[ DESIGN SYSTEM ]
One mark, one ontology
Every Nika verb, builtin, feature and run-state has a canonical glyph, color role and motion, declared once in the icon ontology, projected everywhere. Machine-readable: icons.json · icons.ttl · integrator reference.
The marks
The four verbs
A verb is a distinct native execution model. Hue = alive.
- infer
- exec
- invoke
- agent
The 28 builtins
Everything callable is a tool reached through invoke:.
- assert
- chart
- compose
- convert
- date
- decide
- done
- edit
- emit
- fetch
- glob
- grep
- hash
- image_fx
- image_generate
- inspect
- jq
- json_diff
- json_merge_patch
- log
- notify
- prompt
- read
- tts_generate
- uuid
- validate
- wait
- write
Features
The product surface: audit · run · trace · prove.
- check
- cost
- dag
- diff-runs
- doctor
- dry-run
- examples
- explain
- export-otel
- fork
- generate
- history
- lsp
- mcp
- permits
- preflight
- replay
- report
- reproduce
- run
- schema
- secrets
- trace
- verify-chain
Run states
The trace fold: every settle has a face.
- cancelled
- failed
- pending
- recovered
- running
- skipped
- success
The run register · one component library
The task card below is the LIVE library component (components/dag): the exact one the home renders when a plan settles. The VS Code canvas draws its denser editor card from the same generated vocabulary: one source (design/tokens.yaml, spec-first), projected into TypeScript on every surface, pinned by drift gates. A verb hue appears on the tick only: hue = alive.
the four verb hues
- infer
#5b8cff - exec
#ff7a3c - invoke
#22d3ee - agent
#b07bff
the run states
- running
#5b8cff - done
#34d399 - failed
#ff5d5d - retrying
#e0b071 - muted
#5a606b
The design graph · declared once, derived everywhere
The site side of the vocabulary: seven layer hues resolved from the spec spine, the shared paper chrome, motion as tokens, and the two-clocks mark. Every swatch below renders from the compiler's emission — this page cannot disagree with the graph. Tooling reads the same facts as design-tokens.dtcg.json (W3C Design Tokens · Apache-2.0).
the seven floors
- shape
--layer-shape - flow
--layer-flow - acts
--layer-acts - reach
--layer-reach - boundary
--layer-boundary - refusals
--layer-refusals - proof
--layer-proof
the paper chrome
- bg
#0a0b0d - ink
#f4f5f7 - dim
#8a8f98 - faint
#6c727c - bright
#e8eefc - lab
#aebad0 - agg
#8fa0bd - wire
#9db4e0
the six kinds
- error
--kind-error - tool
--kind-tool - word
--kind-word - template
--kind-template - showcase
--kind-showcase - post
--kind-post
the two-clocks mark
- ratified
stroke - shipped
filled - both
filled-ring
motion tokens
- quick
120ms - soft
240ms - slow
600ms - film
900ms - eases
out · snap · settle · linear
Motion · the dot-matrix register
A pattern is an execution model: infer samples, exec scans, invoke round-trips, the agent orbits its bounded loop, and the butterfly beats its wings.
- Infer · sampling
- Exec · scanline
- Invoke · roundtrip
- Agent · orbit
- The butterfly beats
- Loading · wave