Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
DESIGN.md is a structured text file that gives AI agents a persistent understanding of a design system. Originally introduced in Stitch, it has outgrown any single tool and is now available as an open-source draft specification. In this video, Google Labs' David East breaks down how DESIGN.md changes the way AI interacts with design. By combining human-readable reasoning (the "why") with exact code values (the "hex codes") in a single file, DESIGN.md teaches agents to treat design tokens as semantic roles rather than just variables. You'll also see how other tools can read this format, and how the new CLI linter allows AI agents to automatically validate their own design updates against WCAG accessibility standards before writing code.
Resources:
See what you can do with Stitch → https://goo.gle/4e0yvTF
See more on GitHub → https://goo.gle/4cCRtgG
Subscribe to Google for Developers → https://goo.gle/developers
Speaker: David East
Products Mentioned: Google AI, Google Stitch
DESIGN.md is a structured text file that gives AI agents a persistent understanding of a design system. Originally introduced in Stitch, it has outgrown any single tool and is now available as an open-source draft specification. In this video, Google Labs' David East breaks down how DESIGN.md changes the way AI interacts with design. By combining human-readable reasoning (the "why") with exact code values (the "hex codes") in a single file, DESIGN.md teaches agents to treat design tokens as semantic roles rather than just variables. You'll also see how other tools can read this format, and how the new CLI linter allows AI agents to automatically validate their own design updates against WCAG accessibility standards before writing code.
Resources:
See what you can do with Stitch → https://goo.gle/4e0yvTF
See more on GitHub → https://goo.gle/4cCRtgG
Subscribe to Google for Developers → https://goo.gle/developers
Speaker: David East
Products Mentioned: Google AI, Google Stitch
