diff --git a/alembic/versions/0072_design_systems.py b/alembic/versions/0072_design_systems.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..80e467c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/alembic/versions/0072_design_systems.py
@@ -0,0 +1,138 @@
+"""design systems + tokens, and the project pointer
+
+Revision ID: 0072
+Revises: 0071
+Create Date: 2026-07-30
+
+Makes the design system a first-class record instead of prose in a rulebook: a
+named set of tokens with an optional parent, so a family system holds the house
+style and an app system holds only what it changes.
+
+`design_systems.parent_id` is the whole model. It replaces both an `always_on`
+flag (a family system is one with no parent) and a subscription join table (a
+project points at ONE system, and the chain supplies the rest), which is less
+schema than the rulebook shape it mirrors.
+
+Two deliberate choices worth stating here rather than leaving to be re-derived:
+
+  - **`design_tokens.value_by_mode` is JSONB keyed by mode**, not `value_light` +
+    `value_dark` columns. In a child system an unset mode means "inherit"; in a
+    root it would mean "not mode-dependent", and as columns both are NULL and
+    indistinguishable. As a map, resolution is a dict merge at every level with
+    no special case for roots — and a third mode (high-contrast, print) is data
+    rather than a schema change. The cost is that a typo'd mode key is not
+    rejected by the database. Nothing filters tokens by value in SQL, so the
+    queryability the columns would have bought is for a query no caller makes.
+    (Named `value_by_mode` rather than `values`, which is reserved in SQL.)
+  - **`group_name` is free text, not a CHECK enum.** Groupings are each design
+    system's own vocabulary; a whitelist would bake one install's kit into the
+    schema. No CHECK is introduced anywhere in this migration.
+
+`parent_id` and `projects.design_system_id` are both ON DELETE SET NULL. Deleting
+a family system must orphan its children into roots that still hold their own
+overrides, not cascade away every app system that inherited from it; deleting a
+system a project points at must unstyle that project, not delete it.
+
+Downgrade drops both tables and the column. Any design system defined this way
+is lost — this is the migration that introduces the concept, so there is no
+earlier representation to fall back to.
+"""
+from alembic import op
+import sqlalchemy as sa
+from sqlalchemy.dialects.postgresql import JSONB
+
+
+revision = "0072"
+down_revision = "0071"
+branch_labels = None
+depends_on = None
+
+
+def upgrade() -> None:
+    op.create_table(
+        "design_systems",
+        sa.Column("id", sa.BigInteger(), primary_key=True),
+        sa.Column(
+            "owner_user_id", sa.BigInteger(),
+            sa.ForeignKey("users.id", ondelete="CASCADE"), nullable=False,
+        ),
+        sa.Column("title", sa.Text(), nullable=False),
+        sa.Column("description", sa.Text(), nullable=True),
+        sa.Column(
+            "parent_id", sa.BigInteger(),
+            sa.ForeignKey("design_systems.id", ondelete="SET NULL"), nullable=True,
+        ),
+        sa.Column(
+            "created_at", sa.DateTime(timezone=True), nullable=False,
+            server_default=sa.text("now()"),
+        ),
+        sa.Column(
+            "updated_at", sa.DateTime(timezone=True), nullable=False,
+            server_default=sa.text("now()"),
+        ),
+        sa.Column("deleted_at", sa.DateTime(timezone=True), nullable=True),
+        sa.Column("deleted_batch_id", sa.Text(), nullable=True),
+    )
+    op.create_index(
+        "ix_design_systems_owner_user_id", "design_systems", ["owner_user_id"]
+    )
+    op.create_index("ix_design_systems_parent_id", "design_systems", ["parent_id"])
+
+    op.create_table(
+        "design_tokens",
+        sa.Column("id", sa.BigInteger(), primary_key=True),
+        sa.Column(
+            "design_system_id", sa.BigInteger(),
+            sa.ForeignKey("design_systems.id", ondelete="CASCADE"), nullable=False,
+        ),
+        sa.Column("name", sa.Text(), nullable=False),
+        # NOT NULL with a '{}' default: a nullable JSONB column has two empty
+        # states (SQL NULL and JSON null) and every reader has to test for both.
+        sa.Column(
+            "value_by_mode", JSONB,
+            nullable=False, server_default=sa.text("'{}'::jsonb"),
+        ),
+        sa.Column("group_name", sa.Text(), nullable=True),
+        sa.Column("purpose", sa.Text(), nullable=True),
+        sa.Column("order_index", sa.Integer(), nullable=False, server_default="0"),
+        sa.Column(
+            "created_at", sa.DateTime(timezone=True), nullable=False,
+            server_default=sa.text("now()"),
+        ),
+        sa.Column(
+            "updated_at", sa.DateTime(timezone=True), nullable=False,
+            server_default=sa.text("now()"),
+        ),
+        sa.Column("deleted_at", sa.DateTime(timezone=True), nullable=True),
+        sa.Column("deleted_batch_id", sa.Text(), nullable=True),
+    )
+    op.create_index(
+        "ix_design_tokens_design_system_id", "design_tokens", ["design_system_id"]
+    )
+    # Partial unique: a name is unique among LIVE tokens in a system. Two live
+    # rows with the same name are a duplicate definition and the cascade would
+    # pick between them arbitrarily; a trashed row must not block reusing its
+    # name.
