Hallmark's Four Main Verbs Explained: build, audit, redesign, and study

Hallmark uses four core verbs—build, audit, redesign, and study—each designed to handle a specific stage of the design-to-code workflow, from generating new pages to analyzing existing ones.

The open-source Hallmark project by Nutlope defines these verbs in its skill manifest and exposes them through both CLI and web interfaces. Understanding these four main verbs is essential for anyone working with Hallmark's AI-assisted design system.

The Four Hallmark Verbs and Their Functionalities

Hallmark's architecture centers on four distinct operations. Three require explicit invocation, while one (build) serves as the default behavior when no verb is specified.

build: Generate New Pages from Briefs

The build verb is Hallmark's default action. When you run Hallmark without specifying a verb, it triggers build.

According to [skills/hallmark/SKILL.md](https://github.com/Nutlope/hallmark/blob/main/skills/hallmark/SKILL.md#L21), build accepts a design brief and:

• Selects a macrostructure (page layout pattern)
• Applies a cohesive theme
• Returns a fully-working page

The system implements macrostructure deduplication—it refuses to repeat any of the last three macrostructures used, ensuring variety across generated outputs. This logic is reflected in [site/index.html](https://github.com/Nutlope/hallmark/blob/main/site/index.html#L63-L70).

# Default build (no verb prefix)

hallmark "Build me a landing page for an indie podcast platform."

audit: Score Pages Against Anti-Patterns

The audit verb performs static analysis on existing codebases.

As documented in [SKILL.md](https://github.com/Nutlope/hallmark/blob/main/skills/hallmark/SKILL.md#L26) and implemented in [site/index.html](https://github.com/Nutlope/hallmark/blob/main/site/index.html#L450-L456), audit:

1. Reads target files
2. Scores them against a defined anti-pattern list
3. Returns a ranked punch-list of findings categorized as:
   • Critical
   • Major
   • Minor

Additionally, audit verifies Hallmark stamp integrity—it checks whether any Hallmark stamp present on the page matches the actual page structure, preventing stale or fraudulent markings.

# Audit an existing page

hallmark audit ./app/page.tsx

Detailed specifications live in [skills/hallmark/references/verbs/audit.md](https://github.com/Nutlope/hallmark/blob/main/skills/hallmark/references/verbs/audit.md).

redesign: Re-Imagine Existing Visual Structure

The redesign verb transforms existing implementations while respecting boundary conditions.

Per [SKILL.md](https://github.com/Nutlope/hallmark/blob/main/skills/hallmark/SKILL.md#L27), redesign:

• Accepts an existing page or page set
• Re-imagines visual structure, rhythm, and component voice
• Preserves current implementation boundaries unless the user explicitly approves a full rebuild

The public interface explains this in [site/index.html](https://github.com/Nutlope/hallmark/blob/main/site/index.html#L505-L512), and full specs reside in [redesign.md](https://github.com/Nutlope/hallmark/blob/main/skills/hallmark/references/verbs/redesign.md).

# Single-page redesign

hallmark redesign ./app/page.tsx

# Multi-page redesign with mood specification

hallmark redesign ./app/ --mood modern-minimal

study: Extract Design DNA from References

The study verb enables design intelligence extraction from external sources.

Documented in [SKILL.md](https://github.com/Nutlope/hallmark/blob/main/skills/hallmark/SKILL.md#L28) and surfaced in [site/index.html](https://github.com/Nutlope/hallmark/blob/main/site/index.html#L401-L410), study:

• Accepts screenshots or live URLs
• Extracts design DNA: macrostructure, archetypes, type-pairing, color anchors
• Produces a diagnosis report

The user then chooses from three paths:

• (a) Build using that extracted DNA
• (b) Lock it into a portable design.md file
• (c) Stop after diagnosis only

# Study a live URL

hallmark study https://example.com

# Study a local screenshot

hallmark study ./screenshots/hero.png

Complete specifications are in [study.md](https://github.com/Nutlope/hallmark/blob/main/skills/hallmark/references/verbs/study.md).

How the Verbs Relate: The Hallmark Workflow

These four verbs map to a complete design-to-code lifecycle:

Stage	Verb	Input	Output
Creation	build	Text brief	Working page
Analysis	audit	Code files	Ranked findings
Transformation	redesign	Existing page(s)	Re-structured page(s)
Intelligence	study	URL or image	Design DNA report

The separation of concerns allows users to invoke exactly the capability needed without unnecessary overhead.

Summary

• Hallmark's four main verbs—build, audit, redesign, and study—are defined in [skills/hallmark/SKILL.md](https://github.com/Nutlope/hallmark/blob/main/skills/hallmark/SKILL.md) and exposed through the public site at [site/index.html](https://github.com/Nutlope/hallmark/blob/main/site/index.html).
• build generates fresh pages with macrostructure deduplication (default behavior).
• audit scores code against anti-patterns and verifies stamp integrity.
• redesign transforms existing pages while respecting boundaries unless overridden.
• study extracts design DNA from references for reuse or documentation.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens if I run Hallmark without specifying a verb?

Hallmark defaults to the build verb. Any command without an explicit verb prefix is interpreted as a build request with your input treated as a design brief.

Can I use multiple verbs in a single Hallmark command?

No. Each Hallmark invocation targets one verb only. For multi-stage workflows—like studying a reference then building from it—you run separate commands, potentially piping the extracted design.md between them.

Where are the detailed specifications for each verb located?

Each verb has a dedicated markdown file in skills/hallmark/references/verbs/: audit.md, redesign.md, and study.md. The build verb's behavior is documented directly in the main [SKILL.md](https://github.com/Nutlope/hallmark/blob/main/skills/hallmark/SKILL.md) since it serves as the default.

What is "design DNA" in the context of the study verb?

Design DNA refers to the extracted structural and stylistic identifiers from a reference: the macrostructure (layout pattern), archetypes (component types), type-pairing (font combinations), and color anchors (dominant palette). This information can be serialized to design.md for portable reuse across projects.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "instagit": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "instagit@latest"]
    }
  }
}