# W3C Design Tokens format

Tokens and data. Reviewed November 9, 2026. https://bestaidesignsystems.com/glossary/w3c-design-tokens-format/

## Answer in brief

The W3C Design Tokens format is the file format for design tokens published by the Design Tokens Community Group at the W3C: JSON in which each design token has a `$value`, a `$type` and an optional `$description`, and can point at another design token. Version 2025.10 is a stable Final Community Group Report, not a W3C Standard. It is often shortened to DTCG, after the group.

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.

## Where the term shows up

In a design system’s docs and package files, the format shows in two places: a `$schema` line that names designtokens.org, and keys that start with a dollar sign. IBM Carbon’s theme files have both. A file with `value` and `type` without the dollar sign is in an older format, such as the one Style Dictionary used in its version 3.

## What to ask of a design system

Ask which format its design token files follow, and which version of it. "JSON" on its own says a program can read the file, not that every tool reads it the same way. The [directory entry](https://bestaidesignsystems.com/directory/w3c-design-tokens-format/) covers what the format settles and which of the 12 rated systems follow it.

## Questions & answers

### Why is it called DTCG?

The letters are the Design Tokens Community Group’s, the W3C community group that writes the format. Tools such as Style Dictionary and Tokens Studio name the format DTCG in their settings and docs.

## Sources for this entry

1. [Design Tokens Format Module 2025.10](https://www.designtokens.org/tr/2025.10/format/): The format’s keys, its status as a Final Community Group Report, and that it is not a W3C Standard. Checked November 9, 2026.
2. [Style Dictionary and the DTCG format](https://styledictionary.com/info/dtcg/): A build tool naming the format DTCG, and its older format with `value` and `type`. Checked November 9, 2026.
3. [Tokens Studio, token format setting](https://docs.tokens.studio/manage-settings/token-format): A design tool’s setting that names the format W3C DTCG. Checked November 9, 2026.

## Continue this reading path

- [The W3C Design Tokens format](https://bestaidesignsystems.com/directory/w3c-design-tokens-format/)
- [Design tokens as data, in the W3C community format](https://bestaidesignsystems.com/design-tokens-as-data/)
- [Semantic token](https://bestaidesignsystems.com/glossary/semantic-token/)
- [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. “W3C Design Tokens format.” Reviewed November 9, 2026. https://bestaidesignsystems.com/glossary/w3c-design-tokens-format/

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