# Tailscale design system

> Tailscale design system measured from tailscale.com: inter font, #D04841 primary on #F9F7F6, 13 color hex codes, type scale, spacing and a free DESIGN.md.

Canonical page: https://sitepeel.dev/design-md/tailscale.com/

Tailscale’s website (tailscale.com) uses the inter font and #D04841 as its main color on a #F9F7F6 background. Measured by Sitepeel on November 4, 2026.

## What font does Tailscale use?

Tailscale uses inter (weights 400 and 500) and mdio (weight 500) on tailscale.com. Page titles are 64px at weight 500 (37.5px on phones) and body text is 16px. Measured on November 4, 2026.

- inter (weights 400, 500)
- mdio (weights 500)

## Tailscale colors: palette and hex codes

Tailscale’s main colors are #F9F7F6 (snow) for the background, #2E2D2D (graphite) for text and #D04841 (red) as the main accent, with #5A82DE (blue) and #09825D (dark teal) as other accents. Measured on November 4, 2026.

- #F9F7F6: snow
- #2E2D2D: graphite
- #181717: charcoal
- #1F1E1E: charcoal
- #575555: slate
- #FFFFFF: white
- #EEEBEA: mist
- #D04841: red

## What is Tailscale built with?

Tailscale’s website (tailscale.com) is built with Sanity, Next.js, React, Preact and Tailwind CSS. Measured on November 4, 2026.

- JavaScript framework: Next.js 16.4.3, React 19.3.0-canary-278794d7-2, Preact
- Analytics: RudderStack, Microsoft Advertising, Microsoft Clarity, Reddit Pixel
- Hosting & CDN: Vercel
- Site builder & CMS: Sanity
- UI & CSS: Tailwind CSS 4.x

## Questions and answers

### What font does Tailscale use?

Tailscale’s website uses inter (weights 400 and 500) and mdio (weight 500). Page titles are 64px at weight 500 (37.5px on phones) and body text is 16px. Measured on November 4, 2026.

### What are the Tailscale colors and hex codes?

On tailscale.com: #F9F7F6 (snow) for the background, #2E2D2D (graphite) for text and #D04841 (red) as the main accent, with #5A82DE (blue) and #09825D (dark teal) as other accents. The color palette above lists all 13 colors with their hex codes and where each one is used.

### What is the Tailscale design system?

The design system on this page is tailscale.com’s, as measured on November 4, 2026: inter type, #D04841 as the main color and 8px corners, written down as a DESIGN.md. It is not Tailscale’s own documentation.

### What is Tailscale built with?

Tailscale’s website (tailscale.com) is built with Sanity, Next.js, React, Preact and Tailwind CSS. The full tech stack Sitepeel found: Next.js, React, RudderStack, Vercel, Microsoft Advertising, Microsoft Clarity, Reddit Pixel, Sanity, Preact and Tailwind CSS. Measured on November 4, 2026.

### What is the Tailscale DESIGN.md?

A plain-text file with Tailscale’s measured colors, type, spacing, corners and components as tokens, plus short rules, in the DESIGN.md format Google published with Stitch. Your AI coding agent reads it and builds in this style. More about DESIGN.md.

### How do I use it with Claude Code or Cursor?

Download the file and put it in your project’s root folder, then ask your agent to follow DESIGN.md. Step-by-step guides: Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, GitHub Copilot.

### Is this Tailscale’s official design system?

No. Sitepeel measured it from tailscale.com’s public page on November 4, 2026. It is an independent analysis, not made or approved by Tailscale.

### Can I use Tailscale’s style in my own product?

Use it to learn, prototype and compare. For a real product, make the style your own, and never copy Tailscale’s logo, name, pictures or text.

### How accurate are the values?

Each value was measured on the rendered page after it fully loaded, on desktop and mobile: colors where they appear, type with tracking, spacing, corners, shadows and hover states. Sites change, so check the date at the top.

## Files

- [DESIGN.md](https://sitepeel.dev/design-md/tailscale.com/DESIGN.md): the plain file to put in your project.
- [All brand DESIGN.md files](https://sitepeel.dev/design-md/examples/index.md)

Independent analysis by Sitepeel (sitepeel.dev), not affiliated with Tailscale.

