# OpenDesign

> Local-first desktop app that turns a brief into prototypes, decks, images and video using the coding agents already on your machine

- Category: App UIs & Builders / Low-Code & No-Code Builders
- Language: TypeScript
- Licence: Apache-2.0
- Repository: https://github.com/nexu-io/open-design
- Website: https://open-design.ai
- Canonical page: https://ai-tldr.dev/tools/open-design/
- Updated: 2026-05-02

## In short

OpenDesign is an Apache-2.0 desktop application that produces design artifacts from a written brief: web, desktop and mobile prototypes, live dashboards, decks, images, video and HyperFrames motion graphics. It sits in the Low-Code & No-Code Builders category of the App UIs & Builders tools and is open-source, written in TypeScript and licensed Apache-2.0.

## Overview

OpenDesign is an Apache-2.0 desktop application that produces design artifacts from a written brief: web, desktop and mobile prototypes, live dashboards, decks, images, video and HyperFrames motion graphics. Output is real HTML and CSS with real fonts and components, previewed in a sandboxed iframe and exported to HTML, PDF, PPTX or MP4 — not a canvas of pixels.

It does not bundle its own agent. On launch it detects the coding-agent CLIs already on your PATH — the README lists Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenClaw, OpenCode, Copilot, Qwen, Amp, Hermes, Kimi, Antigravity and DeepSeek's `dsh` harness among 26 local executables — and drives whichever you pick, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint via BYOK. That makes the model choice yours and keeps the loop on your machine.

The reusable parts are files, not settings. Over 100 functional skills live in `skills/` following the Agent Skills `SKILL.md` convention; renderable starters live separately in `design-templates/`, tagged by mode (`prototype`, `deck`, `image`, `video`) and by scenario (design, marketing, operation, engineering, product, finance, hr, sale, personal). A repository's `DESIGN.md` acts as the brand contract the agent has to honour, and design systems ship alongside it.

There is also a headless path: `od mcp install <agent>` registers OpenDesign as a skill, plugin or MCP server inside your agent, so you can ask for an artifact from the CLI without opening the GUI.

## What it does

- One brief in, many artifact types out: web/desktop/mobile prototypes, dashboards, decks, images, video and HyperFrames motion graphics
- Delegates to coding-agent CLIs already installed locally (26 detected executables) or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint via BYOK
- Skill and design-template catalogues as plain files, following the Agent Skills `SKILL.md` convention
- `DESIGN.md` design systems as the brand contract the generated artifact must follow
- Sandboxed iframe preview with export to HTML, PDF, PPTX and MP4
- Headless use through `od mcp install <agent>` — call it as a skill, plugin or MCP server from inside your agent

## Getting started

The desktop app is the zero-config route (macOS and Windows; no prebuilt Linux artifact is published, so Linux users build from source or use Docker). All commands below come from the README's quick start.

1. Install the desktop app

   Download the macOS (Apple Silicon or Intel) or Windows x64 build from the site or GitHub Releases. On first run it detects your agent CLIs, skills, templates and design systems.

```text
https://open-design.ai
```

2. Or install it into your coding agent

   One command registers OpenDesign with the agent you already use. On macOS and WSL2, `/usr/bin/od` can shadow the `od` command — use the Settings → MCP server snippet if so.

```bash
od mcp install claude
# or: codex | cursor | copilot | openclaw | antigravity | pi | cline | kimi | opencode …
```

3. Ask for an artifact

   From inside the agent, name the design system you want the output to follow.

```text
> Use open-design to generate a landing page with the Linear design system
```

4. Run it with Docker instead

   The deploy directory ships a compose stack; the generated token is also the HTTP basic-auth password.

```bash
git clone https://github.com/nexu-io/open-design.git
cd open-design/deploy
cp .env.example .env
echo "OD_API_TOKEN=$(openssl rand -hex 32)" >> .env
docker compose up -d
# open http://127.0.0.1:7456
```

## When to use it

- Turn a written brief into a clickable web or mobile prototype without opening a canvas tool
- Hold a team's brand rules in a checked-in `DESIGN.md` so every generated artifact follows them
- Produce a deck, a dashboard mock and a social carousel from the same project files, then export to PDF or PPTX
- Add design output to an existing coding-agent workflow through the MCP server, with no separate UI

## Version history

- 2026-05-02 v0.2.0: Covered by AI/TLDR: local-first, open-source alternative to Claude Design that generates web, desktop and mobile prototypes, slides, images and video by delegating to coding agents already on the machine. Apache-2.0 and BYOK.