Definition

Collecting the design data

From this point on, you can synchronize your source(s) with Specify anytime, at a click of a button.

Repository with many sources

Data from many sources get automatically merged into a consolidated SDTF token tree. If Specify detects a conflict over sources, it will refuse to synchronize the first source that cause the conflict and turn it into an error state.

Introduction

In this guide you’ll learn how to pull your first design tokens to CSS Custom Properties using the Specify CLI.

Before getting started

To get the most out of this guide, you’ll need:

• A Specify account

1. Install the CLI

Install @specifyapp/cli

curl -sL https://static.specifyapp.com/cli/install.sh | sh

2. Create your Specify config file

3. Add your Specify repository

Add your Specify repository and workspace from which you want to pull your design tokens. You can find your workspace name and repository name in the URL of the app when inside a repository.

module.exports = {
  version: "2",
  repository: '@workspace/repository',
  personalAccessToken: '<your-personal-access-token>',
  rules: [],
};

{
  "version": "2",
  "repository": "@workspace/repository",
  "personalAccessToken": "<your-personal-access-token>",
  "rules": []
}

4. Add your personal access token

module.exports = {
  version: "2",
  repository: '@workspace/repository',
  personalAccessToken: '<your-personal-access-token>',
  rules: [],
};

{
  "version": "2",
  "repository": "@workspace/repository",
  "personalAccessToken": "<your-personal-access-token>",
  "rules": []
}

5. Set your output format

module.exports = {
  version: "2",
  repository: '@workspace/repository',
  personalAccessToken: '<your-personal-access-token>',
  rules: [
    {
      name: "Generate tokens as CSS Custom Properties",
      parsers: [
        {
          name: "to-css-custom-properties",
          output: {
            type: "file",
            filePath: "tokens.css"
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
};

{
  "version": "2",
  "repository": "@organization/repository",
  "personalAccessToken": "<your-personal-access-token>",
  "rules": [
    {
      "name": "Generate tokens as CSS Custom Properties",
      "parsers": [
        {
          "name": "to-css-custom-properties",
          "output": {
            "type": "file",
            "filePath": "tokens.css"
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

6. Pull your design tokens and assets

Our configuration is ready and we can now pull our design tokens and assets using the pull command.

specify pull

Specify is a central and tool-agnostic platform. It means you can integrate your daily tools to collect, store and distribute your design data to the right teams, in the right format, at the right time. To sum things up, see Specify as the synchronization layer for your design data at the heart of your design system.

• Teams can benefit from a single source of truth and a continuous delivery system that ensures brand consistency.

In short, you have more time to focus on what matters most: your products and your end-users.

Before getting started

To get the most out of this guide, you will need:

• A Specify Account

• A Figma file containing Variables and/or Styles

1. Sync your Figma Variables and Styles with a Specify Repository

• Access your Figma file which includes the Variables and/or Styles you would like to sync to Specify

2. Connect your Specify account

2. Click "Connect"

3. Choose Advanced Repository

3. Create a repository in Specify

1. Go to your Specify workspace

2. Click on "Create repository"

3. Choose a name

5. Click "Create repository"

4. Connect the Specify Repository in your Widget

1. Go back to your Figma file that includes the Variables and/or Styles

2. Click on "Create Source" in the Specify Widget

3. It will show you the local collections and styles that are detected

5. Select the Specify repository you want to sync with. You should be able to see the Repository you have just created in Specify (if not, reload the list).

6. Click "Save to Specify"

7. You will immediately see the repository listed with the latest syncing time

5. Sync updates variables and styles on the fly

6. Check or delete your source inside the Specify interface

• You will see the category of design tokens that are synced on the left-hand side

• In the Sources section (left-hand menu), you will see your connection(s) and when the last sync between your Figma file and Specify repository has occurred.

• Delete your source by clicking on the 3 dots option menu in the source card.

Before getting started

To get the most out of this guide, you will need:

Specify automatically fetches design tokens through the JSON file created by Tokens Studio. The best way to keep your design tokens in sync with both tools is to host your JSON file in a repository like GitHub.

1. Sync your design tokens from Tokens Studio to a provider

1. Head to your Tokens Studio plugin in Figma

2. Within the settings tab, add a new sync provider

3. Commit your Tokens Studio JSON file to your repository

2. Add your JSON file from a provider to your Specify Repository

1. Go to your Specify workspace

2. Click on "Create repository"

3. Choose "Advanced Repository"

4. Name your repository

6. Click on "Create repository"

7. In the "Source" tab, click on "Create a source"

8. Select "Remote URL"

At this point, you have two ways to sync your JSON file. Either with a public hosting link or a private one. We will go through both options below.

From a public URL

1. In the "Source" tab, click on "Create a source"

2. Select "Remote URL"

3. Select "Public"

4. Name your source

5. Paste your raw public URL of your JSON file

6. Select the format "Tokens Studio"

7. Let Specify check the connection

8. And voila!

Your JSON file is now detected as a source and your design tokens appear within your repository.