## The DESIGN.md file

```markdown
---
version: alpha
name: Tailscale
description: "Light interface measured from tailscale.com: inter type with mdio, red accents, tonal surfaces and 8px corners."
colors:
  background: "#F9F7F6"
  surface: "#F9F7F6"
  on-surface: "#2E2D2D"
  on-background: "#2E2D2D"
  on-surface-strong: "#181717"
  on-surface-variant: "#1F1E1E"
  on-surface-muted: "#575555"
  surface-container-low: "#FFFFFF"
  surface-container: "#EEEBEA"
  outline: "#EEEBEA"
  outline-variant: "#1F1E1E1A"
  primary: "#D04841"
  on-primary: "#000000"
  secondary: "#5A82DE"
  tertiary: "#09825D"
typography:
  headline-display:
    fontFamily: inter
    fontSize: 64px
    fontWeight: 500
    lineHeight: 1.1
    letterSpacing: -0.01em
  headline-lg:
    fontFamily: inter
    fontSize: 48px
    fontWeight: 500
    lineHeight: 1.1
    letterSpacing: -0.01em
  headline-md:
    fontFamily: inter
    fontSize: 20px
    fontWeight: 500
    lineHeight: 1.2
    letterSpacing: -0.01em
  body-md:
    fontFamily: inter
    fontSize: 16px
    fontWeight: 400
    lineHeight: 1.5
    letterSpacing: -0.01em
  label-lg:
    fontFamily: inter
    fontSize: 16px
    fontWeight: 500
    lineHeight: 1.5
    letterSpacing: -0.01em
  label-md:
    fontFamily: inter
    fontSize: 14px
    fontWeight: 500
    lineHeight: 1.5
    letterSpacing: -0.01em
  label-sm:
    fontFamily: mdio
    fontSize: 12px
    fontWeight: 500
    lineHeight: 1
    letterSpacing: 0.05em
  headline-display-mobile:
    fontFamily: inter
    fontSize: 37.5px
    fontWeight: 500
    lineHeight: 1.1
    letterSpacing: -0.01em
rounded:
  sm: 8px
  md: 16px
  full: 9999px
spacing:
  xs: 4px
  sm: 8px
  md: 12px
  lg: 20px
  xl: 64px
  gutter: 8px
  section: 64px
  margin: 32px
components:
  button-primary:
    backgroundColor: "{colors.on-surface-variant}"
    textColor: "{colors.surface-container-low}"
    typography: "{typography.label-lg}"
    rounded: "{rounded.sm}"
    padding: 8px 12px
    height: 36px
  button-ghost:
    textColor: "{colors.on-surface-strong}"
    typography: "{typography.label-md}"
    rounded: "{rounded.sm}"
    padding: 10px 12px
  link:
    textColor: "{colors.on-surface}"
---

# Tailscale Design System

## Overview

Tailscale describes itself as: “The connectivity platform for devs, IT, and security teams. Zero Trust identity-based access that deploys in minutes and scales to every resource. Start free.” The interface is light, built on **Snow (#F9F7F6)** with **Graphite (#2E2D2D)** text, and **Red (#D04841)** as the main accent.

Type is set in **inter** and **mdio**. Headlines run large with tight negative tracking; body text is 16px. The surface language is flat. Corners are mostly 8px.

Measured from [tailscale.com](https://tailscale.com/) on November 4, 2026 at 1440×900 and 390×844 from 345 rendered elements. Values are computed styles from the live page, not the original source files.

## Colors

The palette has 13 roles.

- **Snow (#F9F7F6):** Page background, seen 1 time. Token `background`.
- **Graphite (#2E2D2D):** Primary text and headings, seen 51 times. Token `on-surface`.
- **Charcoal (#181717):** Headings and emphasis, seen 8 times. Token `on-surface-strong`.
- **Charcoal (#1F1E1E):** Secondary text, seen 8 times. Token `on-surface-variant`.
- **Slate (#575555):** Muted text and metadata, seen 43 times. Token `on-surface-muted`.
- **White (#FFFFFF):** Raised areas one step from the page, seen 7 times. Token `surface-container-low`, CSS `--k-consentGate-header-background`.
