Sapphire Design System (Lightweight Approximation)

This skill teaches you how to build UI that closely matches Danske Bank's Sapphire design system using only CSS custom properties and plain HTML/CSS patterns. No npm packages required.

The real Sapphire system uses @danske/sapphire-react, @danske/sapphire-css, @danske/sapphire-design-tokens, and @danske/sapphire-icons. This skill extracts the essential design tokens, component patterns, and icon catalog so you can replicate the look and feel in any framework (React, Vue, Svelte, plain HTML, etc.).

Quick Start

Every Sapphire-styled page needs two things:

A theme class on a root element - Add class="sapphire-theme-default" to your <body> or root container
The design tokens CSS - Either link to the tokens stylesheet or inline the CSS custom properties

The tokens define everything: colors, spacing, typography, radii, shadows, and control sizes. Components are built by referencing these tokens, which means your entire UI stays consistent and theme-switchable.

<body class="sapphire-theme-default">
  <!-- All Sapphire-styled content goes here -->
</body>

How to Use This Skill

Start with tokens: Read references/tokens.md for the full set of CSS custom properties. Copy the .sapphire-theme-default block into your project's CSS.
Build components: Read only the component reference files you need (see table below). This keeps context lean — not every page needs every component.
Add icons: Read references/icons.md for the complete icon catalog (700+ icons). Icons are simple SVGs that you can inline or reference.

Component References

Components are split into focused files. Read only what your task requires:

File	Components	When to read
`references/core.md`	Surface, Text, Card, Separator, Layout (stack/row/container)	Always — needed for any Sapphire page
`references/buttons.md`	Button (7 variants × 3 sizes, states, icons)	When the UI has buttons or clickable actions
`references/forms.md`	Text Field, Checkbox, Radio, Switch, Select	When the UI has form inputs or settings
`references/feedback.md`	Badge, Alert, Tabs, Dialog/Modal, Avatar	When the UI shows status indicators, navigation tabs, modals, or user avatars

For a typical page, start with core.md + buttons.md. Add forms.md if there are inputs, feedback.md if there are badges/alerts/tabs/dialogs.

Design Principles

Sapphire follows these key principles that you should maintain:

Semantic color tokens: Never hardcode colors. Use semantic tokens like --sapphire-semantic-color-foreground-primary instead of raw hex/hsl values. This ensures theme compatibility (light, dark, contrast modes).
Consistent spacing scale: Use the spacing tokens (--sapphire-semantic-size-spacing-*) for all padding, margins, and gaps. The scale runs from 4xs (0.125rem) to 6xl (4.5rem).
Pill-shaped buttons: Buttons use border-radius equal to their height, creating the signature pill shape.
Subtle interaction states: Hover/active states use semi-transparent overlays via color-mix(), not distinct solid colors. This creates smooth, layered interactions.
Typography hierarchy: Use the heading scale (heading-2xl down to heading-xs) and body scale (body-lg down to body-xs) with the Danske font family (falls back to system sans-serif).
Focus rings: All interactive elements show a 2px solid blue-400 outline on keyboard focus, offset by 2px.
Disabled = 30% opacity: Disabled elements use opacity: 0.3 universally.

Theme Variants

Sapphire has three surface levels plus a contrast (dark) mode. Each adjusts token values:

Class	Background	Use Case
`.sapphire-theme-default`	White	Primary surface
`.sapphire-theme--secondary`	Sand-50	Elevated sections
`.sapphire-theme--tertiary`	Sand-100	Nested containers
`.sapphire-theme--contrast`	Gray-900 (dark)	Dark mode / hero sections

Nest theme classes to create depth. A card on a secondary surface would have the secondary class on the section and the default class on the card itself.

Font

Sapphire uses the proprietary "Danske" font. When approximating without the font files, use a system font stack that matches the geometric sans-serif style:

font-family: 'Danske', -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, sans-serif;

Accessibility

All interactive elements must have visible focus indicators (the focus ring tokens handle this)
Color is never the sole indicator of state - always pair with icons, text, or shape
Minimum touch target size: --sapphire-semantic-size-height-control-sm (2rem / 32px)
Use semantic HTML elements (<button>, <input>, <nav>) - the CSS classes layer on top