Interface guidance applies the foundations to working software. Where a component appears here, its measurements are normative — a 40px input is 40px, not “about 40px”.
This is the multi-page printable view of this section. Click here to print.
Interface
- 1: Components
- 2: Dark mode
- 3: Code
- 4: Icons
- 5: Forms
1 - Components
Every specimen on this page is live markup styled by the brand tokens, ported
from brand/html/projectious-kitchen-sink.html. They follow your colour mode —
switch the theme and they change with the documentation.
Measurements listed here are normative: a 40px input is 40px.
Buttons
Five variants, three sizes. Plus Jakarta Sans 600, 6px radius, 200ms transitions.
| Variant | Fill | Border | Text | Contrast | Use |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary | midnight-9 | none | white | 12.75:1 | Default action |
| Accent | accent-solid #cc4528 | none | white | 4.72:1 | The single most important action |
| Outline | transparent | 1.5px orange-9 | orange-11 | 5.13:1 | Secondary action |
| Ghost | transparent | 1px border | slate-9 | — | Tertiary, toolbars |
| Danger | #a8261c | none | white | 7.10:1 | Destructive action |
orange-9 (#E05232) is the identity accent and is unchanged as a mark,
border, active state, or syntax colour. But white on it measures 3.87:1 —
below the 4.5:1 floor for 13–14px labels. Solid accent controls therefore fill
with --color-accent-solid (#cc4528), white at 4.72:1; hover
continues to accent-dark (#b84228, 5.46:1).
Use exactly one accent button per view. Give every button a verb — “Deploy”, “Save changes”.
Place two accent buttons side by side, or use a danger button for a reversible action.
Inputs
Default height 40px (sm 32, lg 48). Source Sans 3 at 13px, slate-7 border,
and a 2px focus ring at midnight 15% alpha.
Full rules — labels, validation, focus — are on Forms.
Cards
Radius 9px, padding 24px, 1px slate-4 border, shadow-1 at rest. Nested
controls step down one radius.
Tables
Header cells use the overline style. Striping uses the subtle background step, never a border-only rule. Wide tables scroll inside their own container.
| Pipeline | Policy | Agents | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| validate-deploy | strict | 2 | Healthy |
| nightly-audit | advisory | 1 | Degraded |
| release-train | strict | 4 | Blocked |
Table with search and filters
A toolbar above the table carries the search field and filter chips. Active filters are shown as removable chips so the current view is always legible — never leave a filter applied with no visible indication.
| Pipeline | Policy | Owner | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| release-train | strict | platform | Blocked |
| nightly-audit | strict | security | Failed |
Multi-level headers
Grouped columns use a two-row header. The group row is centred over its span and separated by a vertical rule — the only place the system uses one.
| Pipeline | This week | Last week | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runs | Pass | p95 | Runs | Pass | p95 | |
| validate-deploy | 412 | 98.1% | 4m12s | 388 | 97.4% | 4m40s |
| nightly-audit | 7 | 71.4% | 18m03s | 7 | 85.7% | 17m22s |
| release-train | 14 | 92.9% | 9m51s | 12 | 91.7% | 10m08s |
Grouped rows and totals
Row groups act as sub-headings inside the table. A totals row is separated by a 2px rule — heavier than the body rules, so it reads as a summary rather than another record.
| Workload | Runs | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Platform | ||
| validate-deploy | 412 | €48.10 |
| release-train | 14 | €12.60 |
| Security | ||
| nightly-audit | 7 | €21.40 |
| secret-scan | 96 | €9.05 |
| Total | 529 | €91.15 |
Wide tables
A wide table scrolls inside its own container, never the page, and pins its first column so the row identity stays visible while scrolling.
| Pipeline | Policy | Owner | Runs | Pass | p50 | p95 | Region | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| validate-deploy | strict | platform | 412 | 98.1% | 2m01s | 4m12s | eu-central | Healthy |
| nightly-audit | strict | security | 7 | 71.4% | 11m40s | 18m03s | eu-west | Degraded |
Right-align numeric columns and set them in IBM Plex Mono so digits line up. Show the active filter state and the result count together.
