Obsidian design system

What font does Obsidian use?

Obsidian’s website uses the system interface font for headings and body text. The system interface font is each visitor's own (San Francisco on Apple devices, Segoe UI on Windows), so nothing loads.

Obsidian colour palette

Obsidian’s home page is dark (#1E1E1E background, #EEEEEE text) and uses #404040 for its main actions. Its palette: #0F0F0F, #1F1F1F, #171717, #BCBCBC, #1E1E1E, #EEEEEE.

• #0F0F0F
  74.2% · backgrounds
• #1F1F1F
  7.1% · backgrounds
• #171717
  3.6% · backgrounds
• #BCBCBC
  2.9% · text
• #1E1E1E
  2.6% · backgrounds
• #EEEEEE
  1.7% · text
• #A78BFA
  1.6% · backgrounds, text
• #FFFFFF
  1.4% · backgrounds
• #262626
  1.4% · backgrounds
• #713F12
  1% · backgrounds

Type scale

Each size the page sets text in, with its weight and line height. Obsidian’s largest type is 60px at weight 600.

Spacing and shape

Spacing sits on a 4px grid: 4px, 8px, 12px, 16px, 20px, 24px, 28px, 32px, 36px, 48px, 64px, 96px.

Corner radii: 2px, 3px, 4px, 6px, 8px, 12px, 16px, pill. 9 shadow levels measured.

What makes Obsidian look like Obsidian

Almost entirely neutral: 97% of the page is painted in #0F0F0F and #1F1F1F.

#A78BFA is an accent: 1.6% of the page, as small fills such as buttons and badges. Keep it to small areas.

#713F12 is an accent: 1% of the page, as small fills such as buttons and badges. Keep it to small areas.

The largest type (60px ui-sans-serif) is semibold (600), tracked to -0.02em.

Obsidian DESIGN.md for Claude Code, Cursor and Lovable

A DESIGN.md is the brief an AI coding tool reads before it writes UI. This one carries everything on this page as rules a model follows: the allowed colours and what each is for, the fonts with free stand-ins, the type scale, spacing, corners, and the things Obsidian’s design never does.

Put it in your project root and ask your tool to follow it: “Read DESIGN.md and build [your product] in this design language.” It describes a style, not Obsidian’s product, so use your own name, words and images.

Download Obsidian DESIGN.md · View it as text

As CSS variables

The measured values as CSS custom properties, with free fonts standing in for licensed ones. Use them to learn from or to start a project in a similar style; Obsidian’s name, logo, words and images are theirs.

:root {
  --color-background: #1E1E1E; /* Background */
  --color-surface: #262626; /* Surface */
  --color-text: #EEEEEE; /* Text */
  --color-text-muted: #BCBCBC; /* Text muted */
  --color-border: #666666; /* Border */
  --color-action: #404040; /* Action */
  --color-on-action: #E5E5E5; /* On action */
  --color-link: #A78BFA; /* Link */
  --color-positive: #4ADE80; /* Positive */
  --color-negative: #F87171; /* Negative */
  --color-warning: #FACC15; /* Warning */
  --color-0f0f0f: #0F0F0F; /* 74.2% of the page, as fills */
  --color-1f1f1f: #1F1F1F; /* 7.1% of the page, as fills */
  --color-171717: #171717; /* 3.6% of the page, as fills */
  --color-ffffff: #FFFFFF; /* 1.4% of the page, as fills */
  --color-713f12: #713F12; /* 1% of the page, as fills */
  --color-000000: #000000; /* 0.5% of the page, as fills */
  --color-aaaaaa: #AAAAAA; /* 0.4% of the page, as drawings */
  --font-body: ui-sans-serif, sans-serif; /* ui-sans-serif */
  --font-code: ui-monospace, monospace; /* ui-monospace */
  --type-display-large: 60px; /* Display Large, weight 600 */
  --type-display-large-leading: 60px;
  --type-display-large-tracking: -0.02em;
  --type-display-small: 36px; /* Display Small, weight 400 */
  --type-display-small-leading: 40px;
  --type-headline-large: 28px; /* Headline Large, weight 700 */
  --type-headline-large-leading: 33.6px;
  --type-headline-small: 24px; /* Headline Small, weight 400 */
  --type-headline-small-leading: 32px;
  --type-title-large: 20px; /* Title Large, weight 400 */
  --type-title-large-leading: 25px;
  --type-title-small: 18px; /* Title Small, weight 400 */
  --type-title-small-leading: 24px;
  --type-body-large: 16px; /* Body Large, weight 400 */
  --type-body-large-leading: 24px;
  --type-body-small: 14px; /* Body Small, weight 400 */
  --type-body-small-leading: 19.6px;
  --type-label-1: 13px; /* Label 1, weight 400 */
  --type-label-1-leading: 19.5px;
  --type-label-2: 12px; /* Label 2, weight 400 */
  --type-label-2-leading: 16px;
  --type-label-3: 10px; /* Label 3, weight 400 */
  --type-label-3-leading: 20px;
  --type-label-4: 6px; /* Label 4, weight 400 */
  --type-label-4-leading: 8px;
  --space-1: 4px;
  --space-2: 8px;
  --space-3: 12px;
  --space-4: 16px;
  --space-5: 20px;
  --space-6: 24px;
  --space-7: 28px;
  --space-8: 32px;
  --space-9: 36px;
  --space-12: 48px;
  --space-16: 64px;
  --space-24: 96px;
  --space-32: 128px;
  --space-40: 160px;

How this was measured

PikSpec’s scanner read the obsidian.md home page in Chrome at 1440px wide on 15 October 2026: the computed styles of its elements, the fonts that rendered and how much of the page each colour covers. Websites change; capture the page yourself with PikSpec for today’s values, any page, and exports in five formats.

Obsidian is a trademark of its owner. This page is an independent measurement and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Obsidian.

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