The Web HIG

Use it with AI

Pin HIG-QUICK instead of pasting the full spec. Stable rule IDs, manifest triggers, and agent templates.

3 Use it with AI

Built for humans and AI agents

Do not paste the entire HIG into every prompt. Pin HIG-QUICK and say: "Follow The Web HIG Quick Reference."

  1. Developer
  2. HIG
  3. AI agent
  4. Code
  5. Validation
  6. CI

For developers & designers

Shared standards for UX, accessibility, tokens, and performance. Written for humans first — AI sections are optional extras.

For AI coding agents

Token-efficient three-layer model. Stable rule IDs agents can cite. YAML guardrails and skills for Cursor, Copilot, Claude Code, and Windsurf.

Architecture

Tell an AI: "Follow The Web HIG Quick Reference." — pin HIG-QUICK instead of the 20,000-token full document. 

                         THE WEB HIG
                             │
          ┌──────────────────┼──────────────────┐
          │                  │                  │
    HIG-QUICK.md       HIG-LITE.md           HIG.md
      Layer 1            Layer 2             Layer 3
    ~5 minutes         Practical           Full
    98 rules           documentation       specification
          │                  │
          │            rules/ + framework/
          │            archetype packs
          └──────────────────┴──► All rules map to HIG.md
  1. Resolve archetype
  2. HIG-QUICK
  3. HIG-LITE + pack
  4. Topic module
  5. HIG.md (if needed)

Topic loading: rules/manifest.yaml · Session preamble: HIG-CORE.md

Repository structure

web-hig/
├── HIG-QUICK.md             Layer 1 — Quick Reference (98 rules, ~5 min)
├── HIG-LITE.md              Layer 2 — practical guide with rule IDs
├── HIG-CORE.md              Session preamble — philosophy + archetypes
├── HIG.md                   Layer 3 — complete specification
├── VERSION                  Single version pin
├── rules/
│   ├── manifest.yaml        Machine-readable load triggers
│   ├── INDEX.md             Rule ID registry
│   ├── applicability.md     Layer 0 matrix
│   ├── accessibility.md …   17 topic modules (incl. expressive-surface)
│   └── archetypes/          content, commerce, application, auth
├── framework/               React, Next, Vue, Nuxt, Astro
├── skills/web-hig/          Ready-to-copy Agent Skill (SKILL.md)
├── examples/agent-rules/    Cursor, Claude, Copilot, Windsurf templates
├── packages/
│   ├── install/             @web-hig/install — npx @web-hig/install
│   ├── cli/                 @web-hig/cli — web-hig check · explain · init
│   └── core/                @web-hig/core — registry & evaluator engine
├── scripts/validate-hig.mjs Contract validation
├── NPM-TOOLING.md           npm CLI architecture
└── INTEGRATION.md           Product repo adoption guide

Published on npm under scope @web-hig: install, cli, core · Org package settings