fix(tokens): WCAG AA Normal by default for every brand & status on-color (Phase 2 redo)

[kiro-agent]

This pull request was created by @kiro-agent on behalf of @jackgranatowski 👻

Comment with /kiro fix to address specific feedback or /kiro all to address everything.
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Why this PR exists

Phase 2 (#35) was approved and clicked-merge, but its base.ref was chore/phase-1-truthfulness (the now-deleted Phase 1 branch) instead of main. After Phase 1 (#34) merged into main, GitHub did not auto-rebase Phase 2's base, so the merge of #35 (f463c0b0…) landed on the soon-to-be-stale Phase 1 branch and never propagated to main.

Empirical evidence on the current main (940615f):

• core/tokens.css:18 still reads --sf-color-tertiary-light: oklch(0.55 0.14 310) (Phase 2 was supposed to lower it to 0.48)
• audits/comparative-audit-2026.md Resolution Log has only the Phase 1 section
• F-06 still appears in the P0 roadmap (Phase 2 was supposed to strike it)

This PR is a byte-for-byte re-application of #35's two commits onto current main — same diff, same commit messages, same author trailers. It exists purely to put the Phase 2 changes where they were always meant to be.

What's in this PR

Two commits, taken verbatim from #35 (cherry-picked via git am from the .patch files of 48f422d3 and 51055783):

1. fix(tokens): lower default L for tertiary/neutral/success/info to clear AA Normal

   • core/tokens.css — four @property initial-values and the four :root defaults:
     • --sf-color-tertiary-light: oklch(0.55 0.14 310) → oklch(0.48 0.14 310)
     • --sf-color-neutral-light: oklch(0.55 0.02 260) → oklch(0.45 0.02 260)
     • --sf-color-success-light: oklch(0.55 0.17 150) → oklch(0.48 0.17 150)
     • --sf-color-info-light: oklch(0.55 0.15 240) → oklch(0.48 0.15 240)
   • --sf-color-text--inverse clamp widened in light mode: 0.70..1 → 0.85..0.98 (F-09).
   • Visited link hue shift +40° → +60° with override-path comment for brand collisions (F-21).
   • tests/tokens.spec.js — on-color contrast threshold raised from AA Large (3:1) to AA Normal (4.5:1) for all 11 brand & status families. The previous bar masked F-06 and a similar latent failure on success/info.
   • docs/architecture.md — "Known intentional tradeoffs" rewritten: defaults clear AA Normal across the board; sign(0.6 - l) mechanism kept, only the defaults moved out of its valley.

2. docs: update audit Phase 2 resolution log and demo customizer fallbacks

   • audits/comparative-audit-2026.md — appended Phase 2 entries (F-06, F-09, F-21, N-01); F-06 struck from the P0 roadmap.
   • docs/demo.html — HEX_FALLBACKS for tertiary/neutral approximated to the new oklch defaults. These hex fallbacks only fire on engines that fail to resolve oklch (i.e., none on the supported floor) — purely cosmetic alignment.

Empirical contrast (sRGB, WCAG luminance, culori-resolved oklch)

on-primary    6.79  AA✓
on-secondary 13.83  AA✓
on-tertiary   6.06  AA✓
on-action     5.86  AA✓
on-neutral    6.43  AA✓
on-success    5.14  AA✓
on-warning    9.09  AA✓
on-error      5.16  AA✓
on-info       5.45  AA✓
on-danger     5.95  AA✓

Every chromatic on-color now sits at or above 5:1.

⚠️ Breaking change

This is a default-palette shift. Any consumer relying on the exact previous oklch(0.55 …) values for tertiary/neutral/success/info must override them in their own :root. The override path is unchanged:

:root { --sf-color-tertiary-light: oklch(0.55 0.14 310); }

Verification

• ✅ npm run lint:css — clean
• ✅ npm run build — both bundles regenerate; dist/slashed.{essential,full}.css updated
• ✅ Token grep on dist/: every *-light value reflects the new oklch defaults
• ⏳ tests/tokens.spec.js — Playwright suite runs on CI (Ubuntu); local sandbox can't install browser deps but the assertions are unchanged from fix(tokens): clear WCAG AA Normal by default for every brand & status on-color (Phase 2) #35 which already validated against the same fixture-based contrast resolution

Resolves

F-06, F-09, F-21, plus the latent AA Normal failures on success and info that the original audit missed (caught by raising the test threshold to 4.5).

Stacking

This unblocks Phase 3 (Print color preservation, PR-3), which I'll open against main immediately after this merges.

Summary by CodeRabbit

• New Features

  • Raised on-color contrast accessibility standard to WCAG AA Normal (4.5:1).

• Bug Fixes

  • Refined brand and status color tokens for improved contrast discipline.
  • Adjusted inverse text and visited link styling for better visibility.

• Documentation

  • Clarified text-on-color contrast requirements and color selection guidelines.
  • Updated demo page fallback values for broader browser compatibility.

