Apply an aesthetic profile

Registry-first artifact boundary

When .styleseed/project.json and .styleseed/artifacts/index.json exist, resolve the requested artifact ID first, then read only .styleseed/bundles/<artifact-id>.md and .styleseed/manifests/<artifact-id>.json. Never fall back to the global legacy bundle for a registry project. Legacy projects may use .styleseed/effective-rules.md only when no registry exists.

Read PRODUCT-PRINCIPLES.md, RULESETS.md, PRESETS.md, and STYLESEED.md. Profiles are coordinated visual axes; output grammars organize attention, information, and action. Keep them separate.

Workflow

1. Validate that the lock has one output grammar. If not, run /ss-setup first.
2. Select exactly one profile from PRESETS.md, or none. Never stack profiles.
3. Apply its coordinated radius, density, type, palette temperature, elevation, motion,

composition accent, and signature move inside the output grammar's allowed ranges.

1. Preserve deliberate brand values and required fonts when compatible. If incompatible, the

output grammar and core invariants win; explain the conflict.

1. Update Aesthetic profile and affected bounded values in STYLESEED.md. Do not rewrite the

output grammar or a reference-compiled rule set.

1. Run /ss-score to ≥80 and /ss-verify if renderable. Report the complete effective rule set,

not just the profile name.

Rules

• A profile is optional appearance coordination, not a design-method exemption.
• technical profile does not turn a commerce page into an observability console.
• editorial profile does not justify unreadable serif body in a transaction workflow.
• brutalist-lite still requires coherent states, contrast, and one border language.
• Use /ss-dial for one-axis changes and /ss-reference for a new evidence-derived language.