring	Cherry blossoms, new growth
Growth, warmth	Summer	Full foliage, activity
Harvest, reflection	Autumn	Falling leaves, warm colors
Rest, stillness	Winter	Snow, frost, evergreens
Dreams, far-future	Midnight	Purple glow, fireflies

Season Mood Summary:

Season	Primary Colors	Mood
Spring	springFoliage, cherryBlossomsPeak, wildflowers	Renewal, hope
Summer	greens, cherryBlossoms	Growth, warmth
Autumn	autumn, autumnReds	Harvest, reflection
Winter	winter (frost, snow, frosted pines)	Rest, stillness

What's the page's purpose?

• Story/narrative pages — Full seasonal atmosphere
• Data-dense interfaces — Minimal decoration, focus on readability
• Landing/hero sections — Weather effects, randomized forests
• Forms/admin — Clean glass surfaces, no distractions

Output: Season selection and decoration level decision (minimal / moderate / full)

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Phase 2: SKETCH

The chameleon outlines its form, creating structure...

Build the page skeleton with glassmorphism layers. Establish the layering formula, place glass containers, and wire up the sticky navigation pattern.

Key decisions: Which glass variant fits each container? Where does content live in the z-index stack? What's the responsive breakdown?

Reference: Load references/layout-patterns.md for the layering formula, sticky nav pattern, page section templates, responsive grid patterns, spacing system, and accessibility layout rules.

Quick glass starter:

import { Glass, GlassCard, GlassButton } from '@lattice/ui/ui';

<Glass variant="tint" class="p-6 rounded-xl">
	<p>Readable text over busy backgrounds</p>
</Glass>

Reference: Load references/glass-components.md for all glass variants, props, CSS utility classes, and composition patterns.

Output: Page structure with glass containers and z-index layers in place

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Phase 3: COLOR

The chameleon shifts its hues, matching the forest around it...

Apply the seasonal color palette from @autumnsgrove/lattice/ui/nature. Match palette choice to the emotional tone identified in READ. Use seasonal helper functions (getSeasonalGreens, getCherryColors) for consistent depth across the scene.

Accent colors: For any accent-colored surfaces (buttons, links, highlights, focus rings), use var(--grove-accent-*) tokens — NOT hardcoded green hex values. The user's accent color may not be green. Use var(--grove-accent) for solid, var(--grove-accent-dark) for hover, and var(--grove-accent-N) for opacity tints. The pre-commit hook enforces this. Brand greens (nature SVGs, logo) are fine with // accent-ok.

Also apply Grove terminology through GroveTerm components — never hardcode Grove-specific words in user-facing text.

Reference: Load references/color-palette.md for all color tokens with hex values, seasonal palettes (Spring/Summer/Autumn/Winter/Midnight), accent palettes, helper functions, and background gradient patterns.

Reference: Load references/groveterm-system.md for the GroveTerm component suite, the [[term|standard]] syntax, common term vocabulary, and accessibility rules.

Output: Color scheme applied with proper imports and seasonal variants; user-facing text uses GroveTerm components

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Phase 4: TEXTURE

The chameleon adds depth—rough bark, smooth leaves, shifting light...

Layer nature components for atmosphere. Generate the randomized forest (trees never overlap — 8% minimum gap). Add weather effects appropriate to the season. Place seasonal birds for life. Wire up Lucide icons (never emojis). Respect the responsive density table.

Reference: Load references/nature-components.md for the full component catalog, randomized forest generation algorithm, weather effect snippets, seasonal bird placement, icon registry pattern, and mobile particle count adjustments.

Output: Nature components layered with proper z-index and responsive density

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Phase 5: ADAPT

The chameleon becomes one with its surroundings—complete adaptation...

Final polish and accessibility. Reduce particle counts for mobile. Add the mobile overflow sheet menu for navigation. Verify prefers-reduced-motion wraps all particle layers. Confirm all touch targets are 44x44px minimum. Check dark mode glass variants. Run CI.

Verification (mandatory):

pnpm install
gw ci --affected --fail-fast --diagnose

If CI fails: read diagnostics, fix, re-run. The chameleon does not leave broken code behind its color shift.

Component Audit Gate (mandatory when building/modifying components):

Before page-level verification, the chameleon audits every component it built or modified in isolation using Showroom. This catches design token violations, off-grid spacing, missing focus styles, and hardcoded colors that full-page captures miss.

# For each component built or modified, run a Showroom audit
uv run --project tools/glimpse glimpse showroom \
  libs/engine/src/lib/ui/components/[path-to-component].svelte

# Scaffold a fixture for new components (generates .showroom.ts with scenarios)
uv run --project tools/glimpse glimpse showroom \
  libs/engine/src/lib/ui/components/[path-to-component].svelte --scaffold

This is a required gate. Every component the chameleon touches must pass Showroom before moving to page-level Glimpse. Fix all compliance violations before proceeding.

