Why use agent skills instead of a system prompt for Apple HIG?

The full Apple HIG would consume over 50,000 tokens as a system prompt. Agent skills use progressive disclosure, loading only the specific guidance needed per question — around 4,000 tokens, a 92% reduction that keeps your context window free for code.

What Apple platforms are covered?

All current Apple platforms — iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS, and visionOS — with platform-specific design conventions for each.

How do Apple HIG Skills handle platform-specific differences?

Each skill contains platform-specific guidance for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS, and visionOS. A project context skill lets you specify your target platforms, so every other skill tailors its output to your actual project instead of giving generic cross-platform advice.

Do Apple HIG Skills work with SwiftUI and UIKit?

Yes. The skills provide guidance and code examples for SwiftUI, UIKit, and AppKit. The generated code uses the framework conventions appropriate for your target platform.

Are Apple HIG Skills free?

Yes. Apple HIG Skills are MIT licensed, free, and open source. Install with one command and no API keys, accounts, or infrastructure required.

Apple HIG Skills

Apple HIG Skills gives coding assistants Apple Human Interface Guidelines context on demand — 14 open-source agent skills backed by 156 reference documents.

Without HIG context, assistants produce UI that looks plausible but breaks conventions: hard-coded colors instead of semantic tokens, iOS tab bars on macOS, missing accessibility traits. The model doesn’t know what it doesn’t know.

HIG Skills closes that gap. The agent gets platform-specific guidance for SwiftUI, UIKit, and AppKit, loaded only when needed.

npx skills add raintree-technology/apple-hig-skills

The full Apple HIG would consume over 50,000 tokens as a system prompt. Agent skills use progressive disclosure instead — the agent loads only the guidance it needs for the current task. A typical question uses around 4,000 tokens, a 92% reduction that leaves the rest of the context window for code.

The 156 reference documents are organized into six areas:

Foundations for color, typography, accessibility, layout, motion, and privacy
Platforms for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS, and visionOS conventions
Components for layout, controls, menus, dialogs, content, search, status, and system experiences
Patterns for onboarding, navigation, search, feedback, drag and drop, modality, and settings
Inputs for gestures, Apple Pencil, keyboards, game controllers, pointers, Digital Crown, and eye tracking
Technologies for Siri, Apple Pay, HealthKit, ARKit, machine learning, Sign in with Apple, and SharePlay

A project context skill creates a shared config at .claude/apple-design-context.md. Other skills read that file so guidance reflects your actual project instead of generic cross-platform advice.

Skills register with the agent and activate automatically when relevant — no configuration, no API keys.

The difference shows up in common design questions. Ask about dark mode and the agent can recommend system semantic colors like label, secondaryLabel, and systemBackground, instead of hard-coded values. Ask about tab bars and it can distinguish between iOS, macOS, and iPadOS conventions. Ask about visionOS and it can provide guidance on depth, anchoring, and ergonomic zones.

Built on the open Agent Skills standard, Apple HIG Skills works with Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Windsurf, Cline, Aider, Roo Code, Continue, and Augment Code.

The project is MIT licensed, like our other open source projects. The skill structure and tooling are open. HIG content in the reference files is Apple’s intellectual property and is included here for agent guidance. Contributions for new content, better descriptions, or broader coverage are welcome on GitHub.

The skills activate when your assistant hits a design question, and stay out of the way when it doesn't.

FAQ