NL Design System Theme for Nextcloud

Apply Dutch government design tokens (NL Design System) to your Nextcloud instance with open-source fonts and components.

Features

• 47 token sets: Choose from Dutch government design systems, including:

  • Rijkshuisstijl (Dutch national government)
  • Gemeente Utrecht
  • Gemeente Amsterdam
  • Gemeente Den Haag
  • Gemeente Rotterdam
  • La Suite numérique (Cunningham design system, European sovereign-workplace / MinBZK-mijn-bureau EDIC bundles) — plus the published Cunningham blue base as an optional sibling set
  • …and a broad set of community-maintained municipality and organization brands

• Open Source Fonts: Uses Fira Sans from @fontsource/fira-sans and Inter (self-hosted from @fontsource/inter) as professional alternatives to proprietary government fonts

• Easy Configuration: Select your preferred token set via the admin settings panel

• CSS Variables: Uses CSS custom properties for flexible theming that integrates with Nextcloud's existing theme system

• No Build Required: Tokens are pre-compiled CSS and fonts are bundled and self-hosted (no external CDN)

• NL-Government and French-Government Icons: Includes 1488 SVG icons sourced from @conduction/nextcloud-vue's EUPL-compatible NL-government packs (RVO, OpenGemeenten, Gemeente Den Haag) plus 1038 SVG icons from the French-government DSFR pack (@gouvfr/dsfr, Etalab-2.0) — 2526 icons total — plus 23 organization logos, for use across all Nextcloud apps

• Theme-switchable iconography: The icon pack an app resolves through nldesign travels with the active design system — a French-government (lasuite) theme serves the DSFR pack, a Dutch-government theme serves the RVO/OpenGemeenten/Den Haag packs — resolved via DesignSystemService and advertised on the public capability (iconPacks). See img/ICONS.md.

Icons

The app includes 2526 icons across four government icon sets and 25 logos:

• RVO, OpenGemeenten, Gemeente Den Haag — 1488 icons (CC0-1.0 / CC0-1.0 / EUPL-1.2), materialized from @conduction/nextcloud-vue
• DSFR (Système de Design de l'État) — 1038 icons (Etalab-2.0), materialized from @gouvfr/dsfr
• Government and municipal organization logos
• SVG format for scalability
• Accessible via Nextcloud's image path API, or via the theme-switchable icon-pack resolver (active design system's pack)

Icon and logo filenames are a public API: other apps reference them by name (e.g. icons/rvo/rvo-zoek.svg, icons/dsfr/arrow-right-line.svg), so renames and removals are breaking changes. See the icon documentation for the naming-stability and licensing contract. The proprietary City-of-Amsterdam icon set is not bundled — see img/ICONS.md for the licensing rationale.

View Icon Documentation →

Installation

Method 1: From Git Repository

1. Clone or download this app to your Nextcloud apps directory:

   cd /path/to/nextcloud/apps
   git clone https://github.com/ConductionNL/thematiq.git

2. Install npm dependencies (for fonts and icons):

   cd thematiq
   npm install
   npm run build

3. Enable the app in Nextcloud:

   occ app:enable nldesign

4. Configure the theme in Settings → Administration → Theming

Method 2: Docker Environment

If you're running in the provided Docker environment:

# From the server directory
docker exec -u 33 nextcloud php occ app:enable nldesign

Configuration

Navigate to Settings → Administration → Theming and find the "NL Design System Theme" section.

Select your preferred design token set and reload the page to see the changes.

Configuring Background Color

The NL Design app does not set a background color - this allows you to use Nextcloud's built-in theming system to configure the background color to match your organization's needs.

To set the background color:

1. Navigate to Settings → Administration → Theming (Nextcloud's main theming section, not the NL Design section)
2. Scroll to Background and color section
3. Click on Color and enter your desired background color
4. Important: Also click on Background image and select Remove background image to ensure a solid color background

Recommended colors by token set:

Token Set	Primary Color	Background Color
Rijkshuisstijl	#154273 (donkerblauw)	#F5F6F7 (light gray)
Utrecht	#CC0000 (red)	#FFFFFF (white)
Amsterdam	#EC0000 (red)	#FFFFFF (white)
Den Haag	#1A7A3E (green)	#FFFFFF (white)
Rotterdam	#00811F (green)	#FFFFFF (white)

Note: The primary colors are automatically applied by the NL Design app when you select a token set. You only need to configure the background color manually in Nextcloud's theming settings.

Why does NL Design not set the background color?

