Clerk — decoded design system

clerk.com · light · modern · tailwind · deep decode — measured live

Clerk's design system, decoded live by Mozaika: measured color roles, type scale, buttons with real hover/focus states, motion and the brand's own tokens.

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This is a static, crawlable rendering for search & AI engines. The interactive version — filters, live decode console, copy & export — is at https://mozaika.design/decode/clerk.com.

Decoded design system

Clerk's decoded design system: background #F7F7F8, text #000000, accent #6C47FF, link #131316, primary #747686; type scale h1 64px / h2 32px / body 13px; 4px spacing base; 0px base radius. The single interactive/action color is #6C47FF — used only on interactive or must-notice elements (buttons, links, key highlights), never on large fills.

Color roles

Using these colors

• Action color #6C47FF — the single interactive color; only on things you click or must notice, never large fills.
• accent, button_bg are all #6C47FF — one role, not several (the action color).
• accent #6C47FF — THE accent / action color — interactive & must-notice only (buttons, links, focus, one key highlight); never large fills or backgrounds. Scarcity is what makes it read as designed.
• primary #747686 — a neutral UI color (chips, tags, icon fills, chrome), not the action color (action = #6C47FF).
• link #131316 — reads as a neutral UI color, not a link accent — verify against the reference (action = #6C47FF).
• secondary #5E5F6E — optional secondary accent — LOW decode confidence; use rarely (a status color or a single decorative moment) or omit it entirely. Prefer one accent unless the reference clearly shows two.

Typography

• Heading: Suisse Intl
• Body: Suisse Intl
• Mono: soehneMono
• h1: 64px
• h2: 32px
• body: 13px

Spacing

• base unit: 4px
• scale: 2px, 4px, 6px, 8px, 10px, 12px, 16px, 20px, 24px, 30px

Radii

• base: 0px
• button: 6px

Shadow

rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 0px 0px 0px 0px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 0px 0px 0px 0px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 0px 0px 0px 0px, rgb(108, 71, 255) 0px 0px 0px 0.5px, oklab(0.999994 0.0000455678 0.0000200868 / 0.07) 0px 1px 0px 0px inset, oklab(0.249858 0.00254684 -0.00901374 / 0.2) 0px 1px 3px 0px

Motion

Micro-interactions run at 500ms (dominant) with cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 0.2, 1).

• durations: 500ms · 300ms · 150ms
• easings: cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 0.2, 1) · cubic-bezier(0.4, 0.36, 0, 1)
• animated properties: border-color, color, background-color, text-decoration-color

Native design tokens

…and 110 more measured on the page.

Button states (measured)

• primary focus: outline 2px solid rgb(19, 19, 22)

Layout (measured)

• container max-width: 1280px
• nav: 42px sticky
• common grid: 3 columns

Motion choreography (measured)

Load order: svg.ml-2 → svg.ml-2 → svg.-ml-2.5 → svg.-ml-2.5 → div.w-full

Scroll reveal: 14 elements rest at opacity 0, translateY(-104px), animate in over 0.5s cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 0.2, 1).

Overlay recipe (measured)

dialog panel: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) · radius 0px · enter 300ms ease-out

Responsive (measured)

• mobile (390px): hero 32px · nav hamburger

Install it

Drop this measured system into any shadcn/Tailwind project in one command:

npx shadcn add mozaika.design/r/decode/clerk.com

registry item · or query it over MCP: get_design_system("Clerk")

Export: DESIGN.md

# Clerk — Design System

> light, modern, medium, tailwind — deep decode (measured live)

## Colors

| Role | Value |
|------|-------|
| bg | `#F7F7F8` |
| surface | `#E8E8E9` |
| border | `#D1D1D2` |
| text | `#000000` |
| text_muted | `#5D5D5E` |
| primary | `#747686` |
| accent | `#6C47FF` |
| link | `#131316` |
| secondary | `#5E5F6E` |
| button_bg | `#6C47FF` |
| button_text | `#FFFFFF` |

**Using these colors**

- **Action color** `#6C47FF` — the single interactive color; it appears only on things you click or must notice (buttons, key highlights), never on large fills or backgrounds.
- `accent`, `button_bg` are all `#6C47FF` — one role, not several (your action color).
- **accent** `#6C47FF` — THE accent / action color — interactive & must-notice only (buttons, links, focus, one key highlight); never large fills or backgrounds. Scarcity is what makes it read as designed.
- **primary** `#747686` — a neutral UI color (chips, tags, icon fills, chrome), not the action color (action = #6C47FF).
- **link** `#131316` — reads as a neutral UI color, not a link accent — verify against the reference (action = #6C47FF).
- **secondary** `#5E5F6E` — optional secondary accent — LOW decode confidence; use rarely (a status color or a single decorative moment) or omit it entirely. Prefer one accent unless the reference clearly shows two.
- **Page coverage** (full-page screenshot pixels): `#FFFFFF` 89.8% · `#908F95` 10.2%

## Typography

- Heading: **Suisse Intl** _(free fallback: Newsreader)_
- Body: **Suisse Intl** _(free fallback: Newsreader)_
- Mono: **soehneMono** _(measured)_

| Role | Size / weight · line-height · tracking |
|------|------------------------------------------|
| hero | 64px / 700 · lh 72px · tracking -1.6px |
| h2 | 32px / 600 · lh 40px · tracking -0.48px |
| h3 | 22px / 600 · lh 28px |
| body | 13px / 500 · lh 18px |
| small | 12px / 500 · lh 18px |
| eyebrow | 12px / 600 · tracking 1.2px |

- Weight ladder: 400 · 450 · 500 · 600 · 700 — use these exact measured weights, not the 400/600 defaults.