+    op.create_index(
+        "uq_token_per_design_system", "design_tokens", ["design_system_id", "name"],
+        unique=True, postgresql_where=sa.text("deleted_at IS NULL"),
+    )
+
+    op.add_column(
+        "projects", sa.Column("design_system_id", sa.BigInteger(), nullable=True)
+    )
+    op.create_foreign_key(
+        "fk_projects_design_system_id", "projects", "design_systems",
+        ["design_system_id"], ["id"], ondelete="SET NULL",
+    )
+
+
+def downgrade() -> None:
+    op.drop_constraint("fk_projects_design_system_id", "projects", type_="foreignkey")
+    op.drop_column("projects", "design_system_id")
+    op.drop_index("uq_token_per_design_system", table_name="design_tokens")
+    op.drop_index("ix_design_tokens_design_system_id", table_name="design_tokens")
+    op.drop_table("design_tokens")
+    op.drop_index("ix_design_systems_parent_id", table_name="design_systems")
+    op.drop_index("ix_design_systems_owner_user_id", table_name="design_systems")
+    op.drop_table("design_systems")
diff --git a/src/scribe/models/__init__.py b/src/scribe/models/__init__.py
index 2297cdd..f4528a8 100644
--- a/src/scribe/models/__init__.py
+++ b/src/scribe/models/__init__.py
@@ -43,3 +43,6 @@ from scribe.models.rulebook import (  # noqa: E402, F401
 )
 from scribe.models.repo_binding import RepoBinding  # noqa: E402, F401
 from scribe.models.system import System, RecordSystem  # noqa: E402, F401
+from scribe.models.design_system import (  # noqa: E402, F401
+    BASE_MODE, DesignSystem, DesignToken,
+)
diff --git a/src/scribe/models/design_system.py b/src/scribe/models/design_system.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7c91a02
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/scribe/models/design_system.py
@@ -0,0 +1,130 @@
+"""Design systems — a stylesheet held as records, inherited family -> app.
+
+A DesignSystem is a named set of design tokens with an OPTIONAL parent, and that
+single self-FK is the whole model. A system with no parent is a family system; a
+system WITH one holds only what it changes. "What does this app alter?" is
+therefore `list its tokens` — nothing to compute, nothing to diff — which is why
+inheritance won over a flat family-plus-loose-overrides shape.
+
+Resolution walks the chain and lets the deepest system win by token name. That
+is the CSS cascade rather than an analogy to it, which is why the storage model
+and the stylesheet model come out the same shape.
+
+`parent_id` also replaces two things the rulebook model needs to express the same
+idea: an `always_on` flag (a family system is simply one with no parent) and a
+subscription join table (a project points at ONE system, and the chain supplies
+the rest). Less schema for more structure.
+"""
+from sqlalchemy import BigInteger, ForeignKey, Index, Integer, Text, text
+from sqlalchemy.dialects.postgresql import JSONB
+from sqlalchemy.orm import Mapped, mapped_column
+
+from scribe.models import Base
+from scribe.models.base import SoftDeleteMixin, TimestampMixin
+
+# The mode key that applies when no more specific one does. Emitted CSS puts it
+# on the base selector and every other key on a mode selector, mirroring how a
+# stylesheet is actually written: light on `:root`, dark layered over it.
+BASE_MODE = "base"
+
+
+class DesignSystem(Base, TimestampMixin, SoftDeleteMixin):
+    __tablename__ = "design_systems"
+
+    id: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(BigInteger, primary_key=True)
+    owner_user_id: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(
+        BigInteger, ForeignKey("users.id", ondelete="CASCADE"), index=True
+    )
+    title: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(Text)
+    description: Mapped[str | None] = mapped_column(Text, nullable=True)
+    # SET NULL, not CASCADE: deleting a family system must not delete every app
+    # system that inherited from it. Orphaning turns each child into a root that
+    # still holds its own overrides — recoverable. A cascade would destroy data
+    # the operator never asked to touch.
+    parent_id: Mapped[int | None] = mapped_column(
+        BigInteger,
+        ForeignKey("design_systems.id", ondelete="SET NULL"),
+        nullable=True,
+        index=True,
+    )
+
+    def to_dict(self) -> dict:
+        return {
+            "id": self.id,
+            "owner_user_id": self.owner_user_id,
+            "title": self.title,
+            "description": self.description or "",
+            "parent_id": self.parent_id,
+            "created_at": self.created_at.isoformat() if self.created_at else None,
+            "updated_at": self.updated_at.isoformat() if self.updated_at else None,
+        }
+
+
+class DesignToken(Base, TimestampMixin, SoftDeleteMixin):
+    """One custom property in one system: its name, and its value per mode.
+
+    `value_by_mode` is a JSONB map of mode -> value, e.g.
+    `{"base": "#f7f5ef", "dark": "#14171a"}`. Three reasons it beats a pair of
+    `value_light` / `value_dark` columns here:
+
+      - **Absence means one thing.** In a child system an unset mode means
+        "inherit"; in a root it would have to mean "not mode-dependent". With
+        columns those are both NULL and the resolver cannot tell them apart. With
+        a map, resolution is `{**parent_map, **child_map}` at every level —
+        one rule, no special case for roots.
+      - **Per-mode overrides are already real.** A palette rule in this operator's
+        own kit deepens one accent on light backgrounds for contrast while
+        leaving the dark value alone. Mode is a second override axis, not a
+        second column.
+      - **Nothing filters tokens by value in SQL.** Drift comparison resolves the
+        set first and compares in the client; the importer diffs in Python. The
+        queryability columns would buy is for a query no caller makes.
+
+    The cost is real — a third mode is data rather than schema, so the DB will
+    not reject a typo'd mode key. That is the trade taken.
+
+    NOT NULL with a `{}` default deliberately: a JSONB column otherwise has two
+    empty states (SQL NULL and JSON null) and code has to test for both.
