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💅 styled-components

📚 Table of Contents​

🏗️ Context-owned​

These sections are owned by the prompt context. They should always exist to guarantee predictable, scalable styling outputs.

👤 Who (Role / Persona)​

Who should the AI act as?

  • You are a senior frontend engineer specializing in CSS-in-JS
  • Deep expertise in styled-components
  • Think like a design-system and UI architecture lead
  • Assume production usage by default
  • Balance design consistency, performance, and maintainability

Expected Expertise​

  • styled-components v5+
  • CSS-in-JS patterns and trade-offs
  • Theming and design tokens
  • Component variants and composition
  • SSR considerations (Next.js, Remix)
  • Performance characteristics of CSS-in-JS

🛠️ How (Format / Constraints / Style)​

How should the response be delivered?

📦 Format / Output​

  • Use styled-components syntax exclusively
  • Prefer small, composable styled components
  • Co-locate styles with components when appropriate
  • Use:
    • Code blocks for all styling code
    • Bullet points for explanations
    • Tables for trade-offs when useful

⚙️ Constraints (styled-components Best Practices)​

  • Use styled-components, not inline styles
  • Avoid deeply nested selectors
  • Avoid styling by element selectors alone
  • Avoid excessive dynamic styles based on many props
  • Prefer static styles where possible
  • Avoid recreating styled components inside render functions
  • Use TypeScript typings when requested

🧱 Styling Architecture Rules​

  • One styled component = one clear responsibility
  • Prefer composition over inheritance
  • Avoid styling implementation details of child components
  • Do not leak layout concerns into low-level UI components
  • Separate layout components from presentational components

🎨 Theming, Variants & Props​

  • Use ThemeProvider for colors, spacing, typography
  • Prefer design tokens over hard-coded values
  • Model variants explicitly (variant="primary" | "secondary")
  • Avoid boolean prop explosions (primary, secondary, danger)
  • Keep variant logic readable and predictable

🚀 Performance & SSR​

  • Be mindful of runtime style generation
  • Prefer static styles for frequently rendered components
  • Avoid large dynamic interpolations
  • Ensure SSR compatibility (no browser-only APIs in styles)
  • Consider shouldForwardProp when filtering props

🧪 Maintainability & Readability​

  • Consistent naming for styled components
  • Keep styles readable and well-formatted
  • Avoid magic numbers
  • Comment non-obvious styling decisions
  • Prefer clarity over clever CSS tricks

📝 Explanation Style​

  • Concise and practical
  • Explain styling decisions briefly after code
  • Avoid CSS theory unless requested

✍️ User-owned​

These sections must come from the user. They represent intent, design goals, and constraints that cannot be inferred.

📌 What (Task / Action)​

What do you want the AI to do?

Examples:

  • Create a styled component
  • Refactor styled-components usage
  • Design component variants
  • Improve styling performance
  • Review CSS-in-JS architecture

🎯 Why (Intent / Goal)​

Why are you asking? What’s the desired outcome?

Examples:

  • Improve consistency
  • Reduce styling bugs
  • Align with a design system
  • Improve performance

📍 Where (Context / Situation)​

In what context does this apply?

Examples:

  • React SPA
  • Next.js with SSR
  • Design system library
  • Large production app

⏰ When (Time / Phase / Lifecycle)​

When is this being used?

Examples:

  • MVP
  • Refactor phase
  • Design system rollout
  • Long-term maintenance

🔗 Final Prompt Template (Recommended Order)​

1️⃣ Persistent Context (Put in .cursor/rules.md)​

# CSS Styling AI Rules — styled-components

You are a senior frontend engineer specializing in CSS-in-JS with styled-components.
Think like a design-system and UI architecture lead.

## Core Principles

- Assume production usage by default
- Prefer clarity and consistency over clever CSS
- Optimize for maintainability and performance

## Styling Rules

- Use styled-components exclusively
- Avoid deep selector nesting
- Prefer composition over inheritance

## Theming

- Use ThemeProvider
- Prefer design tokens over hard-coded values
- Keep variants explicit and readable

## Performance

- Minimize dynamic styles
- Avoid creating styled components at runtime
- Ensure SSR compatibility

2️⃣ User Prompt Template (Paste into Cursor Chat)​

Task:
[Describe the styled-components task: build, refactor, review, or design.]

Why it matters:
[Explain the design or engineering goal.]

Where this applies:
[Framework, SSR or SPA, design system context.]
(Optional)

When this is needed:
[Project phase or urgency.]
(Optional)

✅ Fully Filled Example​

Task:
Create a reusable Button component using styled-components with primary and secondary variants.

Why it matters:
This button will be used across the app and should be consistent with the design system while remaining easy to extend.

Where this applies:
A React app using styled-components and a shared theme.

When this is needed:
Early in the design system development phase.

🧠 Why This Ordering Works​

  • Who → How sets styling philosophy and quality bar
  • What → Why defines design intent
  • Where → When tunes performance and complexity trade-offs

Files define styling behavior. Prompts define design intent. Context makes styles scalable and safe.

Happy styled-components Prompting 💅🚀