DESIGN.md vs. MCP: Which One Your Agent Actually Needs
1607 次观看 · 2026-09-21
UI 设计
Most design systems live somewhere an agent can't read: a Figma file, a Confluence page, a UI kit only developers can install. DESIGN.md is Google's open spec for closing that gap, and in this episode of Intent & Craft, Billy Sweetman sits down with Tim Gremore, Development Lead at Headway, to talk about what Headway has learned running it on real client design systems.
Tim covers the shortest useful version of a DESIGN.md file, which parts of the spec Headway skipped and why, and why the crew points its design system MCPs at the file instead of generating the file from a component library. They also get into Atlassian's published test results and what those numbers actually measure, plus the new group showing up as design system users: people building slide decks, landing pages, internal tools, and dashboards with no designer or developer on their team.
Still deciding between a DESIGN.md and a full MCP for your design system? If you want agents actually pulling from your real tokens and components, that's what we build. Custom design system MCPs that put your system in every AI tool, with way less drift and fewer tokens: https://www.headway.io/service/design-system-mcp
More on how we approach it: https://www.headway.io/events/design-system-mcps
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:11 Tim's background and DESIGN.md overview
02:40 What DESIGN.md is trying to solve
05:08 The shortest useful version of a DESIGN.md file
08:26 New design system customers and generative UI
10:39 DESIGN.md vs. MCP: source of truth approaches
14:40 Where design philosophy instructions belong
20:58 Atlassian's test results on DESIGN.md
23:12 When DESIGN.md becomes the whole design system
25:35 Evolving from DESIGN.md to MCP
29:12 DESIGN.md for slide decks and newsletters
29:58 Managing governance and contribution
36:40 Where to start with DESIGN.md
Links:
DESIGN.md on GitHub: https://github.com/google-labs-code/design.md
DESIGN.md vs. a Design System MCP: https://www.headway.io/blog/designmd-vs-design-system-mcp
The 5 Levels of an AI-Ready Design System: https://www.headway.io/blog/the-5-levels-of-an-ai-ready-design-system
Design systems at Headway: https://www.headway.io/service/design-systems
Connect with Tim Gremore: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timgremore/
Connect with Billy Sweetman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sweetman/
Follow Headway on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/headwayio/
The Manifest newsletter: https://www.headway.io/the-manifest
Tim covers the shortest useful version of a DESIGN.md file, which parts of the spec Headway skipped and why, and why the crew points its design system MCPs at the file instead of generating the file from a component library. They also get into Atlassian's published test results and what those numbers actually measure, plus the new group showing up as design system users: people building slide decks, landing pages, internal tools, and dashboards with no designer or developer on their team.
Still deciding between a DESIGN.md and a full MCP for your design system? If you want agents actually pulling from your real tokens and components, that's what we build. Custom design system MCPs that put your system in every AI tool, with way less drift and fewer tokens: https://www.headway.io/service/design-system-mcp
More on how we approach it: https://www.headway.io/events/design-system-mcps
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:11 Tim's background and DESIGN.md overview
02:40 What DESIGN.md is trying to solve
05:08 The shortest useful version of a DESIGN.md file
08:26 New design system customers and generative UI
10:39 DESIGN.md vs. MCP: source of truth approaches
14:40 Where design philosophy instructions belong
20:58 Atlassian's test results on DESIGN.md
23:12 When DESIGN.md becomes the whole design system
25:35 Evolving from DESIGN.md to MCP
29:12 DESIGN.md for slide decks and newsletters
29:58 Managing governance and contribution
36:40 Where to start with DESIGN.md
Links:
DESIGN.md on GitHub: https://github.com/google-labs-code/design.md
DESIGN.md vs. a Design System MCP: https://www.headway.io/blog/designmd-vs-design-system-mcp
The 5 Levels of an AI-Ready Design System: https://www.headway.io/blog/the-5-levels-of-an-ai-ready-design-system
Design systems at Headway: https://www.headway.io/service/design-systems
Connect with Tim Gremore: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timgremore/
Connect with Billy Sweetman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sweetman/
Follow Headway on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/headwayio/
The Manifest newsletter: https://www.headway.io/the-manifest