By delegating background color management to Nextcloud's theming system, organizations can:

• Use their own custom background colors
• Easily change backgrounds without modifying app code
• Maintain compatibility with Nextcloud's theming API
• Allow different backgrounds for different user groups or instances

Fonts

This app uses Fira Sans as an open-source alternative to the proprietary government fonts:

• Source: @fontsource/fira-sans npm package (woff2/woff committed under css/fonts/)
• License: SIL Open Font License 1.1 (free to use)
• Weights: Regular (400) and Bold (700), plus italic variants
• Delivery: Bundled and self-hosted — loaded from app-relative paths in css/fonts.css, never from an external CDN. Self-hosting keeps the fonts inside Nextcloud's default Content-Security-Policy and works on the air-gapped instances typical of Dutch government.
• No permission needed: Unlike RijksoverheidSansWebText, Fira Sans is freely available

Why Fira Sans?

• Designed by Carrois Apostrophe for readability
• Used by Mozilla and other organizations
• Excellent legibility for government services
• Similar characteristics to official government fonts
• Officially recommended by Rijkshuisstijl Community as open-source alternative

Marianne Font (La Suite numérique) — restricted, off by default

⚠️ Marianne is the official typeface of the French State, reserved for French State administrations ("réservée aux administrations de l'État"). This app bundles it self-hosted, but it is inert until an admin explicitly enables it — enabling it is the operator's affirmation that their organisation is a French State agency. Every other instance, and every instance with the gate left off (the default), renders Inter.

The lasuite token set's own configured font stack is Marianne, Inter, Roboto Flex Variable, sans-serif (Cunningham design system). This app:

• Bundles the 8 Marianne woff2 weights (Light, Regular, Medium, Bold + italics) from @gouvfr/dsfr@1.15.1 (the official French government Design System) under css/systems/lasuite/fonts/marianne/, self-hosted, no external request — licensed Etalab Open Licence 2.0, see MARIANNE-LICENCE.md.
• Keeps Marianne inert by default. The real @font-face Marianne declarations live in a separate stylesheet (css/systems/lasuite/marianne.css) that only loads when BOTH the lasuite design system is active AND an admin has ticked "Our organisation is a French State agency (administration de l'État)" in Administration Settings. Until then, no Marianne byte is ever requested and the lasuite set renders Inter (SIL OFL 1.1, also self-hosted).
• Requires an explicit agreement to enable — see AGREEMENT-MARIANNE.md for the operator user agreement that ticking the checkbox constitutes.

This is not an unconditionally free/open font: do not enable it unless your organisation is a French State agency.

Architecture

nldesign/
├── appinfo/
│   ├── info.xml          # App metadata
│   └── routes.php        # API routes
├── css/
│   ├── fonts.css         # Fira Sans font declarations
│   ├── theme.css         # Maps NL Design tokens to Nextcloud variables
│   ├── tokens/           # Token set files per organization
│   │   ├── rijkshuisstijl.css
│   │   ├── utrecht.css
│   │   ├── amsterdam.css
│   │   ├── denhaag.css
│   │   └── rotterdam.css
│   └── admin.css         # Admin settings styles
├── js/
│   └── admin.js          # Admin settings JavaScript
├── lib/
│   ├── AppInfo/
│   │   └── Application.php  # Loads CSS files
│   ├── Controller/
│   │   └── SettingsController.php
│   └── Settings/
│       └── Admin.php
├── templates/
│   └── settings/
│       └── admin.php     # Settings UI
├── package.json          # NPM dependencies
└── node_modules/         # Fonts from npm
    └── @fontsource/fira-sans/

How It Works

Two-Layer CSS Variable System

1. Token Layer: Each organization has a token file (e.g., rijkshuisstijl.css) that defines design tokens as CSS variables:

   :root {
       --nldesign-color-primary: #154273;
       --nldesign-font-family: 'Fira Sans', sans-serif;
   }

2. Mapping Layer: The theme.css file maps these to Nextcloud's CSS variables:

   body {
       --color-primary: var(--nldesign-color-primary) !important;
       font-family: var(--nldesign-font-family) !important;
   }

3. Font Loading: The fonts.css file loads Fira Sans from bundled, self-hosted files (app-relative url(), no external CDN):

   @font-face {
       font-family: 'Fira Sans';
       src: local('Fira Sans'),
            url('fonts/fira-sans-latin-400-normal.woff2') format('woff2'),
            url('fonts/fira-sans-latin-400-normal.woff') format('woff');
   }

Loading Order

// In Application.php
\OCP\Util::addStyle(self::APP_ID, 'fonts');         // 1. Load Fira Sans
\OCP\Util::addStyle(self::APP_ID, 'tokens/utrecht'); // 2. Load token set
\OCP\Util::addStyle(self::APP_ID, 'theme');         // 3. Map to Nextcloud

Development

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• npm

Setup

cd nldesign
npm install

Updating Fonts

The fonts are bundled and self-hosted (committed under css/systems/nldesign/fonts/), so no build step and no network access are required at runtime. To refresh them from the npm package:

# Fonts are in node_modules/@fontsource/fira-sans/files/
cp node_modules/@fontsource/fira-sans/files/*.woff2 css/fonts/

Keep the url() references in css/fonts.css app-relative — never point them at an external CDN, which Nextcloud's Content-Security-Policy blocks and which fails on air-gapped instances.

