Design system

Component lifecycle

This lifecycle defines the stages every component in the Design System undergoes, from Alpha to Production to Legacy. Each stage describes the component's maturity, adoption level, and support status.

To request new components or enhancements, please follow the Design contribution process.

Alpha

New changes or components available for testing and feedback prior to production.

Characteristics:

Actively gathering feedback from selected teams
May be unstable or subject to breaking changes
Not yet documented publicly

Goals

Validate functionality and design completeness
Ensure technical and accessibility standards compliance
Prepare documentation for public release

Production

Stable, fully supported component ready for wide adoption.

Characteristics:

Fully documented (design guidelines, properties, examples)
Meets accessibility and design system standards
Optimized for mobile use
Actively maintained with regular updates and bug fixes
Documentation available publicly

Goals

Promote widespread adoption
Continuously monitor for improvements and bug reports
Maintain feature parity across React and Angular

Legacy

Older components supported primarily for existing implementations; transition to alternative is recommended.

Characteristics:

No active maintenance or updates (critical issues may remain unresolved)
Recommended alternative clearly identified
Marked as "Legacy" within official documentation

Goals

Assist teams with migration strategies
Actively communicate the benefits of migrating to newer components
Minimize long-term maintenance overhead and technical debt

Join design system drop in hours to get feedback on your service, propose new components or patterns, suggest changes to existing resources, ask questions, and give feedback to the design system. These sessions are for Government of Alberta product teams.
Book time in drop in hours