Elevation gets its own token file, effect.json — shadow scale, glow, gradients, and grain — separated from color.json by concern, not by which CSS property happens to hold the value. Glow's color is color lab's decision (--color-glow-source), read live here; what's tunable here is theeffect — opacity, size, and falloff. Grain is new: a real token now, not hardcoded lab chrome.
Preview
Elevation scale
sm/md/xl already locked in color.json as shadow-1/2/3 — re-homed here under effect.shadow. lg is new, inserted between the old md/lg per review. Dark = deep shadow + faint top light-edge; light = soft grey, no light-edge.
Glow
A radial-gradient overlay, top-right by convention (fixed position — same idea as the mark's fixed corner logic, not a per-instance control).
The glow reads as light, not paint — held to a low ceiling so it stays elegant rather than neon.
Gradients
Accent → transparent, sized for its real job (a data/area fill or a small luminous edge — not a full panel), and a subtle surface wash that's dark-mode only: on an already-white light surface, white-to-transparent has nowhere to go, so light renders as a plain card.
Grain
Fine self-contained noise (inline SVG feTurbulence) — turns flat dark into material, and quietly prevents banding on the gradient wash underneath. Dark-primary, near-off in light by default (same asymmetry as glow). Compare against a plain card, same shadow, same gradient.
One intensity dial scales sm/md/lg together (matches the dial already used when color.json's shadow values were tuned).
Computed (current theme)
Per-theme. opacity/size/falloff shape the effect. Color (which hue, or none) is color lab's decision — this reads its --color-glow-sourcetoken live rather than choosing its own, so the two labs can never disagree about what the glow is made of.
Resolved
85% 0%) across the brand — a signature, not a per-card choice, same logic as the mark's fixed corner rounding. Change the source hue on color lab's "Card glow source" toggle.gradient-accent: angle + how far it travels before going transparent — sized for a small area-fill or edge, not a full panel (see preview). gradient-surface is dark-only; light always resolves to none.
New token — previously hardcoded lab-chrome CSS with no control. Fine noise only; the heavier painterly/3D texture in the references is the raster/atmospheric layer (Gemini), not this. Opacity is per-theme, same asymmetry as glow — dark defaults on, light defaults near-off.
Blend mode