# Designesy — /contracts/design-system Canonical page: https://www.designesy.org/contracts/design-system --- ## Designesy design system A reference format for AI-readable design contracts, version 0.4.5. design.md (Google Labs, 26k+ stars) is the input layer: tokens and prose an agent reads to generate UI. This contract is input *plus* verification: 44 checks (41 automated) that test whether the generated output passes. Acoustic cues, takt interface-feel, copywriting principles, anti-generic tells, and provenance tracking have no design.md equivalent. ## What this contract is A Designesy contract answers exact value, role, application, behavior, avoidance, and verification. It is public artifact discipline. It is not legal advice or a client service agreement. ## Beyond design.md: the verification layer Google Labs’ design.md (alpha, Apache-2.0, 26k+ stars) is a strong input format: YAML tokens + markdown prose that an agent reads to generate UI. Designesy extends that model with layers design.md does not carry. They are complementary: design.md is the brief; this contract is the brief and the proof. The gap design.md leaves open is the same gap every AI coding agent leaves open: **generation is not verification**. An agent can read a token file and still ship hardcoded hex, broken contrast, or the AI-default look. The 44-check engine closes that gap. Developers report that 42% of the code they commit is now AI-generated or assisted (Sonar, State of Code Developer Survey, January 2026), so the score is the compliance layer: it checks the shipped design against the rules the agent was given. ## Contents ## Token preview Core color roles from the live foundation. Full tables live on the contracts surface and in the machine export. ## Surfaces - [Human contract — The full published contract, every table on one page](https://www.designesy.org/contracts#design-system-contract) - [Machine export — This contract as JSON for agents and checkers](https://www.designesy.org/contracts/design-system.json) - [Agent skill — SKILL.md format for AI coding agents](https://www.designesy.org/contracts/skill) - [Open design intelligence — Package catalog · this contract is entry one](https://www.designesy.org/open) - [Lab One · Poise — Source lab · interaction rules adopted in v0.1.1](https://www.designesy.org/labs/poise) - [Lab Two · Takt — Source lab · interface-feel rules adopted in v0.1.2](https://www.designesy.org/labs/takt) - [Lab Three · Cadence — Source lab · typography rules adopted in v0.1.3](https://www.designesy.org/labs/cadence) - [Lab Four · Acoustics — Source lab · interaction-sound rules adopted in v0.3.0](https://www.designesy.org/labs/acoustics) - [Field check · Poise — Kit One review that supported adoption](https://www.designesy.org/review/poise) - [Field check · Takt — Kit One review that supported adoption](https://www.designesy.org/review/takt) - [Field check · Cadence — Kit One review that supported adoption](https://www.designesy.org/review/cadence) - [Field check · Acoustics — Kit One review of Lab Four](https://www.designesy.org/review/acoustics) - [Public review — Field check of designesy.org against this contract](https://www.designesy.org/review/designesy-org) - [Live verification — Score any URL against this contract: 44 checks, one grade](https://www.designesy.org/score) ## Poise adopted in v0.1.1 Lab One portable rules are contract material: wordmark breath, press settle, sound preference ownership, reduced motion, hover media discipline, and human public naming. Motion philosophy cross-referenced against Kowalski /emil-design-eng (Linear, ex-Vercel): frequency gate and unseen-details-compound principle. Spring physics and interruptibility cross-referenced against Kowalski /apple-design (Apple WWDC). Anti-over-animation Gate (Frequency, Purpose, Speed, Function) cross-referenced against Kowalski /find-animation-opportunities. Animation authoring (7-step build sequence and Never Ship table) cross-referenced against Kowalski /animate. Silence was not adoption; that version was the explicit order. ## Takt adopted in v0.1.2 Lab Two portable rules are contract material: concentric radii, press scale (0.96 for cells, 0.985 for cards), image outlines, hit area floor, stagger rhythm, no transition:all, and spare will-change. Rules compiled from external design intelligence (Amicro, Krehel /better-ui, /better-accessibility for hit area floors) and verified on live CSS. Silence was not adoption; this version is the explicit order. ## Cadence adopted in v0.1.3 Lab Three portable rules are contract material: font smoothing on root, rem-based scale, line-height by role, tracking by size, measure cap, text-wrap balance and pretty, tabular numbers, ::selection with --signal, user-select on UI chrome, and 16px input floor. Rules compiled from external typography intelligence (Krehel /better-typography, /better-layout for reading order and measure) and verified on live CSS. Three open tensions were documented at adoption: font-synthesis and underline-from-font have since closed, and logical properties stays open. Silence was not adoption; this version is the explicit order. ## Acoustics adopted in v0.3.0 Lab Four portable rules are contract material: ten named cue tokens (--cue:brand through --cue:contact), one primary cue family per role, opt-in sound with localStorage preference, fine-pointer hover discipline, no focus sounds, no ambient audio, silent fallback when Web Audio is blocked, and reduced-motion as an acoustic-reduction proxy. Engine: Cuelume v0.2.2 (MIT). Silence was not adoption; this version is the explicit order. ## Copywriting adopted in v0.4.0 UX copy principles from NN/g, Polaris, IBM Carbon, Microsoft Fluent, Apple HIG, and Atlassian. Gap source: [detail.design](https://detail.design) Copywriting discipline. 16 principles across button text, error messages, empty states, link text, general microcopy, and voice & tone. 4 codifiable principles are verification checks (v38 to v41); 12 are governance. Verb-first buttons, descriptive links, and one capitalization policy cross-referenced against Krehel /better-writing. Empty states, placeholder-as-example, and toggle ON-state labeling from Krehel /better-writing. Tooling: Vale, textlint, alex.