Theo

Theo is an abstraction for transforming and formatting Design Tokens.

Looking for the gulp plugin?

As of Theo v6, the gulp plugin is distributed as a separate package: gulp-theo.

Example

# buttons.yml
props:
  button_background:
    value: "{!primary_color}"
imports:
  - ./aliases.yml
global:
  type: color
  category: buttons

# aliases.yml
aliases:
  primary_color:
    value: "#0070d2"

const theo = require("theo");

theo
  .convert({
    transform: {
      type: "web",
      file: "buttons.yml"
    },
    format: {
      type: "scss"
    }
  })
  .then(scss => {
    // $button-background: rgb(0, 112, 210);
  })
  .catch(error => console.log(`Something went wrong: ${error}`));

Transforms

Theo is divided into two primary features: transforms and formats.

Transforms are a named group of value transforms. Theo ships with several predefined transforms.

Name	Value Transforms
raw	[]
web	['color/rgb']
ios	['color/rgb', 'relative/pixelValue', 'percentage/float']
android	['color/hex8argb', 'relative/pixelValue', 'percentage/float']

Value Transforms

Value transforms are used to conditionaly transform the value of a property. Below are the value transforms that ship with Theo along with the predicate that triggers them.

Name	Predicate	Description
color/rgb	prop.type === 'color'	Convert to rgb
color/hex	prop.type === 'color'	Convert to hex
color/hex8rgba	prop.type === 'color'	Convert to hex8rgba
color/hex8argb	prop.type === 'color'	Convert to hex8argb
percentage/float	/%/.test(prop.value)	Convert a percentage to a decimal percentage
relative/pixel	isRelativeSpacing	Convert a r/em value to a pixel value
relative/pixelValue	isRelativeSpacing	Convert a r/em value to a pixel value (excluding the px suffix)

Custom Transforms / Value Transforms

/*
{
  CUSTOM_EASING: {
    type: 'easing',
    value: [1,2,3,4]
  }
}
*/

theo.registerValueTransform(
  // Name to be used with registerTransform()
  "easing/web",
  // Determine if the value transform
  // should be run on the specified prop
  prop => prop.get("type") === "easing",
  // Return the new value
  prop => {
    const [x1, y1, x2, y2] = prop.get("value").toArray();
    return `cubic-bezier(${x1}, ${y1}, ${x2}, ${y2})`;
  }
);

// Override the default "web" transform
theo.registerTransform("web", ["color/rgb", "easing/web"]);

Formats

Theo ships with the following predefined formats.

custom-properties.css

:root {
  /* If prop has 'comment' key, that value will go here. */
  --prop-name: PROP_VALUE;
}

cssmodules.css

/* If prop has 'comment' key, that value will go here. */
@value prop-name: PROP_VALUE;

scss

// If prop has 'comment' key, that value will go here.
$prop-name: PROP_VALUE;

sass

// If prop has 'comment' key, that value will go here.
$prop-name: PROP_VALUE

less

// If prop has 'comment' key, that value will go here.
@prop-name: PROP_VALUE;

styl

// If prop has 'comment' key, that value will go here.
$prop-name = PROP_VALUE

map.scss

$file-name-map: (
  // If prop has 'comment' key, that value will go here.
  "prop-name": (PROP_VALUE),
);

map.variables.scss

$file-name-map: (
  // If prop has 'comment' key, that value will go here.
  "prop-name": ($prop-name)
);

list.scss

$file-name-list: (
  // If prop has 'comment' key, that value will go here.
  "prop-name"
);

module.js

// If prop has 'comment' key, that value will go here.
export const propName = "PROP_VALUE";

common.js

module.exports = {
  // If prop has 'comment' key, that value will go here.
  propName: "PROP_VALUE"
};

html

// When passing "format" options to theo.convert(), this format can be
// passed with an additional options object.
let formatOptions = {
  type: "html",
  options: {
    transformPropName: name => name.toUpperCase()
  }
};

Configurable options

Option	Type	Default	Description
transformPropName	function	lodash/camelCase	Converts name to camel case.

Supported categories

Tokens are grouped by category then categories are conditionally rendered under a human-friendly display name. Tokens with category values not in this list will still be converted and included in the generated output for all other formats.

Category	Friendly Name
spacing	Spacing
sizing	Sizing
font	Fonts
font-style	Font Styles
font-weight	Font Weights
font-size	Font Sizes
line-height	Line Heights
font-family	Font Families
border-style	Border Styles
border-color	Border Colors
radius	Radius
border-radius	Border Radii
hr-color	Horizontal Rule Colors
background-color	Background Colors
gradient	Gradients
background-gradient	Background Gradients
drop-shadow	Drop Shadows
box-shadow	Box Shadows
inner-shadow	Inner Drop Shadows
text-color	Text Colors
text-shadow	Text Shadows
time	Time
media-query	Media Queries

json

{
  "PROP_NAME": "PROP_VALUE"
}

raw.json

{
  props: {
    PROP_NAME: {
      value: "PROP_VALUE",
      type: "PROP_TYPE",
      category: "PROP_CATEGORY"
    }
  }
}

ios.json

{
  properties: [
    {
      name: "propName",
      value: "PROP_VALUE",
      type: "PROP_TYPE",
      category: "PROP_CATEGORY"
    }
  ]
}

