majiayu000 Using Panda CSS
CRITICAL: Token Type Safety
Panda CSS's css() and cva() functions are NOT type-safe for token references due to the AnyString escape hatch.
The Problem
// styled-system/types/style-props.d.ts
type AnyString = (string & {})
maxWidth?: ConditionalValue<... | AnyString> // ❌ Accepts ANY string!
FORBIDDEN - String Literals
// These compile but are NOT type-safe:
css({ maxWidth: 'sizes.container.wide' }) // ❌ AnyString escape hatch
css({ paddingInline: '4' }) // ❌ Would accept 'INVALID' too
REQUIRED - token() Function
import { token } from '../styled-system/tokens'
css({ maxWidth: token('sizes.container.wide') }) // ✅ Type-safe
css({ paddingInline: token('spacing.4') }) // ✅ Type-safe
// css({ color: token('colors.INVALID.500') }) // ❌ TypeScript error!
Rule
If a string looks like a token path (contains . and starts with a token category like sizes, spacing, colors, fontSizes), it MUST use token().
Only exceptions: literal CSS values like '100%', 'auto', 'bold', numeric values.