---
title: "systhema generate-references"
description: "TOON token references for agents and their format."
requested_language: cs
language: en
translation_notice: "This page isn't translated yet"
url: https://docs.systhema.app/cs/cli/generate-references
version: unreleased (main)
docs_index: https://docs.systhema.app/cs/llms.txt
---
> This page isn't translated yet. Showing English.


Generate agent-facing TOON references at `.systhema/references/tokens/`. These references are consumed by the bundled [skills](https://docs.systhema.app/cs/cli/skills.md) (e.g. `systhema:understanding-tokens`) so that AI agents can read your project's design tokens efficiently.

```bash
systhema generate-references
systhema generate-references --dry-run    # log what would be written
systhema generate-references --verbose    # one line per file written
```

You rarely need to run this directly — both `systhema sync` and the project-local `systhema-core sync` generate references as their final step. The command proxies to the `systhema-core generate-references` subcommand; the generator itself lives in `@systhemaui/core`, so it works even without the global CLI installed.

Every run rewrites every file in the directory, so an upgrade picks up new values and new serialization with no extra step. The files are generated, never hand-edited: `systhema doctor`'s `stale-references` check flags a tree an older `@systhemaui/core` wrote, and `sync` replaces it.

## Options

<!-- generated:cli-flags generate-references -->

| Flag        | Description                      | Default |
| ----------- | -------------------------------- | ------- |
| `--dry-run` | Preview changes without writing. | `false` |
| `--verbose` | Show detailed generation output. | `false` |

<!-- /generated -->

## The reference format

The files are [TOON](https://toonformat.dev), a compact serialization aimed at LLM prompts. Each entry is a raw value, a `ref` and its already-resolved `value`, or a style token carrying the `class` it generates:

```toon
base:
  "0": "#FFFFFF"
  "900": "#171717"
foundations:
  bg: "#FFFFFF"
typography[3:]{ref,value}:
  label: "{foundations.text}","#000000"
  heading: "{foundations.text}","#000000"
  body: "{foundations.text}","#000000"
```

Two shapes are worth knowing, because both are the encoder's choice rather than anything about the data:

- A group whose entries all carry the same fields is written as a **tabular block**. The header names the entry count and the fields (`[3:]{ref,value}`), and each line is `<key>: <field 1>,<field 2>`. A group with one entry, or with entries that differ, keeps the indented form instead. The two are interchangeable.
- A `#`-leading string is **quoted**, because a line starting with `#` is a comment in TOON. That is why every hex value carries quotes; a `#` elsewhere in a value does not need them.

`systhema:understanding-tokens` teaches agents to read both forms.