Foundation

Token change path

Who may write

RequiredOperating model
ContractToken change path
Job
Who may write
Requirement
must specify
States / rules
Runtime store may write; mirrors may not lead
Specified means
CSS first, then spec, then Figma
Hardest context
Make re-export as token update
Example

Git PR

Counter-example

Figma variables leading

Shared guidance

Building Blocks role

Building Blocks can provide semantic guidance, examples, and reusable hooks.

Product obligation

The product still maps roles to its own theme and documents exceptions.

How this lives in Building Blocks

Representation: Operating / governance contract.

Building Blocks should provide the operating rule, review path, and source-of-truth guidance. A consuming product still records its product-specific answer and does not treat central governance as operational unless it actually exists.

Treat token change as an authority path, not a styling preference.

Runtime source

The implementation source that the browser actually consumes leads.

Git review

Token changes follow the same reviewability as product code.

Spec mirror

The written product spec reflects the runtime decision; it does not secretly lead it.

Figma mirror

Design-tool variables mirror implemented semantics and can surface drift.

Export/update

Re-export is treated as a token update with provenance, not as a new source of truth.

Exercise these contexts
  • Make re-export as token update
  • Conflicting Figma/runtime values
  • Theme change that touches semantic rather than primitive contracts

Do not specify the easy case only.

The source checklist’s hardest-context test is part of what “specified” means: Make re-export as token update.

On-spec signal

Git PR

Failure signal

Figma variables leading

Catalog connection

The product-local Catalog should show this row’s actual state for that product using the Catalog contract. Building Blocks documentation can define the baseline, but it does not make a product’s row Specified, Designed, or In code by itself.

See the Catalog contract →