TT Claude Memory

feedback_per_brand_local_design_system

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descriptionNew TT policy (20 April 2026): each brand has its own local `src/styles/{brand}-design-system.css` in its own code repo. The mhq2/code-tt-design-system shared repo is no longer authoritative for TT brand frontends.

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Rule: Every Testate Technologies brand maintains its own local design-system CSS file inside its own code repository, at a path like src/styles/{brand}-design-system.css. Example authoritative exemplar: https://github.com/testatetech/code-ll/blob/master/src/styles/ll-design-system.css. The per-brand files will probably be similar but they are independent — no shared dependency, no cross-repo fetch.

Why: Rich observed (Monday 20 April 2026) that the previous policy — “all frontend work across TT projects MUST follow the TT Design System at mediahq2/code-tt-design-system” — was creating friction. Shared-dependency rot (cross-repo CSS changes breaking downstream brands), coordination overhead (fetching files via gh api at the start of every session), and the fact that the brands genuinely have different visual identities anyway made the shared system net-negative. The new pattern mirrors the “one big doc per brand” filing discipline Rich locked in earlier the same evening: co-locate the rules with the brand they govern, accept a little duplication as the price of independence.

How to apply:

  1. Do NOT fetch mediahq2/code-tt-design-system at the start of frontend sessions. The old §14 gh api repos/mediahq2/code-tt-design-system/contents/<path> instruction is deprecated.
  2. When working on a TT brand’s frontend, read that brand’s local src/styles/{brand}-design-system.css as the single source of truth for design tokens, spacing, typography, colours, and component rules.
  3. If a brand’s local file doesn’t exist yet (e.g. new repo), create one, seeded by copy-paste from a sibling brand’s file (LL is the current exemplar). Then diverge as the brand requires.
  4. Do NOT propose creating a shared package (npm workspace, git submodule, monorepo) to deduplicate the per-brand files. The duplication is deliberate.
  5. Cross-brand consistency (when a change feels like it should propagate) is managed by Rich manually editing each file — not by tooling. Keeps the brands independent.
  6. OpenInherit exclusion stands — ~/openinherit/* projects have their own brand identity and are not TT brands.
  7. MHQ2 Ltd still exists as a separate company Rich owns (holds the mhq2 design system historically). The change is that TT brands no longer consume it — not that MHQ2 as a company is gone.

Repo status to reflect in docs:

  • ~/testatetech/code-claude-code-design-system/ (the TT design system repo inside testatetech/) — status should be marked as superseded or deprecated for TT brand use; not actively maintained for that purpose.
  • mediahq2/code-tt-design-system (the mhq2 version) — MHQ2’s historical design system; no longer authoritative for TT brands.
  • Per-brand CSS files in each code repo — the new canonical source.

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