Creating New Token Sets

To add a new municipality or organization:

1. Create a new file in css/tokens/ (e.g., tilburg.css)
2. Define the --nldesign-* variables following the existing pattern
3. Add the option to templates/settings/admin.php
4. Update lib/Controller/SettingsController.php to validate the new option

NPM Packages Used

Current Dependencies

• @fontsource/fira-sans (v5.0.0)
  • Open-source web fonts
  • Self-hosted option for Fira Sans
  • Includes all weights and styles

Community Packages (Reference)

These packages inspired our token definitions but are not direct dependencies:

• @rijkshuisstijl-community/design-tokens - Official Rijkshuisstijl tokens
• @rijkshuisstijl-community/font - Font package (includes Fira Sans)
• @utrecht/design-tokens - Utrecht municipality tokens

Note: We maintain manual CSS token files for better compatibility with Nextcloud's asset pipeline, but they're based on the official NL Design System specifications.

Compliance

Open Source Implementation

✅ What's Included (Free & Legal):

• Fira Sans fonts (SIL OFL 1.1 license)
• Design token values (colors, spacing, etc.)
• CSS mapping to Nextcloud variables
• All municipality color schemes

❌ What's NOT Included (Requires Permission):

• Official Rijkslogo (crown logo)
• RijksoverheidSansWebText proprietary fonts
• Official government imagery

Legal Usage

This implementation is fully legal and open-source for:

• Demonstrations and prototypes
• Educational purposes
• Municipal websites (with their respective themes)
• Any organization using open-source alternatives

Permission Required for:

• Official Rijksoverheid organizations using the Rijkslogo
• Using proprietary RijksoverheidSansWebText fonts
• Official government communications

Resources

Official Documentation

• NL Design System
• Rijkshuisstijl Community
• Utrecht Design System
• Rijkshuisstijl Online

Font Resources

• Fira Sans on Google Fonts
• Fontsource Documentation
• @fontsource/fira-sans on npm

Community

• NL Design System Community Slack - Join #nl-design-system
• GitHub Discussions

License

This project is licensed under the EUPL-1.2.

Dependency license policy

All dependencies (PHP and JavaScript) are automatically checked against an approved license allowlist during CI. The following SPDX license families are approved for use in dependencies:

• Permissive: MIT, ISC, BSD-2-Clause, BSD-3-Clause, 0BSD, Apache-2.0, Unlicense, CC0-1.0, CC-BY-3.0, CC-BY-4.0, Zlib, BlueOak-1.0.0, Artistic-2.0, BSL-1.0
• Copyleft (EUPL-compatible): LGPL-2.0/2.1/3.0, GPL-2.0/3.0, AGPL-3.0, EUPL-1.1/1.2, MPL-2.0
• Font licenses: OFL-1.0, OFL-1.1, Etalab-2.0 (Marianne only, see below)

Dependencies with licenses not on this list will fail CI unless explicitly approved in .license-overrides.json with a documented justification.

License exceptions

@gouvfr/dsfr (Etalab-2.0, devDependency, build-time only) is the source for two distinct, separately-governed assets, both approved via .license-overrides.json — the Etalab Open Licence 2.0 is a free/open, attribution-only redistribution licence not yet on the general SPDX allowlist above:

• DSFR icons (scripts/build-icons.js → img/icons/dsfr/) — freely redistributable, bundled unconditionally.
• Marianne typeface (scripts/build-fonts-marianne.js → css/systems/lasuite/fonts/marianne/*.woff2, each mapped to Etalab-2.0; full text: LICENSES/Etalab-2.0.txt) — the FR-State-restricted typeface, bundled behind an admin acknowledgement gate (off by default); see MARIANNE-LICENCE.md and AGREEMENT-MARIANNE.md for the usage restriction.

@conduction/nextcloud-vue (EUPL-1.2, devDependency, build-time icon source only) is already covered by the EUPL-1.1/1.2 allowlist entry above, and the proprietary @amsterdam/design-system-assets / @amsterdam/design-system-react-icons packages that previously required an exception here have been removed — see CHANGELOG.md.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

Adding New Token Sets

1. Research the official design system
2. Create a new token file in css/tokens/
3. Follow the existing pattern with --nldesign-* variables
4. Add to admin UI
5. Test in Nextcloud
6. Submit PR with documentation

Authors

• Conduction

Changelog

v0.1.0 (2026-02-03)

• Initial release
• Support for 5 token sets (Rijkshuisstijl, Utrecht, Amsterdam, Den Haag, Rotterdam)
• Fira Sans font integration via @fontsource
• Bundled, self-hosted font loading (no external CDN)
• Full CSS variable mapping
• Admin settings panel
• Background image removal for clean Rijkshuisstijl compliance
• Amsterdam Design System Icons: 344 SVG icons integrated from @amsterdam/design-system-assets (MPL-2.0), plus 23 organization logos