Agent skill

design-system-patterns

Build scalable design systems with design tokens, theming infrastructure, and component architecture patterns. Use when creating design tokens, implementing theme switching, building component libraries, or establishing design system foundations.

View SKILL.md on GitHub Repository
Stars 232
Forks 15

Install this agent skill to your Project

npx add-skill https://github.com/aiskillstore/marketplace/tree/main/skills/wshobson/design-system-patterns

SKILL.md

Design System Patterns

Master design system architecture to create consistent, maintainable, and scalable UI foundations across web and mobile applications.

When to Use This Skill

  • Creating design tokens for colors, typography, spacing, and shadows
  • Implementing light/dark theme switching with CSS custom properties
  • Building multi-brand theming systems
  • Architecting component libraries with consistent APIs
  • Establishing design-to-code workflows with Figma tokens
  • Creating semantic token hierarchies (primitive, semantic, component)
  • Setting up design system documentation and guidelines

Core Capabilities

1. Design Tokens

  • Primitive tokens (raw values: colors, sizes, fonts)
  • Semantic tokens (contextual meaning: text-primary, surface-elevated)
  • Component tokens (specific usage: button-bg, card-border)
  • Token naming conventions and organization
  • Multi-platform token generation (CSS, iOS, Android)

2. Theming Infrastructure

  • CSS custom properties architecture
  • Theme context providers in React
  • Dynamic theme switching
  • System preference detection (prefers-color-scheme)
  • Persistent theme storage
  • Reduced motion and high contrast modes

3. Component Architecture

  • Compound component patterns
  • Polymorphic components (as prop)
  • Variant and size systems
  • Slot-based composition
  • Headless UI patterns
  • Style props and responsive variants

4. Token Pipeline

  • Figma to code synchronization
  • Style Dictionary configuration
  • Token transformation and formatting
  • CI/CD integration for token updates

Quick Start

typescript
// Design tokens with CSS custom properties
const tokens = {
  colors: {
    // Primitive tokens
    gray: {
      50: "#fafafa",
      100: "#f5f5f5",
      900: "#171717",
    },
    blue: {
      500: "#3b82f6",
      600: "#2563eb",
    },
  },
  // Semantic tokens (reference primitives)
  semantic: {
    light: {
      "text-primary": "var(--color-gray-900)",
      "text-secondary": "var(--color-gray-600)",
      "surface-default": "var(--color-white)",
      "surface-elevated": "var(--color-gray-50)",
      "border-default": "var(--color-gray-200)",
      "interactive-primary": "var(--color-blue-500)",
    },
    dark: {
      "text-primary": "var(--color-gray-50)",
      "text-secondary": "var(--color-gray-400)",
      "surface-default": "var(--color-gray-900)",
      "surface-elevated": "var(--color-gray-800)",
      "border-default": "var(--color-gray-700)",
      "interactive-primary": "var(--color-blue-400)",
    },
  },
};

Key Patterns

Pattern 1: Token Hierarchy

css
/* Layer 1: Primitive tokens (raw values) */
:root {
  --color-blue-500: #3b82f6;
  --color-blue-600: #2563eb;
  --color-gray-50: #fafafa;
  --color-gray-900: #171717;

  --space-1: 0.25rem;
  --space-2: 0.5rem;
  --space-4: 1rem;

  --font-size-sm: 0.875rem;
  --font-size-base: 1rem;
  --font-size-lg: 1.125rem;

  --radius-sm: 0.25rem;
  --radius-md: 0.5rem;
  --radius-lg: 1rem;
}

/* Layer 2: Semantic tokens (meaning) */
:root {
  --text-primary: var(--color-gray-900);
  --text-secondary: var(--color-gray-600);
  --surface-default: white;
  --interactive-primary: var(--color-blue-500);
  --interactive-primary-hover: var(--color-blue-600);
}

/* Layer 3: Component tokens (specific usage) */
:root {
  --button-bg: var(--interactive-primary);
  --button-bg-hover: var(--interactive-primary-hover);
  --button-text: white;
  --button-radius: var(--radius-md);
  --button-padding-x: var(--space-4);
  --button-padding-y: var(--space-2);
}

Pattern 2: Theme Switching with React

tsx
import { createContext, useContext, useEffect, useState } from "react";

type Theme = "light" | "dark" | "system";

interface ThemeContextValue {
  theme: Theme;
  resolvedTheme: "light" | "dark";
  setTheme: (theme: Theme) => void;
}

const ThemeContext = createContext<ThemeContextValue | null>(null);

export function ThemeProvider({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode }) {
  const [theme, setTheme] = useState<Theme>(() => {
    if (typeof window !== "undefined") {
      return (localStorage.getItem("theme") as Theme) || "system";
    }
    return "system";
  });

  const [resolvedTheme, setResolvedTheme] = useState<"light" | "dark">("light");

  useEffect(() => {
    const root = document.documentElement;

    const applyTheme = (isDark: boolean) => {
      root.classList.remove("light", "dark");
      root.classList.add(isDark ? "dark" : "light");
      setResolvedTheme(isDark ? "dark" : "light");
    };

    if (theme === "system") {
      const mediaQuery = window.matchMedia("(prefers-color-scheme: dark)");
      applyTheme(mediaQuery.matches);

      const handler = (e: MediaQueryListEvent) => applyTheme(e.matches);
      mediaQuery.addEventListener("change", handler);
      return () => mediaQuery.removeEventListener("change", handler);
    } else {
      applyTheme(theme === "dark");
    }
  }, [theme]);

  useEffect(() => {
    localStorage.setItem("theme", theme);
  }, [theme]);

  return (
    <ThemeContext.Provider value={{ theme, resolvedTheme, setTheme }}>
      {children}
    </ThemeContext.Provider>
  );
}

export const useTheme = () => {
  const context = useContext(ThemeContext);
  if (!context) throw new Error("useTheme must be used within ThemeProvider");
  return context;
};