Add vertical rules between ordinary columns, let a wide table scroll the whole page, or apply a filter without a visible chip saying so.
Navigation
Alerts and feedback
Four semantic colours as a 4px left border on a tinted background. The hues are mode-specific — see Colour.
Success, warning, and danger carry meaning. Do not use them to add visual variety to neutral content.
Modals and overlays
Modal radius 13px with shadow-3; scrim is midnight at 40% alpha. Focus is
trapped while open and restored to the trigger on close; Esc always closes.
Data display
Pair every status dot with a text label, so meaning does not depend on colour perception.
Use a bare coloured dot, or rely on red/green alone to distinguish states.
Code and terminal
The code surface is always dark — see Code.
Plan: 3 to add, 0 to change, 0 to destroy.
✓ Policy check passed
● Deploying to staging…
2 - Dark mode
Dark mode is not a variant of the brand — it is half of it. Both modes are designed, tested, and shipped together.
Implementation rules
- Default follows
prefers-color-scheme, with a manual override toggle persisted tolocalStorage. - CSS custom properties swap per theme. Components read tokens; they do not branch on the mode themselves.
- Step 9 (solid accent) stays constant across modes.
#E05232is#E05232everywhere. - No pure
#000or#fffas text. Use step 12 —#c5daf0on dark,#142438on light. - Images get a subtle overlay (black at low alpha) in dark mode, so a bright photograph does not punch a hole in a dark page.
- Code blocks are always dark, regardless of mode. See Code.
Surfaces
Elevation in dark mode is expressed by lightening the surface, not by deepening the shadow — a shadow against a near-black background is invisible.
| Layer | Light | Dark |
|---|---|---|
| App background | #ffffff | midnight-dark-1 #0e1720 |
| Subtle surface | midnight-1 | midnight-dark-2 #131e2b |
| Raised surface | midnight-2 | midnight-dark-3 #1a2b3e |
Restating text on dark surfaces
The default heading colour is midnight-9, chosen so headings read correctly on
light pages. That same value on a midnight surface is invisible — #1d3352 on
#1d3352 is a contrast ratio of 1.00:1.
Any component that paints its own dark background must therefore restate its text colours. This applies to covers, dark boxes, footers, and overlays:
.surface--dark {
--bs-body-color: #c5daf0; // midnight-dark-12
--bs-heading-color: #c5daf0;
--bs-secondary-color: #97a8b8; // slate-dark-11, still AA
}
Test every surface in both modes. Restate text colours on any component that sets its own dark background.
Ship a component that only works in one mode, or use pure black or white as a text colour in either.
3 - Code
Code blocks are always dark
Code blocks stay dark regardless of colour mode. A code surface that flips
with the theme forces the syntax palette to be designed twice and makes
screenshots inconsistent between users. The surface is midnight-2 from the
dark scale (#131e2b) in both light and dark mode.
The block you are reading is rendered by that rule:
// Agent pipeline definition
const pipeline = createPipeline({
name: "validate-deploy",
policy: "strict",
agents: ["auditor", "deployer"],
});
Syntax theme
Because the surface is always dark, every syntax value is read from the dark
scale. Contrast is measured against #131e2b.
Ten roles, not twenty-two tokens
Editors do not describe code with six token types. The Language Server Protocol defines 22 semantic token types and 10 modifiers, and TextMate grammars — the model behind VS Code, Sublime Text, and most highlighters — define 11 root scopes with a deep sub-scope tree under each.
A theme should not answer that with twenty-two colours. Past roughly nine, hue stops being a signal: everything is coloured, so nothing is marked. The two scope vocabularies are therefore grouped into ten roles, and the modifiers are carried by weight and slant rather than by more hue.
