Tailscale — decoded design system

tailscale.com · light · professional · tailwind · deep decode — measured live

Tailscale'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/tailscale.com.

Decoded design system

Tailscale's decoded design system: background #F9F7F6, text #181717, accent #D04841, link #2E2D2D, primary #D04841; type scale h1 64px / h2 48px / body 16px; 4px spacing base; 8px base radius. The single interactive/action color is #232222 — used only on interactive or must-notice elements (buttons, links, key highlights), never on large fills.

Color roles

Using these colors

• Action color #232222 — the single interactive color; only on things you click or must notice, never large fills.
• primary, accent are all #D04841 — one role, not several (the action color).
• accent #D04841 — accent for emphasis — keep it rare on the page.
• link #2E2D2D — reads as a neutral UI color, not a link accent — verify against the reference (action = #232222).

Typography

• Heading: Inter
• Body: Inter
• h1: 64px
• h2: 48px
• body: 16px

Spacing

• base unit: 4px
• scale: 4px, 6px, 8px, 10px, 12px, 14px, 16px, 18px, 20px, 24px

Radii

• base: 8px
• button: 8px

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, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 0px 0px 0px 0px, rgba(24, 23, 23, 0.02) 0px 4px 8px 0px

Shadows (elevation)

• card: 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

Motion

Micro-interactions run at 300ms (dominant) with ease.

• durations: 300ms · 200ms · 150ms
• easings: ease · cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 0.2, 1)
• animated properties: opacity, color, background-color, border-color

Native design tokens

…and 110 more measured on the page.

Layout (measured)

• container max-width: 1310px
• nav: 40px
• common grid: 12 columns

Motion choreography (measured)

Load order: div.jsx-3044018360 → img.transition-opacity×17 → img.object-cover×2 → div.ketch-fixed

Responsive (measured)

• breakpoints: 640px · 768px · 921px · 1024px · 1200px · 1280px
• mobile (390px): hero 38px · nav hamburger

Install it

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

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

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

Export: DESIGN.md

# Tailscale — Design System

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

## Colors

| Role | Value |
|------|-------|
| bg | `#F9F7F6` |
| surface | `#EBE9E8` |
| border | `#D7D5D4` |
| text | `#181717` |
| text_muted | `#6D6C6B` |
| primary | `#D04841` |
| accent | `#D04841` |
| link | `#2E2D2D` |
| button_bg | `#232222` |
| button_text | `#FFFFFF` |

**Using these colors**

- **Action color** `#232222` — the single interactive color; it appears only on things you click or must notice (buttons, key highlights), never on large fills or backgrounds.
- `primary`, `accent` are all `#D04841` — one role, not several.
- **accent** `#D04841` — accent for emphasis — keep it rare on the page.
- **link** `#2E2D2D` — reads as a neutral UI color, not a link accent — verify against the reference (action = #232222).
- **Page coverage** (full-page screenshot pixels): `#949494` 67.6% · `#FFFFFF` 16% · `#413637` 14.9% · `#AFAFAF` 1.5%

## Typography

- Heading: **Inter**
- Body: **Inter**

| Role | Size / weight · line-height · tracking |
|------|------------------------------------------|
| hero | 64px / 500 · lh 70px · tracking -0.64px |
| h2 | 48px / 500 · lh 53px · tracking -0.48px |
| h3 | 32px / 500 · lh 35px · tracking -0.32px |
| body | 16px / 500 · lh 24px · tracking -0.16px |
| small | 14px / 500 · lh 21px · tracking -0.14px |
| eyebrow | 12px / 500 · tracking 0.6px |

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

> **Fonts —** Inter — free, on Google.

## Spacing
- base unit: 4px (inferred from the measured scale)
- measured scale: 4px, 6px, 8px, 10px, 12px, 14px, 16px, 18px, 20px, 24px — snap all gaps/padding to these
- section rhythm: 64px top/bottom padding per section (measured)

## Radius
- base: 8px
- button: 8px
- card: 16px
- pill: 9999px

## Buttons

| Button | Fill / text | Border | Radius | Padding | Font | Shadow |
|--------|-------------|--------|--------|---------|------|--------|
| primary | `#232222` / `#FFFFFF` | 1px solid rgb(35, 34, 34) | 8px | 0px 12px 0px 12px | 500 16px / -0.16px | 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, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 0px 0px 0px 0px, rgba(24, 23, 23, 0.02) 0px 4px 8px 0px |
| secondary | `rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)` / `#2E2D2D` | none | 8px | 12px 12px 12px 12px | 500 16px / -0.16px | none |

**States (measured, not guessed)**

- transition: `all 0.2s cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 0.2, 1)`

## Shadows (elevation)
- card: `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`
- button: `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, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 0px 0px 0px 0px, rgba(24, 23, 23, 0.02) 0px 4px 8px 0px`

## Motion
- durations: 300ms (dominant) · 200ms · 150ms
- easings: `ease` (dominant) · `cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 0.2, 1)`
- animated properties: opacity, color, background-color, border-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 |
|-------|-------|
| `--k-banner-buttons-primary-background-color` | `#000000` |
| `--k-banner-buttons-primary-text-color` | `#FFFFFF` |
| `--k-banner-buttons-secondary-background-color` | `#000000` |
| `--k-banner-buttons-secondary-text-color` | `#000000` |
| `--k-banner-buttons-tertiary-background-color` | `#000000` |
| `--k-banner-buttons-tertiary-text-color` | `#000000` |
| `--k-banner-container-backdrop-background-color` | `rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.24)` |
| `--k-banner-container-background-color` | `#FFFFFF` |
| `--k-banner-description-link-color` | `#000000` |
| `--k-banner-description-text-color` | `#000000` |
| `--k-banner-header-returnButton-background-color` | `#EBEDED` |
| `--k-banner-header-returnButton-icon-color` | `#000000` |

_…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 1310px · common grid: 12-col
- nav: 40px

| Section (y) | Height | Cols | Gap | Pad y | Split |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1438 | 897 | 12 | 8 | 32/64 | — |
| 2335 | 1306 | 12 | 24 | 32/32 | — |
| 3641 | 587 | — | — | 64/64 | — |
| 4227 | 704 | 15 | 12 | 32/96 | — |

## Motion choreography (measured)
Load order: `div.jsx-3044018360` @0ms → `img.transition-opacity`×17 @344ms → `img.object-cover`×2 @620ms → `div.ketch-fixed` @2220ms
- `div.ketch-fixed` — transform translateY(900px)→translateY(0px) — 400ms ease

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

## Components (measured)
- link: #000000 · underline

## Responsive (measured)
- breakpoints: 640px · 768px · 921px · 1024px · 1200px · 1280px
- mobile (390px): hero 38px · body 14px · 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.

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