Overview
Token migrations fail for one reason: they are treated as a find-and-replace operation rather than a system transition. Renaming `red-500` to `color-feedback-error-default` across 200 components is not a migration — it is a refactor that creates a two-week freeze while the team catches up, followed by three months of inconsistency as some teams adopt the new tokens and others don't.
The Design Token Migration Strategy Prompt builds a migration that runs in parallel with product delivery — not instead of it. It defines the coexistence period, the deprecation timeline, the tooling that makes adoption frictionless, and the communication protocol that keeps engineering and design aligned throughout.
What you get: - Token audit framework: how to inventory the current token state before planning the migration - Migration architecture: the three-phase approach that avoids a big-bang cutover - Coexistence strategy: how old and new tokens run simultaneously without creating confusion - Tooling specification: Style Dictionary configuration, Figma Tokens plugin setup, and CI lint rules - Deprecation timeline: how to sunset legacy tokens with zero surprise breaking changes - Team communication protocol: what to announce, when, and to whom
Built for: design engineers, design system leads, and front-end architects managing a token system transition in an active product codebase.