Parti Architecture Design Review

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Project Overview

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Purpose

• Generate system architectures from prompts
• Multi-agent orchestration and coordination
• Interactive canvas for architecture visualization
• Settings and configuration management
• Project management and versioning

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Design Philosophy

1. Digital Paper: Physical sheets with hard shadows
2. Complex Interactions: Advanced canvas interactions, drag-and-drop
3. Observability: Technical dashboards and metrics
4. Agent Visualization: Graph-based agent state display
5. Professional Tools: Settings, export, configuration interfaces

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Color System Implementation

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Current Implementation

colors: {
  ink: '#18181b',
  paper: '#ffffff',
  accent: '#10b981',
  surface: '#f4f4f5',
}

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Issues

• No CSS Custom Properties: Uses direct hex values
• No Dark Mode: Dark mode not implemented
• Limited Configuration: Basic setup without dark mode support

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Typography

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Font Families

• Serif (Playfair Display): Headings, card titles
• Sans-Serif (Inter): Body text, UI labels
• Monospace (JetBrains Mono): Technical content, IDs, metadata

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Typography Patterns

• Large serif fonts for main titles
• Bold, tight tracking
• Clear hierarchy

• Sans-serif for readability
• Standard weights
• Generous line-height

• Monospace for IDs, metadata
• Uppercase often
• Small sizes for labels

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Component Inventory

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Core Components

• PaperCard (enhanced with active states, onClick)
• PaperButton (with icon support)
• PaperInput, PaperTextArea
• PaperBadge (with variants)
• PaperModal
• PaperSelect
• PaperTabs

• PaperMetadataRibbon
• PaperToast
• PaperStepLoader
• PaperCommandBar
• PaperProgressDashboard
• PaperZoomControls
• PaperObservabilityDashboard
• PaperDataDictionary
• PaperBlueprintLibrary
• PaperChangelog
• PaperPromptGuidance
• PaperArtefactBadge
• PaperTooltipPreview
• PaperThinkingOverlay
• PaperInterruptOverlay
• PaperReviewFooter
• PaperViewToggle
• PaperTaskTree
• PaperBottomDock
• PaperSlider
• PaperSwitch
• PaperConsole

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Application Components

• SettingsRoot: Comprehensive settings interface
• Settings Sections: Intelligence, Profile, Export sections
• ApiKeyModal: API key management
• SettingsRibbon: Settings panel component

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Layout Patterns

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Main Application Layout

• Full-screen interactive canvas
• Zoom and pan controls
• Stage nodes (PRD, Design, Data, Logic, API, Frontend, Deployment)
• Artefact display
• Bottom dock for details

• Tabbed interface
• Sections: Intelligence, Profile, Export
• Ribbon-style panel
• Modal overlays for configuration

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Canvas Layout

• Horizontal flow of stages
• Stage nodes with icons
• Artefact badges
• Connection lines (visual)

• Click to select stages/artefacts
• Zoom controls
• Pan and drag
• View toggles

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Bottom Dock

• Tabs: Artifacts, Logs, Graph
• Artefact list with actions
• Log viewer
• Graph visualization
• Simulation controls

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Navigation Patterns

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View Toggles

• Board view (canvas)
• Settings view
• Toggle buttons in header
• View state management

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Settings Navigation

• Tab-based navigation (Intelligence, Profile, Export)
• Sub-sections within tabs
• Modal-based configuration
• Ribbon panel overlay

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Data Visualization Patterns

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Graph Visualization

• Agent activity graph
• Node-based representation
• Edge connections
• Status indicators

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Progress Dashboards

• Stage progress indicators
• Completion percentages
• Status badges
• Timeline visualization

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Observability Dashboard

• Metrics display (tokens, latency, cost)
• Trace visualization
• Performance indicators
• Cost estimation

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Unique Design Features

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Interactive Canvas

• Zoom and pan capabilities
• Node selection
• Drag interactions
• View transformations

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Agent Visualization

• Real-time agent activity
• Thinking overlays
• Status indicators
• Activity feeds

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Interrupt System

• Human-in-the-loop interrupts
• Review overlays
• Approval workflows
• Feedback collection

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Blueprint Library

• Saved architecture templates
• Load and delete operations
• Metadata display
• Version management

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Task Tree

• Hierarchical task representation
• Progress tracking
• Completion indicators

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Form Patterns

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Settings Forms

• Intelligence configuration (model selection, tiers)
• Profile settings
• Export options
• API key management

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Configuration Patterns

• Tabbed forms
• Section grouping
• Save/cancel actions
• Validation and errors

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Component Usage Patterns

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Card Usage

• Stage representation
• Artefact containers
• Settings sections
• Information panels

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Button Usage

• Primary: Main actions (Generate, Deploy, Save)
• Secondary: Alternative actions
• Ghost: Navigation, toggles
• Icon buttons for controls

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Badge Usage

• Artefact type indicators
• Status badges
• Stage labels
• System status

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Modal Usage

• Settings configuration
• API key management
• Confirmations
• Detail views

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Consistency Assessment

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Strengths

• ✅ Most comprehensive component library
• ✅ Advanced interaction patterns
• ✅ Professional tool interfaces
• ✅ Good component organization
• ✅ Extensive functionality

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Areas for Improvement

• ❌ No dark mode support
• ❌ Uses direct color values (not CSS custom properties)
• ❌ Component complexity may be high for simple use cases
• ❌ Some components may be over-engineered
• ❌ Missing documentation for custom components

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Recommendations

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High Priority

1. Migrate to CSS Custom Properties
   • Update Tailwind config to use CSS variables
   • Enable dark mode support
   • Align with other applications
2. Implement Dark Mode
   • Add dark mode toggle
   • Update all components
   • Test all interfaces
3. Document Components
   • Create component API documentation
   • Document usage patterns
   • Provide examples

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Medium Priority

4. Component Library Strategy
   • Extract core components to shared location
   • Keep specialized components in app
   • Create component reference guide
5. Simplify Complex Components
   • Review component complexity
   • Extract reusable patterns
   • Consider composition over complex components

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Low Priority

6. Performance Optimization
   • Review animation performance
   • Optimize canvas rendering
   • Code splitting for large components

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Design Generalities Summary

• Most extensive component library
• Advanced interaction patterns
• Complex canvas interface
• Professional tool aesthetics
• Comprehensive observability

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Component Complexity Analysis

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Core Components (Standard)

• PaperCard, PaperButton, PaperInput, etc.
• Standard implementations
• Good reusability

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Specialized Components (App-Specific)

• PaperBottomDock, PaperCanvas, PaperObservabilityDashboard
• Highly specialized
• Less reusable
• Complex implementations

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Recommendation

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Related Documentation

• Design System - Paper UI principles
• Application Review - Cross-application review
• Baseline Components - Standardized components
• Tailwind Configuration - Setup guide