Why one set of tokens beats five component libraries

When every product ships its own buttons, the seams show. We replaced five drifting component libraries with one token foundation — and the surface area we maintain dropped by an order of magnitude.

A design system isn't a component library. It's the contract underneath one: the colours, spacing, type and motion that every component references instead of hardcoding.

Tokens are the single source of truth

Each colour ships as a solid value and a channel triple, so alpha tints stay themeable:

--primary:#ff6b4a;  --primary-rgb:255 107 74;
background:rgb(var(--primary-rgb) / .12);  /* soft fill */

Themes are just overrides

Scheme	Surface	Accent
Dark Knight	deep navy	teal
Désert Dunes	warm cream	coral

The best design system is the one your team forgets is there.

What we shipped

• One foundation, every product
• Composable kits
• A render harness that verifies both themes

The result: a homepage and an app that finally feel like the same product.