Pattern 3: Variant System with CVA

tsx
import { cva, type VariantProps } from "class-variance-authority";
import { cn } from "@/lib/utils";

const buttonVariants = cva(
  // Base styles
  "inline-flex items-center justify-center rounded-md font-medium transition-colors focus-visible:outline-none focus-visible:ring-2 disabled:pointer-events-none disabled:opacity-50",
  {
    variants: {
      variant: {
        default: "bg-primary text-primary-foreground hover:bg-primary/90",
        destructive:
          "bg-destructive text-destructive-foreground hover:bg-destructive/90",
        outline:
          "border border-input bg-background hover:bg-accent hover:text-accent-foreground",
        secondary:
          "bg-secondary text-secondary-foreground hover:bg-secondary/80",
        ghost: "hover:bg-accent hover:text-accent-foreground",
        link: "text-primary underline-offset-4 hover:underline",
      },
      size: {
        sm: "h-9 px-3 text-sm",
        md: "h-10 px-4 text-sm",
        lg: "h-11 px-8 text-base",
        icon: "h-10 w-10",
      },
    },
    defaultVariants: {
      variant: "default",
      size: "md",
    },
  },
);

interface ButtonProps
  extends
    React.ButtonHTMLAttributes<HTMLButtonElement>,
    VariantProps<typeof buttonVariants> {
  asChild?: boolean;
}

export function Button({ className, variant, size, ...props }: ButtonProps) {
  return (
    <button
      className={cn(buttonVariants({ variant, size, className }))}
      {...props}
    />
  );
}

Pattern 4: Style Dictionary Configuration

javascript
// style-dictionary.config.js
module.exports = {
  source: ["tokens/**/*.json"],
  platforms: {
    css: {
      transformGroup: "css",
      buildPath: "dist/css/",
      files: [
        {
          destination: "variables.css",
          format: "css/variables",
          options: {
            outputReferences: true, // Preserve token references
          },
        },
      ],
    },
    scss: {
      transformGroup: "scss",
      buildPath: "dist/scss/",
      files: [
        {
          destination: "_variables.scss",
          format: "scss/variables",
        },
      ],
    },
    ios: {
      transformGroup: "ios-swift",
      buildPath: "dist/ios/",
      files: [
        {
          destination: "DesignTokens.swift",
          format: "ios-swift/class.swift",
          className: "DesignTokens",
        },
      ],
    },
    android: {
      transformGroup: "android",
      buildPath: "dist/android/",
      files: [
        {
          destination: "colors.xml",
          format: "android/colors",
          filter: { attributes: { category: "color" } },
        },
      ],
    },
  },
};

Best Practices

  1. Name Tokens by Purpose: Use semantic names (text-primary) not visual descriptions (dark-gray)
  2. Maintain Token Hierarchy: Primitives > Semantic > Component tokens
  3. Document Token Usage: Include usage guidelines with token definitions
  4. Version Tokens: Treat token changes as API changes with semver
  5. Test Theme Combinations: Verify all themes work with all components
  6. Automate Token Pipeline: CI/CD for Figma-to-code synchronization
  7. Provide Migration Paths: Deprecate tokens gradually with clear alternatives

Common Issues

  • Token Sprawl: Too many tokens without clear hierarchy
  • Inconsistent Naming: Mixed conventions (camelCase vs kebab-case)
  • Missing Dark Mode: Tokens that don't adapt to theme changes
  • Hardcoded Values: Using raw values instead of tokens
  • Circular References: Tokens referencing each other in loops
  • Platform Gaps: Tokens missing for some platforms (web but not mobile)

Resources

Recommended Agent Skills

Expand your agent's capabilities with these related and highly-rated skills.

aiskillstore/marketplace

perigon-backend

Perigon ASP.NET Core + EF Core + Aspire conventions

232 15
Explore
aiskillstore/marketplace

perigon-agent

Pointers for Copilot/agents to apply Perigon conventions

232 15
Explore
aiskillstore/marketplace

perigon-angular

Angular 21+ standalone/Material/signal conventions for Perigon WebApp

232 15
Explore
aiskillstore/marketplace

fastapi-mastery

Comprehensive FastAPI development skill covering REST API creation, routing, request/response handling, validation, authentication, database integration, middleware, and deployment. Use when working with FastAPI projects, building APIs, implementing CRUD operations, setting up authentication/authorization, integrating databases (SQL/NoSQL), adding middleware, handling WebSockets, or deploying FastAPI applications. Triggered by requests involving .py files with FastAPI code, API endpoint creation, Pydantic models, or FastAPI-specific features.

232 15
Explore
aiskillstore/marketplace

context7-efficient

Token-efficient library documentation fetcher using Context7 MCP with 86.8% token savings through intelligent shell pipeline filtering. Fetches code examples, API references, and best practices for JavaScript, Python, Go, Rust, and other libraries. Use when users ask about library documentation, need code examples, want API usage patterns, are learning a new framework, need syntax reference, or troubleshooting with library-specific information. Triggers include questions like "Show me React hooks", "How do I use Prisma", "What's the Next.js routing syntax", or any request for library/framework documentation.

232 15
Explore
aiskillstore/marketplace

browser-use

Browser automation using Playwright MCP. Navigate websites, fill forms, click elements, take screenshots, and extract data. Use when tasks require web browsing, form submission, web scraping, UI testing, or any browser interaction.

232 15
Explore

Didn't find tool you were looking for?

Be as detailed as possible for better results