YaleSites Tokens

The tokens in this repository are direct exports from Figma. Style Dictionary runs on PRs to automatically generate the platform-specific implementation files. e.g., tokens.scss for web projects.

Updating tokens

There are two ways to create and edit tokens in this repo. This first is through Figma, i.e. using the Figma Tokens plugin documented below. The second is to hand-craft tokens. This is necessary when you need to combine tokens to create things like the font styles, which combine font size/weight/line-height/family/etc. into one string that can be implemented by CSS. There are also cases like in tokens/base/color where combinations of tokens are crafted (but always referencing tokens from Figma) to make implementation in platforms easier.

Two files should rarely, if ever, be touched by hand.

• tokens/figma-export/tokens.json is generated by the Figma Tokens plugin, and is expected to be a two-way sync between this repo, and the Figma app. The only time you might edit this manually, is if the plugin is too slow, and you are sure you can follow the expected structure so that tokens you write will be properly imported into Figma on the next sync. One way to do this is to create one token through the Figma Tokens UI, and then copy the json from the plugin, and paste it into this file. Then you can iterate on that to quickly generate the additional needed tokens.
• tokens/figma-transformed-tokens.json, on the other hand, should NEVER be manually edited. It is a generated file based on the figma-export tokens file. If you need it updted, run npm run build and you'll have your new tokens. If you do change anything in this file, it'll be completely overwritten the next time the build script is run. So, don't waste your time! :)

Developing on the tokens within the component library

There may be times when you need to create "hand-crafted" tokens, or pull in updates from Figma before they are actually published as a released package. You can use npm link to develop the tokens, and use them in the component library repo.

• Clone the tokens repo to your local machine and move into it git clone git@github.com:yalesites-org/tokens.git && cd tokens
• Run npm install to build the dependencies, and then npm link to create a global link to this folder on your local machine.
• In the component library repo on your local machine, run npm link @yalesites-org/tokens. This will tell the component library to use your locally cloned version of the tokens repo, instead of downloading the package via npm.
• Now, you can make changes in the tokens repo locally, and run the build script to generate the build directory. Any time you do that, your local copy of the component library will use those locally built tokens. This makes it really easy to verify the new tokens are being generated as expected before they are actually published.
• Once the new tokens are "finalized" they should be pushed up to a new PR against the tokens repo, and merged into main to publish them as a new version.
• After that is complete (usually takes a couple minutes), you should run npm update @yalesites-org/tokens in the component library to update the lock file to reference the new release of the tokens. If you skip this step, you'll continue to pull the previous tokens package, without the new tokens.

NOTE: Any time you run npm install the linked package will be replaced with one actually downloaded via npm. This means if you want to work on the tokens locally again, you'll need to re-run npm link @yalesites-org/tokens

Releases

Any time something is changed in the tokens directory and pushed to the main branch on GitHub, a GitHub Action is run to build the Style Dictionary assets and cut a new release.

This is an entirely automated process, so however tokens get updated, whether by Figma, or manually, the release process will be run.

Installation

Prerequisites

Each environment that needs to pull @yalesites-org packages from GitHub needs to be authenticated using a "Personal Access Token". This only needs to be done once per-environment.

• Go to https://github.com/settings/tokens/new
  • In the "Note" field add something like "YaleSites GitHub Packages"
  • Choose an expiration value
  • Check the box for "write:packages" (this will automatically check all of the "repo" boxes as well)
  • Click "Generate token"
• On your local machine, create an environment variable. This process varies depending on the shell and operating system you use. It will be something similar to this though: export KEY=value.
  • The key for YaleSites projects needs to be YALESITES_BUILD_TOKEN
  • The value is the token you created above
• Done!

Installing this package in another project

There must be a .npmrc file in the project root that tells npm to get @yalesites-org packages from GitHub rather than npm.

• Create a .npmrc file in your project root (or modify an existing one) and add the following:

@yalesites-org:registry=https://npm.pkg.github.com

Then you can install the package like any other npm dependency.

npm install @yalesites-org/tokens

Connecting Figma

How get a Github Personal Access Token

1. Go to the Personal Access Tokens section or click on your avatar in the top right, go to Settings > scroll down to Developer Settings > Personal Access Tokens
2. Click "Generate new Token"
3. In the "Note" section, type "YaleSites Deploy Token"
4. Select "repo" for the scope (the very first checkbox)
5. Select a token expiration date (or "No expiration")
6. Scroll down and click Generate token.
7. Copy the token. You will only see this once!

How to set up the Figma Token plugin

1. Install the Figma Tokens plugin.
2. Navigate to the Figma UI Kit and launch the Figma Tokens plugin.
3. Go to Sync and under Token Storage, select GitHub.
4. Click "Add new credentials" and enter the following:
   • Name: YaleSites UI Kit
   • Personal Access Token: (Paste the access token you created above)
   • Repository: yalesites-org/tokens
   • Default Branch: figma
   • File Path: tokens/figma-export/tokens.json
   • baseURL: (leave blank)
   • Click Save