Create Goose Graphics Style

Authors a new graphics style and publishes it to the central Gooseworks library via npx gooseworks styles publish. The output is a working directory with a gooseworks-style.json manifest plus a hero rendered example and 2-3 additional examples that demonstrate the aesthetic flexing across formats.

When to use this skill

Use when the user has a reference image and wants the aesthetic available as a reusable, discoverable style — so any future /goose-graphics --style <slug> --format <any> call can render against it.

Always check first: run npx gooseworks styles list (or npx gooseworks styles search "warm editorial") to see whether a community-published style already covers the look. If one fits, just use it via the regular goose-graphics flow.

Prerequisites

• The goose-graphics skill must be installed in the same workspace — this skill uses its screenshot/screenshot.js to render examples. Install via:

  npx gooseworks install --claude --with goose-graphics

  (Swap --claude for --cursor or --codex as needed.) See the install page on the hub for the canonical command: https://skills.gooseworks.ai/skills/goose-graphics
• The screenshot tool's dependencies must be installed (goose-graphics/screenshot/node_modules/ must exist). If not:

  cd <path-to>/goose-graphics/screenshot && npm install && npx playwright install chromium

• The user must be signed in to Gooseworks (npx gooseworks login) for publish to authenticate.

Invocation

/goose-graphics-create-style --ref <image-path> [--name <slug>] [--mood <mood-group>]

• --ref <image-path> (required) — path to the reference image (PNG/JPG/WebP).
• --name <slug> (optional) — desired style slug in lowercase-kebab-case (e.g., pillow-block, neon-dashboard). If omitted, propose 2-3 candidate names after analyzing the image and ask the user to pick.
• --mood <mood-group> (optional) — which moodGroup the style belongs to. One of: Dark & Moody, Light & Editorial, Organic & Warm, Bold & Energetic, Retro & Cinematic, Structural & Technical, Friendly Corporate. If omitted, infer from the image and confirm.

If the user says "I want a new style for goose-graphics" without args, ask for the reference image path first, then proceed.

Outputs (in a working directory)

<working-dir>/
  gooseworks-style.json   # manifest (see "Manifest format" below)
  poster.png              # hero example (REQUIRED — exactly one with isHero: true)
  carousel.png            # additional examples (recommend 2-3 across formats)
  infographic.png
  ...

The backend rejects publish with an empty examples array or with no hero — exactly one example must be marked isHero: true.

Standard Brief

All examples are generated using the same brief used by the rest of the catalog, so users can compare styles apples-to-apples:

Brief: 5 Tips for Building a Startup in 2026

Tips (use these verbatim, adapt phrasing per style voice):

1. Ship fast, learn faster
2. Build AI into the core
3. Hire for leverage, not headcount
4. Obsess over 10 users before 10,000
5. Revenue beats runway

Always use this brief. Do not invent your own — it makes the catalog inconsistent.

Workflow

Step 1 — Receive & analyze the image

1. Read the image with the Read tool (it supports PNG/JPG/WebP natively).

2. Work through this analysis checklist explicitly. Write the analysis out in plain text before moving on — do not skip ahead.

   Palette — identify 3-6 dominant colors. For each, propose a hex value in the right family (you cannot extract exact hex; pick well-balanced values). Classify each by role: background/canvas, primary surface, accent, secondary accent, text, muted text, borders/dividers, any neon/highlight color.

   Typography — heading face (serif / sans / slab / mono), body face (same or different family), weight range, tracking (negative / normal / positive), line-height (tight / generous), overall feel (geometric / humanist / elegant / technical / rounded / condensed). Map to a Google Fonts equivalent (Inter, Fraunces, Playfair Display, Space Grotesk, IBM Plex Mono, etc.).

   Layout & shape language — corner radius (sharp / 12px / 28px squircle / pill / circle), borders (yes / no), shadows (yes / no / subtle), tile density, alignment, whether elements overlap.

   Signature visual moves — what makes this style THIS style? Examples: "pillowy 28px squircle tiles with hero numerals bottom-right", "blush canvas + oversized black serif money stats", "dark jewel surfaces + neon pink pill labels". Lead with these — they differentiate the style across formats.

   Mood / category — dark/light, calm/loud, premium/playful. Use this to pick the moodGroup if not provided.

3. Critical separation of concerns: A style is an aesthetic SYSTEM (palette + typography + signature visual moves) that flexes across all formats. It is NOT a fixed composition. If your analysis describes "5 cards in a bento grid" or "3 vertical insight cards," you are mixing format into style. Re-frame in terms of palette, typography, and signature visual moves that any format can adopt.

Step 2 — Pick name, slug, and moodGroup

If --name was provided, use it. Otherwise propose 2-3 candidates derived from the signature moves (e.g. pillow-block, pastel-ledger, neon-dashboard) and ask the user to pick. Slug must be lowercase-kebab-case ([a-z0-9-]+).

