The Saudi Platforms Code (كود المنصات): the complete guide
The Platforms Code is Saudi Arabia’s unified design system for government digital interfaces, and the national reference for how those interfaces are designed and built. It is issued by the Digital Government Authority (DGA), which launched it on 17 November 2024, and comprises an open-source component library, design tokens, page templates and usage guidance. Compliance is required of government entities by DGA circular, and application is measured against 56 criteria that resolve into 127 checkpoints.
What the Platforms Code is
The Platforms Code is a design system in the technical sense, not a style guide. It ships a component library, design tokens for colour, typography and spacing, templates for the page types a government platform is expected to have, and written guidance on applying them. An entity builds its interface from those parts rather than rebuilding them, which is the mechanism by which Saudi government services come to look and behave alike.
Its Arabic name translates literally as “the platforms code”, and the naming is deliberate: it is meant to work the way a building code works, as a single binding reference for how something is constructed. The Authority names three audiences for it: designers, developers and product managers.
The Code itself, its components and its approved values are published at design.dga.gov.sa. This page documents and measures it; it does not reproduce the Authority’s text.
Who has to comply
Compliance is mandatory for Saudi government entities under a circular issued by the Digital Government Authority, and Authority officials have stated that application is monitored through regulatory tooling and within the annual digital transformation measurement.
Scope is narrower than “anything with a government logo on it”. The Code governs platforms that are permanent, externally facing and public. A campaign microsite that expires, an internal system only staff reach, and a service hosted on a third party’s platform whose interface the entity does not control all fall outside it.
How the 56 criteria are structured
Compliance is measured against 56 criteria in four groups: foundations, templates, components and experience. Beneath them sit 127 checkpoints, and the checkpoint is the operative unit — a criterion reaches full application only when every one of its checkpoints passes, and partial application the moment one does not.
- 6Foundations
- 4Templates
- 26Components
- 4Secondary components
- 7Experience
- 9Secondary experience
The full index of all 56 criteria, in the Authority’s own English titles
Machine-measured versus manually verified
A machine-measured criterion has a value that can be read off the page and compared with an approved one: a colour, a spacing step, a font family. A criterion requiring human judgement has no such value — visual hierarchy, navigational intuitiveness — and is reported by name and status without being scored. The benchmark classifies 48 of 56 as machine-measurable and leaves 5 to human review.
A third boundary matters more than either in practice. 33 of the 127 checkpoints describe interactive states — hover, press, focus, disabled — which cannot be read from a page without clicking through it. Crawl ethics forbid interacting with a government entity’s platform, so those checkpoints are verified by the entity’s own team and never scored automatically. Any tool claiming otherwise is either interacting with platforms it should not be, or reporting a value it did not measure.
The Platforms Code Application Certificate
The certificate is the Authority’s formal confirmation that an entity’s platform applies the Code. The entity applies to the Authority, its platform is assessed against the criteria, and the certificate is granted where they are met. A certified entity displays a digital stamp at the top of its pages, linked to its certificate number.
How to check a platform against the Code
There are two routes. Manual: a team opens each criterion and its checkpoints and compares them against the platform page by page, working outward from the component library to foundations, components and templates. It is accurate as far as it reaches, slow, and has to be repeated in full after every release. Automated: the applied values are read from the platform’s public pages and compared with the Code’s, and an evidence-backed estimate follows in minutes.
How automated Platforms Code scanning works, and what it will not claim
Frequently asked questions
- What is the Saudi Platforms Code?
- The Platforms Code is Saudi Arabia’s unified design system for government digital interfaces. It is issued by the Digital Government Authority (DGA) and comprises a component library, design tokens, page templates and usage guidance, published as open source and launched on 17 November 2024.
- Is compliance with the Platforms Code mandatory?
- Yes. The Digital Government Authority issued a circular requiring government entities to apply the Platforms Code, and Authority officials have stated that application is monitored through regulatory tooling and within the annual digital transformation measurement.
- How many criteria does the Platforms Code contain?
- 56 criteria, grouped into foundations, templates, components and experience. Beneath them sit 127 checkpoints, which are the actual unit of judgement: a criterion reaches full application only when all of its checkpoints pass.
- Which criteria can be measured automatically?
- The benchmark classifies 48 of the 56 criteria as machine-measurable. 5 require human judgement and cannot be scored automatically at all, and a further set can only be verified by interacting with the page, which crawl ethics forbid on government platforms.
- What is the Platforms Code Application Certificate?
- It is the Digital Government Authority’s formal confirmation that an entity’s platform applies the Code. The entity applies to the Authority, its platform is assessed against the criteria, and the certificate is granted where the criteria are met. Certified entities display a digital stamp at the top of the page, linked to their certificate number.
- Does the Platforms Code replace WCAG?
- No. WCAG is an international accessibility standard published by the W3C; the Platforms Code is a national reference governing the appearance, structure and behaviour of Saudi government interfaces. They overlap on contrast, focus indication and touch target size, and diverge everywhere else. Passing one does not satisfy the other.
- Does the Platforms Code apply to mobile applications?
- Yes. The Code covers government applications aimed at the public, not websites alone. What falls outside its scope is the temporary, the internal and the platform hosted by a third party whose interface the entity does not own.
- Can an agency assess a client’s platform against the Code?
- Yes. XFix scans publicly published pages only and never acts on behalf of the entity, so responsibility for having permission to scan a given platform rests with whoever submits the URL.
The limits of this tool
XFix is an independent commercial tool. It is not part of the Digital Government Authority, is not endorsed by it, and does not act on its behalf. What it produces is an indicative estimate expressed as a range. It is not the Platforms Code Application Certificate and not a declaration of conformity. The certificate is issued by the Authority alone, and the Authority’s assessment remains the reference.
Its usefulness is in showing the gap early and with evidence. It does not stand in for the body that decides.