Design tokens before components

The failure mode is predictable: someone hardcodes a gray in a card, someone else picks a slightly different gray in a table, and six months later there is no theme, only history.

Tokens first means every color, radius, and shadow lives in one file with a semantic name. Components consume names, never values.

The payoff shows up the day someone asks for dark mode. With tokens it's a second block of variables. Without them it's an archaeology project.