- **Mist (#EEEBEA):** Cards and panels, seen 4 times. Token `surface-container`, CSS `--color-neutral-300`.
- **Mist (#EEEBEA):** Borders and dividers, seen 17 times. Token `outline`, CSS `--color-neutral-300`.
- **Charcoal 10% (#1F1E1E1A):** Secondary dividers, seen 3 times. Token `outline-variant`.
- **Red (#D04841):** Brand color on large areas, seen 6 times. Token `primary`.
- **Near Black (#000000):** Text and icons on primary. Token `on-primary`.
- **Blue (#5A82DE):** Accent, seen 9 times. Token `secondary`.
- **Dark Teal (#09825D):** Accent, seen 6 times. Token `tertiary`, CSS `--color-green-500`.

## Typography

**inter** and **mdio** share the interface. Fallback stack: `inter, inter Fallback, ui-sans-serif, system-ui`.

- **headline-display:** inter 64px at weight 500, line height 1.1, tracking -0.01em (37.5px on mobile). Page title (h1).
- **headline-lg:** inter 48px at weight 500, line height 1.1, tracking -0.01em. Section headings (h2).
- **headline-md:** inter 20px at weight 500, line height 1.2, tracking -0.01em. Sub-section headings.
- **body-md:** inter 16px at weight 400, line height 1.5, tracking -0.01em. Body text.
- **label-lg:** inter 16px at weight 500, line height 1.5, tracking -0.01em. Large buttons and tabs.
- **label-md:** inter 14px at weight 500, line height 1.5, tracking -0.01em. Buttons, navigation and labels.
- **label-sm:** mdio 12px at weight 500, line height 1, tracking 0.05em, uppercase. Small labels and badges.

## Layout

Spacing is mostly on a 4px grid (90% of measured values), with some off-grid steps. Match the measured scale rather than rounding everything.

- **Scale:** xs 4px, sm 8px, md 12px, lg 20px, xl 64px.
- **Sections:** 64px vertical padding between major sections.
- **Gaps:** 8px is the most common gap in flex and grid layouts.
- **Page margin:** 32px on each side of full-width sections.
- **Breakpoints:** 420px, 480px, 769px, 1024px, 1440px, 1920px.

## Elevation & Depth

The design is flat: no shadows were measured. Hierarchy comes from tonal surface steps (#FFFFFF → #EEEBEA) and #EEEBEA borders.

## Shapes

Most elements use 8px corners. Measured radii, most used first:

- **sm (8px):** 208 elements.
- **md (16px):** 20 elements.
- **full (9999px):** 16 elements.

## Components

Measured from the rendered page. Token values reference the tokens above.

- **button-primary (“Get started - it’s free!”):** #1F1E1E fill, #FFFFFF text, 16px/500, 8px radius, padding 8px 12px.
- **button-ghost (“Platform”):** transparent fill, #181717 text, 14px/500, 8px radius, padding 10px 12px.
- **link:** transparent fill, #2E2D2D text, padding 0px.

## Do's and Don'ts

- Do use #F9F7F6 for the page and lift surfaces in small steps: #FFFFFF, #EEEBEA.
- Do keep text in 4 levels: #2E2D2D, #181717, #1F1E1E, #575555.
- Do use #D04841 as the brand accent: header, logo and key highlights.
- Do set headlines in inter with tight tracking (-0.01em).
- Do reuse the measured spacing steps (8px, 12px, 20px).
- Do use 8px corners on most elements; larger surfaces also use 16px.
- Don't add drop shadows for depth; use tonal surfaces.
- Don't introduce new font families beyond inter and mdio.
- Don't use #D04841 for large backgrounds or body text.
- Don't make interface transitions slower than 0.3s.

## Motion

Interface transitions are quick: 0.2s, 0.15s, 0.3s.

- **Easing:** `cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 0.2, 1)`.

Generated by [Sitepeel](https://sitepeel.dev/design-md/tailscale.com/), the free DESIGN.md generator (engine 2026.10.29+b828a475ee10).

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