> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.21st.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Project-aware design

> Give 21st your project's real design context, explore grounded options, and run local UI review.

## Create Design Context

From the project root:

```bash theme={null}
21st init --design-context
```

This writes `.21st/design.json`, the machine-readable source of truth, and
`.21st/DESIGN.md`, a readable summary. 21st detects the framework, Tailwind
version, shadcn setup, token sources, component folders, installed primitives,
assets, and project instruction files. Each inferred fact includes source
evidence.

Edit `constraints.must`, `constraints.avoid`, and `decisions` in
`.21st/design.json`. Refreshing preserves those user-owned fields:

```bash theme={null}
21st init --design-context --refresh
21st init --design-context --check
```

`--check` never writes and exits non-zero when extracted project facts drift.

## Find grounded inspiration

```bash theme={null}
21st search "dense analytics table" --context auto
21st search "account settings form" --context .21st/design.json --json
```

Context-aware search returns metadata, confidence, and concrete fit rationales.
It does not retrieve metered component code.

## Generate alternatives

```bash theme={null}
21st generate "pricing section" --context auto --variants 3
```

Every take receives the same project stack, tokens, primitives, constraints,
and accepted decisions. 21st also assigns a distinct named direction and
rationale to each take, so variants differ in hierarchy and composition rather
than only color. The preview URL remains the place to compare, select, and
refine takes.

## Review locally

```bash theme={null}
21st review src/
21st review src/components/pricing.tsx --json
21st review src/ --fix
```

Review is local and free. It reports deterministic accessibility, interaction,
responsive, motion, and design-system findings with file and line attribution.
`--fix` only applies high-confidence mechanical fixes.

Suppress a rule only with a reason:

```tsx theme={null}
// 21st-review-disable-next-line a11y-img-alt -- CMS injects localized alt text
<img src={image} />
```

## Manage skills

Project-local installation is the default:

```bash theme={null}
21st skills install
21st skills list
21st skills check
21st skills update
21st skills remove 21st-ui-explore
```

Add `--global` for a user-wide installation and
`--agent claude|cursor|codex|all` to select harnesses. 21st verifies each skill
hash, records ownership and license metadata in `.21st/skills.lock`, and refuses
to overwrite or remove local modifications without `--force`.

`21st install-skill` remains a compatibility alias for
`21st skills install --global`.

## Curated external skills

21st does not duplicate the general skill marketplace. Browse the small
reviewed compatibility catalog, or use skills.sh for broad discovery:

```bash theme={null}
21st skills catalog
21st skills catalog --json
```

An external install is always project-local and explicit. Skills containing
scripts require a second consent flag:

```bash theme={null}
21st skills install ui-ux-pro-max \
  --external \
  --agent codex \
  --allow-scripts
```

21st pins the installer version, verifies the allowlist entry, inspects the
installed file tree, records scripts/capabilities/license/source in the
lockfile, and refuses silent global installation. It never combines external
instructions with first-party skills automatically.