From a private URL

On the opposite of the public URL, Specify will ask you for some additional information so its system is able to fetch your file. Let’s see how to proceed with the main versioning tools:

GitHub

Requirements:

• Have a GitHub account

• Have an Advanced Repository created

• Have a JSON file containing design tokens from Tokens Studio

To add a private URL source from GitHub to Specify:

1. In the "Source" tab of your Specify repository, click on "Create a source"

2. Select "Remote URL"

3. Select "Private"

4. Name your source

7. Select "Tokens Studio Format"

8. Specify will test your JSON

9. And voila!

Azure DevOps

Requirements:

• Have an Azure DevOps account

• Have a Project containing a repository

• Have a JSON file containing design tokens from Tokens Studio

To add a private URL source from Azure DevOps to Specify:

1. In the "Source" tab of your Specify repository, click on "Create a source"

2. Select "Remote URL"

3. Select "Private"

4. Name your source

5. Paste your Azure DevOps file URL such as https://dev.azure.com/{OrgName}/{ProjectName}/_apis/git/repositories/{RepositoryName}/items?path={FilePath}&api-version=7.0&includeContent=true
7. Select "Tokens Studio Format"

8. Specify will test your JSON

9. And voila!

GitLab

Requirements:

• Have a GitLab account

• Have an Advanced Repository created

• Have a JSON file containing design tokens from Tokens Studio

To add a private URL source from GitLab to Specify:

1. In the "Source" tab of your Specify repository, click on "Create a source"

2. Select "Remote URL"

3. Select "Private"

4. Give a name to your source

5. Paste your GitLab file URL such as: https://gitlab.com/api/v4/projects/{OrgName}%2F{RepositoryName}/repository/files/{FilePath}?ref={branch}
6. Create an access token in GitLab: "Settings > Access Tokens". Select a role as Developer or Owner and select the scopes of read_api and read_repository.

7. In Specify, select Header as auth system

   1. Fill PRIVATE-TOKEN in the key field

   2. Paste your GitLab project access token

8. Select "Tokens Studio Format"

9. Specify will test your JSON

10. And voila!

JSONBin

Requirements:

• Have a JSONBin account

• Have an Advanced Repository created

• Have a bin with a JSON file containing design tokens from Tokens Studio

To add a private URL source from JSONBin to Specify:

1. In the "Source" tab of your Specify repository, click on "Create a source"

2. Select "Remote URL"

3. Select "Private"

4. Name your source

5. Paste your BIN private URL such as https://api.jsonbin.io/v3/b/{bin_id}

6. Select Header as auth system

7. 1. Following your choice, fill in the key field either with X-MASTER-KEY or X-ACCESS-KEY

   2. Paste your key in the value field

8. Select "Tokens Studio Format"

9. Specify will test your JSON

10. And voila!

3. How to update your JSON File

After adding your source. All you have to do is to:

1. Go to the "Source" tab of your Specify repository

2. Click on the context menu next to your source

3. Click on "sync"

Your source is now updated!

4. Non-supported design token types

Please keep in mind Specify is yet not compatible with the following data coming from Tokens Studio:

• Composition

• Assets (bitmap & vectors)

• Color manipulation (gradients, alpha, darken, lighten & mix)

Definition

Distributing the design data

Once your repository is filled in, you will start to distribute your design data throughout your design system consumers, starting with development teams.

The destinations offer several levels of control over the transformation required to meet your company standards.

Two main APIs at stake here:

Getting started with templates

Prerequisites

Please make sure you have:

• A GitHub account

• A Specify account

• One or multiple Specify repositories containing some design tokens.

Connecting Specify and GitHub

Once you've connected your GitHub account, Specify has to know what design tokens to synchronize and how.

1. Go to the Specify Advanced Repository you want to distribute design data from

2. Go to its "Destinations" page

3. Click on "Create Pipeline"

4. Select "GitHub application"

5. Connect or select your GitHub account

6. Select the GitHub repository you want to distribute your design data to

8. Create the Pull Request containing your configuration file

9. Merge the PR created by Specify containing your configuration file

10. Specify will now automatically sync design data to your GitHub repository 🎉

Useful resources

The Specify platform is based on the following pillars.

Above them, sit the engines:

Organization

As a Specify user, you belong to an organization.

In this organization, you create repositories to structure your projects.

Repository

The repository is where the design data get stored, merged and eventually deleted over iterations.

Source

Collecting the design data

From this point on, you can synchronize your source(s) with Specify anytime, at a click of a button.

Repository with many sources

Data from many sources get automatically merged into a consolidated SDTF token tree. If Specify detects a conflict over sources, it will refuse to synchronize the first source that cause the conflict and turn it into an error state.

Destination

Distributing the design data

While the source part is highly automated and managed by Specify internals, the destination offers many levers of control over the transformation required to meet your company standards.

Two main APIs at stake here:

Access raw data

Using the Specify HTTP API, you access the most barebone data directly out of our generation services. Thus, you can fetch your design tokens, manipulate them programmatically, and integrate them smoothly into any development workflow.

Work with any language

Your project cannot support JavaScript or TypeScript? Bring your own language and integrate seamlessly with Specify resources.

Generate upon request

Get started

To use the HTTP API, you'll need:

• A Specify account with at least one repository, filled with design data from any source.

Build for the CI/CD

Let's jump in!