+    """
+    __tablename__ = "design_tokens"
+    __table_args__ = (
+        # Partial unique: a name is unique among LIVE tokens in a system, so a
+        # trashed token doesn't block recreating the same name. Two live rows
+        # named `--fs-obsidian` in one system is a duplicate definition, and the
+        # cascade would pick between them arbitrarily.
+        Index(
+            "uq_token_per_design_system", "design_system_id", "name",
+            unique=True, postgresql_where=text("deleted_at IS NULL"),
+        ),
+    )
+
+    id: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(BigInteger, primary_key=True)
+    design_system_id: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(
+        BigInteger, ForeignKey("design_systems.id", ondelete="CASCADE"), index=True
+    )
+    name: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(Text)
+    # Named for what it holds rather than the bare word `values`, which is
+    # reserved in SQL — the same reason `group_name` is not `group`.
+    value_by_mode: Mapped[dict] = mapped_column(
+        JSONB, nullable=False, default=dict, server_default=text("'{}'::jsonb")
+    )
+    # `group` is a reserved word in SQL; `group_name` throughout — model, column
+    # and payload — so no layer has to remember which spelling it is on.
+    # Free text, not a CHECK enum: groupings are the design system's own
+    # vocabulary, and a whitelist would bake one install's kit into the schema.
+    group_name: Mapped[str | None] = mapped_column(Text, nullable=True)
+    purpose: Mapped[str | None] = mapped_column(Text, nullable=True)
+    order_index: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, default=0, server_default="0")
+
+    def to_dict(self) -> dict:
+        return {
+            "id": self.id,
+            "design_system_id": self.design_system_id,
+            "name": self.name,
+            "value_by_mode": self.value_by_mode or {},
+            "group_name": self.group_name,
+            "purpose": self.purpose,
+            "order_index": self.order_index,
+            "created_at": self.created_at.isoformat() if self.created_at else None,
+            "updated_at": self.updated_at.isoformat() if self.updated_at else None,
+        }
diff --git a/src/scribe/models/project.py b/src/scribe/models/project.py
index 8ccacc5..d05a165 100644
--- a/src/scribe/models/project.py
+++ b/src/scribe/models/project.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import enum
-from sqlalchemy import ForeignKey, Integer, Text
+from sqlalchemy import BigInteger, ForeignKey, Integer, Text
 from sqlalchemy.orm import Mapped, mapped_column
 from scribe.models import Base
 from scribe.models.base import TimestampMixin, SoftDeleteMixin
@@ -21,6 +21,12 @@ class Project(Base, TimestampMixin, SoftDeleteMixin):
     goal: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(Text, default="")
     status: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(Text, default="active")
     color: Mapped[str | None] = mapped_column(Text, nullable=True)  # hex color
+    # The design system this project's UI is built from, or NULL. NULL is the
+    # ordinary state, not a degraded one — most installs have no design system
+    # at all and nothing may assume one exists.
+    design_system_id: Mapped[int | None] = mapped_column(
+        BigInteger, ForeignKey("design_systems.id", ondelete="SET NULL"), nullable=True
+    )
 
     def to_dict(self) -> dict:
         return {
@@ -31,6 +37,7 @@ class Project(Base, TimestampMixin, SoftDeleteMixin):
             "goal": self.goal,
             "status": self.status,
             "color": self.color,
+            "design_system_id": self.design_system_id,
             "created_at": self.created_at.isoformat(),
             "updated_at": self.updated_at.isoformat(),
         }
diff --git a/src/scribe/routes/design.py b/src/scribe/routes/design.py
index 33b3146..630e710 100644
--- a/src/scribe/routes/design.py
+++ b/src/scribe/routes/design.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ resolved. This endpoint supplies the claims to check them against.
 from quart import Blueprint, jsonify
 
 from scribe.auth import get_current_user_id, login_required
-from scribe.services import design_system as design_svc
+from scribe.services import design_rulebook_import as design_svc
 
 design_bp = Blueprint("design", __name__, url_prefix="/api/design")
 
diff --git a/src/scribe/services/access.py b/src/scribe/services/access.py
index bb39d61..2a43374 100644
--- a/src/scribe/services/access.py
+++ b/src/scribe/services/access.py
@@ -12,11 +12,13 @@ import logging
 from sqlalchemy import or_, select
 
 from scribe.models import async_session
+from scribe.models.design_system import DesignSystem
 from scribe.models.group import GroupMembership
 from scribe.models.note import Note
 from scribe.models.project import Project
 from scribe.models.share import NoteShare, ProjectShare
 from scribe.models.user import User
+from scribe.services.design_cascade import ancestry
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -164,6 +166,88 @@ async def can_write_note(user_id: int, note_id: int) -> bool:
     return perm in ("editor", "admin", "owner")
 
 
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Design-system permissions
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+async def get_design_system_permission(
+    user_id: int, design_system_id: int
+) -> str | None:
+    """Effective permission on a design system, or None.
+
+    Two ways in, and the asymmetry between them is the point:
+
+      - **Owning it** grants "owner" — full read and write.
+      - **Reaching it through a project you can see** grants "viewer", and only
+        ever "viewer". Being an editor on a shared project must NOT confer the
+        right to rewrite the family system that project inherits from: one
+        project's collaborator would be editing tokens every other project in
+        the family resolves through. Editing a design system stays the owner's
+        act, and it is the same reasoning that keeps a rulebook owner-scoped.
+
+    Reachability follows the parent chain UPWARD. Rendering a project's UI means
+    resolving its whole chain, so read access to a system implies read access to
+    its ancestors — otherwise a shared project would resolve to a truncated
+    cascade and silently render with the wrong values.
