Colophon
Brand reference for mecatl.dev — colors, typography, and design rationale. All tokens are CSS custom properties defined in website/src/css/custom.css.
Mascot & origin

Mecatito is a Xoloitzcuintli (Xolo) puppy — Mexico's ancient hairless dog, companion to the dead in Aztec mythology. The name mecatl is Nahuatl for "rope" or "cord", reflected in the rope collar and the project's rope-as-harness metaphor.
The color palette is derived directly from the mascot illustration: the charcoal body becomes the background, the teal collar becomes the primary accent, and the copper ears and tail become the secondary accent. The rope provides the warm neutral.
Created by Ozz. Source: assets/mecatito.png.
Color tokens
Dark-only site — one set of tokens, no light/dark split. All tokens are on :root and [data-theme='dark'].
--mec-bgPage background--mec-surfaceNavbar, footer, cards--mec-surface-2Code blocks, table headers--mec-tealPrimary accent — collar--mec-teal-brightHover, active, h3--mec-teal-dimSubtle borders, table rule--mec-copperSecondary accent — ears/tail--mec-copper-brightHover--mec-ropeWarm neutral, inline code--mec-textPrimary text--mec-text-mutedSecondary text, subtitles--mec-borderDividers, card edgesTypography
All three families loaded from Google Fonts via a single @import in custom.css. No self-hosted font files required.
'Space Grotesk', system-ui, sans-serif'Inter', system-ui, -apple-system, sans-serif'JetBrains Mono', 'SFMono-Regular', Menlo, monospaceType scale
h1Home: clamp(2.2rem, 4vw, 3.4rem) / docs: 3rem desktopSpace Grotesk 700Page titlesh2Home: clamp(1.85rem, 3vw, 2.45rem) / docs: 2rem desktopSpace Grotesk 600 or 700Section titlesh3Home: 1rem / docs: 1.5rem desktopSpace Grotesk 600Subsections and card titlesbody1rem (16px)Inter 400All body copysmall / muted0.9remInter 400Subtitles, card bodieslabel / eyebrow0.7–0.75remSpace Grotesk 600Uppercase labels, sidebar categoriescode0.88emJetBrains Mono 400Inline code, code blocks, terminalUI specimens
Buttons
Inline code
Import the engine module: github.com/stacklok/mecatl/engine and wire a port.LLMProvider.
Admonitions
note
The engine module has its own Go module path with a stable API contract.
warning
engine/adapter/* reference adapters carry no stability promise.
Design decisions
- Dark-only
- The mascot's dark charcoal body makes the dark palette the canonical one. A light mode would require a different mascot treatment. Simplify: one mode, done well.
- Space Grotesk over a more "technical" face
- Space Grotesk is geometric and confident without being cold. It reads as a developer tool without feeling generic. Alternatives considered: Syne (too editorial), IBM Plex Sans (too IBM), Geist (too Vercel).
- Copper as secondary accent
- Copper (ear / tail color) provides contrast against teal and warmth against the charcoal background. Used sparingly for labels and eyebrows where a second color is needed.
- Landing page at /
- Docs at
/docs, product page at/. Consumer-facing open-source projects need a pitch before the reference. The outline/intro doc is the first sidebar item, not the root URL.