nexu.io · 2026-05-02 · notable
Open Design v0.2.0 — Local-First, Open-Source Alternative to Anthropic's Claude Design
Local-first design tool that generates web, desktop, mobile prototypes, slides, images, and videos by delegating to coding agents already on your machine. Apache-2.0, BYOK, 31 composable skills, 72 brand design systems.
An Apache-2.0, run-locally counterpart to Claude Design that drives whatever coding agents you already have installed.
Key specs
| License | Apache-2.0 |
|---|---|
| GitHub stars | 15.8k |
| Skills | 31 |
| Design systems | 72 |
| Supported agents | 12 |
What is it?
Open Design is a TypeScript app that turns a chat prompt into web, desktop, or mobile prototypes, slide decks, images, and short videos. Instead of bundling its own model or service, it auto-detects coding agent CLIs already on your PATH — Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, Qwen, Copilot, Hermes, Kimi CLI and others — and delegates generation to whichever you prefer.
How does it work?
The repo ships 31 composable skills (slide builder, html-ppt, HyperFrames video templates, etc.) and 72 brand-grade design systems. Generation runs in a sandboxed preview that exports to HTML, PDF, PPTX, and MP4. v0.2.0 added xAI Grok Imagine for media generation, click-to-comment HTML previews, an OpenClaude fallback for Claude Code, dark mode, and four new UI languages, all from 45 PRs by 23 contributors in a 24-hour window.
Why does it matter?
Claude Design is closed, cloud-only, and tied to Anthropic. Open Design is the BYOK answer — keeps prompts and project files on your machine, lets you swap in any coding-agent CLI, and exports artifacts in standard formats. The repo crossed 15k stars in roughly four days, putting it on GitHub Trending and HN's front page as the de facto open alternative for design work driven by coding agents.
Try it
git clone https://github.com/nexu-io/open-design && pnpm install && pnpm dev