+    """
+    async with async_session() as session:
+        system = await session.get(DesignSystem, design_system_id)
+        if system is None or system.deleted_at is not None:
+            return None
+        if system.owner_user_id == user_id:
+            return "owner"
+
+        shared_project_ids = select(ProjectShare.project_id).where(
+            or_(
+                ProjectShare.shared_with_user_id == user_id,
+                ProjectShare.shared_with_group_id.in_(_my_group_ids(user_id)),
+            )
+        )
+        entry_points = set(
+            (
+                await session.execute(
+                    select(Project.design_system_id).where(
+                        Project.design_system_id.is_not(None),
+                        Project.deleted_at.is_(None),
+                        or_(
+                            Project.user_id == user_id,
+                            Project.id.in_(shared_project_ids),
+                        ),
+                    )
+                )
+            ).scalars().all()
+        )
+        if not entry_points:
+            return None
+
+        # One narrow query for the whole forest's shape. Design systems are a
+        # handful of rows per install — a family and one per app — so walking
+        # from each entry point in memory beats a recursive CTE per check.
+        parents = dict(
+            (
+                await session.execute(
+                    select(DesignSystem.id, DesignSystem.parent_id).where(
+                        DesignSystem.deleted_at.is_(None)
+                    )
+                )
+            ).all()
+        )
+
+    for entry in entry_points:
+        if design_system_id in ancestry(entry, parents):
+            return "viewer"
+    return None
+
+
+async def can_read_design_system(user_id: int, design_system_id: int) -> bool:
+    return (await get_design_system_permission(user_id, design_system_id)) is not None
+
+
+async def can_write_design_system(user_id: int, design_system_id: int) -> bool:
+    perm = await get_design_system_permission(user_id, design_system_id)
+    return perm in ("editor", "admin", "owner")
+
+
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Set-based visibility (for LIST queries)
 #
diff --git a/src/scribe/services/design_cascade.py b/src/scribe/services/design_cascade.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8d7f187
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/scribe/services/design_cascade.py
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+"""The design-system cascade, as pure functions over already-loaded rows.
+
+Deliberately free of every database and service import — including
+`services/access.py`, which needs `ancestry` to answer "can this caller read
+this system?" and would otherwise form an import cycle with the service that
+needs `access` back. A module that imports nothing can be imported by both.
+
+Being pure is also what makes the cascade rule testable without a database:
+these take a plain `{id: parent_id}` map, so a test states the shape of a
+hierarchy in one literal instead of building one.
+"""
+from collections.abc import Mapping
+
+
+def ancestry(system_id: int, parents: Mapping[int, int | None]) -> list[int]:
+    """The inheritance chain from `system_id` up to its root, nearest first.
+
+    Includes `system_id` itself at index 0, because resolution wants
+    deepest-to-shallowest and the system being resolved is the deepest link.
+
+    A system missing from `parents` terminates the chain rather than raising: a
+    parent whose row was soft-deleted or filtered out is a truncated chain, not
+    a failed request.
+
+    The visited-set is defensive, not the primary guard — writes already refuse
+    to create a cycle (`would_cycle`). It is here because a loop introduced by a
+    direct DB edit or a future bug must degrade to a truncated chain instead of
+    spinning forever. Truncation shows up in the result; a hang shows up as an
+    outage.
+    """
+    chain: list[int] = []
+    seen: set[int] = set()
+    current: int | None = system_id
+    while current is not None and current not in seen:
+        seen.add(current)
+        chain.append(current)
+        current = parents.get(current)
+    return chain
+
+
+def would_cycle(
+    system_id: int,
+    proposed_parent_id: int | None,
+    parents: Mapping[int, int | None],
+) -> bool:
+    """Would making `proposed_parent_id` the parent of `system_id` close a loop?
+
+    True when the proposed parent IS the system, or already inherits from it.
+
+    The walk goes UP from the proposed parent, which is the cheap direction —
+    each system has at most one parent, so the chain is a line. Asking the
+    equivalent downward question ("is the proposed parent among my
+    descendants?") would mean searching a whole forest for the same answer.
+
+    `proposed_parent_id=None` clears the parent and can never cycle.
+    """
+    if proposed_parent_id is None:
+        return False
+    if proposed_parent_id == system_id:
+        return True
+    return system_id in ancestry(proposed_parent_id, parents)
diff --git a/src/scribe/services/design_system.py b/src/scribe/services/design_rulebook_import.py
similarity index 100%
rename from src/scribe/services/design_system.py
rename to src/scribe/services/design_rulebook_import.py
diff --git a/src/scribe/services/design_systems.py b/src/scribe/services/design_systems.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4588d5c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/scribe/services/design_systems.py
@@ -0,0 +1,271 @@
+"""Design system + token persistence, and the guard on the parent chain.
+
+Access goes through `services/access.py` (rule #78), where reaching a system via
+a project you can see grants READ but never write — see
+`get_design_system_permission` for why that asymmetry exists.
+
+The cascade itself lives in `services/design_cascade.py` as pure functions. This
+module is the part that needs a database: loading the shape of the hierarchy,
+refusing writes that would break it, and storing tokens.
+
+Nothing here seeds or implies a default system. An install with no design
+systems is an ordinary install, and every caller must handle an empty list as
+the normal case rather than a missing prerequisite.
+"""
+import logging
+from datetime import datetime, timezone
+
+from sqlalchemy import select
+
+from scribe.models import async_session
+from scribe.models.design_system import DesignSystem, DesignToken
+from scribe.models.project import Project
+from scribe.services import access
+from scribe.services.design_cascade import would_cycle
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+
+class DesignSystemCycle(ValueError):
+    """A parent assignment that would close an inheritance loop.