Overview

The Parsers Engine is a set of APIs you interact with anytime you need to transform your design data - tokens & assets - from your repository token tree into pre-configured file outputs.

Parser Rules

As the medium to interact with the Parsers Engine, the parser rules are meant to be configured to follow your output needs.

A parser rule is simply a JSON object with two properties:

name: the name of the rule — we recommend setting up the purpose: CSS variables, Icons export...

Parser Configuration

output: an object describing the desired output type - can be optional when no output is expected.

options: an object of arbitrary keys and values defined by the parser - can be optional.

Example of a parser rule for a CSS custom properties output

{
  "rules": [
    {
      "name": "Generate tokens as CSS Custom Properties",
      "parsers": [
        {
          "name": "to-css-custom-properties", // parser name
          "output": {
            "type": "file",
            "filePath": "public/css/tokens.css" // ouput will be a file
          },
          "options": { // parser specific options
            "tokenNameTemplate": "--{{groups}}-{{token}}",
            "selectorTemplate": "[data-theme=\"{{mode}}\"]"
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Parser rules templates

Remote execution

Executed over HTTP, the parser rules are sent over to Specify servers to evaluate, transform and return the structured result.

Configuration file

A Specify configuration file allows you to:

• Provide a personal access token as authentication credentials for your user.

By default the file is named .specifyrc.js or .specifyrc.json

Local execution

Once executed, the parsers pipeline yields the result back to the SDK instance.

The Parsers functions

Parsers play a pivotal role. They are functions acting as interpreters and transformers of design tokens. They process the initial token tree and apply a set of transformations toward the expected output. Each parser, whether it pertains to utilities or generation, contributes to the workflow by either mutating the token tree or generating tangible assets and code snippets respectively.

Utility parsers

Utility parsers mutate the design token tree, through dedicated functions like filter, convert-color, change-case…

You configure their options property to instruct the changes to apply to your token tree before it get passed to the next step.

Generation parsers

Code generation parsers generate one or several outputs like CSS, JavaScript, TypeScript or assets like SVGs or bitmaps.

You configure their output property to produce the files that will end up in your codebase.

The options property is also available for most of the generation parsers.

Introduction

The Specify Design Token Format (SDTF) is a JSON based notation made to capture the architecture of information of design tokens regardless of its source. Supporting 50+ token types, the SDTF allows to compose the most complex types by referencing/aliasing others. Its primary focus is compatibility among design (system) tools and the frontend technologies used to build design systems.

In Specify, each repository is home to one SDTF token tree.

JSON Tree Structure

With the SDTF, you organize design tokens as a regular JSON tree with some remarkable signatures such as token, group and collection.

With groups and collections, you create sets of tokens to convey meaning like color.primary where color is the group and where my primary is a token, nested in color.

There is no technical limitation to the level of nesting you can achieve, yet good practices would drive the usage to a couple or so.

const dimensionTokens: SpecifyDesignTokenFormat = {
  spacing: { // spacing is a Group
    one: { // one is a Token
      $type: 'spacing',
      $value: {
        default: { unit: 'px', value: 4 }
      }
    },
    two: { // two is a Token
      $type: 'spacing',
      $value: {
        default: { unit: 'px', value: 8 }
      }
    }
  }
}

const tokens: SpecifyDesignTokenFormat = {
  theme: {
    $collection: { $modes: ['light', 'dark'] },
    color: {
      blue: {
        $type: 'color',
        $value: {
          light: { model: 'hex', hex: '#1919C4', alpha: 1 },
          dark: { model: 'hex', hex: '#111146', alpha: 1 }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Tree node (token, group, collection)

A tree node is any of token, group or collection that live within a SDTF token tree.

Naming

Token, group and collection names are free to use any character except the following:

• . (dot/period) used for aliasing

• $ reserved for SDTF

Common properties

Any group, collection or design token can hold extra properties:

• $description a string aimed to complement the name.

• $extensions a JSON object to complement the value for a given provider.

const dimensionTokens: SpecifyDesignTokenFormat = {
  spacing: {
    $description: "Spacings for the webapp",
    one: {
      $description: "default spacing",
      $type: "spacing",
      $value: {
        default: { unit: "px", value: 4 },
      },
    },
    two: {
      $description: "doubled spacing",
      $type: "spacing",
      $value: {
        default: { unit: "px", value: 8 },
      },
      $extensions: { "com.specifyapp.highlighted": true },
    },
  },
};

Note on $extensions

Tree path

The tree path is the unique identifier of a tree node within the token tree. It is formed from the enumeration of the node's parent names.

In the following example, the token base is nested into the spacing group. Thus, its path is ['spacing', 'base'] or "spacing.base".

const dimensionTokens: SpecifyDesignTokenFormat = {
  spacing: {
    base: {
      $type: "spacing",
      $value: { default: { unit: "px", value: 4 }},
    },
  },
};

Representations

Among the Specify APIs, you'll find 2 path representations.

• the string based representation concatenates the path with . (dot/period) . Mainly used for aliasing. Giving for our previous example "spacing.base".

• the array based representation with an array of string, where each item is the name of a tree node. Mainly used for working with the SDTF Engine. Giving for our previous example ['spacing', 'base'].