Every role is an existing brand or terminal value. The expansion introduced no new colour — the terminal palette had already added the two hues, cyan and magenta, that a syntax theme needs and the three interface scales do not have.
| Role | On surface | LSP semantic token | TextMate scope |
|---|---|---|---|
Plain and variables#c5daf0 midnight-dark-12The default. Anything the reader does not need to pick out. | 11.74:1 | variable · parameter · property · enumMember | variable · variable.parameter · variable.other.n .nv .nx .py .vc .vg .vi |
Keywords and modifiers#d491b4 terminal magenta (bright)Also structural keys — a YAML key is the keyword of its line. | 6.82:1 | keyword · modifier | keyword.control · storage.modifier · storage.type.k .kc .kd .kn .kp .kr .nt .na |
Types and classes#6cc090 terminal green (bright)Green, not cyan, because types are referenced on nearly every line of typed code and the most frequent role should hold the best-separated hue — 29.9 ΔE2000 from plain text, against cyan's 17.3. | 7.67:1 | type · class · struct · interface · enum · typeParameter · namespace | entity.name.type · entity.name.class · support.class.kt .nc .nn .ne .bp |
Functions and methods#e0a92a terminal yellow (bright)Callables read as callable at a glance — the single most useful distinction beyond the original six. | 7.91:1 | function · method | entity.name.function · support.function.nf .fm |
Decorators and macros#74c0c9 terminal cyan (bright)Cyan sits closer to plain text than green does, which is affordable here because decorators are rare. Code that runs at a different time from the code around it — including C preprocessor directives and Rust attributes, which Chroma files under Comment.Preproc but which are macros, not commentary. | 8.11:1 | macro · decorator · event | entity.name.tag · meta.decorator · support.macro.nd .ni .nl .cp .cpf |
Strings#ea7558 orange-dark-10Interpolation delimiters take the operator colour, so the expression inside stays readable as code. | 5.76:1 | string | string.quoted · string.interpolated · string.regexp.s .s1 .s2 .sa .sb .sc .se .sh .si .sr .ss .sx .dl |
Numbers and constants#f09878 orange-dark-11Literal values, including true/false/nil. | 7.58:1 | number · regexp | constant.numeric · constant.language · constant.character.m .mb .mf .mh .mi .mo .il .no |
Operators and punctuation#97a8b8 slate-dark-11Present but recessive — structure you read past, not at. | 6.90:1 | operator | keyword.operator · punctuation.o .ow .p |
Comments#72889d code-commentItalic. The only role with no scale step of its own. Documentation comments belong here even though Chroma files them under String.Doc — a docstring is documentation, not data. | 4.59:1 | comment | comment.line · comment.block · comment.block.documentation.c .ch .cm .c1 .cs .sd |
Invalid and deprecated#e55b5b terminal red (normal)Deprecated is struck through as well as coloured — the state does not depend on hue. | 4.79:1 | (modifier) deprecated | invalid.illegal · invalid.deprecated.err |
Modifiers are not colours
LSP modifiers combine with any token type: ten modifiers against ten roles is a hundred states. Hue cannot carry that, so it does not try.
| LSP modifier | Treatment | Why |
|---|---|---|
| declaration · definition | Weight 500 | Where a name is introduced, distinguished from where it is used. |
| deprecated | Line-through | A state, not a category — it must survive greyscale. |
| documentation | Italic, comment colour | Doc comments are comments; they are not a separate hue. |
| readonly · static · abstract · async · defaultLibrary | No distinct colour | Ten modifiers times ten roles is a hundred combinations. Colour cannot carry that, and a theme that tries becomes unreadable. |
deprecated is a state, not a category. It is struck through as well as
recoloured, so a reader who cannot separate the red from the plain text still
sees that the symbol should not be used.