+
+    Raised rather than returned as None because the two outcomes need different
+    answers: None already means "not found, or not yours", and a caller that
+    conflated them would show "no such design system" for what is really "that
+    parent is one of its own descendants". Routes map this to a 400.
+    """
+
+
+async def _parent_map(session, user_id: int) -> dict[int, int | None]:
+    """`{id: parent_id}` for the caller's live systems — the hierarchy's shape.
+
+    Owner-scoped, which is also the constraint on parenting: you can only build
+    a chain out of systems you own. A borrowed link would let someone else's
+    delete or re-parent silently restyle your app.
+    """
+    rows = (
+        await session.execute(
+            select(DesignSystem.id, DesignSystem.parent_id).where(
+                DesignSystem.owner_user_id == user_id,
+                DesignSystem.deleted_at.is_(None),
+            )
+        )
+    ).all()
+    return dict(rows)
+
+
+# --- design systems ---------------------------------------------------------
+
+async def create_design_system(
+    user_id: int,
+    title: str,
+    description: str | None = None,
+    parent_id: int | None = None,
+) -> DesignSystem | None:
+    """Create a system, with or without a parent.
+
+    Returns None when `parent_id` names a system the caller may not write —
+    which, per the ACL, means one they do not own.
+    """
+    if parent_id is not None and not await access.can_write_design_system(
+        user_id, parent_id
+    ):
+        return None
+    async with async_session() as session:
+        system = DesignSystem(
+            owner_user_id=user_id,
+            title=title.strip(),
+            description=description,
+            parent_id=parent_id,
+        )
+        session.add(system)
+        await session.commit()
+        await session.refresh(system)
+        return system
+
+
+async def get_design_system(user_id: int, design_system_id: int) -> DesignSystem | None:
+    async with async_session() as session:
+        system = await session.get(DesignSystem, design_system_id)
+    if system is None or system.deleted_at is not None:
+        return None
+    if not await access.can_read_design_system(user_id, design_system_id):
+        return None
+    return system
+
+
+async def list_design_systems(user_id: int) -> list[DesignSystem]:
+    """The caller's own systems, ordered by title. Empty is normal."""
+    async with async_session() as session:
+        rows = await session.execute(
+            select(DesignSystem)
+            .where(
+                DesignSystem.owner_user_id == user_id,
+                DesignSystem.deleted_at.is_(None),
+            )
+            .order_by(DesignSystem.title)
+        )
+        return list(rows.scalars().all())
+
+
+async def update_design_system(
+    user_id: int, design_system_id: int, **fields: object
+) -> DesignSystem | None:
+    """Partial update. Raises DesignSystemCycle if `parent_id` would loop.
+
+    `parent_id` is handled apart from the other fields because None is a
+    meaningful value for it — "make this a root" — where for every other field
+    None means "leave alone". Callers signal it by passing the key at all.
+    """
+    if not await access.can_write_design_system(user_id, design_system_id):
+        return None
+    async with async_session() as session:
+        system = await session.get(DesignSystem, design_system_id)
+        if system is None or system.deleted_at is not None:
+            return None
+
+        if "parent_id" in fields:
+            parent_id = fields.pop("parent_id")
+            if parent_id is not None:
+                parent_id = int(parent_id)
+                if not await access.can_write_design_system(user_id, parent_id):
+                    return None
+            if would_cycle(
+                design_system_id, parent_id, await _parent_map(session, user_id)
+            ):
+                raise DesignSystemCycle(
+                    f"Design system {design_system_id} cannot inherit from "
+                    f"{parent_id}: that system already inherits from it."
+                )
+            system.parent_id = parent_id
+
+        for key, value in fields.items():
+            if key in ("title", "description") and value is not None:
+                setattr(system, key, value)
+        system.updated_at = datetime.now(timezone.utc)
+        await session.commit()
+        await session.refresh(system)
+        return system
+
+
+async def delete_design_system(user_id: int, design_system_id: int) -> bool:
+    """Soft-delete a system. Children survive as roots (the FK is SET NULL)."""
+    if not await access.can_write_design_system(user_id, design_system_id):
+        return False
+    async with async_session() as session:
+        system = await session.get(DesignSystem, design_system_id)
+        if system is None or system.deleted_at is not None:
+            return False
+        system.deleted_at = datetime.now(timezone.utc)
+        await session.commit()
+        return True
+
+
+# --- tokens -----------------------------------------------------------------
+
+async def create_token(
+    user_id: int,
+    design_system_id: int,
+    name: str,
+    value_by_mode: dict | None = None,
+    group_name: str | None = None,
+    purpose: str | None = None,
+    order_index: int = 0,
+) -> DesignToken | None:
+    if not await access.can_write_design_system(user_id, design_system_id):
+        return None
+    async with async_session() as session:
+        token = DesignToken(
+            design_system_id=design_system_id,
+            name=name.strip(),
+            # `or {}` and not the argument as given: the column is NOT NULL so
+            # that absence has exactly one spelling. Passing None here would
+            # otherwise store JSON null and reintroduce the second empty state.
+            value_by_mode=value_by_mode or {},
+            group_name=group_name,
+            purpose=purpose,
+            order_index=order_index,
+        )
+        session.add(token)
+        await session.commit()
+        await session.refresh(token)
+        return token
+
+
+async def list_tokens(user_id: int, design_system_id: int) -> list[DesignToken]:
+    """One system's OWN tokens — its override set, not its effective set.
