An identity is more than an accent color
Two products can share an indigo button and still feel entirely different. Typography, proportions, surface contrast, corner treatments and the way an action responds all contribute to identity. Treating a theme as a single hex value leaves most of that work scattered through the application.
Pimolu's answer is a set of independent decisions. Color mode describes the viewing environment. A visual preset describes the character of the interface. Brand, radius and density refine the product. Keeping those axes separate makes a change easier to explain and easier to review.
Start with roles, then choose values
A component should ask for a surface or a primary foreground, rather than for a particular shade of violet. Semantic roles let the light and dark palettes make different choices while preserving the meaning of the interface.
That distinction also keeps application CSS small. A summary panel can use the surface, foreground and border tokens without declaring another palette. The preset changes the values beneath those names; the application continues to describe the same relationship.
Visual character belongs in data
Pimolu keeps palette and visual-token sources apart. Borders, shadows, radius, typography and press effects are represented in platform-neutral visual data. The web build translates those decisions into CSS variables.
Default, Monochrome, Cartoon, Glass, Luxury, Neo-Brutalism and Adaptive remain available. They are compatible starting points, not a requirement to use seven styles in a single product. Default is the reference direction; Adaptive's longer-term role as a palette is still being evaluated.
Leave room for the application
A library cannot decide the right spacing for every dashboard, checkout and creative portfolio. Pimolu components own their internal presentation; application layouts own the relationship between them. Start with Provider settings, then use local classes for composition.
The website's Design Lab experiments and the component gallery serve different purposes. An experiment can explore an identity. A reference should show the actual component clearly. Neither is a reason to silently replace the public token system.
Review the system in context
A palette does not prove readability by itself. Review text on its actual surface, visible focus, disabled states and feedback. Check a complete workflow at a narrow width before treating the visual direction as finished.
The color explorer in the documentation reads the generated palettes directly. Use it to understand the roles, then try a component's interactive examples. The goal is a recognizable system that still gives your product its own voice.