Component tokens

Semantic tokens get you close. A component still needs its own vocabulary. A button has a background, a foreground, a border, a radius.

Component tokens are the last hop. button-bg points to primary. button-radius points to radius-md. The button stays ignorant of raw values and still ends up fully specified.

This is also where variants attach. A destructive button doesn't restyle itself with a hex. It points button-bg at destructive.

Delete on the left owns a hex. On the right it points button-bg at destructive. Same paint. A different hop.

You never opened the button. A variant is a retarget, not a restyle.