Cursor — decoded design system

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

Cursor'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.

Open in Mozaika →

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/cursor.com.

Decoded design system

Cursor's decoded design system: background #F7F7F4, text #26251E, accent #E6E5E0, link #F54E00, primary #F54E00; type scale h1 36px / h2 26px / body 13px; 4px spacing base; 3px base radius. The single interactive/action color is #26251E — used only on interactive or must-notice elements (buttons, links, key highlights), never on large fills.

Color roles

Using these colors

• Action color #26251E — the single interactive color; only on things you click or must notice, never large fills.
• primary, link are all #F54E00 — one role, not several (the action color).
• accent #E6E5E0 — accent for emphasis — keep it rare on the page.
• secondary #34785C — 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: Cursor Gothic
• Body: Cursor Gothic
• Mono: berkeleyMono
• h1: 36px
• h2: 26px
• body: 13px

Spacing

• base unit: 4px
• scale: 2px, 3px, 4px, 5px, 6px, 8px, 10px, 12px, 15px, 16px

Radii

• base: 3px
• button: 3.35544e+07px

Shadows (elevation)

• subtle: rgb(235, 234, 229) 0px 0px 0px 2px
• card: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.3) 0px 22px 70px 4px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.15) 0px 0px 0px 0.5px
• overlay: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14) 0px 28px 70px 0px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 0px 14px 32px 0px, oklab(0.263078 -0.0023028 0.0124791 / 0.1) 0px 0px 0px 1px

Motion

Micro-interactions run at 150ms (dominant) with cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 0.2, 1).

• durations: 150ms · 200ms · 140ms
• easings: cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 0.2, 1) · cubic-bezier(0, 0, 0.2, 1)
• animated properties: border-color, color, background-color, outline-color

Native design tokens

…and 110 more measured on the page.

Button states (measured)

• primary hover: border 1px solid rgb(59, 58, 51) · background #3B3A33
• primary focus: outline 2px solid rgb(38, 37, 30)

Layout (measured)

• container max-width: 1300px
• nav: 52px fixed
• common grid: 3 columns

Motion choreography (measured)

Load order: span.shimmer×8 → div.border×2 → div.border×2 → div.border×2 → div.border×2 → span.w-[2px]

Overlay recipe (measured)

dropdown panel: #F2F1ED · radius 8px

Input (measured)

height 31px · radius 0px

Themes

dark counterpart: background #14120B, text #EDECEC.

Responsive (measured)

• breakpoints: 420px · 600px · 640px · 660px · 768px · 900px
• mobile (390px): hero 24px · nav inline

Install it

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

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

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

Export: DESIGN.md

# Cursor — Design System

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

## Colors

| Role | Value |
|------|-------|
| bg | `#F7F7F4` |
| surface | `#EAEAE7` |
| border | `#D7D7D3` |
| text | `#26251E` |
| text_muted | `#75746F` |
| primary | `#F54E00` |
| accent | `#E6E5E0` |
| link | `#F54E00` |
| secondary | `#34785C` |
| button_bg | `#26251E` |
| button_text | `#F7F7F4` |

**Using these colors**

- **Action color** `#26251E` — the single interactive color; it appears only on things you click or must notice (buttons, key highlights), never on large fills or backgrounds.
- `primary`, `link` are all `#F54E00` — one role, not several.
- **accent** `#E6E5E0` — accent for emphasis — keep it rare on the page.
- **secondary** `#34785C` — 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): `#F7F7F4` 80.9% · `#DAD6CE` 12.2% · `#A69D96` 6.9%

## Typography

- Heading: **Cursor Gothic** _(free fallback: Newsreader)_
- Body: **Cursor Gothic** _(free fallback: Newsreader)_
- Mono: **berkeleyMono** _(measured)_

| Role | Size / weight · line-height · tracking |
|------|------------------------------------------|
| hero | 36px / 400 · lh 43px · tracking -0.72px |
| h2 | 26px / 400 · lh 33px · tracking -0.33px |
| h3 | 22px / 400 · lh 29px · tracking -0.11px |
| body | 13px / 400 · lh 17px |
| small | 12px / 400 · lh 16px |

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

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

## Spacing
- base unit: 4px (inferred from the measured scale)
- measured scale: 2px, 3px, 4px, 5px, 6px, 8px, 10px, 12px, 15px, 16px — snap all gaps/padding to these
- section rhythm: 67px top/bottom padding per section (measured)

