Core concepts
The words used across the app, and how they relate.
System
A design system for one product family: its brand sources, tokens, themes, components, documentation and versions. A workspace can hold several systems.
Brand and theme
A brand holds identity: colours, type, logo rules, voice. A theme turns that identity into interface decisions, such as light, dark or compact. One component library serves many brands through themes, not forks.
Token tiers
- Primitive: raw values such as teal.600.
- Semantic: intent, such as color.action.primary, referencing a primitive per theme.
- Component: decisions for one component, such as button.radius.
Components only reference semantic and component tokens, which is why a theme switch never touches component code.
Locks
A lock marks a value as approved. Generation and AI suggestions must work around it; they can propose changes elsewhere but never edit a locked value.
Draft and version
Everything starts as a draft. Delivering creates an immutable version, such as 1.0.0, that products can pin. Publishing a version and deploying the products that use it are separate steps.