hig-foundations

hig-foundations is a skill for Claude Code from raintree-technology/hig-doctor. It costs 182 tokens per session (1,479 once invoked), scanned A, original, MIT.

Apple Human Interface Guidelines for broad app-design decisions, including color, typography, icons, accessibility, dark mode, layout, motion, privacy, and inclusive design.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it when planning app visuals, system colors and materials, fonts, SF Symbols, VoiceOver labels, Dynamic Type, Reduce Motion, contrast, permissions, or right-to-left layouts.
Why use it?
It provides a shared foundation for making an app readable, accessible, consistent with Apple platforms, and adaptable to different display settings and user needs.

Skill for Claude Code

Written for Claude Code: shipped in a Claude Code plugin.

Part of the apple-hig-skills plugin — 14 skills shipped together

not rated 126repo +4 6d ago A scan Socket: passSnyk: passSkillSpector: pass 182 tokens original MIT

Good fit Use it when planning app visuals, system colors and materials, fonts, SF Symbols, VoiceOver labels, Dynamic Type, Reduce Motion, contrast, permissions, or right-to-left layouts.

Compare 6 skills from other repositories ↓
Install with agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/raintree-technology/hig-doctor/hig-foundations
Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

Any agent
npx skills add raintree-technology/hig-doctor --skill hig-foundations
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/raintree-technology/hig-doctor

Made for: Claude Code.

Or install apple-hig-skills, the plugin that ships this one along with the rest of its 14 skills.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for hig-foundations

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/raintree-technology/hig-doctor/hig-foundations/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/raintree-technology/hig-doctor/hig-foundations)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/raintree-technology/hig-doctor/hig-foundations"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/raintree-technology/hig-doctor/hig-foundations/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

agentmods 80×15 button for hig-foundations

Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/raintree-technology/hig-doctor/hig-foundations"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/raintree-technology/hig-doctor/hig-foundations.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 182 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 1,479 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe. Third-party audits
  • Socket pass 26 Apr 2026
  • Snyk pass 26 Apr 2026
  • NVIDIA SkillSpector pass 7 Sept 2026
How audits are shown
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5.1 $0.00182 $0.01479
Opus 5 $0.00091 $0.00740
Sonnet 5 $0.00036 $0.00296
Haiku 4.5 $0.00018 $0.00148

Measured 11d ago against content hash a1535ddde3c6, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-11, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

hig-foundations scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 11d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

Origin

Copies of this mod

1 near-identical copy found in the catalogue:

skills/hig-foundations/SKILL.md · 99 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 99 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Apple HIG: Design Foundations

Check for .claude/apple-design-context.md before asking questions. Use existing context and only ask for information not already covered.

Key Principles

  1. Prioritize content over chrome. Reduce visual clutter. Use system-provided materials and subtle separators rather than heavy borders and backgrounds.

  2. Build in accessibility from the start. Design for VoiceOver, Dynamic Type, Reduce Motion, Increase Contrast, and Switch Control from day one. Every interactive element needs an accessible label.

  3. Use system colors and materials. System colors adapt to light/dark mode, increased contrast, and vibrancy. Prefer semantic colors (label, secondaryLabel, systemBackground) over hard-coded values.

  4. Use platform fonts and icons. SF Pro, SF Compact, SF Mono by default. New York for serif. Follow the type hierarchy at recommended sizes. Use SF Symbols for iconography.

  5. Match platform conventions. Align look and behavior with system standards. Provide direct, responsive manipulation and clear feedback for every action.

  6. Respect privacy. Request permissions only when needed, explain why clearly, provide value before asking for data. Design for minimal data collection.

  7. Support internationalization. Accommodate text expansion, right-to-left scripts, and varying date/number formats. Use Auto Layout for dynamic content sizing.

  8. Use motion purposefully. Animation should communicate meaning and spatial relationships. Honor Reduce Motion by providing crossfade alternatives.