Why comments have a dedicated token
Comments are the one syntax role with no scale step available to it. Steps 8–10 are border and solid-surface roles and are not held to text thresholds; step 11 is already spoken for by operators.
So code-comment (#72889d, 4.59:1) exists as a dedicated syntax token —
the dimmest value that clears AA while staying visibly below operators. It is
not a scale step and should not be treated as one.
Group scopes into roles, and let a language’s grammar map onto them. Keep the role count under ten, and check every value against the code surface.
Give each LSP token type its own hue, or use the accent as a syntax colour — it marks the primary action, and a code block is not one.
Worked examples
Each block below is a real, compilable-shaped fragment chosen to exercise as many of the ten roles as its language has. The coverage table after them records which roles each language actually reaches — several cannot reach all ten, and that is a property of the language, not a gap in the theme.
C
/* Ring buffer — fixed capacity, no allocation after init. */
#include <stdint.h>
#define RING_CAP 256 // macro: a decorator-role token
typedef enum { RING_OK = 0, RING_FULL = 1 } ring_status_t;
typedef struct {
uint8_t data[RING_CAP];
size_t head, tail;
_Bool wrapped;
} ring_t;
static inline size_t ring_len(const ring_t *r) {
return (r->head - r->tail) & (RING_CAP - 1);
}
static const char *RING_TAG = "ring\n"; // string literal
ring_status_t ring_push(ring_t *restrict r, uint8_t byte) {
// Reject when one slot short of capacity, so head never meets tail.
if (ring_len(r) == RING_CAP - 1) return RING_FULL;
r->data[r->head++ & (RING_CAP - 1)] = byte;
return RING_OK;
}
C++
// Policy-based cache. Types, templates, and a lambda.
#include <string>
#include <unordered_map>
namespace projectious::cache {
template <typename Key, typename Value>
class LruCache final {
public:
explicit LruCache(std::size_t capacity) noexcept : capacity_{capacity} {}
[[nodiscard]] auto get(const Key& key) const -> const Value* {
const auto it = entries_.find(key);
return it == entries_.end() ? nullptr : &it->second;
}
void put(Key key, Value value) {
static constexpr auto kTag = "lru"; // string literal
// Evict before insert so size never exceeds the capacity.
if (entries_.size() >= capacity_) evict();
entries_.emplace(std::move(key), std::move(value));
}
private:
void evict() noexcept { /* … */ }
std::size_t capacity_{0};
std::unordered_map<Key, Value> entries_{};
};
} // namespace projectious::cache
Python
"""Pipeline stages and their policy gates."""
from __future__ import annotations
import functools
from dataclasses import dataclass, field
from typing import Final, Iterable
# Retry budget is a policy decision, not a tuning knob.
MAX_RETRIES: Final[int] = 3
DEFAULT_POLICY = "strict"
@dataclass(frozen=True, slots=True)
class Stage:
"""A single stage. Immutable once constructed."""
name: str
policy: str = DEFAULT_POLICY
retries: int = 0
tags: list[str] = field(default_factory=list)
@property
def is_strict(self) -> bool:
return self.policy == "strict"
@staticmethod
def parse(raw: str) -> "Stage":
name, _, policy = raw.partition(":")
return Stage(name=name.strip(), policy=policy or DEFAULT_POLICY)
@functools.lru_cache(maxsize=None)
def validate(stages: Iterable[Stage]) -> bool:
for stage in stages:
if stage.retries > MAX_RETRIES:
raise ValueError(f"{stage.name!r} exceeds {MAX_RETRIES} retries")
return True
Rust
//! Policy evaluation for pipeline stages.
use std::collections::HashMap;
use std::fmt::{self, Display};
const MAX_RETRIES: u32 = 3;
/// How strictly a stage is evaluated.
