Carbon Design System

Build UIs conforming to IBM's Carbon Design System v11. Carbon provides a token-based, accessible, enterprise-grade component library.

Rendering Context

Determine the output target before writing code.

HTML Artifacts (no build pipeline)

Use pre-built CSS via CDN. Add to <head>:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://unpkg.com/@carbon/styles/css/styles.css" />
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=IBM+Plex+Sans:wght@300;400;600&family=IBM+Plex+Mono:wght@400;600&display=swap" />

Apply Carbon classes to HTML elements. See references/html-classes.md.

React Artifacts

@carbon/react is not in Claude's default artifact environment. For React artifacts, load the CDN CSS above and apply Carbon class names to standard HTML/JSX elements. The visual output is identical.

Full Projects (file creation)

npm install @carbon/react sass

import { Button } from '@carbon/react';
// Styles: @use '@carbon/react'; in root SCSS

Requires Dart Sass. All styles, components, icons ship in the single @carbon/react package.

Design Foundations

Typography

Always use IBM Plex. Never substitute.

Role	Family	Weights
Body, UI	IBM Plex Sans	300, 400, 600
Code	IBM Plex Mono	400, 600
Editorial	IBM Plex Serif	300, 400, 600

Color Themes

Theme	Background	Context
White	`#ffffff`	Default light
g10	`#f4f4f4`	Subtle light
g90	`#262626`	Dark
g100	`#161616`	High-contrast dark

Primary action: Blue 60 #0f62fe. See references/tokens.md for full palette.

Spacing

8px base grid, 2px mini-unit. Component spacing: 2, 4, 8, 12, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48 px. Layout spacing: 16, 24, 32, 48, 64, 96, 160 px.

2x Grid

Breakpoint	Width	Columns	Margin
sm	320px	4	0
md	672px	8	16px
lg	1056px	16	16px
xlg	1312px	16	16px
max	1584px	16	24px

Grid classes: cds--grid, cds--row, cds--col, cds--col-sm-N, cds--col-md-N, cds--col-lg-N.

Motion

Token	Duration	Use
fast-01	70ms	Micro-interactions
fast-02	110ms	Toggle, expand
moderate-01	150ms	Buttons, fields
moderate-02	240ms	Modal, dropdown
slow-01	400ms	Page transitions
slow-02	700ms	Complex choreography

Standard easing: cubic-bezier(0.2, 0, 0.38, 0.9). Entrance: cubic-bezier(0, 0, 0.38, 0.9). Exit: cubic-bezier(0.2, 0, 1, 0.9).

References

Component HTML classes and usage: references/html-classes.md
Full design token values: references/tokens.md

Read the appropriate reference when building specific components or when exact token values are needed.

Implementation Checklist

IBM Plex loaded (Sans minimum; Mono for code)
Theme class applied: cds--white, cds--g10, cds--g90, or cds--g100
Correct prefix: cds-- (v11). Never bx-- (v10 legacy)
Grid layout: cds--grid > cds--row > cds--col-*
Spacing from scale only — no arbitrary pixel values
Focus states preserved — 2px blue outline
Color by role via tokens, not raw hex
Icons at Carbon sizes: 16, 20, 24, 32px

Common Patterns

Page Shell

<div class="cds--white" style="min-height:100vh">
  <header class="cds--header" role="banner">
    <a class="cds--header__name" href="#">[App Name]</a>
  </header>
  <div class="cds--grid" style="padding-top:3rem">
    <div class="cds--row">
      <div class="cds--col-lg-3"><!-- Side nav --></div>
      <div class="cds--col-lg-13"><!-- Content --></div>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>

Theme Nesting

<div class="cds--g100"><!-- dark header --></div>
<div class="cds--white"><!-- light body --></div>

Data Dashboard

Combine cds--tile containers for metric cards with cds--data-table for tabular data, all within the 2x grid.

Anti-Patterns

Non-IBM Plex fonts
bx-- prefix (v10; use cds-- for v11)
Arbitrary border-radius (Carbon: 0px default, 4px for tags/pills only)
Drop shadows on components that lack them in spec
Overriding focus ring styles
Colors outside the Carbon palette
Spacing values not on the scale

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