Visual Verification (mandatory for UI work):

The chameleon doesn't just build — it looks at what it built. Use Glimpse to capture the result and iterate until the design matches the vision:

# Prerequisite: seed the database if not already done
uv run --project tools/glimpse glimpse seed --yes

# Capture the page you just built (--auto starts the dev server)
# Local routing uses ?subdomain= for tenant isolation
uv run --project tools/glimpse glimpse capture \
  "http://localhost:5173/[your-page]?subdomain=midnight-bloom" \
  --season autumn --theme dark --logs --auto

# Verify all season × theme combos render correctly
uv run --project tools/glimpse glimpse matrix \
  "http://localhost:5173/[your-page]?subdomain=midnight-bloom" \
  --seasons spring,summer,autumn,winter --themes light,dark --auto

# Interactive check: click around, verify flows work visually
uv run --project tools/glimpse glimpse browse \
  "http://localhost:5173/[your-page]?subdomain=midnight-bloom" \
  --do "click navigation links, scroll down" --screenshot-each --logs --auto

# Optional: verify with random data too (proves UI handles any content)
uv run --project tools/glimpse glimpse seed --profile fake --fake-posts 5 --yes
# Then capture with the randomly generated subdomain from seed output

The iterate loop: Capture → review screenshot → spot issues → fix → capture again. Repeat until the adaptation is complete. Don't ship UI you haven't seen.

Final Checklist (after CI passes AND visual verification):

• CI: gw ci --affected passes clean
• Glimpse: Captured page looks correct in all target seasons
• Glimpse: Dark mode and light mode both verified visually
• Glimpse: No console errors in --logs output
• Glass effects used for text readability over busy backgrounds?
• Lucide icons, no emojis?
• Mobile overflow menu for navigation items?
• Decorative elements respect prefers-reduced-motion?
• Touch targets at least 44x44px?
• Seasonal colors match the page's emotional tone?
• Trees randomized with proper spacing (8% minimum gap)?
• Dark mode supported with appropriate glass variants?
• User-facing text follows Grove voice?
• Grove terminology uses GroveTerm components (not hardcoded)?
• [[term]] syntax used in data-driven content strings?

Output: Fully adapted, accessible, responsive UI ready for production — visually verified

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Chameleon Rules

Intention

Every color choice serves the content. Decoration enhances readability—it never obstructs it.

Restraint

Not every page needs a forest. Data-dense interfaces deserve clean glass surfaces without distraction.

Authenticity

Use the seasonal system as intended. Spring isn't just "light colors"—it's renewal and hope.

Communication

Use adaptation metaphors:

• "Reading the light..." (understanding context)
• "Sketching the form..." (building structure)
• "Shifting hues..." (applying colors)
• "Adding texture..." (layering components)
• "Full adaptation..." (final polish)

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When to Use

Pattern	Good For
Glassmorphism	Text over backgrounds, navbars, cards, modals
Randomized forests	Story pages, about pages, visual sections
Seasonal themes	Roadmaps, timelines, emotional storytelling
Midnight Bloom	Future features, dreams, mystical content
Weather particles	Hero sections, transitions between seasons
Birds	Adding life to forest scenes, seasonal indicators

When NOT to Use

Pattern	Avoid When
Heavy decoration	Data-dense pages, admin interfaces, forms
Particle effects	Performance-critical pages, accessibility concerns
Seasonal colors	Brand-critical contexts needing consistent colors
Multiple glass layers	Can cause blur performance issues
Randomization	Content that needs to match between sessions
Complex forests	Mobile-first pages, simple informational content

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Example Adaptation

User: "Make this about page feel like Grove"

Chameleon flow:

1. READ — "Page is about the team's journey. Emotional tone: reflection. Season: Autumn (harvest). Decoration level: full."

2. SKETCH — "Load references/layout-patterns.md. Create glass card containers, sticky nav with glass-surface, layering formula in place."

3. COLOR — "Load references/color-palette.md. Import autumn palette (rust, ember, amber, gold), warm gradients, autumnReds for accent. Load references/groveterm-system.md for user-facing text."

4. TEXTURE — "Load references/nature-components.md and references/glass-components.md. Add randomized aspen/birch trees, FallingLeavesLayer, autumn birds (cardinals), Lucide icons."

5. ADAPT — "Responsive density, reduced-motion support, GroveTerm for 'Welcome, Wanderer' greeting, 44px touch targets, dark mode verified. Run gw ci --affected."

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Quick Decision Guide

Situation	Action
Story/narrative page	Full seasonal atmosphere, weather effects
Data-dense interface	Minimal decoration, focus on glass readability
Landing/hero section	Randomized forest, particles, seasonal birds
Form/admin interface	Clean glass surfaces, no nature distractions
Mobile-first page	Reduce tree count, simpler effects
Accessibility concern	Respect prefers-reduced-motion, keep glass for readability

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Integration with Other Skills

• /gathering-ui — Pairs chameleon with deer-sense for accessible UI in one pass
• /deer-sense — Accessibility audit after adaptation
• /grove-ui-design — Broader UI design patterns and component selection
• /beaver-build — Write tests covering interactive UI after adaptation

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The forest welcomes those who adapt with intention.