Design token

A design token represents the value of a design decision for all the possible modes you want to attach. It is defined by its $type and its corresponding $value, where the $value is a JSON object, Record<mode: string, value: any>, where the mode name is the key and holds to the actual value.

A design token can be placed anywhere within a group or a collection.

const dimensionToken = {
  $type: 'dimension', // Mandatory
  $value: { // Mandatory
    default: { // Stands for "default mode", mode name can be any string not starting with "$"
      value: 1, unit: '%' // Must be a valid value or reference for the type
    }
  },
  $description: 'A dimension token', // Optional string
  $extensions: { 'com.specifyapp.data': true } // Optional Record<string, JSONValue>
}

Token value

Value defines at least one mode

Any Token Value MUST define at least one mode.

Default mode, by convention, is: default such as $value: { default: ... }

Modes naming

Modes names are free to use any character except the following:

• . (dot/period) used for aliasing

• $ reserved for SDTF

Modes outside a collection

A token placed outside of a collection can define any mode as far as it defines at least one mode.

Modes inside a collection

A token placed inside of a collection must strictly define the modes allowed by the collection.

Aliasing (reference)

Within a design token value, we can declare { $alias: 'path.to.token' } to reference another token, thus avoiding information duplication.

You can alias tokens through three levels.

Top-level aliasing

You can alias an entire Token. Hence you also inherit from its modes.

aDimension: {
  $type: 'dimension',
  $value: { $alias: 'a.reference.to.a.dimension' },
}

Note that $mode does not apply here.

Mode-level aliasing

You can alias on one or many modes of a Token. The value resolution will follow the indicated target $mode.

aDimension: {
  $type: 'dimension',
  $value: {
    small: { $alias: 'a.reference.to.a.small.dimension', $mode: 'customMode' }, // this is the mode level alias
    large: { value: 1, unit: 'px' },
  },
}

Note that $mode is mandatory

Value-level aliasing

You can alias on (almost) all sub-values composing the SDTF. The value resolution will follow the indicated target $mode.

aDimension: {
  $type: 'dimension',
  $value: {
    default: {
      value: { $alias: 'a.reference.to.a.number', $mode: 'small' },
      unit: { $alias: 'a.reference.to.a.dimensionUnit', $mode: 'web' }
    },
  },
}

Note that $mode is mandatory

Aliasing validation

Aliases must reference compatible Tokens. Each type has a unique mapping to other types defining which ones can be referenced at which place.

aDimension: {
  $type: 'dimension',
  $value: {
    default: {
      value: { $alias: 'a.value', $mode: "default" },
      unit: { $alias: 'a.unit', $mode: "default" },
    },
  },
},

Supported types

The SDTF defines a large variety of token types in order to capture (almost) any design decision.

• bitmap

• blur

• border

• breakpoint

• color

• dimension

• duration

• font

• gradient

• gradients

• opacity

• radius

• radii

• shadow

• shadows

• spacing

• spacings

• textStyle

• transition

• vector

• zIndex

Group

A group is meant to order and nest design tokens semantically, it can be placed in any parent group or collection.

A group is a simple JSON object that can contain none to many groups, collections or tokens. With no mandatory keys or children, a group can be empty and represented as an empty object {}.

const tokens = {
  spacing: { // Group name
    $description: 'All spacings for webapp', // Optional string
    $extensions: { 'com.specifyapp.data': true } // Optional Record<string, JSONValue>
    base: {
      // ... token data
    }
  }
}

Collection

A collection is a special kind of group defining a mandatory $collection property. It constrain any enclosed token to respect a given set of modes.

A Collection can be placed within any group, nested at any level. But a Collection cannot be nested within another Collection.

color: {
  $collection: { $modes: ['light', 'dark'] }, // $collection indicates this group is a collection
  black: {
    $type: 'color',
    $value: {
      light: { model: 'hex', hex: '#000000', alpha: 1 },
      dark: { model: 'hex', hex: '#000000', alpha: 1 },
    }
  },
  aGroup: { $description: 'This group is empty but shows it is allowed here' }
}

$collection property

The $collection property is an object strictly containing the $modes key.

The $modes property is an array of mode names (string) defining the allowed modes for any token within the collection.

Introduction

The SDTF Engine brings together the core APIs that enable most of Specify features to seamlessly integrate, whether you're working in Figma or Token Studio, managing GitHub pull-requests, or directly within your codebase with the SDK or the CLI.

Token Tree CRUD API

At the core of the SDTF Engine, the query and mutation methods.

Query

The SDTF Engine provides a set of built-in getter functions to access tokens, groups, collections and aliases over the loaded token tree.

Mutation

The SDTF Engine provides a set of built-in mutation functions to locally manipulate the underlaying token tree in order to meet your project and/or company standards.

SDTF Query Language

Elevating your control over the data, the SDTF Query Language offers sophisticated techniques to navigate and cherry-pick the token tree with precision. You will find functions that allow complex querying patterns, matching specific criteria and conditions, vital for advanced manipulation and data extraction tasks.

With this powerful language at your disposal, it becomes easy to implement custom scenarios and data transformations.

Stateful Value API

The Stateful Value API grants direct access to examine the values assigned to tokens.

Through an exhaustive map interface, the API simplifies the process of keeping your design tokens and their implementations in sync despite the creation of aliases along the way.

