DocumentationAgent Resources, Design Systems
DESIGN.md Specification
Google Labs' open format for describing a visual identity to a coding agent.
What it is
DESIGN.md is a file format that gives a coding agent a persistent, structured understanding of a design system. It pairs machine-readable tokens in YAML front matter, covering colours, typography, radii and spacing, with markdown prose explaining why those values exist and how to apply them. The repository holds the specification, worked examples and a linter you can run with npx, which validates a file against the spec, catches broken token references and reports WCAG contrast ratios as JSON an agent can act on. Apache-2.0, published by Google Labs.
Why it’s here
This is the thing all the DESIGN.md catalogues and extractors are built on, and it's worth reading the spec before you use any of them. The insight is that tokens alone aren't enough: an agent given values but no reasoning still makes ugly choices, so the format makes you write down the why. The linter is the underrated part, because a design file that fails contrast is a bug you can catch before it ships.
Best for
- writing a DESIGN.md properly
- linting a design file
- giving an agent persistent design context
Can my agent use this?
Agent excellent agent friendlinessYes, completely. Point your agent at the repository so it reads the specification and the examples, then have it write a DESIGN.md for your project and check the result with the linter. Because the format is plain markdown with front matter, the finished file costs very little to keep in context and gives every later request the same reference to build against.
Excellent: Public docs, public source or an installable package. An agent can read, install and implement this directly.
Access methods
- GitHub
- Docs
- npm
- CLI
- Copy/paste
Install
npx @google/design.md lint DESIGN.mdRelated resources
getdesign.md 
getdesign.md
A 550-strong catalogue of DESIGN.md files, following Google's spec.
CollectionOpen sourceexcellent agent friendlinessStaff pickdesignmd.supply 
designmd.supply
Pre-generated DESIGN.md style guides for the world's best-known brands, MIT licensed.
CollectionFreeOpen sourceexcellent agent friendlinessRefero Styles 
Refero Styles
DESIGN.md files extracted from 2,000+ real product websites, written for agents.
Collectionexcellent agent friendlinessDesignMD 
DesignMD
Point it at a URL and it extracts that site's design system as a DESIGN.md.
Toolexcellent agent friendliness