+
+    Resolving the chain is step 2's job; this deliberately answers the narrower
+    question ("what does this system change?") that the model exists to make
+    free.
+    """
+    if not await access.can_read_design_system(user_id, design_system_id):
+        return []
+    async with async_session() as session:
+        rows = await session.execute(
+            select(DesignToken)
+            .where(
+                DesignToken.design_system_id == design_system_id,
+                DesignToken.deleted_at.is_(None),
+            )
+            .order_by(DesignToken.order_index.asc(), DesignToken.name.asc())
+        )
+        return list(rows.scalars().all())
+
+
+async def update_token(
+    user_id: int, token_id: int, **fields: object
+) -> DesignToken | None:
+    allowed = {"name", "value_by_mode", "group_name", "purpose", "order_index"}
+    async with async_session() as session:
+        token = await session.get(DesignToken, token_id)
+        if token is None or token.deleted_at is not None:
+            return None
+        if not await access.can_write_design_system(user_id, token.design_system_id):
+            return None
+        for key, value in fields.items():
+            if key in allowed and value is not None:
+                setattr(token, key, value)
+        token.updated_at = datetime.now(timezone.utc)
+        await session.commit()
+        await session.refresh(token)
+        return token
+
+
+async def delete_token(user_id: int, token_id: int) -> bool:
+    async with async_session() as session:
+        token = await session.get(DesignToken, token_id)
+        if token is None or token.deleted_at is not None:
+            return False
+        if not await access.can_write_design_system(user_id, token.design_system_id):
+            return False
+        token.deleted_at = datetime.now(timezone.utc)
+        await session.commit()
+        return True
+
+
+# --- the project pointer ----------------------------------------------------
+
+async def set_project_design_system(
+    user_id: int, project_id: int, design_system_id: int | None
+) -> bool:
+    """Point a project at a design system, or at nothing (None clears it).
+
+    Needs write on the project and READ on the system: pointing at a system is
+    consuming it, not changing it, so a system shared with you through another
+    project is a legitimate choice here.
+    """
+    if not await access.can_write_project(user_id, project_id):
+        return False
+    if design_system_id is not None and not await access.can_read_design_system(
+        user_id, design_system_id
+    ):
+        return False
+    async with async_session() as session:
+        project = await session.get(Project, project_id)
+        if project is None or project.deleted_at is not None:
+            return False
+        project.design_system_id = design_system_id
+        project.updated_at = datetime.now(timezone.utc)
+        await session.commit()
+        return True
diff --git a/tests/test_design_cascade.py b/tests/test_design_cascade.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b00936c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_design_cascade.py
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+"""The parent chain: walking it, and refusing to close it (milestone #254 step 1).
+
+Pure functions over a `{id: parent_id}` literal, so a whole hierarchy is one line
+of setup and no database is involved. That is the reason the cascade lives in its
+own import-free module — see services/design_cascade.py.
+"""
+from scribe.services.design_cascade import ancestry, would_cycle
+
+
+# --- ancestry ---------------------------------------------------------------
+
+def test_ancestry_returns_the_chain_deepest_first():
+    """Deepest first because that is the order resolution consumes it in: the
+    system being resolved wins over its parent, which wins over the root."""
+    parents = {1: None, 2: 1, 3: 2}
+    assert ancestry(3, parents) == [3, 2, 1]
+
+
+def test_a_root_is_its_own_whole_chain():
+    """A family system has no parent, and that is an ordinary state — not an
+    incomplete one. It must resolve to exactly itself."""
+    assert ancestry(1, {1: None}) == [1]
+
+
+def test_a_missing_parent_truncates_rather_than_raising():
+    """A parent that was soft-deleted (or filtered out of the caller's scope) is
+    a shorter chain, not a failed request. The alternative — raising — would make
+    one deleted system break every descendant's rendering."""
+    assert ancestry(3, {3: 2}) == [3, 2]
+
+
+def test_a_system_absent_from_the_map_still_yields_itself():
+    assert ancestry(9, {}) == [9]
+
+
+def test_ancestry_terminates_on_a_cycle_instead_of_hanging():
+    """LOAD-BEARING, and the reason a visited-set exists even though writes are
+    guarded. A loop introduced by a direct DB edit or a future bug must degrade
+    to a truncated chain: truncation shows up in the result, a hang shows up as
+    an outage. Every id appears exactly once."""
+    parents = {1: 3, 2: 1, 3: 2}
+    chain = ancestry(1, parents)
+    assert chain == [1, 3, 2]
+    assert len(chain) == len(set(chain))
+
+
+def test_ancestry_terminates_on_a_self_parent():
+    assert ancestry(1, {1: 1}) == [1]
+
+
+# --- would_cycle ------------------------------------------------------------
+
+def test_clearing_the_parent_never_cycles():
+    """None means "make this a root", which is always safe."""
+    assert would_cycle(2, None, {1: None, 2: 1}) is False
+
+
+def test_a_system_cannot_be_its_own_parent():
+    assert would_cycle(1, 1, {1: None}) is True
+
+
+def test_an_ordinary_reparent_is_allowed():
+    """family <- app is the shape the whole model exists for; it must not trip
+    the guard."""
+    assert would_cycle(2, 1, {1: None, 2: None}) is False
+
+
+def test_a_direct_swap_is_refused():
+    """A -> B, then B -> A. The two-system case, and the one a UI produces first
+    because both systems are on screen together."""
+    parents = {1: None, 2: 1}
+    assert would_cycle(1, 2, parents) is True
+
+
+def test_an_indirect_loop_is_refused():
+    """Three deep: root <- mid <- leaf, then root's parent set to leaf. Catching
+    this is what makes the check a chain walk rather than a parent comparison."""
