---
title: 'daisyUI exporter'
description: "Complete daisyUI v5 themes (light + dark) from your tokens — where 'secondary' finally means secondary."
order: 10
---

# daisyUI exporter

<div class="callout live-demos">
  <span class="callout-title">See it live</span>
  <p><a href="/transtyle/demo/acme/daisyui/">Acme</a> · <a href="/transtyle/demo/cathode/daisyui/">Cathode</a> · <a href="/transtyle/demo/govuk/daisyui/">GOV.UK</a> · <a href="/transtyle/demo/carbon/daisyui/">Carbon</a> — one page, four design systems, compiled to daisyUI. <a href="/transtyle/demo/">All 32 demos →</a></p>
</div>

Emits **daisyUI v5** theme blocks (Tailwind 4 era): one `@plugin "daisyui/theme"` block per color-scheme mode, OKLCH values, light as `default`, dark as `prefersdark` — standard daisyUI multi-theme behavior, generated from your design system.

<!-- measured: acme.daisyui.decls = 46 -->
<!-- measured: acme.daisyui.rows = 23 -->

On [Acme](/transtyle/docs/examples/): 46 declarations over the two blocks, from 23 classified theme keys.

```json
"targets": { "daisyui": { "output": "dist/daisyui" } }
```

```css
/* your global CSS */
@import 'tailwindcss';
@plugin "daisyui" {
  themes:
    acme-design-system-light --default,
    acme-design-system-dark --prefersdark;
}
@import './daisyui.transtyle.css';
```

## The interesting part: false friends, resolved correctly

daisyUI's `secondary` and `accent` are **true brand roles** — so this exporter maps them from `secondary.solid` and `accent.solid`. shadcn's identically-named variables are subtle surfaces — so that exporter maps them from `neutral.tint` and `accent.tint`. Same design system, same words, opposite mapping decisions, both correct: this is [the pivot-language principle](/transtyle/docs/language/#false-friends) doing its job. Every role ships with its `-content` pair from `<role>.on-solid`, contrast-checked at derivation time.

## Mapping table

| daisyUI variable                                                               | Comes from                                              | Note                                                                                           |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `--color-base-100` / `-200`                                                    | `elevation.0.surface` / `elevation.1.surface`           |                                                                                                |
| `--color-base-300`                                                             | `border`                                                | `approximated` — daisyUI wants a third bg-ramp step the IR doesn't define (catalog watch item) |
| `--color-base-content`                                                         | `text.base`                                             |                                                                                                |
| `--color-{primary,secondary,accent,neutral,info,success,warning}` + `-content` | the same-named roles' `.solid` + `.on-solid` grid cells | brand-direct                                                                                   |
| `--color-error` + `-content`                                                   | `danger.solid` + `danger.on-solid`                      | name translation                                                                               |
| `--radius-{selector,field,box}`                                                | `radius.md`                                             | one radius feeds three families — `approximated`                                               |
| `--depth`, `--noise`, `--size-*`                                               | —                                                       | `dropped`: stylistic effects without token semantics; daisyUI defaults apply                   |

Because daisyUI wants every role authored-or-derived, coverage skews `derived` on minimal systems (Acme: 65% derived) — the report shows exactly which roles you might want to author. Both [examples](/transtyle/docs/examples/) ship daisyUI targets.

## Custom roles (role archetypes)

daisyUI's color set is **open** — any `--color-<name>` custom property is a real Tailwind utility color — so a custom role declaring `$extensions.transtyle.role` (docs/architecture/ir.md's [role archetypes](/transtyle/docs/language/#color-roles-the-role-grid)) gets `--color-<name>` + `--color-<name>-content` emitted alongside the built-ins, `native`. Cathode's `crt-amber` role (archetype `status`) demonstrates this: it's authored once, with no other bindings, purely to show the open-role-set path — contrast Bootstrap/shadcn, whose closed sets can't take it at all.