A frontend developer or design systems engineer at a company with a shared
component library. Storybook is where they develop components in isolation,
document their props and variants, and give designers a place to review
and interact with components without pulling a branch. They've set up Storybook,
they've configured it, they've written stories for 40–150 components.
They're the person who knows where Storybook falls short and stays anyway
because the alternative is worse.
Intention
What are they trying to do? —
Outcome
What do they produce? —
Goals
→Develop UI components in isolation without running the full application
→Provide designers and PMs with a living reference for what components exist and how they behave
→Catch visual regressions before they reach production
Frustrations
—Storybook configuration that fights the build tooling when the team's setup is non-standard
—Stories that go stale because keeping them current is a second job nobody owns
—Designers who treat Storybook as a reference but continue to specify components
—in designs that don't match what's actually been built
—Visual regression tools that produce so many false positives from minor rendering
—differences that reviewers start ignoring them
Worldview
A component without a story is a component that will be reimplemented in three months
by someone who didn't know it existed
The design system is only as good as the adoption it earns — adoption requires
documentation that's accurate and discoverable
Visual regression testing is free quality assurance on every PR — if it works
Scenario
A designer has shipped a spec for a new table component. The frontend developer
is looking at the spec. The component has 8 variants, 4 states, and a responsive
behavior the spec doesn't fully define. They're going to develop it in Storybook,
write stories for every variant and state, and publish the Storybook link to the
design review before asking the designer to sign off. This is the workflow that
prevents the "that's not what I meant" revision cycle after the component is in production.
Context
Works in a codebase with React or Vue. Uses Storybook 7+. Has configured Storybook
with their company's design tokens and global styles. Uses Chromatic for visual
regression testing and design review — or wants to. Has written stories for
40–150 components across 3–8 categories. Reviews PRs that include component changes
by reviewing the Storybook diff first. Has given a lunch-and-learn about Storybook
to the engineering team. Story staleness is a known problem they haven't solved.
Impact
→Story generation from component prop types that scaffolds the initial file
→removes the blank-page problem and improves the story-to-component ratio
→Interaction testing that runs in CI and catches behavior regressions alongside
→visual ones extends the safety net from appearance to functionality
→Figma integration that links stories to their design counterparts closes the
→design-implementation gap in both directions for review
→Story staleness detection that surfaces components with missing or outdated stories
→makes component library health visible rather than assumed
Composability Notes
Pairs with `figma-primary-user` for the design-to-component implementation and review workflow.
Contrast with `design-systems-designer` for the design side of the same component lifecycle.
Use with `vercel-primary-user` for teams that deploy Storybook to a preview URL on every PR.