Sketch 2026 adds 'Smart Tokens' and AI-assisted symbol governance

Design · 3 min read

Sketch’s Smart Tokens are dynamic variables that can be scoped by platform, theme, or component state; the new system uses AI suggestions to infer sensible token splits and renames during library refactors. This reduces manual token churn for large teams.

The symbol governance feature scans libraries for duplicate or outdated components and proposes consolidation options, presenting an impact analysis that estimates how many files would be affected. Designers can preview merge outcomes and automatically propagate changes.

Sketch also released APIs so design ops teams can integrate governance checks into CI pipelines. The company highlighted its focus on reducing token entropy across enterprise accounts, where token drift commonly creates visual inconsistency.

Early enterprise customers said these features speed up library maintenance and reduce accidental divergence between product teams. Sketch noted that human review remains a key step in the governance flow to prevent unwanted automatic changes.