Coinbase has open sourced its design system

Designing the financial future

Today marks a groundbreaking step forward in the crypto ecosystem with the launch of the Coinbase Design System (CDS): an open source, comprehensive, and battle-tested design system. This design system has grown with us from a mobile app to an expansive suite of retail, business, and institutional products. CDS has powered Coinbase for years, and now it’s available to builders worldwide: github.com/coinbase/cds

Our vision for CDS is clear: we want to empower builders to create high-quality, accessible experiences with unprecedented speed. Open sourcing CDS directly supports our mission to increase global economic freedom, and we believe CDS will play a crucial role in the growth and scalability of Base and the broader crypto community.

Components to create any experience  

CDS offers a rich collection of production-ready components – the very same ones we use to build our own products at Coinbase. This means everyone will have access to components ranging from buttons to sparkline graphs and date pickers, as well as hooks and guides to get started. These components are the essential building blocks needed to craft intuitive and engaging user experiences.

Within our extensive library of over 100 components, you’ll find foundational layout tools, typography, icons, and input controls; and more specialized components for motion, data display, navigation, and feedback. Our goal is to meet the core needs of developers building crypto apps. 

Accessibility is built into every component, to help ensure that the experiences you create can be used by as many people as possible. Each component includes features like clear labeling, focus indication, distinct focus states, optimal color contrast, and robust keyboard support.

Flexible for any app

While CDS is the engine behind Coinbase’s own products, it’s designed with a broader purpose in mind: to serve the entire crypto ecosystem and beyond. Its strength lies in its modular architecture and a sophisticated system of design tokens. These tokens define all the core visual aspects of our UI—from colors and typography to spacing and corner radii—and are built for customization. This means you can use our UI elements as a starting point and tailor them to reflect your brand’s identity and user needs.

Theming for unique brand expression

From the beginning, we recognized that a one-size-fits-all design system wouldn’t meet everyone’s needs. That’s why CDS is built to be flexible and deeply themeable. With powerful customization tools integrated into the core of the system, CDS can support Coinbase’s growing family of products as well as the diverse needs of crypto. 

What does this mean for builders? It means they can adapt the look and feel of CDS components to match their specific brand identity. By adjusting a set of design tokens—such as colors, typography, and spacing—you can transform an app’s appearance, all while still relying on the same robust and accessible CDS components. We provide the controls, you define the style.

You can see theming in action across our own products. For instance, compare our main Coinbase app to the experience we’re crafting for Base. Both leverage the same CDS components for consistency and quality, yet each has its own distinct visual language. Theming even allows individual users to personalize their app experience.

Start using CDS today

This isn’t just about sharing our tools; it’s a pivotal step in our mission to increase economic freedom and empower builders across the globe. We hope CDS helps you build high-quality, accessible experiences that advance your product goals. We’re excited for you to try it at cds.coinbase.com.