What your components look like as data
Why every layer name, variant, and token reference is an architectural decision
Design systems34
The prompt you never wrote
How your design system vocabulary becomes AI context
The design system just became middleware
The gap between what your system says and what it does used to be a minor annoyance. Now it's a structural fault.
Building for coherence, not compliance
Lessons from Baldurs Gate 3 on contracts, governance, and judgment at the edges
What I stole from API documentation
Patterns from Stripe, GitHub, and Twilio that fixed my component architecture
AI doesn't need your design system to be perfect. It needs it to be honest.
Why documenting your mess matters more than fixing it
Your job is on a spreadsheet somewhere
Defending design system work when budgets contract
Your design system has opinions. They're just not being enforced
Why validation is the missing layer between documentation and adoption
Stop policing your design system
Measure health, not compliance