DESIGN.md is an open standard file format for describing visual identity and design systems in a way that AI agents can read and act on. The format combines human-readable reasoning (why colors and typography were chosen) with structured design tokens (actual hex values, font sizes) in a single file. A new specification has been published on GitHub establishing baseline rules while allowing extensions. Key additions include a token section that co-locates reasoning with values, a components section (work in progress) for referencing roles rather than hardcoded values, and a CLI tool that validates DESIGN.md files against the spec — including WCAG contrast ratio checks. The goal is to give any agent or tool a common ground for generating and consuming design systems consistently.
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