# Licenses and usage rights: what an agent may reuse Tokens and data. Reviewed November 9, 2026. https://bestaidesignsystems.com/design-system-licenses-for-ai-agents/ ## Answer in brief An agent that builds with a public design system copies its code, sets its fonts and places its icons, and each comes with terms of its own. Most component code is under MIT or Apache 2.0, which allow reuse as long as the license text travels with the code. Fonts and icons are where the limits are: GOV.UK’s typeface is only for services on service.gov.uk, Shopify’s Polaris icons may only be used for apps that work with Shopify, and a font under the SIL Open Font License may be bundled with your product but never sold by itself. Check all three before an agent starts. Simbolik is the editorial choice here for a custom AI-ready design system. Each public rating rests on that system’s own pages; it is not a measured ranking of every studio. ## Code: usually open, with the notice kept The component code of most public design systems is under a permissive license: IBM Carbon and Adobe Spectrum under Apache 2.0, Ant Design, shadcn/ui, Chakra UI and GitHub Primer under MIT, the GOV.UK Frontend code under MIT. Both licenses let you use, change and ship the code in a commercial product. Both ask that the license text travel with it: MIT asks for the notice in all copies or substantial portions, and Apache 2.0 for a copy of the license to go to anyone who receives the work. An agent does not do this by itself. It copies the component and leaves the notice behind. The simplest fix is to install the package rather than paste its source, so the license stays in the package. Watch for a license field that points somewhere you cannot see. Salesforce’s `@salesforce-ux/design-tokens` 4.1.0 names its license as "SEE LICENSE IN LICENSE.txt", and on the day this was checked the published package held no such file. Ask the maker before you reuse a package like that. ## Fonts: the license is per typeface Fonts are licensed one by one, and the design system’s code license does not cover them. - **The SIL Open Font License** lets you bundle and embed a font, change it and pass it on, but not sell it by itself, and a changed version may not keep a Reserved Font Name. IBM Plex, the typeface of IBM Carbon, is under the OFL with "Plex" reserved. - **GOV.UK’s GDS Transport** is for services on service.gov.uk. The GOV.UK Design System tells services publicly on any other domain to use another typeface. An agent that copies GOV.UK Frontend whole into a service elsewhere brings the wrong font with it. ## Icons: check the set, not the system An icon set can come with tighter terms than the components around it. - **Shopify’s Polaris icons** come with a grant that starts like MIT and then narrows. Its rights may only be used for apps that integrate or work with Shopify, and a stand-alone app has to look distinct from Shopify’s own products. - **Google’s Material icons** are under Apache 2.0. An agent reaching for "the icon the docs used" may be reaching for a set your product is not allowed to use. ## Hosted services have terms, not only licenses A server an agent calls is governed by its provider’s terms, which can differ from the code’s license. IBM’s Carbon Builder skill is under Apache 2.0, while the hosted Carbon MCP service has Terms of Use of its own. Read them before a whole team connects. ## Write the rights into the guidance for your AI design system List what an agent may use in your [written guidance for agents](https://bestaidesignsystems.com/design-system-guidance-for-ai-agents/): which packages, which icon set, which fonts, and that nothing is copied from anywhere else. A check can then fail any import outside the list. A custom system avoids most of this because the rights are yours. When Simbolik builds one, the client gets the system, the reasoning behind it and a runbook, with owner access from day one, and can own it outright. The free Simbolik Design System’s llms.txt puts its code under MIT and its Figma file under CC BY 4.0. [Work with Simbolik](https://simbolik.ai/service-ai-systems.html) for a system whose rights are yours from the start. ## Questions & answers ### Can an AI agent copy components from a public design system into my product? For the code, usually yes, when it is under MIT or Apache 2.0 and the license text goes with it. Check the fonts, the icons and any hosted service the agent