---
type: Design Language
title: Dark modern design system
description: How EatMe's dark, sharp-edged, amber-accent design system is implemented in frontend/src/styles/theme.css.
resource: frontend/src/styles/theme.css
tags: [frontend, design, css]
timestamp: 2026-08-16T00:00:00Z
---

# Dark modern design system

Replaced the original light monochrome TUI style (mono font,
`~/doc/concepts/ui/light-mono-tui.md`) on 2026-08-16, on explicit request
— the TUI look read as dated to the app's actual end users. All tokens and
component classes live in `frontend/src/styles/theme.css` (was
`tui.css` — renamed since "TUI" stopped being an accurate description).

# Rules this design follows

- **Dark background, sharp corners.** `--radius-lg`/`--radius`/`--radius-sm`
  are all `0` — deliberately, per explicit user preference against rounded
  corners even in an otherwise "modern SaaS" direction.
- **One accent color, used sparingly.** `--accent` (warm amber, `#f2a93b`)
  marks state, not decoration: the active tab, "this shift is mine",
  today's calendar cell, focus rings. It is *not* used as a per-card or
  per-row accent border.
- **No colored border-left/border-right accent stripes.** Explicitly
  rejected during design — a common AI-generated-UI tic. Emphasis instead
  comes from filled backgrounds (`.badge-solid`, `.tab.active`,
  `.calendar-slot.is-mine`) or a full inset ring around the whole element
  (`.month-calendar-cell.is-today`, `.month-calendar-day-btn.is-selected`),
  never a single colored edge.
- **System sans-serif for body text**, `--font-mono` reserved for numbers/
  timestamps that benefit from tabular alignment (`.stat-value`,
  calendar time chips, the bar chart's axis labels) — a common dashboard
  convention (Linear, Vercel), not an all-monospace TUI throwback.
- **Neutral hairline dividers**, not colored ones. `.list`/`.row`,
  `.stat-grid`, and the calendar grid all use a 1px `--border`-colored
  gap/border for internal separators.
- **`color-scheme: dark`** is set globally so native form controls (date/
  time pickers, number spinners) render dark by default — otherwise bare
  `<input type="date">` etc. render as light-mode browser chrome floating
  in an otherwise-dark page, which is what a generic `input, select` base
  rule plus this fixes.

# Tokens

`--bg`, `--surface` (panels), `--surface-hover`, `--surface-2` (nested/
input backgrounds), `--border`, `--border-strong`, `--fg`, `--muted`,
`--muted-2`, `--accent`, `--accent-strong`, `--accent-fg` (text color for
content sitting *on* the accent), `--radius-lg`/`--radius`/`--radius-sm`
(all `0`), `--shadow-sm`/`--shadow-md`, `--font`, `--font-mono`.

# Component classes

Same class names as the previous TUI stylesheet — this was a pure CSS
rewrite, no component file needed to change: `.tabs`/`.tab`,
`.btn`/`.btn-block`/`.btn-ghost`, `.panel`, `.field-row`, `.list`/`.row`,
`.badge` (`-solid`, `-dashed` — both restyled as pills, no more literal
dashed border), `.stat-grid`/`.stat-tile`, `.login-card`,
`.month-calendar-*`, `.calendar-slot`/`.calendar-chip`. `.badge-double`
(from the old TUI system) was dropped — it had no remaining usages.

There's intentionally only one `.btn` visual style (no `.btn-primary`) —
introducing a primary/secondary distinction would have meant touching
every component that renders a button to classify its actions, which was
out of scope for a CSS-only redesign pass.

# App-specific additions

- **`.bar-chart-*`** (`frontend/src/components/BarChart.tsx`) — bars are
  `--accent`-filled with a rounded top edge only, y-axis and day labels in
  `--font-mono`; day-of-month labels render in a *separate* flex row below
  the fixed-height bar track (not nested inside each bar's percentage-
  height column) specifically to avoid the bars visually overlapping the
  labels.
- **`.month-nav`** (`frontend/src/components/MonthNav.tsx`) — `[<] label [>]`
  segmented-control strip. Placed *inside* the panel it controls (employee
  detail chart, shift calendar, closure card), not as a page-level control
  — an earlier version put it at the top of the whole admin stats page,
  which tested as confusing since it was visually disconnected from what
  it affected.
- **`.month-calendar-*`** (`frontend/src/components/MonthCalendar.tsx`) —
  shared 7-column Monday-first grid used by both
  [`ShiftPlanning`](/docs/frontend/index.md) (employee) and
  [`ShiftPlanManager`](/docs/frontend/index.md) (admin), via a
  `renderDay(dateStr, dayNumber)` render-prop rather than two separate
  calendar implementations. The employee view renders interactive slot
  buttons directly in each cell; the admin view renders compact read-only
  chips and a day-select button, since full slot editing (capacity, notes,
  assign dropdown) doesn't fit in a calendar cell — clicking a day opens a
  detail panel below the grid instead.

# Related

- [Zustand stores](./stores.md)
- [System overview](/docs/architecture/overview.md)
