diff --git a/src/infrastructure/celerity/CelerityResourceTransformer.php b/src/infrastructure/celerity/CelerityResourceTransformer.php
index 922f41dab8..249f337182 100644
--- a/src/infrastructure/celerity/CelerityResourceTransformer.php
+++ b/src/infrastructure/celerity/CelerityResourceTransformer.php
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ final class CelerityResourceTransformer {
   private $rawResourceMap;
   private $celerityMap;
   private $translateURICallback;
+  private $currentPath;
 
   public function setTranslateURICallback($translate_uricallback) {
     $this->translateURICallback = $translate_uricallback;
@@ -38,6 +39,7 @@ final class CelerityResourceTransformer {
 
     switch ($type) {
       case 'css':
+        $data = $this->replaceCSSVariables($path, $data);
         $data = preg_replace_callback(
           '@url\s*\((\s*[\'"]?.*?)\)@s',
           nonempty(
@@ -119,4 +121,27 @@ final class CelerityResourceTransformer {
     return 'url('.$uri.')';
   }
 
+  private function replaceCSSVariables($path, $data) {
+    $this->currentPath = $path;
+    return preg_replace_callback(
+      '/{\$([^}]+)}/',
+      array($this, 'replaceCSSVariable'),
+      $data);
+  }
+
+  public function replaceCSSVariable($matches) {
+    static $map = array(
+      'red' => '#c0392b',
+    );
+
+    $var_name = $matches[1];
+    if (empty($map[$var_name])) {
+      $path = $this->currentPath;
+      throw new Exception(
+        "CSS file '{$path}' has unknown variable '{$var_name}'.");
+    }
+
+    return $map[$var_name];
+  }
+
 }
diff --git a/webroot/rsrc/css/layout/phabricator-timeline-view.css b/webroot/rsrc/css/layout/phabricator-timeline-view.css
index b75413b941..e210c39376 100644
--- a/webroot/rsrc/css/layout/phabricator-timeline-view.css
+++ b/webroot/rsrc/css/layout/phabricator-timeline-view.css
@@ -160,7 +160,7 @@
 }
 
 .phabricator-timeline-red .phabricator-timeline-border {
-  border-color: #c0392b;
+  border-color: {$red};
 }
 
 .phabricator-timeline-orange .phabricator-timeline-border {
@@ -200,7 +200,7 @@
 }
 
 .phabricator-timeline-red .phabricator-timeline-icon-fill {
-  background-color: #c0392b;
+  background-color: {$red};
 }
 
 .phabricator-timeline-orange .phabricator-timeline-icon-fill {