Can I use the GitHub DESIGN.md with Cursor, Claude Code, or Codex?

Yes. Copy the DESIGN.md file into your project root and reference it in your agent rules. For Cursor, add it to .cursor/rules. For Claude Code, include it as CLAUDE.md. For Codex, add it to your system prompt. The agent will read it and apply the GitHub visual system to any UI it generates.

What is a DESIGN.md file?

A DESIGN.md file is a Markdown document that describes a product's visual design system — color palettes, typography, spacing, and component patterns — in a format that AI coding agents like Cursor, Claude Code, and Codex can read and follow when generating UI.

How do I add the GitHub DESIGN.md to my project?

Download or copy the DESIGN.md file from this page and place it in your project root. Then instruct your AI agent: "Read the DESIGN.md file in this project and follow its design system when generating UI." The agent will pick it up automatically in Cursor, Claude Code, Codex, and most modern AI coding tools.

GitHub DESIGN.md for AI coding agents

Dima Braven·May 14, 2026

Code hosting and collaboration. Iconic devtool UI.

devtooldarkdesign-md

CursorClaude CodeCodexGoogle Stitch

# Design Language: GitHub · Change is constant. GitHub keeps you ahead. · GitHub

> Extracted from `https://github.com` on May 28, 2026
> 1930 elements analyzed

This document describes the complete design language of the website. It is structured for AI/LLM consumption — use it to faithfully recreate the visual design in any framework.

## Color Palette

### Primary Colors

| Role | Hex | RGB | HSL | Usage Count |
|------|-----|-----|-----|-------------|
| Primary | `#f0f6fc` | rgb(240, 246, 252) | hsl(210, 67%, 96%) | 644 |
| Secondary | `#08872b` | rgb(8, 135, 43) | hsl(137, 89%, 28%) | 2 |
| Accent | `#1f883d` | rgb(31, 136, 61) | hsl(137, 63%, 33%) | 2 |

### Neutral Colors

| Hex | HSL | Usage Count |
|-----|-----|-------------|
| `#ffffff` | hsl(0, 0%, 100%) | 1450 |
| `#000000` | hsl(0, 0%, 0%) | 366 |
| `#9198a1` | hsl(214, 8%, 60%) | 224 |
| `#58635b` | hsl(136, 6%, 37%) | 146 |
| `#59636e` | hsl(211, 11%, 39%) | 100 |
| `#a4aea6` | hsl(132, 6%, 66%) | 100 |
| `#d1d9e0` | hsl(208, 19%, 85%) | 12 |
| `#7c8980` | hsl(138, 5%, 51%) | 8 |
| `#404651` | hsl(219, 12%, 28%) | 6 |
| `#484f58` | hsl(214, 10%, 31%) | 5 |
| `#e4ebe6` | hsl(137, 15%, 91%) | 3 |
| `#2e374a` | hsl(221, 23%, 24%) | 1 |

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Design System Overview

The GitHub design system captures the visual language of a well-known design and creative tools product. This DESIGN.md file distills its color palette, typography, spacing scale, and component patterns into a format that AI coding agents can read and follow when generating UI.

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AI agents like Cursor, Claude Code, Codex, and Google Stitch can reference this file to produce UI that visually matches the GitHub aesthetic — consistent colors, proportional spacing, and recognizable component patterns — without requiring explicit pixel-by-pixel instructions for every element.

Browse more design and creative tools design systems or explore the full DESIGN.md directory.

Color System

Brand palette extracted from the design system. Click any swatch to copy the hex value.

Text / Primary

#f0f6fc

Accent

#08872b

Surface / Background

#1f883d

Border / Subtle

#ffffff

Color Tokens

Typography Specimen

Mona Sans

Display

2.8rem / 700 / 1.04

The quick brown fox

Heading H1

2rem / 700 / 1.1

The quick brown fox jumps

Heading H2

1.5rem / 600 / 1.15

The quick brown fox jumps over

Heading H3

1.125rem / 600 / 1.2

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy

Body

1rem / 400 / 1.5

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

Small / Caption

0.75rem / 400 / 1.5

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog and sat down.

Monospace

const primary = "System";

Layout & Spacing Tokens

Spacing Scale

space-14px

space-28px

space-312px

space-416px

space-624px

space-832px

space-1248px

space-1664px

Border Radius

radius-none0px

radius-sm4px

radius-md8px

radius-lg16px

radius-xl24px

radius-full9999px

Elevation & Shadow

Flatshadow-none

XSshadow-xs

SMshadow-sm

MDshadow-md

LGshadow-lg

XLshadow-xl

Use with AI Coding Agents

Copy one of these prompts into your AI coding agent to apply the GitHub design system to your project. The DESIGN.md file in your repo root is the source of truth.

# .cursor/rules (or DESIGN.md)
You are working in a project that uses the GitHub design system.

Read the DESIGN.md file in this project root and follow it strictly when generating UI.
Match the brand's exact colors, typography, spacing scale, and border radius.
Do not create generic Tailwind UI — apply the visual language from DESIGN.md.

Key rules:
- Use the defined color palette, not arbitrary hex values
- Apply the correct font family and weight scale
- Follow spacing tokens (4/8/12/16/24/32px scale)
- Match component patterns: buttons, cards, inputs, badges as specified

Vercel

Vercel design system as a DESIGN.md — monochrome Geist UI, electric-blue accent.

View DESIGN.md

shadcn/ui DESIGN.md

A practical design contract for AI agents using shadcn/ui: component rules, Tailwind tokens, density, states, forms, tables, dashboards, and prompt-ready constraints.

View DESIGN.md