Design Token Studio

An enterprise-grade workspace for defining, validating, previewing, and exporting scalable design-system foundations.

Next.jsReactTypeScriptTailwind CSSVitest

Problem

Design tokens often drift across design files, application code, themes, and component libraries. The project explores a structured source of truth where token definitions, aliases, validation, previews, and exports share one domain model.

Current maturity

Foundation through Sprint 13 is implemented. The token engine, theme builder, four playground engines, and CSS-variable exporter are complete; additional export formats, accessibility tooling, productivity features, and production work remain planned.

Token workflow

DefineCreate structured primitive and composite tokens with canonical paths.
ValidateDetect invalid values, duplicates, missing references, and circular chains.
ComposeApply brand overrides, theme modes, and semantic mappings without mutating source collections.
PreviewResolve tokens through component and playground snapshots.
ExportGenerate stable CSS variables with configurable selectors and prefixes.

Architecture

Immutable token domain model
Validation and reference-resolution layer
Theme and semantic composition pipeline
Preview and playground engines
Format-specific export adapters

Implemented scope

Immutable token collection, group, token, and reference models
Token CRUD with canonical-path uniqueness protection
Validation for duplicate ids, incompatible values, missing references, and circular references
Deterministic token search with filters and relevance scoring
Brand, light, dark, and semantic theme composition
Component, typography, spacing, and elevation playground engines
Deterministic CSS custom-property export with collision detection

CSS variables export

The current export engine flattens a token collection, sorts declarations by canonical path, converts references into CSS var() calls, supports configurable selectors and prefixes, excludes deprecated tokens by default, and rejects normalized variable-name collisions or unsupported values.

:root {
  --color-primary: #123456;
  --semantic-surface: var(--color-primary);
  --spacing-small: 8px;
}

Engineering quality

Strict TypeScript and immutable domain operations
Vitest coverage for token, theme, preview, playground, and export behavior
GitHub Actions and a single npm run verify quality gate
Generic examples only; confidential employer and client material is excluded

Important boundaries

No public repository link is exposed.
Figma synchronization, AI generation, file downloads, and multiple export adapters are not presented as implemented.
The project currently demonstrates deterministic design-token infrastructure rather than a completed production service.

Verified roadmap

Tailwind, JSON, Style Dictionary, Material UI, Ant Design, and React Native exports
Contrast checking, WCAG validation, and accessibility reporting
Version history, import/export, and snapshot comparison
Performance, documentation, and production deployment