android.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
  <color name="PROP_NAME" category="PROP_CATEGORY">PROP_VALUE</color>
  <dimen name="PROP_NAME" category="PROP_CATEGORY">PROP_VALUE</dimen>
  <string name="PROP_NAME" category="PROP_CATEGORY">PROP_VALUE</string>
  <integer name="PROP_NAME" category="PROP_CATEGORY">PROP_VALUE</integer>
  <property name="PROP_NAME" category="PROP_CATEGORY">PROP_VALUE</property>
</resources>

aura.tokens

<aura:tokens>
  <aura:token name="propName" value="PROP_VALUE" />
</aura:tokens>

Custom Format (Handlebars)

const theo = require("theo");

theo.registerFormat(
  "array.js",
  `
  // Source: {{stem meta.file}}
  module.exports = [
    {{#each props as |prop|}}
      {{#if prop.comment}}{{{commoncomment prop.comment}}}{{/if}}
      ['{{camelcase prop.name}}', '{{prop.value}}'],
    {{/each}}
  ]
`
);

A plethora of handlebars helpers, such as camelcase and stem, are available and will assist in formatting strings in templates.

Custom Format (function)

You may also register a format using a function:

const camelCase = require("lodash/camelCase");
const path = require("path");
const theo = require("theo");

theo.registerFormat("array.js", result => {
  // "result" is an Immutable.Map
  // https://facebook.github.io/immutable-js/
  return `
    module.exports = [
      // Source: ${path.basename(result.getIn(["meta", "file"]))}
      ${result
        .get("props")
        .map(
          prop => `
        ['${camelCase(prop.get("name"))}', '${prop.get("value")}'],
      `
        )
        .toJS()}
    ]
  `;
});

API

type ConvertOptions = {
  transform: TransformOptions,
  format: FormatOptions,
  /*
    This option configures theo to resolve aliases. It is set (true) by default and
    currently CANNOT be disabled.
  */
  resolveAliases?: boolean,

  // This option configures theo to resolve aliases in metadata. This is off (false) by default.
  resolveMetaAliases?: boolean
}

type TransformOptions = {
  // If no "type" is specified, values will not be transformed
  type?: string,
  // Path to a token file
  // or just a filename if using the "data" option
  file: string,
  // Pass in a data string instead of reading from a file
  data?: string
}

type FormatOptions = {
  type: string,
  // Available to the format function/template
  options?: object
}

type Prop = Immutable.Map
type Result = Immutable.Map

theo.convert(options: ConvertOptions): Promise<string>

theo.convertSync(options: ConvertOptions): string

theo.registerFormat(
  name: string,
  // Either a handlebars template string
  // or a function that returns a string
  format: string | (result: Result) => string
): void

theo.registerValueTransform(
  // Referenced in "registerTransform"
  name: string,
  // Indicate if the transform should run for the provided prop
  predicate: (prop: Prop) => boolean,
  // Return the new "value"
  transform: (prop: Prop) => any
): void

theo.registerTransform(
  name: string,
  // An array of registered value transforms
  valueTransforms: Array<string>
): void

CLI

Please refer to the documentation of the CLI

Design Tokens

Theo consumes Design Token files which are a central location to store design related information such as colors, fonts, widths, animations, etc. These raw values can then be transformed and formatted to meet the needs of any platform.

Let's say you have a web, native iOS, and native Android application that would like to share information such as background colors.

The web might like to consume the colors as hsla values formatted as Sass variables in an .scss file.

iOS might like rgba values formatted as .json.

Finally, Android might like 8 Digit Hex (AARRGGBB) values formatted as .xml.

Instead of hard coding this information in each platform/format, Theo can consume the centralized Design Tokens and output files for each platform.

Spec

A Design Token file is written in either JSON (JSON5 supported) or YAML and should conform to the following spec:

{
  // Required
  // A map of property names and value objects
  props: {
    color_brand: {
      // Required
      // Can be any valid JSON value
      value: "#ff0000",

      // Required
      // Describe the type of value
      // [color|number|...]
      type: "color",

      // Required
      // Describe the category of this property
      // Often used for style guide generation
      category: "background",

      // Optional
      // This value will be included during transform
      // but excluded during formatting
      meta: {
        // This value might be needed for some special transform
        foo: "bar"
      }
    }
  },

  // Optional
  // Alternatively, you can define props as an array
  // Useful for maintaining source order in output tokens
  props: [
    {
      // Required
      name: "color_brand"

      // All other properties same as above
    }
  ],

  // Optional
  // This object will be merged into each property
  // Values defined on a property level will take precedence
  global: {
    category: "some-category",
    meta: {
      foo: "baz"
    }
  },

  // Optional
  // Share values across multiple props
  // Aliases are resolved like: {!sky}
  aliases: {
    sky: "blue",
    grass: {
      value: "green",
      yourMetadata: "How grass looks"
    }
  },

  // Optional
  // Array of design token files to be imported
  // "aliases" will be imported as well
  // "aliases" will already be resolved
  // "global" will already be merged into each prop
  // Imports resolve according to the Node.js module resolution algorithm:
  // https://nodejs.org/api/modules.html#modules_all_together
  imports: [
    // Absolute file path
    "/home/me/file.json",
    // Relative file path: resolves from the directory of the file where the import occurs
    "./some/dir/file.json",
    // Module path
    "some-node-module"
  ]
}