Editing global variables in civictheme/components/variables.base.scss and variables.components.scss does not create changes in component storybooks or on website.
Spin up drupal server with drupal 10.2.6, install and enable civictheme 1.7.1 according to the official steps.
Open the server files, and navigate to .../drupal/themes/contrib/civictheme/components/variables.base.scss
Edit or override a variable, for example set $ct-colors: ('light': ('custom1': red));
Save the file, rebuild the Cache with drush cr, and restart the server
Open your drupal website, navigate to appearance -> settings -> civictheme -> storybooks for civictheme
Note that changes made to the above file have not propagated to the related storybooks page, or to the relevant places on the website.
Closed: works as designed
1.7
Code
It involves the content or handling of Cascading Style Sheets.
@a-saini
You are modifying the files in the base CivicTheme, but these should not be modified because this is a base theme. Please create a sub-theme to provide overrides.