Token Atlas

Design tokens in VS Code. Open a W3C/DTCG token file and it behaves like code: completion, hover, go-to-definition, find references, rename, color swatches, and validation. The same features work on the CSS, Sass, and JS your export tool writes, so var(--color-brand-primary) resolves back to the token it came from. A visual table editor is one click away for when you want to scan or bulk-edit. Your tokens stay in git as plain JSON with one-line diffs. There is no Figma sync to set up and nothing to subscribe to.

Install

Search for Token Atlas in the Extensions view and click Install. Or press Cmd+P (Ctrl+P) and run ext install chrisgriffinio.token-atlas, or from a terminal:

code --install-extension chrisgriffinio.token-atlas

Needs VS Code 1.90 or newer.

Every release also carries the .vsix, for an editor without Marketplace access. Install it with code --install-extension token-atlas-<version>.vsix --force, then reload the window.

Getting started

1. Open a folder that contains token JSON. Any file with $value or $type in it counts as a token file, and so does any .tokens or .tokens.json file. You do not need to configure anything.
2. Hover a token or a {reference} to see what it resolves to. Cmd+click a reference to jump to its definition.
3. Start typing { inside a $value to get completion for every token path in the workspace.
4. Right-click a token file and choose Reopen Editor With… → Token Editor to see the same file as a table.

Want something to poke at first? Clone this repo and open examples/. Each folder is a different token architecture, from one flat file to multi-brand and resolver setups, with a note on what to try.

What you get

In token files

• Completion for {alias} references, $type, and colorSpace.
• Hover cards with the resolved value, the alias chain, hex and OKLCH for colors, and px, rem, and pt for dimensions.
• Inlay hints next to every reference: {primitive.color.blue-500} = #3b82f6.
• Color swatches inline, and a checkerboard behind translucent colors in hovers.
• Go to definition and find references across every token file in the workspace.
• Outline view, plus Go to Symbol in Workspace (Cmd+T) by token path.
• Problems for unresolved references, reference cycles, bad values, and tokens that inherit no $type.
• Deprecated tokens are struck through everywhere they are used.
• A quick fix that converts old-style string values like "16px" to the 2025.10 object form.

In your code

Token Atlas knows that --color-brand-primary, $color-brand-primary, colorBrandPrimary, and tokens.color.brand.primary are all the same token, including when the export adds a prefix like --ds-. There is nothing to configure. In CSS, Sass, Less, JS, and TS:

• Hover or go to definition on an exported name to reach the token.
• Find references on a token to see where your code uses it.
• Swatches on color values and var(--token) = #3b82f6 hints.
• Completion when you type --, $, or @, keeping whatever prefix the file already uses.
• Rename (F2) a token and every alias and code usage follows, as one undo step.

The visual editor

Right-click a token file and choose Reopen Editor With… → Token Editor. It is a table over the same JSON: grouped by path, swatches on colors, aliases shown with what they resolve to. Open it beside the text editor and the two stay in sync. Every edit you make in the table lands as a one-line change in the file, so diffs stay readable.

The Design Tokens view in the activity bar lists every token file in the workspace, with its groups. The + button creates a new file.

Themes and brands

When the same token path lives in several files (a light and a dark theme, two brands, web and iOS), the status bar shows which set is active. Click it to switch, and every hover and hint re-resolves.

• A DTCG resolver file (*.resolver.json) adds each of its resolutions to the picker, such as theme: dark. Sources can be whole files, fragments like theme.tokens.json#/dark, or inline tokens. The resolver file is validated too.
• Tokens Studio $themes show up in the same picker.

The active set is remembered per workspace and never written to the repo.

Commands

Three commands in the Command Palette:

In the Design Tokens view, clicking a group opens the table scoped to that group, and clicking a token reveals it: in the table's detail panel if the table is open, otherwise at its line in the JSON.

Settings

Everything lives under tokenAtlas.*. The defaults work for most repos.

The defaults come from package.json, and a test fails if this table drifts from it.

Two settings are off by default because they scan every code file in the workspace: tokenAtlas.hardcodedValues flags a literal #3b82f6 in your CSS that matches a token and offers to swap it, and tokenAtlas.unusedTokens flags tokens nothing references. Turn them on when you want a cleanup pass.

Lint

Token Atlas can check your own naming and tiering conventions. Put a token-atlas.lint.json at the workspace root; without one, nothing runs. The file has schema completion.

{
  "tiers": ["base", "system", "component"],
  "vocabularies": [{ "paths": ["system.radius"], "values": ["none", "sm", "md", "lg"] }],
  "rampPaths": ["base.color.*"],
  "naming": { "case": "kebab-case" },
  "contrastPairs": [{ "foreground": "system.color.text", "background": "system.color.surface" }],
  "rules": { "token-atlas/tier-alias-inverted": "error" }
}

Each rule is "off", "warn" (the default), or "error". Findings show up in Problems on save.

DTCG support

Token Atlas targets the Design Tokens Format Module 2025.10, the first stable release: groups, $type inheritance, {alias} and $ref references, $extends, validation of every value type, and color math through colorjs.io. Color values are objects ({ "colorSpace": "srgb", "components": [0.231, 0.51, 0.965] }) and dimensions are { "value": 16, "unit": "px" }. The quick fix in the editor upgrades older string values for you.

Contributing

How the code is laid out: docs/architecture.md. Press F5 to run the extension against examples/ in a development host.

Author

Made by Chris Griffin.

License

MIT © 2026 Chris Griffin