+    parents = {1: None, 2: 1, 3: 2}
+    assert would_cycle(1, 3, parents) is True
+
+
+def test_reparenting_onto_a_sibling_subtree_is_allowed():
+    """Two branches off one root. Moving one under the other is legitimate — the
+    guard must refuse loops, not reorganisation."""
+    parents = {1: None, 2: 1, 3: 1}
+    assert would_cycle(3, 2, parents) is False
+
+
+def test_the_guard_survives_a_hierarchy_that_is_already_corrupt():
+    """If a cycle somehow already exists, the guard still has to answer rather
+    than spin — the write path is exactly where such a hierarchy gets repaired."""
+    parents = {1: 2, 2: 1, 3: None}
+    assert would_cycle(3, 1, parents) is False
+    assert would_cycle(1, 2, parents) is True
diff --git a/tests/test_design_system.py b/tests/test_design_rulebook_import.py
similarity index 99%
rename from tests/test_design_system.py
rename to tests/test_design_rulebook_import.py
index 0b29af2..9a0c942 100644
--- a/tests/test_design_system.py
+++ b/tests/test_design_rulebook_import.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ be testing the instance, not the parser.
 """
 from types import SimpleNamespace
 
-from scribe.services.design_system import (
+from scribe.services.design_rulebook_import import (
     expand_token_shorthand,
     extract_expectations,
     normalize_hex,
diff --git a/tests/test_services_access_visibility.py b/tests/test_services_access_visibility.py
index 1b9a6d0..e036fad 100644
--- a/tests/test_services_access_visibility.py
+++ b/tests/test_services_access_visibility.py
@@ -132,3 +132,40 @@ def test_clauses_are_pure_builders(clause_fn):
     import inspect
     assert not inspect.iscoroutinefunction(clause_fn)
     assert _sql(clause_fn(7))  # builds without touching a database
+
+
+# --- design systems ----------------------------------------------------------
+#
+# A design system is reachable two ways: you own it, or you can see a project
+# that inherits from it. The gap between what those two grant is the invariant
+# worth guarding — see get_design_system_permission.
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "permission, readable, writable",
+    [
+        ("owner", True, True),
+        # Project-derived. Being an EDITOR on a shared project must not confer
+        # the right to rewrite the family system that project inherits from —
+        # that would let one project's collaborator restyle every other project
+        # in the family.
+        ("viewer", True, False),
+        (None, False, False),
+    ],
+)
+async def test_reaching_a_design_system_via_a_project_reads_but_never_writes(
+    permission, readable, writable
+):
+    from unittest.mock import AsyncMock, patch
+
+    from scribe.services.access import (
+        can_read_design_system,
+        can_write_design_system,
+    )
+
+    with patch(
+        "scribe.services.access.get_design_system_permission",
+        AsyncMock(return_value=permission),
+    ):
+        assert await can_read_design_system(1, 3) is readable
+        assert await can_write_design_system(1, 3) is writable
diff --git a/tests/test_services_design_systems.py b/tests/test_services_design_systems.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9d8bdc5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_services_design_systems.py
@@ -0,0 +1,194 @@
+"""ACL gating and field handling for services/design_systems.py (unit, mocked).
+
+Mirrors tests/test_services_systems.py — same mocked-session shape, because the
+question is the same one: does the service refuse before it touches a row?
+"""
+from unittest.mock import AsyncMock, MagicMock, patch
+
+import pytest
+
+from scribe.services.design_systems import DesignSystemCycle
+
+
+def _make_mock_session():
+    s = AsyncMock()
+    s.__aenter__ = AsyncMock(return_value=s)
+    s.__aexit__ = AsyncMock(return_value=False)
+    s.add = MagicMock()
+    s.commit = AsyncMock()
+    s.refresh = AsyncMock()
+    return s
+
+
+# --- creating ---------------------------------------------------------------
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_create_with_a_parent_is_denied_without_write_on_that_parent():
+    """Parenting to someone else's system would let their delete or re-parent
+    silently restyle your app, so the chain may only be built from systems you
+    can write — which, per the ACL, means ones you own."""
+    with patch("scribe.services.design_systems.access") as acc:
+        acc.can_write_design_system = AsyncMock(return_value=False)
+        from scribe.services.design_systems import create_design_system
+        result = await create_design_system(user_id=1, title="Scribe", parent_id=7)
+    assert result is None
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_create_without_a_parent_never_consults_the_parent_acl():
+    """A family system has no parent, and creating one must not be gated on a
+    permission check for a system that does not exist."""
+    mock_session = _make_mock_session()
+    captured = {}
+    mock_session.add = MagicMock(
+        side_effect=lambda obj: captured.update(
+            title=obj.title, parent_id=obj.parent_id
+        )
+    )
+    with patch("scribe.services.design_systems.async_session") as mock_cls, \
+         patch("scribe.services.design_systems.access") as acc:
+        acc.can_write_design_system = AsyncMock(return_value=False)
+        mock_cls.return_value = mock_session
+        from scribe.services.design_systems import create_design_system
+        await create_design_system(user_id=1, title="  FabledSword  ")
+    assert captured["title"] == "FabledSword"   # stripped
+    assert captured["parent_id"] is None
+    acc.can_write_design_system.assert_not_awaited()
+
+
+# --- the cycle guard, through the service -----------------------------------
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_reparenting_into_a_loop_raises_rather_than_returning_none():
+    """None already means "not found, or not yours". A caller that conflated the
+    two would report "no such design system" for what is really "that parent is
+    one of its own descendants", so the cycle gets its own exception type."""