#[derive(Debug, Clone, Copy, PartialEq, Eq)]
pub enum Policy {
Strict,
Advisory,
}
#[derive(Debug, Default)]
pub struct Stage<'a> {
pub name: &'a str,
pub policy: Option<Policy>,
pub retries: u32,
}
impl<'a> Stage<'a> {
// Strict by default: a gate that is not configured should fail closed.
pub fn new(name: &'a str) -> Self {
Self { name, policy: Some(Policy::Strict), retries: 0 }
}
pub fn validate(&self) -> Result<(), String> {
if self.retries > MAX_RETRIES {
return Err(format!("{} exceeds {MAX_RETRIES} retries", self.name));
}
Ok(())
}
}
impl Display for Policy {
fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> fmt::Result {
write!(f, "{}", match self { Policy::Strict => "strict", _ => "advisory" })
}
}
Go
// Package pipeline evaluates stages against their policy gates.
package pipeline
import (
"errors"
"fmt"
)
const MaxRetries = 3
// Policy is how strictly a stage is evaluated.
type Policy int
const (
Strict Policy = iota
Advisory
)
var ErrTooManyRetries = errors.New("stage exceeds retry budget")
type Stage struct {
Name string `json:"name"`
Policy Policy `json:"policy"`
Retries int `json:"retries,omitempty"`
}
func (s *Stage) Validate() error {
if s.Retries > MaxRetries {
return fmt.Errorf("%q: %w", s.Name, ErrTooManyRetries)
}
return nil
}
func ValidateAll(stages []Stage) (ok bool, err error) {
for i := range stages {
if err = stages[i].Validate(); err != nil {
return false, err
}
}
return true, nil
}
Java
package work.projectious.pipeline;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Objects;
/** A single pipeline stage and its policy gate. */
public final class Stage implements Comparable<Stage> {
public static final int MAX_RETRIES = 3;
public static final long TIMEOUT_MS = 30_000L;
public static final int MASK = 0xFF;
private final String name;
private final Policy policy;
private int retries = 0;
private double budget = 12.60;
public Stage(String name, Policy policy) {
this.name = Objects.requireNonNull(name, "name");
this.policy = policy;
}
@Override
public int compareTo(Stage other) {
return this.name.compareTo(other.name);
}
@Deprecated(since = "2.0", forRemoval = true)
public boolean isStrict() {
return policy == Policy.STRICT;
}
public void validate(List<String> errors) throws IllegalStateException {
if (retries > MAX_RETRIES) {
throw new IllegalStateException("%s exceeds %d retries".formatted(name, MAX_RETRIES));
}
}
public enum Policy { STRICT, ADVISORY }
}
Assembly (NASM)
; Sum a byte array. rdi = pointer, rsi = length, returns in rax.
section .data
msg: db "sum: ", 0
LEN equ 5
section .text
global sum_bytes
sum_bytes:
xor rax, rax ; accumulator
test rsi, rsi
jz .done ; empty input
.loop:
movzx rdx, byte [rdi]
add rax, rdx
inc rdi
dec rsi
jnz .loop
.done:
ret
Bash
#!/usr/bin/env bash
# Validate a pipeline definition and promote it when the gates pass.
set -euo pipefail
readonly MAX_RETRIES=3
readonly POLICY="${PIPELINE_POLICY:-strict}"
declare -A GATE_STATUS=()
log() { printf '%s %s\n' "$(date -u +%FT%TZ)" "$*" >&2; }
validate_stage() {
local -r name="$1" retries="${2:-0}"
if (( retries > MAX_RETRIES )); then
log "ERROR ${name} exceeds ${MAX_RETRIES} retries"
return 1
fi
GATE_STATUS["$name"]="ok"
}
main() {
local -a stages=("validate" "deploy")
for stage in "${stages[@]}"; do
validate_stage "$stage" 0 || exit 1
done
log "policy=${POLICY} stages=${#stages[@]}"
}
main "$@"
LaTeX
\documentclass[11pt,a4paper]{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{amsmath}
% Pipeline notation used throughout the paper.
