design-system

Also defines the canonical output format of design-system.md — the file the harness gates on — including its 4 hard requirements (the ## Design Reference heading, a real inspiration URL, at least one chroma-positive OKLCH token, and the hard-forbidden font exclusions).

This is routing step 1 of design-method/SKILL.md: read it before design-web, design-webapp, design-ios, or design-android, and before picking or auditing a single color/type/spacing value.

Design System — Token Core

Single source for token strategy — not values, values live in references/*.md and are read from there, never re-derived here. design-method/SKILL.md reads this file unconditionally as routing step 1, once per task, before dispatching to any move or target skill — that read is also what advances the harness past phase 0. If a design question is purely about a token (a color, a type pair, a spacing value) this file plus its reference index already answers it; otherwise continue back into design-method's routing.

Color strategy

• OKLCH only for new tokens: oklch(L% C H). Never hex/HSL/RGB for anything you're defining fresh (existing legacy tokens in an inherited codebase are a different problem — don't rewrite what wasn't asked for).
• Neutrals — tint every neutral toward the brand hue, chroma 0.005–0.015. Never a pure gray (chroma 0), never #000/#fff.
• Accent commitment — pick the strategy BEFORE picking hues:
  • Restrained — tinted neutrals + one accent ≤10% of surface. Product register default.
  • Committed — one saturated color carries 30–60% of surface. Brand register default.
  • Full palette (3–4 named roles) / Drenched (surface IS the color) — brand campaigns, product data-viz. See design-method/references/register/brand.md §4 and register/product.md §1 for which strategy each register defaults to and when to deviate.
• Reduce chroma as lightness approaches 0 or 100 — high chroma at the extremes reads garish.
• Mechanics: references/oklch-system.md. Concrete per-sector values: references/sector-palettes.md. Contrast floors: references/contrast-ratios.md — WCAG AA 4.5:1 body text / 3:1 large text + UI components (AAA 7:1 where feasible).

Typography scale

• Ratio ≥1.25 between steps (1.25 major-third is the default, 1.333 for editorial), 6–8 sizes max, ≤3 contrast variations per view.
• Line-height: body 1.5×, display 1.05–1.15×. Body measure 65–75ch.
• Validated pairs: references/typography-pairs.md. Forbidden/flagged fonts — canonical list, don't restate it anywhere else in this plugin: references/forbidden-fonts.md.

Spacing

• 8pt grid: 4 / 8 / 12 / 16 / 24 / 32 / 48 / 64 / 96.
• Density profile (Enterprise Dense / Standard / Editorial) chosen per register: references/spacing-density.md — product defaults dense, brand defaults editorial (see register/brand.md §4 and register/product.md §1).

Touch targets

iOS 44×44pt · Android 48×48dp · WCAG 2.5.8 minimum 24×24 CSS px regardless of platform.

The design-system.md output — canonical format

This is the generated file the harness gates on (gates-pipeline.ts triggers on any read path ending design-system.md; gates.ts validates its contents). Every requirement below is a present/absent check, not a suggestion — missing one fails the gate silently downstream, with no error surfaced at write time.

## Design Reference
Inspiration: https://example.com/the-actual-site-browsed-in-generate-step-2

### Colors
--color-accent: oklch(0.62 0.19 250);
--color-neutral-900: oklch(0.18 0.01 250);
... (full token set — chroma > 0 required on at least the accent token)

### Typography
--font-display: "Fraunces", ui-serif;
--font-body: "Public Sans", ui-sans-serif;
... (never the four hard-forbidden families below, whichever fonts are actually chosen)

The 4 hard requirements (all must hold):

1. Heading ## Design Reference present verbatim.
2. At least one https?:// URL — the real inspiration source browsed in design-web/references/design-inspiration.md step 2, not a placeholder.
3. At least one oklch(...) token with chroma > 0 — a chroma-0 neutral alone does not satisfy this; the accent (or any committed-strategy token) must carry chroma.
4. Must not contain Inter, Roboto, Arial, or Open Sans anywhere in the file — this is the harness-checked subset of the full 6-font hard-forbidden tier in references/forbidden-fonts.md (which also bans Lato/Poppins, not harness-checked but still enforced by this skill).

Check this list explicitly before writing design-system.md — don't rely on having "used OKLCH generally" earlier in the task; the gate reads the file, not the process.

Reference index (data lives here, read from source, never restated above)

Concern	File
OKLCH mechanics	references/oklch-system.md
Contrast ratios (WCAG)	references/contrast-ratios.md
Sector palettes (concrete OKLCH)	references/sector-palettes.md
Typography pairs	references/typography-pairs.md
Forbidden/flagged fonts (canonical)	references/forbidden-fonts.md
Spacing / density profiles	references/spacing-density.md
Identity brief questionnaire	references/identity-brief.md
Design Read + the 3 dials (VARIANCE/DENSITY/MOTION)	references/design-read-dials.md
Color-token mapping	references/color-mapping.md
Gradients	references/gradients-guide.md
Fluid typography	references/fluid-typography.md
Breakpoints	references/breakpoint-patterns.md
Container queries	references/container-queries.md
Multi-brand theming	references/multi-brand.md
Complex themes (dark mode etc.)	references/complex-themes.md
Motion personality	references/motion-personality.md
UI hierarchy / spacing rhythm	references/ui-hierarchy.md, references/ui-spacing.md
UI trends 2026	references/ui-trends-2026.md
Visual technique matrix	references/visual-technique-matrix.md
Edge cases (empty/error/loading)	references/edge-cases.md
Image handling	references/image-handling.md
Tailwind config / utilities / perf	references/tailwind-config.md, tailwind-utilities.md, tailwind-performance.md
Per-sector design-system.md templates	references/templates/*.md

Next

This read is design-method/SKILL.md routing step 1, not a standalone task — return there for Register resolution, Gate 0, and move dispatch. A pure token question is already answered by the sections above; everything else (page structure, moves, register floors) lives in design-method and the target-platform skills.