Automatic Installation

If you are on OS X or Linux, you can use the automated downloader, which will fetch the latest release version for you and install it:

To install a specific version, use the flag VERSION:

Installation via JS ecosystem

Installation via Homebrew

Coming soon

Installation via Scoop

Coming soon

Otherwise, if you're here to learn how to use the CLI, you're at the right place!

Environment variable (recommended)

You can use the environment variable named SPECIFY_PAT

Flag

If you prefer a flag, you can use --personal-access-token or -p

Configuration file (not recommended)

You can also write the personal access token directly in the config file.

If multiple credentials are used together, Specify will choose following this order:

1. the flag

2. the configuration file

3. the environment variable

Organization (workspace)

An organization, sometimes called workspace, is the Specify place you share with your team.

Repository

Source

Destination

Specify Design Token Format (SDTF)

Token type

A Token type is a type of design token or asset supported by Specify like a color, a textStyle or a vector.

Collection

A collection is a way to group design tokens while ensuring the modes of the tokens they contain within the SDTF. A Collection can contain groups, and design tokens with one or several modes.

Group

A group is way to semantically group design tokens in the SDTF. A group contains design tokens, other groups and exists in the context of a collection.

Alias

An alias design token is a design token whose value is not a raw value but a reference to another design token's value.

Mode

A Mode is a way to associate the value of a design token to a specific context. For instance, a color named background can have several values associated to different modes like Light or Dark.

Parsers Engine

Parser Rule

Parser

SDTF Client

SDTF Engine

Configuration file

You are in Control

The Specify SDK is here to give you more power and freedom toward design token code generation. Built on top of our newly released format (SDTF), this brand new tool will help you build custom solutions tailor-shaped to your design token workflow. In a few words, the SDK provides all the necessary pieces and architecture you will need to ensure that you are in control of your design tokens system delivery. Written in TypeScript, it can also be used in a JavaScript environment.

Leverage the most advanced design token format

By levering your design token graph, the SDK provides all the methods needed to manipulate and transform the data coming from Specify. Whether it is about filtering and renaming tokens, groups and collections, deleting modes in tokens or transforming your data into any languages. Based on the Specify engine and parsers technology, you'll benefit from their flexibility without any maintenance.

Built to suit your standards

The idea behind the SDK is also for you to have more freedom on the output. Meaning that if the current parser technology doesn't meet your standards entirely, you can add custom codes among the pipeline chain. Everything is executable locally so you are not tied to a vendor, which allows you to create your own dedicated delivery engine that follows your company standards.

Let's jump in!

Introduction

Overview

The Specify Client API

The Specify Client manages:

• your authentication credentials - personal access token

• your access to your organization repositories

The SDTF Client API

The SDTF Client bridges the gap between the raw token tree stored into your repository - in Specify database - and the live token tree instance provided by the SDK.

Mutate the token tree locally

Since the client is instantiated locally, all changes made to the token tree are only affecting the current version of the client.

Then, create several updates:

Convert tokens to XXX

Example: Export All Tokens and Assets In JSON

Otherwise, if you're here to learn how to use the SDK, you're at the right place!

Prerequisites

• NodeJS >= 18.x

• [Optional] Typescript >= 4.9

TypeScript vs JavaScript

We recommend using TypeScript for a better developer experience. TypeScript's autocompletion in your editor can save you numerous trips to the documentation by suggesting methods and options from the Specify APIs.

Installation

Let's pretend you have a front-end application structured as follows:

my-app/
    src/
        components/
            ...
        index.ts
    public/
    package.json
    ...

Create a specify directory

You'll start by creating a specify directory at the application level.

my-app/
    specify/
        ...
    src/
        components/
            ...
        index.ts
    public/
    package.json
    ...

Initialize a JavaScript module

Using your terminal, navigate to the directory.

cd ./specify

Within this directory, you initialize a JavaScript module by using the package manager of your choice - preferably the one you use to manage your application.

npm init
npm install -D @specifyapp/sdk dotenv typescript

yarn init
npm add -D @specifyapp/sdk dotenv typescript

pnpm init
pnpm add -D @specifyapp/sdk dotenv typescript

The init command creates a minimal package.json file where the dev dependencies will be added too. Then, you complete/override the content to match the following:

{
  "name": "specify-design-tokens-extractor",
  "private": true,
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "Extract design tokens from Specify repositories",
  "type": "module",
  "scripts": {
    "build": "tsc",
    "extract": "tsc && node ./extract.js"
  }
}

{
  "name": "specify-design-tokens-extractor",
  "private": true,
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "Extract design tokens from Specify repositories",
  "type": "module",
  "scripts": {
    "extract": "node ./extract.js"
  }
}

Setup TypeScript

Within the specify directory, you create a tsconfig.json file which matches the following configuration:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "strict": true,
    "target": "es2022",
    "lib": ["es2022"],
    "moduleDetection": "force",
    "module": "NodeNext",
    "sourceMap": true,
    "skipLibCheck": true,
    "outDir": ".",
    "rootDir": "./"
  },
  "include": ["./extract.ts"],
  "exclude": ["node_modules"]
}

Prepare the environment secrets

Thus, create a .env file within the specify directory:

SPECIFY_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN=YOUR-PERSONAL-ACCESS-TOKEN

Create a Specify Client

Within the specify directory, you create an extract.ts file. This TypeScript script will handle the extraction process by utilizing the personal access token specified in your .env file.

import { config } from "dotenv";
import { createSpecifyClient, updaters, parsers } from "@specifyapp/sdk";

// Load Personal Access Token from .env file
const { parsed } = config({ path: ".env" });

Authenticate

In order to consume the private data from a Specify repository, you must authenticate using your personal access token stored in .env.

