DS3 is the next-generation Design System framework in Activator. Design systems are no longer static folders—they are living, governed entities managed inside Activator.
What DS3 is
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A document-based Design System stored in Activator’s internal database (via AOM)
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Built from discrete, versioned resources (templates, layouts, configuration, CSS/JS, fragments, and more)
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Tracked and linked so changes are visible and auditable
Why DS3 exists
DS2 worked as a file structure, but it didn’t scale well:
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Limited governance
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Poor traceability
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Hard to maintain across multiple teams and clients
DS3 fixes this by making governance the core model:
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Clear parent–child relationships between systems
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Central updates can be reviewed
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Downstream systems can adopt changes or fork them
Creation and migration
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Create from scratch or duplicate a master system
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Optional DS2 → DS3 migration tool (not intended as a 1:1 conversion; it’s a structured upgrade path)
What this means for day-to-day work
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More clarity on what changed, where it came from, and what is safe to adopt
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Dedicated UI areas for code/resources
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Publishing aligned with other content types: save explicitly before publish