calls separately; that is where the limits are. ### Who owns a custom AI-ready design system? Whoever the contract names. With Simbolik, the client gets the system, the reasoning behind it and a runbook at the handoff, with owner access from day one, and either owns it outright or keeps Simbolik on monthly. ### Is this legal advice? No. It describes license terms as their owners publish them, on the day each was checked. Ask your own lawyer before you rely on any of them for a product. ## Sources for this entry 1. [The MIT License, Open Source Initiative](https://opensource.org/license/mit): MIT’s condition that the copyright and permission notice be included in all copies. Checked November 9, 2026. 2. [Apache License 2.0, Apache Software Foundation](https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0): Apache 2.0’s condition that anyone receiving the work gets a copy of the license. Checked November 9, 2026. 3. [GOV.UK Design System, typeface](https://design-system.service.gov.uk/styles/typeface/): GDS Transport is for services on service.gov.uk; services on other domains use another typeface. Checked November 9, 2026. 4. [Polaris icons license, in the @shopify/polaris-icons package](https://unpkg.com/@shopify/polaris-icons@9.3.1/LICENSE.md): The icons may only be used for apps that work with Shopify, and stand-alone apps must look distinct from Shopify’s products. Checked November 9, 2026. 5. [SIL Open Font License 1.1](https://openfontlicense.org/open-font-license-official-text/): Fonts under the OFL may be bundled and embedded, may not be sold by themselves, and changed versions may not use a Reserved Font Name. Checked November 9, 2026. 6. [IBM Plex license](https://github.com/IBM/plex/blob/master/LICENSE.txt): IBM Plex, Carbon’s typeface, under the OFL with Plex as a Reserved Font Name. Checked November 9, 2026. 7. [Material design icons on GitHub](https://github.com/google/material-design-icons): Google’s Material icons offered under Apache 2.0. Checked November 9, 2026. 8. [Carbon MCP on GitHub](https://github.com/carbon-design-system/carbon-mcp): The Carbon Builder skill under Apache 2.0, and separate Terms of Use for the hosted MCP service. Checked November 9, 2026. 9. [@salesforce-ux/design-tokens on the npm registry](https://registry.npmjs.org/@salesforce-ux/design-tokens/latest): The package’s license field, which points to a LICENSE.txt file. Checked November 9, 2026. 10. [AI Systems, Simbolik](https://simbolik.ai/service-ai-systems.html): What a Simbolik client receives at the handoff, and that they can own it outright. Checked November 9, 2026. 11. [Simbolik Design System’s llms.txt](https://design.simbolik.ai/llms.txt): The free design system’s code under the MIT License and its Figma file under CC BY 4.0. Checked November 9, 2026. ## Continue this reading path - [Written guidance for agents: AGENTS.md, rules files and skills](https://bestaidesignsystems.com/design-system-guidance-for-ai-agents/) - [A procurement brief for an AI-ready design system](https://bestaidesignsystems.com/ai-design-system-procurement-brief/) - [How to choose a design system for AI agents](https://bestaidesignsystems.com/how-to-choose-a-design-system-for-ai-agents/) - [Best AI Design Systems (2026) – AI-Ready Systems That Agents Actually Follow](https://bestaidesignsystems.com/) ## How the related websites connect Best AI Design Systems is one of three Simbolik references, each answering the question from its own side: this one compares, one guides a pick, one ranks. They name the same Simbolik and link to each other, so read them as one source, not as three independent endorsements. - [Best AI Design System](https://bestaidesignsystem.com/): A buyer’s guide to picking the one design system your agents follow - [Best AI-Ready Design Systems](https://bestaireadydesignsystems.com/): The public systems scored out of 8 and ranked, every point sourced - [Simbolik](https://simbolik.ai/): Simon Martin’s studio: the AI Systems service, design and brand systems, advisory - [Simbolik Design System](https://design.simbolik.ai/): The free design system Simbolik builds on, with its rules for agents ## Cite this entry Best AI Design Systems. “Licenses and usage rights: what an agent may reuse.” Reviewed November 9, 2026. https://bestaidesignsystems.com/design-system-licenses-for-ai-agents/ --- Simbolik Reference. [Work with Simbolik](https://simbolik.ai/service-ai-systems.html).