+    mock_session = _make_mock_session()
+    mock_session.get = AsyncMock(return_value=MagicMock(deleted_at=None, parent_id=None))
+
+    with patch("scribe.services.design_systems.async_session") as mock_cls, \
+         patch("scribe.services.design_systems.access") as acc, \
+         patch("scribe.services.design_systems._parent_map",
+               AsyncMock(return_value={1: None, 2: 1})):
+        acc.can_write_design_system = AsyncMock(return_value=True)
+        mock_cls.return_value = mock_session
+        from scribe.services.design_systems import update_design_system
+        with pytest.raises(DesignSystemCycle):
+            await update_design_system(user_id=1, design_system_id=1, parent_id=2)
+
+    mock_session.commit.assert_not_awaited()  # refused BEFORE the write
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_clearing_the_parent_is_allowed_and_is_not_read_as_no_change():
+    """`parent_id=None` means "make this a root" — the one field where None is a
+    value rather than "leave alone", which is why it is handled apart from the
+    others."""
+    system = MagicMock(deleted_at=None, parent_id=5)
+    mock_session = _make_mock_session()
+    mock_session.get = AsyncMock(return_value=system)
+
+    with patch("scribe.services.design_systems.async_session") as mock_cls, \
+         patch("scribe.services.design_systems.access") as acc, \
+         patch("scribe.services.design_systems._parent_map",
+               AsyncMock(return_value={1: 5, 5: None})):
+        acc.can_write_design_system = AsyncMock(return_value=True)
+        mock_cls.return_value = mock_session
+        from scribe.services.design_systems import update_design_system
+        await update_design_system(user_id=1, design_system_id=1, parent_id=None)
+
+    assert system.parent_id is None
+
+
+# --- tokens -----------------------------------------------------------------
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_create_token_denied_without_write_on_the_system():
+    with patch("scribe.services.design_systems.access") as acc:
+        acc.can_write_design_system = AsyncMock(return_value=False)
+        from scribe.services.design_systems import create_token
+        result = await create_token(user_id=1, design_system_id=3, name="--fs-obsidian")
+    assert result is None
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_token_values_default_to_an_empty_map_not_json_null():
+    """The column is NOT NULL so that absence has exactly ONE spelling. Passing
+    None straight through would store JSON null and hand every reader back the
+    second empty state the schema was shaped to remove."""
+    mock_session = _make_mock_session()
+    captured = {}
+    mock_session.add = MagicMock(
+        side_effect=lambda obj: captured.update(value_by_mode=obj.value_by_mode)
+    )
+
+    with patch("scribe.services.design_systems.async_session") as mock_cls, \
+         patch("scribe.services.design_systems.access") as acc:
+        acc.can_write_design_system = AsyncMock(return_value=True)
+        mock_cls.return_value = mock_session
+        from scribe.services.design_systems import create_token
+        await create_token(
+            user_id=1, design_system_id=3, name="--fs-radius-md", value_by_mode=None
+        )
+
+    assert captured["value_by_mode"] == {}
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_list_tokens_denied_returns_empty():
+    with patch("scribe.services.design_systems.access") as acc:
+        acc.can_read_design_system = AsyncMock(return_value=False)
+        from scribe.services.design_systems import list_tokens
+        assert await list_tokens(user_id=1, design_system_id=3) == []
+
+
+# --- the project pointer ----------------------------------------------------
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_pointing_a_project_at_a_system_needs_write_on_the_project():
+    with patch("scribe.services.design_systems.access") as acc:
+        acc.can_write_project = AsyncMock(return_value=False)
+        acc.can_read_design_system = AsyncMock(return_value=True)
+        from scribe.services.design_systems import set_project_design_system
+        assert await set_project_design_system(1, project_id=5, design_system_id=3) is False
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_pointing_a_project_needs_only_READ_on_the_system():
+    """Consuming a design system is not changing it, so a system reachable
+    through another project is a legitimate choice here. Requiring write would
+    make a shared family style unusable by the people it was shared with."""
+    project = MagicMock(deleted_at=None, design_system_id=None)
+    mock_session = _make_mock_session()
+    mock_session.get = AsyncMock(return_value=project)
+
+    with patch("scribe.services.design_systems.async_session") as mock_cls, \
+         patch("scribe.services.design_systems.access") as acc:
+        acc.can_write_project = AsyncMock(return_value=True)
+        acc.can_read_design_system = AsyncMock(return_value=True)
+        acc.can_write_design_system = AsyncMock(return_value=False)
+        mock_cls.return_value = mock_session
+        from scribe.services.design_systems import set_project_design_system
+        assert await set_project_design_system(1, project_id=5, design_system_id=3) is True
+
+    assert project.design_system_id == 3
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_clearing_a_projects_design_system_skips_the_system_acl():
+    """Un-styling a project must not require permission on the system it is
+    letting go of — including one that has since been deleted."""
+    project = MagicMock(deleted_at=None, design_system_id=3)
+    mock_session = _make_mock_session()
+    mock_session.get = AsyncMock(return_value=project)
+
+    with patch("scribe.services.design_systems.async_session") as mock_cls, \
+         patch("scribe.services.design_systems.access") as acc:
+        acc.can_write_project = AsyncMock(return_value=True)
+        acc.can_read_design_system = AsyncMock(return_value=False)
+        mock_cls.return_value = mock_session
+        from scribe.services.design_systems import set_project_design_system
+        assert await set_project_design_system(1, project_id=5, design_system_id=None) is True
+
+    assert project.design_system_id is None
+    acc.can_read_design_system.assert_not_awaited()