design-tools

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Unix Design Toolset

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📋 Table of Contents

• Overview
• Features
• Installation
• Usage
• Configuration
• Documentation
• Contributing
• Roadmap
• Support
• Licence
• Acknowledgements

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🔍 Overview

design-tools is a monorepo containing modular design automation tools and workflows for Unix-like systems. It brings together various design-related projects into a unified ecosystem.

Monorepo Structure

design-tools/
├── design-flows/     # Automated design workflow scripts
│   └── flows/
│       └── vsGen/    # VS Code theme generator
├── themes/           # Theme collections and frameworks
│   └── GTK/          # GTK theme configurations
└── docs/             # Shared documentation

Why design-tools?

Design workflows often require multiple tools working together. This monorepo provides:

• Unified workflow — All tools in one place with consistent interfaces
• Modular architecture — Each tool is self-contained and can be used standalone
• Automated design — Scripts that eliminate repetitive design tasks
• Open source — Community-driven development with UK English spelling

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✨ Features

• 🎨 vsGen - VS Code workspace theme generator with intelligent colour palette expansion
• 🌈 Colour Workflows - WCAG-compliant colour generation with accessibility protection
• 🖌️ Theme Collections - GTK themes and system-wide appearance configurations
• 🔧 Modular Libraries - Reusable Bash libraries for colour manipulation
• 📦 Auto-Install - Dependencies fetched and installed automatically
• 🇬🇧 UK English - Proper spelling throughout (colour, not colour)

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📥 Installation

Prerequisites

• Bash 5.0+
• Git with submodule support
• pastel (auto-installed by vsGen if missing)

Clone with Submodules

# Clone the entire monorepo
git clone --recursive https://github.com/XAOSTECH/design-tools.git
cd design-tools

# Or if already cloned without --recursive
git submodule update --init --recursive

Individual Subprojects

Each subproject can be cloned standalone:

# design-flows only
git clone https://github.com/XAOSTECH/design-flows.git

# themes only
git clone https://github.com/XAOSTECH/themes.git

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🚀 Usage

vsGen — VS Code Theme Generator

cd design-flows/flows/vsGen

# Use a built-in preset
./src/vsGen --preset sakura

# Custom colour combinations
./src/vsGen -p coral -s gold -t skyblue --compl

# High variation with preview
./src/vsGen -p "#ff1493" -s "#ffd700" --variation 0.8 --dry-run

# List all presets
./src/vsGen --list-presets

GTK Themes

cd themes/GTK
# Follow theme-specific installation instructions

Examples

📘 Example 1: Create Custom VS Code Theme

cd design-flows/flows/vsGen
./src/vsGen -p violet -s lime -t cyan -n "My Theme" --compl

Opens in VS Code: ./out/My-Theme-2026-03-05-v1.1.0.code-workspace

📗 Example 2: Update Existing Workspace

./src/vsGen -c project.code-workspace -p coral -s gold --variation 0.8

Updates colour customisations while preserving folder structure.

📙 Example 3: Preview Theme Before Writing

./src/vsGen --preset neon --dry-run -v

Shows colour palette preview with WCAG contrast checks.

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⚙️ Configuration

vsGen Configuration

vsGen accepts configuration via command-line flags:

Option	Description	Default
--primary <COLOUR>	Primary colour	pink
--secondary <COLOUR>	Secondary colour	yellow
--tertiary <COLOUR>	Tertiary colour	lavender
--variation <0-1>	Colour variation level	0.5
--bg-lightness <0-1>	Background darkness	0.12
--compl	Generate complementary colours	disabled

Environment Variables

vsGen will auto-install dependencies if missing. Manual installation:

# Install pastel CLI
cargo install pastel
# or download from https://github.com/sharkdp/pastel/releases

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📚 Documentation

Monorepo Documentation

Document	Location	Description
📖 Monorepo README	Root	Main monorepo documentation
📚 This Document	docs/	Detailed documentation
⚖️ License	Root	GPL-3.0 License

Subproject Documentation

Project	Documentation	Description
design-flows	README	Workflow collection overview
vsGen	README	VS Code theme generator
themes	README	GTK themes and configs

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🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Each subproject has its own contributing guidelines:

• design-flows/CONTRIBUTING.md
• themes/CONTRIBUTING.md

Monorepo Workflow

1. Fork the repository
2. Clone with submodules: git clone --recursive <your-fork>
3. Create feature branch: git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature
4. Make changes in the appropriate submodule
5. Commit with conventional commits:

   git commit -m "feat(vsGen): add new colour preset"

6. Push and open a Pull Request

Submodule Development

# Work in a submodule
cd design-flows
git checkout -b feature/new-flow

# Make changes and commit
git add .
git commit -m "feat: add new flow"
git push origin feature/new-flow

# Update monorepo reference
cd ..
git add design-flows
git commit -m "chore: update design-flows submodule"

See also: Code of Conduct | Security Policy

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🗺️ Roadmap

Completed

• vsGen — VS Code theme generator
• Modular library architecture
• WCAG contrast protection
• 8 built-in colour presets
• Auto-install dependencies
• UK English throughout

Planned

• Additional workflows (icon theme generator, terminal theme generator)
• Web-based colour picker UI
• VS Code extension wrapper
• CI/CD pipeline for theme validation
• Colour palette export formats (ASE, ACO, GPL)

See the open issues for proposed features and known issues.

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💬 Support

• � Issues: GitHub Issues
• 💬 Discussions: GitHub Discussions
• 📖 Documentation: xaostech.github.io/design-tools
• 🐛 Bug Reports: Use issue templates for bug reports
• ✨ Feature Requests: Open a discussion or issue

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📄 Licence

Distributed under the GPL-3.0 License. See LICENSE for more information.

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🙏 Acknowledgements

• pastel — Colour manipulation CLI by @sharkdp
• VS Code — Editor theming platform
• WCAG 2.1 — Accessibility guidelines for contrast ratios

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📚 Documentation • 🐙 GitHub • ⬆️ Back to Top

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