Foundations
Radii & elevation
Subtle corners, restrained shadows. We use elevation to signal layering and focus, not to invent visual richness.
Radii
Elevation
Five steps from flat to floating. Use sparingly — flat is usually correct in dense tools.
Semantic elevation (recommended)
Prefer the semantic --elevation-N alias over picking a shadow by name. The semantic version expresses intent ("level 2 elevation") rather than implementation; if the shadow scale ever shifts (e.g., we tighten for a denser theme), every consumer follows automatically.
Focus ring
Decomposed so components can build their own focus expression. The default --shadow-focus shorthand stays in scope for back-compat; new components should compose from these primitives instead.
Scrim & backdrop
Three opacity tiers for overlays. --backdrop is the default for modal dialogs and aliases --scrim-medium.