[coderabbitai]

📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

This PR implements Phase 2 of the comparative audit's contrast discipline initiative. Brand and status token source lightness values are lowered, the inverse text clamp range is adjusted, and visited-link hue shift increases from +40 to +60. The WCAG on-color assertion threshold is raised to AA Normal (4.5:1), and documentation and audit log are updated accordingly.

Changes

Phase 2 Contrast Discipline Token Updates

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Token value and constraint updates core/tokens.css	Light source token oklch(...) values for tertiary, action, neutral, base, and status families (success/warning/error/info) are lowered. Inverse text clamp range in --sf-color-text--inverse is tightened, and visited-link hue shift increases from +40 to +60.
WCAG on-color assertion upgrade tests/tokens.spec.js	On-color token readability test strengthened from AA Large (≥3:1) to AA Normal (≥4.5:1) over a fixed FAMILIES list, ensuring all on-color tokens meet the higher contrast threshold.
Documentation and audit resolution docs/architecture.md, docs/demo.html, audits/comparative-audit-2026.md	Architecture documentation clarifies AA Normal (4.5:1) as default on-color contrast. Demo hex fallbacks updated for tertiary and neutral light tokens. Audit roadmap marks F-06 resolved and documents Phase 2 resolution log covering token updates, clamp widening, hue shift, and test threshold changes.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 2 (Simple) | ⏱️ ~12 minutes

Possibly related PRs

• codeslash-dev/SLASHED#29: Modifies the same token/contrast implementation in core/tokens.css (--sf-color-text--inverse clamp and related color formulas) and tests/tokens.spec.js contrast logic.
• codeslash-dev/SLASHED#26: Updates core/tokens.css dark-branch text/inverse token derivations, directly connected to this PR's inverse clamp adjustment.
• codeslash-dev/SLASHED#33: Updates audits/comparative-audit-2026.md roadmap and resolution log with the same documented findings (F-21 visited-link hue shift and N-01 WCAG threshold).

Suggested reviewers

• jackgranatowski

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5

✅ Passed checks (5 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title accurately and concisely describes the primary change: strengthening WCAG AA Normal contrast compliance for all brand and status on-color tokens by default, with the '(Phase 2 redo)' suffix clarifying this is a reapplication of Phase 2 work to main.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.

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✨ Finishing Touches

📝 Generate docstrings

• Create stacked PR
• Commit on current branch

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Commit unit tests in branch chore/phase-2-contrast-redo

Warning

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[coderabbitai]

Actionable comments posted: 1

🤖 Prompt for all review comments with AI agents

Verify each finding against current code. Fix only still-valid issues, skip the
rest with a brief reason, keep changes minimal, and validate.

Inline comments:
In `@audits/comparative-audit-2026.md`:
- Line 1498: Update the audit note so it matches the actual text in
docs/architecture.md: open the "Known intentional tradeoffs" section and confirm
whether the doc declares the "AA Normal default contract" and whether it
identifies "warning" as a documented exception; then edit line 1498 of
comparative-audit-2026.md to state exactly what docs/architecture.md asserts
(either that "warning" is the single documented exception, that another
exception is documented, or that no single exception is claimed) and reference
the exact phrase used in the architecture doc so the audit entry aligns with the
source.

🪄 Autofix (Beta)

Fix all unresolved CodeRabbit comments on this PR:

• Push a commit to this branch (recommended)
• Create a new PR with the fixes

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ℹ️ Review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Organization UI

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro Plus

Run ID: 01d9a617-8108-4a06-a411-0984f6401260

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 940615f and 23484bf.

⛔ Files ignored due to path filters (2)

• dist/slashed.essential.css is excluded by !**/dist/**
• dist/slashed.full.css is excluded by !**/dist/**

📒 Files selected for processing (5)

• audits/comparative-audit-2026.md
• core/tokens.css
• docs/architecture.md
• docs/demo.html
• tests/tokens.spec.js

[coderabbitai]

⚠️ Potential issue | 🟡 Minor | ⚡ Quick win

Correct Phase 2 log claim about the documented exception.

Line 1498 says docs/architecture.md now identifies warning as the single documented exception, but the updated architecture text does not state that. Please align this line with the actual docs content to avoid audit-trace drift.

🤖 Prompt for AI Agents

Verify each finding against current code. Fix only still-valid issues, skip the
rest with a brief reason, keep changes minimal, and validate.

In `@audits/comparative-audit-2026.md` at line 1498, Update the audit note so it
matches the actual text in docs/architecture.md: open the "Known intentional
tradeoffs" section and confirm whether the doc declares the "AA Normal default
contract" and whether it identifies "warning" as a documented exception; then
edit line 1498 of comparative-audit-2026.md to state exactly what
docs/architecture.md asserts (either that "warning" is the single documented
exception, that another exception is documented, or that no single exception is
claimed) and reference the exact phrase used in the architecture doc so the
audit entry aligns with the source.