// Initialize Specify Client
const specifyClient = createSpecifyClient();
await specifyClient.authenticate(parsed?.SPECIFY_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN || "");

console.log(`User authenticated: ${specifyClient.whoAmI()?.email}`);

Test your script

From your terminal, launch the script.

npm run extract

yarn extract

pnpm run extract

You should get a log such as:

User authenticated: your-user@your-company.com

List your organization repositories

Get a list of repositories belonging to your organization.

const repositories = await specifyClient.getRepositories();

console.log(repositories); // [{ id: '...', name: '...' }, ...]

One of the benefits to work directly with the SDK is that you can update the tokens value on the fly to match exactly your needs. Before explaining you how to do it, it's important that you note that updating tokens won't run a remote update in your repository.

Importing the updaters

Before even updating the tokens, we need to import the updaters that will help us to perform the updates. Everything is grouped inside the updaters object:

import { updaters } from '@specifyapp/sdk'

Update the colors

If you need to have your colors to be converted to a specific format, you can use the prebuilt color updater:

import { updaters } from '@specifyapp/sdk'

sdtfClient.update(updaters.color({ toFormat: 'hex' }, { where: { token: '^color-' }}))

Update the token's name casing

If you need to have your token's name to be formatted in a specify way: camelCase, snakeCase, etc... You can use the changeCase updater:

import { updaters } from '@specifyapp/sdk'

sdtfClient.update(updaters.changeCase({ toFormat: 'kebabCase' }, { where: { token: '.*' }}))

Update the dimensions

If you need to have your dimensions to be converted to a specific format, you can use the prebuilt dimension updater:

import { updaters } from '@specifyapp/sdk'

sdtfClient.update(updaters.dimension(
  { toFormat: 'rem', baseValue: { rem: 12 } }, 
  { where: { token: '^spacing-' }}
)

Executing multiple updates

The update method actually takes as much parameter as you want, so you can do the following:

import { updaters } from '@specifyapp/sdk'

sdtfClient.update(
  updaters.dimension(
    { toFormat: 'rem', baseValue: { rem: 12 } }, 
    { where: { token: '^spcacing-' }}
   ),
   updaters.nameCase({ toFormat: 'kebabCase' }, { where: { token: '.*' }}),
   updaters.color({ toFormat: 'hex' }, { where: { token: '^color-' }})
)

Avoid query repetition

If you want to perform multiple updates with the same query, it can quickly become quite verbose. To avoid it, you can use the withQuery method:

import { updaters } from '@specifyapp/sdk'

sdtfClient
  .withQuery({ where: { token: '*' }})
  .update(
    updaters.dimension(
      { toFormat: 'rem', baseValue: { rem: 12 } }, 
    ),
    updaters.nameCase({ toFormat: 'kebabCase' }),
    updaters.color({ toFormat: 'hex' })
   )

Creating your custom updater

An updater is in reality a function that looks like this:

import type { SDTFQuery, SDTFEngine } from '@specifyapp/specify-design-token-format'

function myUpdater(
  options?: {}
  applyTo?: SDTFQuery,
): Updater {
  return (engine: SDTFEngine, applyToInner?: SDTFQuery) => {
    const query = applyTo ?? applyToInner;

    // Do the conversion
  };
}

If you're wondering why there's 2 applyTo, it's because the first one is the one that you're passing when calling the function, and the second one is passed if the updater is called with withQuery.

Once implemented, you can use it the same way we're using the updaters above:

sdtfClient.update(myUpdater())

The above implementation works for a reusable updater, but if you exactly know what you want, you can do the following as well:

import type { SDTFEngine } from '@specifyapp/specify-design-token-format'

function myUpdater(engine: SDTFEngine) {
    // Do something
}

sdtf.update(myUpdater)

Get a SDTFClient

It's the way of interacting with your tokens and generating content.

Get the SDTF JSON token tree

You would want to grab the SDTF JSON token tree of a repository anytime you want to: send the token tree over the network or debug an intermediate manipulation.

Now that we know how to retrieve our SDTF, let's see how we can manipulate and retrieve our tokens.

Retrieving the tokens

There's multiple way to retrieve a token. If you want to work with a specific one you'll probably want to only get one, if you're developing a generic solution, you'll probably prefer iterating over many tokens. Let's have a look on how to do this.

Retrieving a single token

To retrieve a single token, you can just pick it by its path:

Retrieving all the tokens

Tokens

Groups

Collections

Retrieving specific tokens

If you need specifically some tokens, for example, based on the name, type, path, etc... You can perform a query and map over the results:

Or, you can only iterate over the results of your query if you need to perform mutations for example:

The token architecture

The TokenState instance will be your main access to your tokens. Through this, you can retrieve your token data or perform updates. But first, let’s put some context and try to figure out what this TokenState is trying to solve.

