Atelier — the craftsman's framework for AI-built software

01 — Prompt

You ask once.

One sentence is enough. Atelier doesn't need a perfect prompt — it needs a goal.

02 — Understand

It thinks first.

The principal-mind protocol loads. It reads your codebase, traces the real flow, and batches every open question into one round — not twenty interruptions.

03 — Contract

Done is a contract.

Before any code, Atelier writes measurable done-criteria into its SQLite store. The agent cannot claim "finished" while one box is unchecked.

04 — Route

The right brain, per task.

Opus plans. Sonnet builds. Haiku digests. The expensive model thinks, the cheap model types — tokens go where they pay.

05 — Gates

Laws, not vibes.

Every change passes the gates: design tokens only, 250 words per file, ponytail minimalism, graph impact. Fail one, and it goes back.

06 — Ship

Shipped, with evidence.

The contract flips green with proof attached to every criterion. That's the whole point: not "it works" — verified working.

terminal — your project

›

atelier · clarify — one batch, then silence

Read 47 files · traced 3 flows · 4 unknowns remain

Dark theme only, or both? Auth: sessions or JWT rotation? Target stack: Next.js 15? Deploy: Vercel or Cloudflare?

workspace/atelier.db — done_criteria

Landing renders at 360 / 768 / 1280

Zero hardcoded colors — tokens only

Every file ≤ 250 words

Lighthouse performance ≥ 95

Reduced-motion fallback present

auto model routing — relative cost per token

Opusplans15×

Sonnetbuilds3×

Haikudigests1×

Deep thought is rented by the minute — Atelier only rents it for decisions.

atelier · review gates

Design law — tokens only, one accent

Clean-code law — 250-word budget

Ponytail — no speculative abstraction

Graph impact — no orphaned callers

atelier · ship report

Landing renders at 360 / 768 / 1280

Zero hardcoded colors — tokens only

Every file ≤ 250 words

Lighthouse performance ≥ 95

Reduced-motion fallback present

Shipped

The laws

Taste, encoded as law.

Not prompts. Not hopes. Versioned rules the agent must obey — enforced by hooks, gates, and a knowledge graph it queries before touching your code.

This diagram is alive — no video, no Rive, no library. ~40 lines of inline SVG + CSS from Atelier's living-graphics skill. Your agent learns to build these.

Design Law

Premium editorial minimalism with numbers, not vibes: one accent ≤10% of viewport, hairlines over shadows, spring physics motion. The generic "AI template look" is literally banned — with a list.

Clean-Code Law

Hook

Every source file budgeted at 250 words — enforced by a pre-write hook, not a review comment. Bloat physically cannot land. The framework's own CI holds itself to the same cap.

Knowledge Graph

SQLite

A local atelier.db maps every topic to its law: ask about a bug, get principal-mind; ask about video, get the asset pipeline. Agents query it instead of guessing — zero token waste on wrong context.

Self-learning

Learn

Paste a screenshot of any design you admire — /atelier:learn distills it into an overlay that extends the law for your project. Promote it, and it becomes permanent, git-tracked taste.

Media Pipeline

Omni · Veo

AI video via Gemini Omni Flash / Veo 3.1, image→webp milling, frame-scrub scaffolding — and icon marks cut to true transparency locally, since no image model can. No credentials? A paste-ready prompt, never an error.

MCP Registry

Extend

shadcn/ui, Aceternity, ReactBits queried live — components come from real registries, never hallucinated. The Chrome connector lets the agent drive your actual browser to verify what it built. mcp-maker turns any site or API into a new connector.

The media forge

How a page like this gets made.

Scrollytelling needs film. Atelier generates it, mills it into frames, and wires the scroll — one pipeline, no video editor, no designer on call.

01 — PROMPTYou describe one scene.A sentence: the object, the mood, the camera move. That's the whole brief.
02 — GENERATEOmni / Veo renders the film.Gemini Omni Flash or Veo 3.1 — and if you have no credentials, it writes you a paste-ready prompt for the Gemini app instead. Never an error.
03 — MILLFilm becomes frames.assets.py frames turns the mp4 into a webp sequence, compressed and manifest-tracked.
04 — WIREFrames meet the scroll.The scroll-scrub scene binds the sequence to your thumb — reversible, buttery, reduced-motion safe.
05 — GATEDesign law signs off.One hero moment per page, one accent, no slop — or it goes back to step one.

The same forge draws icons and logo marks: generated flat by the image models, then assets.py cut strips the background into a true transparent asset — locally, free, no API. (No image model can output real transparency. Atelier knows that, and routes around it.)

The ponytail reflex

The best code is the code never written.

Before every single line, the agent interrogates itself — silently, every time, on a descending ladder. It stops at the first rung that holds. You never see the questions. You just get less code, fewer dependencies, and nothing to maintain that didn't need to exist.

Q1Does this need to exist at all?

Q2Does the codebase already have it? Reuse it.

Q3Does the standard library do it? Use it.

Q4Can it be one line? One line.

Q5Only then — the minimum that works.

The full inventory

Everything in the box.

Two commands install all of it. No add-ons, no tiers — the complete kit, and the knowledge graph routes your agent to the right piece automatically.

Laws 5

Design law — premium UI, anti-slop bannedflagship
Clean-code law — 250 words per filehook-enforced
Auth law — rotating tokens, families, grace
Structure law — canonical trees per stack
Ponytail — the never-write-it-first reflex

Commands 11

/bootstrap · /clarify · /plan · /build
/review · /ship — gates & evidence
/status · /doctor — health & progress
/learn · /promote — teach it your tasteself-learning
/update — safe, self-healing migration

Agents 5

Architect — plans, never codesOpus
Builder — executes the contractSonnet
Design-scout — studies premium source in parallelSonnet
Learner — ingests your referencesSonnet
Summarizer — digests, cheap & fastHaiku

Skills & guides 16

Principal-mind · Loop-engine · Gateway
Living graphics — animated schematicsnew
Asset pipeline · Deploy advisor
MCP-maker — any site/API → connector
Guides: Next.js · FastAPI · Comms · Redis/Celery · RAG

Native tools 7

SQLite knowledge graph — token-lean rowsstore.py
Image → webp compressor
Video → frame mill for scroll-scrub
Transparent cut — icons without backgrounds
ScrollScrub template · 2 guard hooks

Media & connectors 12+

Gemini Omni Flash · Veo 3.1 — video from a sentenceAI media
Logo & icon generation, light + dark
No credentials → paste-prompt, never an error
shadcn/ui · Aceternity · ReactBits · MagicUI · Stitch
Chrome — the agent verifies in your real browser

Ship like a
principal engineer.

You ask once.

It thinks first.

Done is a contract.

The right brain, per task.

Laws, not vibes.

Shipped, with evidence.

Taste, encoded as law.

Design Law

Clean-Code Law

Knowledge Graph

Self-learning

Media Pipeline

MCP Registry

How a page like this gets made.

The best code is the code never written.

Everything in the box.

Install the discipline.

Ship like aprincipal engineer.

You ask once.

It thinks first.

Done is a contract.

The right brain, per task.

Laws, not vibes.

Shipped, with evidence.

Taste, encoded as law.

Design Law

Clean-Code Law

Knowledge Graph

Self-learning

Media Pipeline

MCP Registry

How a page like this gets made.

The best code is the code never written.

Everything in the box.

Install the discipline.

Ship like a
principal engineer.