# CAnnot add design token alias **URL:** \ **Category:** Ask the community\ **Created:** [August 15, 2025, 9:36pm UTC](https://community.penpot.app/t/cannot-add-design-token-alias/9698 "2025-08-15T21:36:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Edward\_Thompson](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/community.penpot.app/edward_thompson/32/8680_2.png) [@Edward\_Thompson](https://community.penpot.app/u/Edward_Thompson)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2025, 9:36pm UTC](https://community.penpot.app/t/cannot-add-design-token-alias/9698/1 "2025-08-15T21:36:00Z")
Having 2 issues. I have a design token bs.color.blue I am trying to create an alias bs.color.blue.500 1. it tells me bs.color.blue.500 already exists, but I have no other libraries loaded in this project 2. It won’t enable the Save button, telling me instead that “Invalid color value: {bs.color.blue}” #2 is the real issue. #1 the error is displayed as soon as I type in “bs”, and doesn’t disappear once it has appears, even though I type in something that can’t possibly alreay exist I have disabled all chrome extensions and cleared the cache for penpot ---
**Author:** ![RenanMayrinckDesign](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/community.penpot.app/renanmayrinckdesign/32/3104_2.png) [@RenanMayrinckDesign](https://community.penpot.app/u/RenanMayrinckDesign)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2025, 10:38pm UTC](https://community.penpot.app/t/cannot-add-design-token-alias/9698/3 "2025-08-15T22:38:43Z")
Hello @Edward_Thompson About issues #1 and #2, it seems to be a bug, just tested and it appears that Penpot reads every name with dots as one single thing, no matter what comes after the first dot (maybe a bug cause by the preparation of token groups? dunno). Better file a bug report for the team so they can look further into it. ---
**Author:** ![carolina.portugal](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/community.penpot.app/carolina.portugal/32/36_2.png) [@carolina.portugal](https://community.penpot.app/u/carolina.portugal)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 9:47am UTC](https://community.penpot.app/t/cannot-add-design-token-alias/9698/4 "2025-08-18T09:47:30Z")
Hey @Edward_Thompson is the same issue as this one? [Taiga](https://tree.taiga.io/project/penpot/issue/11805) ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_Thompson](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/community.penpot.app/edward_thompson/32/8680_2.png) [@Edward\_Thompson](https://community.penpot.app/u/Edward_Thompson)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 12:02pm UTC](https://community.penpot.app/t/cannot-add-design-token-alias/9698/5 "2025-08-18T12:02:19Z")
Looks like it is - I referenced creating it anew, and that ticket references it against pre-existing aliases ---
**Author:** ![natacha](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/community.penpot.app/natacha/32/44_2.png) [@natacha](https://community.penpot.app/u/natacha)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 1:53pm UTC](https://community.penpot.app/t/cannot-add-design-token-alias/9698/6 "2025-08-25T13:53:30Z")
Hey, this is not a bug. I’ll try to explain it: Design token names are built from token paths. Periods (.) are used to nest tokens groups. Then, the last segment of the token name corresponds to the token. The thing is that **a token name cannot also be a token group**. So in the example you are using: `bs.color.blue` creates this nested structure: ```auto bs /* group */ color /* group */ blue /* token */ ``` But `bs.color.blue.500` creates this one: ```auto bs /* group */ color /* group */ blue /* group */ 500 /* token */ ``` Here’s the problem: in the first case, `blue` is already a **token**. In the second case, you’re trying to make `blue` a **group** , which causes a conflict. This behavior is not from Penpot, but from tokens spec 🙂 I hope this helps! ---
**Author:** ![RenanMayrinckDesign](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/community.penpot.app/renanmayrinckdesign/32/3104_2.png) [@RenanMayrinckDesign](https://community.penpot.app/u/RenanMayrinckDesign)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 8:57pm UTC](https://community.penpot.app/t/cannot-add-design-token-alias/9698/7 "2025-08-25T20:57:52Z")
Very clarifying, I thought this was an actual bug, but seeing it that way, is just makes sense.