A basic token

An alias at the value level

An alias at the mode level

An alias at the top level

As you can see, there’s a lot of way to express a token, and dealing with all the possible cases is quite difficult. That’s why one of the goal of the TokenState is to help you to deal with everything.

How to differentiate the tokens?

Before even thinking about retrieving the value of a token, we need to know what type of token we’re working with.

It’s actually quite easy to know as there’s a type property in the TokenState :

But even if we know the type, a problem will remain: Typescript doesn’t. TokenState is quite a generic class as the default type is something that looks like this: TokenState<'dimension' | 'font' | 'breakpoint' | ...> .

So the first mission is to be able to narrow down the type to be able to work with it. To do so, there’s a pretty convenient function:

You can match as much type as you need, and if some are not matched, they’ll be caught by the callback in the 2nd argument.

If you're working with Typescript, you may face some type issues while using matchByType. A common example would be this:

If you copy/paste this code inside your editor, Typescript will complain and gives you the following error: Type '(_: TokenState<"breakpoint", Value, Mode>) => string' is not assignable to type '(token: TokenState<"breakpoint", Value, Mode>) => number | undefined'.

Basically Typescript is unhappy that we return a number and a string. To fix the issue, there's 2 solutions:

1. Return the same type:

1. Excplicitely set the return type:

Depending on the use case, you'll prefer the first over the second solution, or the second over the first.

How to get the token value ?

Now that we know how to get the TokenState that we want, we want to extract the value from it. As mentioned before, a token can have a lot of places that can contains an alias, so when retrieving the value, there’s 2 ways of doing it.

Ignoring aliasing

If you only want to get the raw value of a token and ignore the aliases, you can use the following function:

Also, as combining matchByType and getJSONValue can become a bit heavy. For that case, you can use the following function:

Handling the aliases

Overview of the API

If you want to support the aliases in your output, you’ll need to handle them when they are some at the top level, mode level, or value level. To do so, we provide the Stateful Value API that helps you to make sure you handle all the possible cases. Let’s see an example and then break down everything.

Although this API is a bit verbose, it’ll make sure that you cannot miss a case. So, what’s happening?

When you retrieve the value of a token, we put it inside a StatefulResult , and it’ll expose the following type union at each level:

• Top level: ResolvableTopLevelAlias | UnresolvableTopLevelAlias | TopLevelValue

• Mode level: ResolvableModeLevelAlias | UnresolvableModeLevelAlias | RawValueSignature

• Value level: ResolvableValueLevelAlias | UnresolvableValueLevelAlias | string | number | ...

Each mapping function is dedicated to handling one case.

First, you’ll need to handle the top level:

Note the unwrap at the end which is the way to extract the value.

Then you’ll want to handle the mode level:

All you need to do for the mode level is to return a value, and it'll be mapped to the right mode.

And finally the value level (we take a dimension token as an example):

As you can see each step is always the same: handling unresolvable alias, resolvable alias and the value.

Resolving an alias

Sometimes, you need to use the precision of the stateful result API, but don't want to deal with the aliases at some levels. To avoid doing so, you can resolve an alias by calling resolveDeepValue, and you'll be left with handling the unresolvable alias and value case. Here is an example:

Handling only the value case

Although we could get rid of the resolvable alias case, handling the unresolvable case might still be too verbose. So let me introduce you to a nice pattern to only deal with values:

1. We will check if the token is fully resolvable

2. We'll use resolveDeepValue to remove the need of handling the resolvable aliases

3. We'll use unwrapValue to remove the need of handling the unresolvable case at the type level

Thanks to this pattern, we went from a really verbose API to something lighter.

Introduction

A configuration file helps you:

1. request design tokens and assets from a Specify repository

Properties

A configuration is composed of 3 main properties:

• repository

• personalAccessToken

• rules

Repository

The name of the Specify repository you want to pull your design tokens and assets from.

Let's say we have the following repository in Specify called "all-design-data" located in the "@acme-inc" organization.

We target it like this:

Personal Access Token

The Specify personalAccessToken used to authenticate you.

Parser Rules

The Parsers Rules help you transform your design tokens and assets the way you want.

You can have as many rules as you want and you can have rules that transform several Token types at once.

Here are different kind of rules and parsers you can use to generate color tokens as CSS Custom Properties:

Examples

How to run these examples

The following examples are made to be used with the Specify CLI.

Requirements:

• a Specify repository containing design tokens

Run all examples by copying the code and running the specify pull command.

Basic

Here's a basic configuration file that targets a Specify repository called design-system from the @acme-inc organization:

This example config file will return a colors.css file containing all design tokens stored in the design-system repository.

Here's an example of a token value returned by Specify:

Pull colors as CSS Custom Properties

Now let's update our previous configuration to only pull colors and transform them as CSS Custom Properties in RGB.

Here is the input returned by Specify and the output generated by Specify after executing our configuration.

If your goal is to create your own output, you'll have to go through 2 steps:

• Converting the tokens to the desired output, e.g: CSS, Js, Swift, etc...