> **Fonts —** Suisse Intl may be proprietary — safe free fallback: Newsreader (Google Fonts).

## Spacing
- base unit: 4px (inferred from the measured scale)
- measured scale: 2px, 4px, 6px, 8px, 10px, 12px, 16px, 20px, 24px, 30px — snap all gaps/padding to these
- section rhythm: 128px top/bottom padding per section (measured)

## Radius
- base: 0px
- button: 6px
- card: 6px
- pill: 9999px
- sharp: 3px

## Buttons

| Button | Fill / text | Border | Radius | Padding | Font | Shadow |
|--------|-------------|--------|--------|---------|------|--------|
| primary | `#6C47FF` / `#FFFFFF` | none | 6px | 0px 12px 0px 12px | 500 13px | rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 0px 0px 0px 0px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 0px 0px 0px 0px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 0px 0px 0px 0px, rgb(108, 71, 255) 0px 0px 0px 0.5px, oklab(0.999994 0.0000455678 0.0000200868 / 0.07) 0px 1px 0px 0px inset, oklab(0.249858 0.00254684 -0.00901374 / 0.2) 0px 1px 3px 0px |
| secondary | `#FFFFFF` / `#131316` | none | 6px | 0px 10px 0px 10px | 500 13px | none |

**States (measured, not guessed)**

- primary focus: outline `2px solid rgb(19, 19, 22)`
- transition: `color 0.3s cubic-bezier(0.4, 0.36, 0, 1)`

## Motion
- durations: 500ms (dominant) · 300ms · 150ms
- easings: `cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 0.2, 1)` (dominant) · `cubic-bezier(0.4, 0.36, 0, 1)`
- animated properties: border-color, color, background-color, text-decoration-color

Micro-interactions use the dominant duration + easing; nothing on the page animates slower than the longest duration above — don't invent springier motion.

## Their own tokens (verbatim from :root)

| Token | Value |
|-------|-------|
| `--color-purple-200` | `#d7d4ff` |
| `--color-zinc-100` | `lab(96.1634% .0993311 -.364041)` |
| `--typography-link` | `#131316` |
| `--color-slate-200` | `lab(91.7353% -.998765 -4.76968)` |
| `--color-sky-500` | `#00aee3` |
| `--color-pink-500` | `lab(56.9303% 76.8162 -8.07021)` |
| `--color-orange-600` | `#ea520c` |
| `--color-red-900` | `#7f1d1d` |
| `--typography-heavy` | `#131316` |
| `--color-orange-800` | `#9a2f12` |
| `--color-neutral-600` | `lab(34.924% 0 0)` |
| `--color-blue-700` | `#1d4ed8` |

_…and 108 more measured on the page._

Prefer these names when extending their system — it's the brand's actual vocabulary.

## Layout (measured)
- container max 1280px · common grid: 3-col
- nav: 42px sticky

| Section (y) | Height | Cols | Gap | Pad y | Split |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 | 598 | — | — | 192/128 | — |
| 753 | 1073 | — | — | 0/0 | — |
| 1826 | 1906 | 3 | — | 128/172 | 7/86/7 |
| 3732 | 893 | 3 | 8 | 128/0 | — |
| 4625 | 890 | 2 | 80 | 128/172 | 34/66 |

## Motion choreography (measured)
Load order: `svg.ml-2` @0ms → `svg.ml-2` @0ms → `svg.-ml-2.5` @0ms → `svg.-ml-2.5` @0ms → `div.w-full` @147ms
- `div.absolute` — transform translate3d(4rem, 2rem, 0px)→translate3d(3rem, 7rem, 0px) — 600ms cubic-bezier(0.22, 1, 0.36, 1)
- `div.w-full` — transform none→rotate(360deg) — 12000ms · loops
- `div.w-full` — transform rotate(-90deg)→rotate(45deg) — 4000ms ease-out · loops
- scroll reveal: 14 elements rest at opacity 0, translateY(-104px), animate in over 0.5s cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 0.2, 1) (0 revealed during the drive).
- overlay dialog (auto-opened): panel rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) · r 0px
  - enter: opacity from 0 · 300ms ease-out | transform from scale(0.97) · 600ms linear(0 0%, 0.0175 1.694915254237288%, 0.0598 3.389830508474576%, 0.1156 5.084745762711864%, 0.1778 6.779661016949152%,

Rebuild the timeline, not just the durations — order, delays and staggers above are the choreography.

## Components (measured)
- link: #131316 · no underline
- disabled: bg rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) · text #131316

## Responsive (measured)
- mobile (390px): hero 32px · body 16px · nav: hamburger

## How to apply
Paste the Tailwind `@theme` (or CSS variables) as your base, then build each
section to its spec — verify every color, radius, and font against these tokens.
Hover/focus states, shadows and motion timings above are measured from the live page — match them exactly, don't re-guess them.

← All decoded design systems

An automated reading of Clerk's publicly-visible CSS (colors, fonts, spacing, motion) — not affiliated with clerk.com. No screenshots stored. Removal requests: hello@mozaika.design.