When the promise is "development executes it exactly as shown", the spec has to be good enough to make that true. Handoff is a conversation, not a delivery.
Procedure
- Token export. Every colour, type step, spacing value, radius and elevation, named exactly as the front end names them. Exportable, not screenshotable. See
ds-inventory/reference/token-schema.md. - Component state matrix. Every component × every state from
flow-map/reference/state-checklist.md. Gaps are marked as gaps, not omitted. - Annotated flows. Behaviour written as rules, not redlines. Responsive behaviour stated as a condition and a consequence.
- Accessibility spec from
a11y-spec, per screen. - Real content. The strings that ship, at the lengths they ship at, from
copy-standards. - Design QA checklist —
reference/qa-checklist.md— what you will check on staging before release, written before the build starts so it is not a surprise. - Present it live. Walk engineering through the system in a working session. Do not post a link and leave.
- Stay in the sprint. Weekly office hours, design review on staging, and you update the spec when reality disagrees with it — which it will.
Rules
- A component that does not match its code in name, structure and behaviour is a suggestion, not a component.
- Never hand over a state matrix with silent gaps. An outstanding state marked outstanding is fine; an absent one is a defect.
- Write rules, not measurements, wherever a rule is possible.
- The flow diagrams must match the screens as built. Update them at handoff.
Bundled files
templates/handoff.mdreference/qa-checklist.md