• Formatting the converted tokens into the desired template

We can't know what's the perfect template for your needs, but we can definitely help you converting tokens to your desired output. That's why we created the converters.

What's a converter?

A converter is a function that takes a resolvable alias strategy, an unresolvable alias strategy, and returns a function that takes a TokenState and will convert it to any available format. This is the way to build your custom output with the SDK. We provide you the conversion, and you only have to format it the way you want. Here is an example:

This is as straightforward as it looks, but you're probably wondering what is the strategy const.

The alias strategies

Let's focus on what are the strategies. When working with the SDTF, you are probably aware that a token can contains an alias at a top level, mode level, or value level. When converting a token, we need to decide what we want to do with the aliases. In the case of resolvable aliases, there will be generally 2 strategies:

• Resolve the alias to retrieve the value and use the value as is

• If the target language supports it, convert the alias itself to a variable, alias, etc... Although it may sounds simple, the reality is that there's a lot of pitfalls, especially when trying to work with the aliases without resolving them. This is the reason why we provide premade strategies, so you don't have to go through all the pain of implementing it.

Note that there is strategies both for resolvable and unresolvable aliases. Generally speaking, the recommended way to work with a token is the following:

The most important here are the first lines. If the token is not fully resolvable, we just ignore it, and you should do it this way as much as possible. Working with unresolvable aliases is not really desirable, so it's better to just avoid doing it. That's why the default unresolvable alias strategy is to throw an error, and checking if the token is fully resolvable or not is enough to make sure you'll avoid a lot of problems.

Using a strategy

Let's take CSS as example, and compare the output of various strategies.

Resolve alias strategy

This strategy will resolve the token in order to retrieve the value and convert it to CSS:

Alias to var strategy

Because CSS supports the aliasing through the var(...) notation, we can rely on it to convert our aliases to a CSS variable:

Throw on unresolvable strategy

This strategy is the default one for the unresolvable aliases. As the name is saying it, It'll throw an error if we encounter an unresolvable alias during the conversion:

Note that this strategy is the default one, so you don't need to pass anything.

Ignore unresolvable strategy

This strategy is ignoring all the unresolvable aliases if it finds one, which mean that it'll return undefined instead.

Unresolvable alias to variable

This strategy is actually quite special. It'll convert unresolvable aliases to a CSS variable. Even if an alias is unresolvable, we still have a lot of informations on the target based on the path, mode, and the token referencing the alias.

Note that top level aliases lacks to much informations, so if this strategy encounter one, it'll throw an error.

Create your own strategy

If the provided strategies don't satisfy you, you can still decide to create your own strategy! In the case of a resolvable alias strategy, you'll have to create a function that follows this type:

Let's breakdown the signature:

• Return is the desired return type for your strategy. Generally it'll be the same than the converters

• Composites is a union of the types of the composites tokens. Those tokens are expected to be converted to a Record<string, Return> as they have multiple outputs

• About the Alias, it's a generic that will be one of these:

Finally, you can notice that in the case of a top level alias, you need to return an object containing the modes, and then the return value.

Here is an example of the CSS resolvable alias strategy:

We expect the return type to be a string, and the tokens font, textStyle and transition to return multiple values, thus, a Record<string, string>.

In general, you'll probably don't want to work with ResolvableAliasStrategy, but rather with the converter strategy, e.g: CssResolvableAliasStrategy. Here is an example of an implementation:

The output of a converter

Primitives tokens

Primitives tokens are generally quite straightforward to convert to a different output. So almost every time, the output of a primitive token will be a single output. Here is an example with a dimension token converted to CSS:

Input:

Output:

Composites tokens

Composites tokens are a bit more complex than the simples ones. The main issue is that they contain a lot of informations, and most of the time we need multiple outputs to convert all the data. To do so, a converted composites token will output an object containing all the outputs. Here is an example with a transition token that we convert to a CSS output.

Input:

Output:

In the case of a transition, we can't assume on which property the transition will be applied, so we have to split everything in different tokens so you can build your transition on the property that you want.

If you want more informations on which tokens are primitives and which ones are composites, and on the inputs and outputs, you can have a look to the reference of each converters:

Creating Specify and SDTF clients

You will first create a Specify client, then authenticate, then create a SDTF client by fetching the repository token tree.

Updating tokens

Convert a token to XXX

Execute a parser

Retrieving data

Get a specific token

Get all the tokens

Map over all the tokens

Get a specific group

Get all the groups

Map over all the groups

Get a specific collection

Get all collections

Map over all the collections

Filtering data

Keeping a sub-graph from a path

If you only want a specific portion of the graph, you can cherry-pick using the pick function:

Keeping the children of a path

If you only want the children of a specific portion of the graph you can use the pick function this way:

Query a specific set of data

You can use the query method of the SDTFClient to create a copy of the current SDTF with only the tokens that'll match your query:

Remove tokens from the SDTF

You can use the remove method to delete tokens based on a query:

Renaming tokens

Rename a node

By not specifying any type, the method will rename any node as long as the path is valid.

Rename a collection

By specifying the type, the method will rename only a collection node.

Rename a group

By specifying the type, the method will rename only a group node.

Rename a token

By specifying the type, the method will rename only a token node.