Collision check: run npx gooseworks styles get <slug> — if the catalog returns a hit, the slug is taken. Suggest an alternative.

(The user may omit slug from the manifest; the backend auto-generates one. On 409 the CLI prompts you to accept the server's suggested slug; pass --yes at publish time to auto-accept.)

If --mood was provided, use it. Otherwise pick the best fit from the seven moodGroup values (see §Invocation) and confirm.

Step 3 — Draft the slim style spec

This becomes the designMd field of the manifest in step 5. Hold it in memory; do not write it to disk until step 5 packages it into the manifest. Mirror the structure of canonical slim specs (e.g. dot-grid-stat, pillow-block, blush-annual, neon-dashboard) — fetch one as a reference if unsure of the shape:

npx gooseworks styles get dot-grid-stat

Required sections, in this order:

1. Title (h1) — display name (Title Case).
2. Tagline paragraph — 2-3 sentences describing the aesthetic and the signature move. End with the vibe / brand analogy.
3. ## Palette — markdown table with Hex | Role columns. Include semi-transparent variants (rgba(...)) where the style uses them.
4. ## Typography — Google Fonts <link> block, font CSS variable lines, then a type table with columns Role | Font | Size | Weight | Line-height | Tracking. Include rows for hero, display, body, label, caption, brand. End with a Principles sub-list (3-5 bullets).
5. ## Layout — bullet list. Must include a "Format padding" line listing per-format padding (carousel/infographic/slides/poster/story/chart/tweet). Then 4-6 aesthetic-principle bullets.
6. ## Do / Don't — two sub-lists, 5 bullets each.
7. ## CSS snippets — :root variables block, then 1-2 ready-to-paste HTML snippets demonstrating the signature move (e.g. a hero tile, a card, a CTA pill).

Keep it under ~200 lines / 8KB. Aesthetic-only — no fixed compositions. Minimum length is 50 chars (the manifest validator's floor); the sweet spot for the catalog is 2000-6000 chars.

Step 4 — Render hero + 2-3 additional examples

Pick a hero format (the one example that best showcases the aesthetic), plus 2-3 additional formats so the catalog tile shows variety. Hero priority order:

poster > carousel > infographic > slides > chart > story > tweet

i.e. start at poster and walk down until you hit a format that fits the aesthetic well.

For each example, generate HTML at the format's exact dimensions using the slim spec's palette, fonts, and signature visual moves, and the standard brief above. Format dimensions:

Critical: the tweet format is a simulated tweet/testimonial card centered on a decorative background styled with the new aesthetic — not a poster. Background uses the new style's palette/shapes; the centered card looks like a real social-media post (avatar, display name, handle, body, timestamp, engagement metrics).

HTML rules (apply to every example):

• Self-contained single HTML file — inline <style> block + Google Fonts <link>.
• Fixed pixel sizes only. NO vw/vh/%/rem/em/clamp().
• Outer dimensions match the format spec exactly: html, body { width: Xpx; height: Ypx; overflow: hidden; }. Infographic is the exception: width fixed, height grows.
• Use exactly the palette hex codes and font links from the slim spec — do not invent new colors.
• Maintain the signature visual moves across every example. If a format can't fit the move comfortably, scale it down — do not abandon it.

Render each via the screenshot tool, writing PNGs directly into the working directory (one PNG per format, named after the format slug):

node <path-to>/goose-graphics/screenshot/screenshot.js \
  --format <format> \
  --input <path-to-html> \
  --output <working-dir>/<format>.png \
  --font-delay 1500

Single-file vs directory input: carousel, slides, and story are "multi-file" formats by default — if --input is a directory, the tool renders every .html file inside it to numbered slide-NN.png files in the --output directory. For the single representative slide we want here, pass a single .html file as --input and a single PNG path as --output — the tool detects the file input and writes one PNG. The other formats (poster, infographic, chart, tweet) are always single-file.

Common failure modes:

• Content overflows the fixed canvas → reduce font sizes or simplify layout.
• Fonts not loaded → bump --font-delay to 2000.
• Playwright/chromium not installed → run the install command from Prerequisites.