Reference Index

Reference Topic Key content
accessibility.md Accessibility VoiceOver, Dynamic Type, color contrast, motor accessibility, Switch Control, audio descriptions
app-icons.md App Icons Icon grid, platform-specific sizes, single focal point, no transparency
branding.md Branding Integrating brand identity within Apple's design language, subtle branding, custom tints
color.md Color System colors, Dynamic Colors, semantic colors, custom palettes, contrast ratios
dark-mode.md Dark Mode Elevated surfaces, semantic colors, adapted palettes, vibrancy, testing in both modes
icons.md Icons Glyph icons, SF Symbols integration, custom icon design, icon weights, optical alignment
images.md Images Image resolution, @2x/@3x assets, vector assets, image accessibility
immersive-experiences.md Immersive Experiences AR/VR design, spatial immersion, comfort zones, progressive immersion levels
inclusion.md Inclusion Diverse representation, non-gendered language, cultural sensitivity, inclusive defaults
layout.md Layout Margins, spacing, alignment, safe areas, adaptive layouts, readable content guides
materials.md Materials Vibrancy, blur, translucency, system materials, material thickness
motion.md Motion Animation curves, transitions, continuity, Reduce Motion support, physics-based motion
privacy.md Privacy Permission requests, usage descriptions, privacy nutrition labels, minimal data collection
right-to-left.md Right-to-Left RTL layout mirroring, bidirectional text, icons that flip, exceptions
sf-symbols.md SF Symbols Symbol categories, rendering modes, variable color, custom symbols, weight matching
spatial-layout.md Spatial Layout visionOS window placement, depth, ergonomic zones, Z-axis design
typography.md Typography SF Pro, Dynamic Type sizes, text styles, custom fonts, font weight hierarchy, line spacing
writing.md Writing UI copy guidelines, tone, capitalization rules, error messages, button labels, conciseness

Read the full file on GitHub · 99 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 11d ago First seen · 99 lines · 182 tokens per session scan A a1535ddde3c6

Subscribe to this mod's changes

hig-foundations is a skill published in the GitHub repository raintree-technology/hig-doctor (126 stars, last pushed 6d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 182 tokens to every session and 1,479 once invoked, about $0.0009 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.

Related

Other skills, from other repositories

emil-design-skills

Use when collection of 8 design engineering skills by Emil Kowalski (Vercel, Linear) — animation standards, UI craft, Apple design principles, library selection, and prototyping. Based on years of production experience. Use when the user asks about UI polish, animation decisions, or wants to audit/improve interface…

oyi77/1ai-skills · 73 tokens

apple-design

Complete Apple Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) and Apple Design System standard. Use when designing, building, or auditing UI/UX for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, visionOS, or Apple-styled web and mobile applications.

billythekidz/apple-design-skill · 55 tokens

apple-bento-grid

Create Apple-inspired bento grid presentation cards for showcasing project stats, timelines, and achievements. Generates self-contained HTML files with zero-gap grids, stat cards, pill tags, bar charts, and dark quote cards — optimized for screenshot export. Supports both light (Apple signature #f5f5f7) and dark…

hubeiqiao/apple-bento-grid · 142 tokens

apple-hig-check

Audit code or design against Apple Human Interface Guidelines.

lyupro/skillforge-mcp · 15 tokens

svvarm

Opinionated design director for frontend interfaces. Use for ANY frontend design task: building UIs, reviewing designs, fixing typography, improving layouts, checking for AI slop, or making interfaces production-ready. Understands natural language — just describe what you need. One command, zero AI slop.

robzilla1738/roberts-skills · 63 tokens

macos-design

Design, critique, or scaffold native macOS applications using current HIG, Liquid Glass, menu/toolbar conventions, safe areas, accessibility, and SwiftUI/AppKit patterns. Use when the user invokes /macos-design or names this skill for macOS app design, UI review, native UI generation, or notch-style / Dynamic Island…

robzilla1738/roberts-skills · 75 tokens