swiftui-liquid-glass

What This Skill Does

The SwiftUI Liquid Glass skill is a specialized tool for developers working on iOS 26+ applications. It streamlines the implementation and refinement of the modern 'Liquid Glass' design language, which is the cornerstone of the updated Apple UI paradigm. The skill provides architectural guidance on when and how to apply the system-native GlassEffectContainer, glassEffect modifiers, and specialized glass button styles. By automating the boilerplate for availability checks and fallback materials (like older Material types), it ensures that your application maintains a high-fidelity, performant aesthetic without sacrificing backward compatibility. The skill focuses on composition, ensuring that nested glass elements are grouped efficiently within containers to reduce rendering overhead and maintain visual cohesion.

Installation

To integrate this skill into your environment, run the following command in your terminal or OpenClaw interface: clawhub install openclaw/skills/skills/steipete/swiftui-liquid-glass. Ensure your local environment is configured for the iOS 26+ SDK to take full advantage of the advanced rendering capabilities provided by the Liquid Glass API.

Use Cases

• Modernizing UI: Transitioning legacy translucent UI elements (like custom blurs) to the native Liquid Glass standard.
• Complex Layouts: Implementing layered interface elements where depth, hierarchy, and interaction are required using GlassEffectContainer.
• Component Refactoring: Standardizing buttons, chips, and card components across an app to ensure uniform tint, prominence, and interactive behavior.
• Performance Optimization: Correcting modifier ordering and container nesting to ensure the GPU handles glass effects efficiently.
• Interaction Design: Implementing morphing transitions using glassEffectID and @Namespace for fluid UI state changes.

Example Prompts

1. "Refactor my existing dashboard cards to use the new iOS 26 Liquid Glass API, ensuring I have a fallback for users on older iOS versions."
2. "I have a group of four interactive menu chips; how should I nest these within a GlassEffectContainer to optimize the Liquid Glass rendering?"
3. "Review this view code: why is my glassEffect modifier not showing the correct tint prominence, and how can I add a morphing transition when the view state changes?"

Tips & Limitations

• Order Matters: Always apply .glassEffect after layout modifiers like .padding, .frame, or .clipShape. Placing it too early in the chain can result in clipped or incorrectly calculated glass areas.
• Container Usage: Avoid individual glassEffect modifiers on every single sub-element if they are grouped. Use GlassEffectContainer to unify the rendering pass.
• Interactivity: Be judicious with .interactive(). Only apply it to elements that are truly tappable; over-application can lead to visual noise and hit-testing performance issues.
• Compatibility: Always wrap your logic in #available(iOS 26, *) blocks. If you omit the fallback provided in the quick snippets, your app will fail to compile or appear broken on devices running iOS 25 or below.