Variable Design Standard (VDS) References

External standards and specifications referenced by Variable Design Standard (VDS).

Primary references

DTCG 2025.10 Format Specification

Title: Design Tokens Format Module
Version: 2025.10
URL: https://www.designtokens.org/tr/2025.10/format/
Status: W3C Community Group Specification

Variable Design Standard (VDS) is built on DTCG 2025.10 format. Any Variable Design Standard (VDS) JSON is valid DTCG 2025.10 format.

Semantic Versioning

Title: Semantic Versioning 2.0.0
URL: https://semver.org/
Usage: Variable Design Standard (VDS) uses semantic versioning for variable releases (MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH)

JSON Pointer

Title: JSON Pointer (RFC 6901)
URL: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc6901
Usage: DTCG requires JSON Pointer syntax for references (#/path/to/variable)

Tools referenced

Style Dictionary

URL: https://styledictionary.com/
Usage: Output generation tool. Consumes DTCG format, generates CSS/TypeScript/etc.

Figma Variables

URL: https://help.figma.com/hc/en-us/sections/14506605769879-Variables
Usage: Design tool for authoring variables. Variable Design Standard (VDS) provides adapter for normalization.

Tokens Studio

URL: https://tokens.studio/
Usage: Design tool plugin for managing variables. Variable Design Standard (VDS) provides adapter for normalization.

Standards alignment

Variable Design Standard (VDS) aligns with:

  • W3C standards practices (normative keywords, conformance requirements)
  • ECMAScript specification structure (editor attribution, versioning)
  • Industry patterns (semantic versioning, validation, governance)

Out of scope

Variable Design Standard (VDS) does not reference:

  • Runtime libraries (validation is build-time)
  • UI frameworks (tool-agnostic)
  • Design system decisions (governs structure, not values)
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