Step 5 — Write gooseworks-style.json

Match the shape documented in goose-graphics/SKILL.md §17.1. Required:

{
  "name": "Desert Sunset",
  "slug": "desert-sunset",
  "description": "Warm dusk gradients with rust and amber on cream paper. Editorial serif headlines paired with a single sans-serif accent. Built for DTC beauty product launches, lifestyle long-form, and event posters where you want a confident, sun-soaked, high-end magazine feel.",
  "designMd": "# Desert Sunset\n\n…full slim spec markdown from step 3 — palette table, typography table, layout rules, do/don'ts, CSS snippets…",
  "moodGroup": "Organic & Warm",
  "tags": ["warm", "desert", "editorial", "serif", "dtc"],
  "palette": [
    { "hex": "#E06A2C", "role": "primary" },
    { "hex": "#3A1F1A", "role": "ink" },
    { "hex": "#F5EFE7", "role": "paper" }
  ],
  "examples": [
    { "format": "poster", "isHero": true, "file": "./poster.png", "caption": "Hero render" },
    { "format": "carousel", "file": "./carousel.png" },
    { "format": "story", "file": "./story.png" }
  ]
}

Constraints to respect:

• name: 1-120 chars
• slug: optional kebab-case [a-z0-9-]+; backend auto-generates if absent. A 409 collision returns a server-suggested slug — the CLI handles the retry.
• description: 20-1000 chars (required). See guidelines below.
• designMd: minimum 50 chars (required) — the spec from step 3.
• moodGroup: optional; one of the seven values listed in §Invocation.
• tags: array of 3-10 lowercase strings. See guidelines below.
• palette: array of { hex: "#RRGGBB", role?: string }.
• examples: array, minimum 1 entry, exactly one with isHero: true.
• examples[].format: slug of an existing graphics format (any from npx gooseworks formats list).
• examples[].file: relative path to the PNG in the working directory.

Step 6 — Visual QA

Read 2-3 of the rendered PNGs (the hero plus the most distinct two) and visually verify:

• Aesthetic matches the reference image's vibe.
• Signature visual moves appear consistently across formats.
• No obvious overflow, broken layout, or missing fonts.
• If you rendered a tweet, it looks like a real social-media post, not a poster.

If anything looks off, fix the HTML and re-render. Don't ship broken examples.

Step 7 — Publish

cd <working-dir>
npx gooseworks styles publish

The CLI reads gooseworks-style.json, validates it client-side, uploads the manifest plus the example PNGs, and registers the style in the catalog.

Slug-collision UX: if the slug is taken, the CLI prompts Slug 'X' is taken. Use 'Y' instead? with the server's suggestion. Pass --yes to auto-accept (useful for scripted runs):

npx gooseworks styles publish --yes

Success output:

Published style: <slug>
https://skills.gooseworks.ai/styles/<slug>

Exit codes: 0 success, 1 transient/auth (network, 401, 5xx), 2 user error (400 validation, 403 not owner, 413 file too large, declined 409).

Amending a published style later:

npx gooseworks styles update <slug>

Same manifest format; no slug-collision retry (the slug is locked).

Step 8 — Confirm

Tell the user:

• The published slug and the catalog URL.
• The dimensions/formats used for the examples.
• The exact command future agents will use to render with the new style: /goose-graphics --style <slug> --format <format> --brief "...".

Description-writing guidelines (load-bearing)

The description is what makes the style discoverable by AI agents searching the catalog. Treat it as a search index, not flavor text.

• 50-200 words, keyword-dense.
• Lead with mood + use case. "Bold magazine-cover energy for product launches and event posters."
• Mention typography signals. "Massive condensed sans-serif headlines paired with a delicate body serif."
• Mention palette signals. "Rust orange + cream + near-black."
• Mention industry / audience fit if relevant. "DTC beauty, indie publishing, event flyers."
• Avoid generic adjectives alone. "Beautiful," "modern," "clean" mean nothing without concrete signals — pair them with palette, typography, or industry context.

Tag-writing guidelines

3-10 lowercase tags. Cover:

• Mood: warm, dark, energetic, calm
• Density: sparse, dense
• Formality: corporate, editorial, playful
• Era: mid-century, y2k, retro
• Industry-fit: saas, dtc, beauty, finance

Skip tags that just restate the slug.

Notes on existing patterns to reuse

• Fetch a canonical slim spec to mirror its shape: npx gooseworks styles get dot-grid-stat, npx gooseworks styles get pillow-block, npx gooseworks styles get blush-annual, npx gooseworks styles get neon-dashboard.
• goose-graphics/screenshot/screenshot.js is the rendering pipeline; it sets format-specific viewport and capture mode.
• npx gooseworks formats get <format> returns each format's spec and content limits — fetch the relevant one if you're unsure how a format should behave.

Anti-patterns to avoid

• Don't bake a fixed composition into the style spec. "5-tile bento" or "3 vertical insight cards" is composition, not style. Style = palette + typography + signature visual moves.
• Don't ship without a hero example. The backend rejects manifests with no isHero: true entry.
• Don't render the tweet as a poster. It must be a testimonial card on a decorative background.
• Don't invent your own brief for the examples. Always use "5 Tips for Building a Startup in 2026" with the five canonical tips.
• Don't skip the visual QA step. A render that overflows or has missing fonts is worse than no example.
• Don't publish without checking npx gooseworks styles list first — if the look already exists in the catalog, point the user at it instead of publishing a duplicate.