\newcommand{\stage}[2]{\ensuremath{#1 \xrightarrow{#2}}}
\title{Policy Gates in Composable Pipelines}
\author{Jane Doe}
\begin{document}
\maketitle
\section{Definitions}
A stage $s_i$ passes when its retry count $r_i \leq 3$:
\begin{equation}
\forall s_i \in S : r_i \leq R_{\max}, \quad R_{\max} = 3
\end{equation}
\begin{itemize}
\item \textbf{Strict} — the gate fails closed.
\item \emph{Advisory} — the gate records and continues.
\end{itemize}
\end{document}
Markdown
---
title: Stage reference
weight: 10
---
# Stage reference
A stage passes when its retry count stays at or below **three**. See the
[policy guide](../policy/) for the full rules.
## Fields
| Field | Type | Default |
|---|---|---|
| `name` | string | — |
| `policy` | enum | `strict` |
> Advisory gates record a failure and continue. Strict gates fail closed.
1. Validate the configuration
2. Request promotion
3. Deploy
```sh
pipeline validate --policy strict
```
<!-- Deprecated: `--legacy-gate` is removed in 2.0. -->
JSON
{
"$schema": "https://projectious.work/schema/pipeline-2.json",
"name": "validate-deploy",
"policy": "strict",
"retries": 3,
"enabled": true,
"owner": null,
"budget": 12.6,
"stages": [
{ "name": "validate", "gate": "strict", "timeoutSeconds": 120 },
{ "name": "deploy", "gate": "advisory", "timeoutSeconds": 600 }
],
"tags": ["platform", "eu-central"]
}
YAML
# Pipeline definition — one policy gate per stage.
apiVersion: projectious.work/v2
kind: Pipeline
metadata:
name: validate-deploy
labels: { team: platform, region: eu-central }
defaults: &defaults
policy: strict
retries: 3
enabled: true
spec:
<<: *defaults
budget: 12.60
owner: ~
stages:
- name: validate
timeoutSeconds: 120
- name: deploy
policy: advisory
timeoutSeconds: 600
owner: "platform@projectious.work"
schema: 'https://projectious.work/schema/pipeline-2.json'
notes: |
Advisory gates record and continue.
Strict gates fail closed.
TOML
# Pipeline definition — one policy gate per stage.
schema = "https://projectious.work/schema/pipeline-2.json"
[pipeline]
name = "validate-deploy"
policy = "strict"
retries = 3
enabled = true
budget = 12.60
created = 2026-08-02T09:00:00Z
tags = ["platform", "eu-central"]
[[pipeline.stage]]
name = "validate"
gate = "strict"
timeoutSeconds = 120
[[pipeline.stage]]
name = "deploy"
gate = "advisory"
timeoutSeconds = 600
What each language reaches
The table is measured from the rendered page, not asserted: every block above is
parsed and its emitted token classes are mapped back to the roles. ● means the
role appears in that example.
| Language | Plain | Keyword | Type | Function | Macro | String | Number | Operator | Comment | Reached |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 9/9 |
| C++ | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 9/9 |
| Python | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 9/9 |
| Rust | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 9/9 |
| Go | ● | ● | ● | ● | · | ● | ● | ● | ● | 8/9 |
| Java | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | · | ● | ● | 8/9 |
| Bash | ● | ● | · | · | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 7/9 |
| Assembly (NASM) | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 9/9 |
| LaTeX | ● | ● | · | · | · | ● | ● | · | ● | 5/9 |
| Markdown | · | ● | ● | · | · | ● | ● | ● | ● | 6/9 |
| JSON | · | ● | · | · | · | ● | ● | ● | · | 4/9 |
| YAML | · | ● | · | · | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 6/9 |
| TOML | ● | ● | · | · | · | ● | ● | ● | ● | 6/9 |
Nine roles rather than ten, because invalid only appears when a grammar actually fails to parse — a correct example cannot demonstrate it.
