{/* @meta title: Introduction/Design Principles */}

# Design Principles

## 🎯 Accessibility First

Every component is built on **Base UI** primitives, ensuring:
- Correct ARIA attributes and roles
- Keyboard navigation support
- Screen reader compatibility
- Focus management
- Color contrast compliance (WCAG 2.1 AA)

## 🎨 Design Tokens

We use **OKLCH** color space for perceptually uniform colors:
- Colors stay visually consistent across light and dark themes
- Tokens are CSS custom properties (`--ac-*` prefix)
- Override any token to create custom themes

## 🧩 Composition Over Configuration

Components follow the **compound component** pattern:
```tsx
<Card>
  <CardHeader>
    <CardTitle>Title</CardTitle>
  </CardHeader>
  <CardContent>Content</CardContent>
  <CardFooter>Footer</CardFooter>
</Card>
```

## 🔧 Progressive Enhancement

- Server Components by default
- `"use client"` only when hooks/interactivity needed
- CSS Modules for scoped, predictable styles
- No runtime CSS-in-JS overhead

## 📐 Consistent API

Every component follows these conventions:
- `className` prop for custom styling
- `forwardRef` for DOM access
- `displayName` for debugging
- JSDoc for API documentation
- Co-located tests and stories