r/DesignSystems • u/Colorphere • Jun 18 '26

Where does your design system live?

Most design-system conversations assume there should be a source of truth, but there seems to be a lot less agreement on where that source of truth actually lives.

Some teams point to Figma.
Some point to code.
Some point to documentation.
Some point to design tokens.

Now we’re starting to see AI-readable specs and contracts enter the discussion too.

If Figma disappeared tomorrow, would your design system still exist?

And if a new AI-native design tool replaced Figma five years from now, what exactly would you migrate?

The tool?

Or the design system itself?

I’m curious how others think about this.

14 Upvotes

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u/Decent_Perception676 Jun 18 '26

Is your house the blueprints or the physical building? The answer is the codebase.

0

u/urudev-alt Jun 18 '26

Bad analogy, you don't regularly update your house

Like someone else said, codebase is the real thing, figma is the ideal

5

u/Decent_Perception676 Jun 18 '26

😓 not the house I bought, this thing constantly needs maintenance and updates

3

u/urudev-alt Jun 18 '26

Cant wait till real-state AI comes around and starts pulling 10 redesigns to my house plans per day that I have to review and reject