Backlight
The Design System Platform for front-end teams.
Overview
Backlight is an all-in-one design system platform that empowers front-end teams to build, document, and release UI components. It provides a collaborative, browser-based IDE where developers can code components, and designers can participate in the workflow. Backlight is built on standard web technologies and integrates with Git, allowing for version-controlled design systems that can be published as NPM packages.
✨ Key Features
- Browser-based IDE for component development
- Live, editable documentation (Markdown, MDX)
- Integration with GitHub and GitLab for version control
- Visual pull-request reviews
- One-click NPM package publishing
- Figma plugin to generate UI kits from code
- Built-in test runner and reporter
- Manages design tokens
🎯 Key Differentiators
- All-in-one platform with a built-in IDE, documentation, and release management
- Code-centric approach that is developer-friendly
- Visual pull-request reviews for easier validation
Unique Value: Streamlines the entire design system lifecycle from component creation to NPM package publication in a single, collaborative, version-controlled environment.
🎯 Use Cases (4)
✅ Best For
- Used by front-end teams to create and manage scalable design systems that are tightly integrated with their development workflow.
💡 Check With Vendor
Verify these considerations match your specific requirements:
- Teams looking for a purely design-focused version control tool without a coding component
- Managing version control for static design files like PSDs
🏆 Alternatives
Unlike Storybook, which is primarily a component workshop, Backlight is an end-to-end platform that includes the development environment, documentation, and versioned releases. It is more code-focused than documentation platforms like zeroheight.
💻 Platforms
🔌 Integrations
🛟 Support Options
- ✓ Email Support
- ✓ Live Chat
- ✓ Dedicated Support (Enterprise tier)
🔒 Compliance & Security
💰 Pricing
Free tier: Up to 3 editors, 2 design systems, unlimited viewers.
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