## Radius
- base: 3px
- button: 3.35544e+07px
- card: 4px
- pill: 9999px
- sharp: 3px

## Buttons

| Button | Fill / text | Border | Radius | Padding | Font | Shadow |
|--------|-------------|--------|--------|---------|------|--------|
| primary | `#26251E` / `#F7F7F4` | 1px solid rgb(38, 37, 30) | 3.35544e+07px | 5.6px 10.5px 5.88px 10.5px | 400 14px | none |
| secondary | `#E6E5E0` / `#26251E` | 1px solid oklab(0.263078 -0.0023028 0.0124791 / 0.025) | 3.35544e+07px | 12.48px 21.6px 12.8px 21.6px | 400 16px | none |

**States (measured, not guessed)**

- primary hover: border `1px solid rgb(59, 58, 51)` · background `#3B3A33`
- primary focus: outline `2px solid rgb(38, 37, 30)`
- secondary hover: background `#E1E0DB`

## Shadows (elevation)
- subtle: `rgb(235, 234, 229) 0px 0px 0px 2px`
- card: `rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.3) 0px 22px 70px 4px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.15) 0px 0px 0px 0.5px`
- overlay: `rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14) 0px 28px 70px 0px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 0px 14px 32px 0px, oklab(0.263078 -0.0023028 0.0124791 / 0.1) 0px 0px 0px 1px`

## Motion
- durations: 150ms (dominant) · 200ms · 140ms
- easings: `cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 0.2, 1)` (dominant) · `cubic-bezier(0, 0, 0.2, 1)`
- animated properties: border-color, color, background-color, outline-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-bg` | `#f7f7f4` |
| `--color-text-primary` | `#26251e` |
| `--color-accent` | `#f54e00` |
| `--color-code-bg` | `#f2f1ed` |
| `--color-code-text` | `#26251e` |
| `--color-bg-hover` | `#ebeae5` |
| `--color-success` | `#1f8a65` |
| `--color-error` | `#cf2d56` |
| `--color-warning` | `#f54e00` |
| `--color-bg-elevated` | `#f2f1ed` |
| `--color-timeline-thinking` | `#dfa88f` |
| `--color-timeline-grep` | `#9fc9a2` |

_…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 1300px · common grid: 3-col
- nav: 52px fixed · bg #F7F7F4

| Section (y) | Height | Cols | Gap | Pad y | Split |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 52 | 1086 | — | — | 112/67 | — |
| 1138 | 177 | 8 | 10 | 0/34 | — |
| 1382 | 715 | — | — | 0/0 | — |
| 2187 | 715 | — | — | 0/0 | — |
| 2991 | 685 | — | — | 0/0 | — |
| 3766 | 685 | — | — | 0/0 | — |
| 4518 | 724 | 3 | 10 | 67/67 | — |

## Motion choreography (measured)
Load order: `span.shimmer`×8 @0ms → `div.border`×2 @298ms → `div.border`×2 @298ms → `div.border`×2 @298ms → `div.border`×2 @300ms → `` @300ms
- overlay dropdown (auto-opened): panel #F2F1ED · r 8px · shadow oklab(0.263078 -0.0023028 0.0124791 / 0.1) 0px 0px 0px 1px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.28) 0px 18px 36px -18px

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

## Components (measured)
- input: h 31px · r 0px · bg rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) · placeholder oklab(0.263078 -0.0023028 0.0124791 / 0.5)
- link: #26251E · no underline
- disabled: bg #E1E0DB · text oklab(0.263078 -0.0023028 0.0124791 / 0.6)

## Themes (both measured)
- dark counterpart: bg `#14120B` · text `#EDECEC`
- tokens that flip between modes:
  - `--color-bg`: `#f7f7f4` → `#14120b`
  - `--color-text-primary`: `#26251e` → `#edecec`
  - `--color-code-bg`: `#f2f1ed` → `#1b1913`
  - `--color-code-text`: `#26251e` → `#edecec`
  - `--color-bg-hover`: `#ebeae5` → `#201e18`
  - `--color-bg-elevated`: `#f2f1ed` → `#1b1913`
  - `--color-theme-button-bg`: `#26251e` → `#edecec`
  - `--color-theme-product-editor`: `#f7f7f4` → `#1b1913`

## Responsive (measured)
- breakpoints: 420px · 600px · 640px · 660px · 768px · 900px
- mobile (390px): hero 24px · body 15px · nav: inline

## 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.

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