Developer Experience

Zero to Component
in Under 5 Minutes

Developer onboarding that respects your time

Clone, install, run. No environment configuration, no secret keys, no "ask Dave about the wiki page." Every developer hits a working Storybook with hot-reload in under five minutes.

From Clone to First Component

Every step measured, every dependency automated. Here is the actual timeline a new developer experiences on day one.

1
Clone Repository
~30s

Single monorepo. One clone gets you the component library, Storybook, documentation site, and all tooling.

git clone git@github.com:org/wc-2026.git
2
Install Dependencies
~45s

npm workspaces resolve all cross-package dependencies in a single install. No manual linking, no hoisting issues.

npm install
3
Start Dev Server
~10s

Turborepo orchestrates parallel builds. Vite dev server with HMR starts in under 10 seconds from cold.

turbo run dev
4
Storybook Opens
Instant

Every component rendered with all variants, states, and theme combinations. Interactive controls powered by CEM autodiscovery.

5
First Edit — Live
< 2min

Edit a component, see it update instantly in Storybook. TypeScript catches errors before you save. CEM regenerates on file change.

Monorepo Developer Ergonomics

Three focused workspaces, one Turborepo pipeline. Changes propagate instantly across packages with zero manual coordination.

packages/wc-library

Core component library. Lit 3 web components, design tokens, and the Custom Elements Manifest source of truth.

Lit 3 TypeScript CEM W3C DTCG
apps/storybook

Interactive component explorer with autodiscovered controls, multi-theme preview, and accessibility testing built in.

Storybook 10 Web Components Autodocs
apps/docs

Starlight-powered documentation with auto-generated API reference pages sourced directly from the CEM pipeline.

Astro Starlight MDX
Turborepo Orchestration

Every task runs in parallel with intelligent caching. Edit a token in the library, and Storybook plus Docs rebuild simultaneously. Remote cache means CI builds are near-instant when the dependency graph has not changed.

Autocomplete That Knows Your Components

The Custom Elements Manifest powers IDE autocomplete out of the box. Every property, event, slot, and CSS custom property is discoverable without leaving your editor.

page-template.html
14 <wc-button
15   variant="primary"
16   s|
P size "small" | "medium" | "large"
S slot default | icon | prefix
P shape "rounded" | "pill" | "square"
E @submit CustomEvent<void>

Documentation That Writes Itself

Write JSDoc once in your component. The CEM pipeline automatically generates Storybook controls, API reference pages, and IDE intellisense.

JSDoc Write once
CEM Analyzer Auto-extract
CEM JSON Manifest
Storybook Autodocs

Interactive controls, prop tables, and live examples generated from the manifest.

Starlight API Ref

Complete API reference pages with property tables, slot docs, and event signatures.

VS Code Intellisense

Rich autocomplete for HTML templates with property types, slots, events, and CSS parts.

Quality Engineering

Four Automated Gates,
Zero Manual Steps

Quality engineered into the process, not bolted on after

Every commit passes through unit tests, accessibility audits, visual regression checks, and end-to-end validation. No human gatekeeping required. The pipeline catches what code review cannot.

The Testing Pyramid

Four layers of automated validation. Each level catches a different category of defect, from logic errors to visual regressions.

Level 4
End-to-End Tests
Playwright

Full page integration testing across real browsers. Validates component interactions in complete page contexts.

Level 3
Visual Regression
Chromatic

Pixel-perfect screenshot diffing across every variant, theme combination, and viewport. Catches CSS regressions invisible to unit tests.

Level 2
Accessibility Audits
axe-core

WCAG 2.1 AA compliance on every commit. Automated audits catch color contrast, ARIA, keyboard nav, and screen reader issues before merge.

Level 1
Unit Tests
Vitest Browser Mode

Real DOM, real browser, real rendering. Not jsdom approximations. Every component tested against actual browser APIs.

Catch Bugs Where They Are Cheapest to Fix

Traditional pipelines find bugs in QA or production. This system shifts detection to the moment of creation.

Traditional Pipeline
Coding
15%
Code Review
20%
QA Testing
40%
Production
25%
WC-2026 Pipeline
Coding
55%
Pre-commit
30%
CI Pipeline
13%
Production
2%

Quality at a Glance

Real-time quality metrics tracked across every component in the library.

>90%
Unit Coverage

Statement and branch coverage across all components

100%
A11y Audited

Every component passes axe-core WCAG 2.1 AA audit

All
Visual Tested

Every variant and theme combination screenshot tested

E2E
Critical Flows

Every critical user flow validated end-to-end in CI

Continuous Delivery

From Commit to CDN
in 8 Seconds

Turborepo-powered builds with intelligent caching

Push code, watch it flow through type checking, testing, accessibility auditing, visual regression, and deployment. Cached builds complete in seconds. Full builds complete in under a minute.

Seven Stages, Fully Automated

Every push triggers a deterministic pipeline. Each stage gates the next. Failures halt deployment and notify the author instantly.

git push trigger
Type Check ~3s
Unit Tests ~5s
A11y Audit ~4s
Visual Reg. ~12s
Build ~8s
Deploy ~6s

Turborepo Remote Cache in Action

When the dependency graph has not changed, builds are served from cache. The difference is dramatic.

~45s
Full Build (Cold)

Complete rebuild of all packages, components, Storybook, and documentation from scratch.

~8s
Cached Build (Warm)

Turborepo remote cache restores unchanged outputs. Only modified packages rebuild. An 82% reduction.

Three Channels, One Pipeline

Components ship through three parallel channels, each optimized for a different consumption pattern.

npm Package

Full library with TypeScript types, CEM manifest, and tree-shakeable ESM exports. For Drupal teams integrating via build tools.

npm install @org/wc-2026
CDN Script

Single script tag for quick integration. Auto-registers all components. Ideal for prototyping, CMS embeds, and static sites.

<script src="cdn/wc-2026.js">
Token Package

Design tokens only, published separately. Allows theme updates without touching component code. CSS custom properties and SCSS maps.

npm install @org/wc-tokens

Automated, Auditable, Reversible

No human runs npm publish. Every release is triggered by merging a changeset PR, fully automated through CI.

1
Changeset PR Created

Developers add changeset files describing what changed and the semver impact (patch, minor, major).

2
Version Bump & Changelog

CI automatically determines the next version, updates package.json, and generates release notes.

3
Publish to npm + CDN

CI publishes the package to npm and deploys the CDN bundle. No developer credentials required.

4
GitHub Release + Tag

Automated GitHub release with full changelog, contributor credits, and downloadable artifacts.