Where a language falls short, the reason is the language or the lexer:
- Bash — no type system, and Chroma’s shell lexer does not mark function definitions.
- Go — Go has no macro or annotation construct; its struct tags are strings.
- Java — Chroma’s Java lexer emits a plain name for every numeric literal, so numbers cannot be separated. A lexer limitation, not a palette one.
- LaTeX — No type, callable or operator concept in the grammar — commands are keywords.
- Markdown — Prose, not code: there is nothing to name, call, or annotate.
- JSON — By design: no comments, no identifiers, no callables. Keys take the keyword role.
- YAML — Anchors and merge keys take the macro role; there are no callables or types.
- TOML — Table headers take the plain role; there are no callables or types.
Chroma files C preprocessor directives and Rust attributes under
Comment.Preproc, which would colour #define and #[derive(…)] as
commentary. They are macros — the LSP says so — and are coloured as macros here.
It also files documentation comments under String.Doc, which would colour a
Rust /// line and a Python docstring as data. Both are documentation, and take
the comment role.
Inline code
Inline code does not take the dark block treatment — it follows the
surrounding surface. On light surfaces it sits on midnight-2 (light scale)
with orange-11 text; in dark mode both values shift to their dark-scale
counterparts. It uses IBM Plex Mono at 13px with a 3px radius.
Terminal output
Terminal blocks use the same dark surface. Prompts take the comment colour, output takes the operator colour, so a transcript stays readable without becoming a second syntax theme.
$ hugo --gc --minify
Start building sites …
Total in 842 ms
4 - Icons
Library
The system uses Lucide — an actively maintained fork of Feather with over 1,400 icons.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Licence | ISC (functionally equivalent to MIT) |
| Commercial use | Permitted |
| Attribution | Not required in product UI; retain the notice in source |
| Modification | Permitted |
ISC is one of the most permissive open-source licences available, which is why it was chosen over icon sets with attribution or share-alike terms. See the legal assessment for the clearance detail.
Usage
- Stroke width 2, matching Lucide’s default. Do not thin or thicken strokes to “match” a layout.
- Size on the 4px grid: 16, 20, 24, 32px. 20px is the default for inline UI.
- Colour follows text. An icon beside a label takes the label’s colour.
Standalone icons carrying meaning take
--color-secondary; an icon marking the primary action takes the accent. - Icons are not decoration. Every icon must carry meaning the label does not
already carry, or be marked
aria-hidden="true".
Pair icons with text labels wherever the meaning is not universally understood. Give standalone icon buttons an accessible name.
Mix icon sets, recolour icons to arbitrary hues, or use an icon as the only indicator of state.
5 - Forms
Sizing
| Size | Height |
|---|---|
| sm | 32px |
| md | 40px — the default |
| lg | 48px |
All inputs are set in Source Sans 3 at 13px.
States
| State | Treatment |
|---|---|
| Default | slate-7 border |
| Focus | midnight-9 border + 2px focus ring, midnight at 15% alpha, 2px offset |
| Error | orange-9 border + orange-1 background |
| Disabled | slate-4 background, slate-8 text, cursor: not-allowed |
Labels
Labels use the overline style and sit above the field. Floating labels are not used anywhere in the system — they hide the label at exactly the moment the user is filling the field, and they break at long label lengths.
.field__label {
font-size: 11px;
font-weight: 600;
line-height: 1.3;
text-transform: uppercase;
letter-spacing: 0.08em;
color: var(--color-secondary);
}
Validation
- Error text sits below the field, in
orange-11on light surfaces. - Never rely on border colour alone to signal an error — pair it with text.
- Validate on blur, not on every keystroke; re-validate on submit.
Keep labels visible at all times. Give every field an associated <label> and
describe errors in words.
Use placeholder text as a label, signal errors with colour alone, or disable the submit button without explaining what is missing.