Design System Linter

Design System Linter is a powerful VSCode extension that helps you maintain consistency and adhere to your design system guidelines while coding. By providing visual cues and warning messages for correct token usage, this extension eliminates the need to constantly consult your design system documentation, thereby enhancing your productivity.

Demo

Features

Design System Selection

Design System Linter allows you to choose between built-in design systems or use a custom design system.

To change the design system:

1. Option 1: Open your VS Code Preferences and navigate to Extensions > Design System Linter > Design System. Once here, select the design system you would like to use.
2. Option 2: Manually update the designSystem option in your settings.json file. The available options are:

• "Default": The built-in default design system
• "IBM Carbon": The IBM Carbon Design System
• "Custom": Use a custom design system defined in your settings.json

Token Warnings

If a hex color is used that cannot be found in the default (or overridden) tokens, the following message will be displayed: "⛝ Unsupported. Best match: ${nearestToken}"

Getting Started

1. Installation: Install the Design System Linter extension from the VSCode marketplace.
2. Enable/Disable: The extension is enabled by default. To toggle its functionality, click the "Tokens" button in the status bar.
3. Configuration: Navigate to Preferences > Extensions > Design System Linter to select a design system or custom option.
4. Custom tokens: To use custom tokens, update the design-system-linter.customSpacingTokens and design-system-linter.customColorTokens options in your settings.json file.

Design System Selection and Custom Options

To use a different design system or define custom tokens, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to Preferences > Extensions > Design System Linter.
2. Under the "Design System" option, select one of the predefined design systems or choose "Custom".
3. If you selected "Custom", click "Edit in settings.json" next to the custom token options.
4. Define your custom tokens in the settings.json file using the following format:

  "design-system-linter.customSpacingTokens": [
    ["$spacing-1", 4],
    ["$spacing-2", 8],
    ["$spacing-3", 12],
    ["$spacing-4", 16],
    // ... other tokens
  ],
  "design-system-linter.customColorTokens": [
    ["$color-primary", "#1E90FF"],
    ["$color-secondary", "#FF7F50"],
    ["$color-success", "#32CD32"],
    ["$color-warning", "#FFA07A"],
    // ... other tokens
  ]

Granular Linting Controls

As of version 0.2.0, you can now enable or disable linting for spacing and colors independently. This allows for more flexible use of the extension, especially when working with custom design systems.

To configure these options:

1. Navigate to Preferences > Extensions > Design System Linter.
2. Toggle the "Enable Spacing Lint" and "Enable Color Lint" options to enable or disable linting for spacing and colors, respectively.

Alternatively, you can set these options in your settings.json file:

  "design-system-linter.enableSpacingLint": true,
  "design-system-linter.enableColorLint": true

Images

Spacing Tokens & Warnings

Color Tokens & Warnings

Default Tokens

Default Spacing Tokens

Default Color Tokens