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Spacing Scale

  • 11 installs
  • 37 repo stars
  • Updated December 30, 2025
  • dylantarre/design-system-skills

Generates consistent spacing tokens using base values and ratios for margin, padding, and gap, output as CSS, Tailwind, or JSON.

About

This skill generates consistent spacing tokens using base values and ratios. A developer uses it to create margin, padding, and gap systems for layouts.

  • Ratio-based spacing token scale
  • Outputs CSS, Tailwind, or JSON

Spacing Scale by the numbers

  • 11 all-time installs (skills.sh)
  • Ranked #1,443 of 1,880 Design & UI/UX skills by installs in the Skillselion catalog
  • Data as of Jul 29, 2026 (Skillselion catalog sync)
npx skills add https://github.com/dylantarre/design-system-skills --skill spacing-scale

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Listed on Skillselion
Installs11
repo stars37
Last updatedDecember 30, 2025
Repositorydylantarre/design-system-skills

What it does

Generates consistent spacing tokens using base values and ratios for margin, padding, and gap, output as CSS, Tailwind, or JSON.

Files

SKILL.mdMarkdownGitHub ↗

Spacing Scale Generator

Overview

Generate consistent spacing scales using a base value and ratio. Creates exponentially distributed values centered around a base unit for harmonious layouts.

When to Use

  • Setting up spacing tokens for a new project
  • Standardizing padding and margin values
  • Creating a gap/grid system
  • Migrating from arbitrary spacing to tokens

Quick Reference

Naming StyleExample NamesBest For
T-shirtxs, sm, md, lg, xlSemantic, readable
Numeric100, 200, 300...Precise, extensible
UnitWhen to Use
pxFixed layouts, pixel-perfect designs
remScalable, respects user font settings
emComponent-relative spacing

The Process

1. Get base value: Default 4px or 0.25rem (common base unit) 2. Get ratio: How much each step grows (1.5 is balanced, 2 is dramatic) 3. Ask steps: How many spacing values (8-12 is typical) 4. Ask naming: T-shirt sizes (xs, sm, md, lg) or numeric (100, 200, 300)? 5. Ask unit: px, rem, or em? 6. Ask format: CSS, Tailwind, or JSON? 7. Generate: Create scale centered on base, expanding in both directions

Common Ratios

RatioCharacterExample (base 4px)
1.25Tight2, 2.5, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8
1.5Balanced1.8, 2.7, 4, 6, 9, 13.5
1.618Golden1.5, 2.5, 4, 6.5, 10.5, 17
2Dramatic1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32

Output Formats

CSS Custom Properties:

:root {
  --spacing-xs: 2px;
  --spacing-sm: 4px;
  --spacing-md: 8px;
  --spacing-lg: 16px;
  --spacing-xl: 32px;
}

Tailwind Config:

module.exports = {
  theme: {
    spacing: {
      'xs': '2px',
      'sm': '4px',
      'md': '8px',
      'lg': '16px',
      'xl': '32px',
    }
  }
}

JSON Tokens:

{
  "spacing": {
    "xs": "2px",
    "sm": "4px",
    "md": "8px",
    "lg": "16px",
    "xl": "32px"
  }
}

Algorithm

The scale is centered on the base value at the midpoint:

value = baseValue * (ratio ^ (step - midpoint))

For a 10-step scale with base 4 and ratio 1.5:

  • Step 0 (5 below mid): 4 * 1.5^-5 = 0.53
  • Step 5 (midpoint): 4 * 1.5^0 = 4
  • Step 9 (4 above mid): 4 * 1.5^4 = 20.25

T-shirt Size Mapping

Full range: 3xs, 2xs, xs, sm, md, lg, xl, 2xl, 3xl, 4xl, 5xl, 6xl

The midpoint of your scale maps to "md" and expands outward.

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