---
slug: "open-design"
name: "Open Design"
effect: "Local-first workspace where your coding agent builds prototypes, decks and videos from a brief and DESIGN.md"
category: "devtool"
tier: "rising"
url: "https://open-design.ai"
github: "nexu-io/open-design"
pricing: "open-source"
license: "Apache-2.0"
tags: ["design", "prototyping", "design-systems", "vibe-coding", "local-first", "byok", "mcp"]
platforms: ["claude-code", "codex", "cursor", "vscode", "claude-desktop", "any-mcp-client", "macos", "windows", "linux", "docker"]
install_kind: "cli"
date_added: "2026-10-16"
rank: 6
rising_score: 63
stars: 101447
star_velocity: 592.2
velocity_basis: "since creation"
created_at: "2026-04-28T04:25:20Z"
pushed_at: "2026-10-16T11:39:10Z"
signals_status: "ok"
signals_fetched_at: "2026-10-16T11:45:34.404Z"
page: "https://agenttooldrop.com/tools/open-design"
---

# Open Design

Local-first workspace where your coding agent builds prototypes, decks and videos from a brief and DESIGN.md

Category: Devtools. Tier: new and rising, rank 6 by new and rising score (63 of 100). Pricing: Open source. License: Apache-2.0.

Platforms: claude-code, codex, cursor, vscode, claude-desktop, any-mcp-client, macos, windows, linux, docker.

## Why you would want it

Open Design starts from a brief and uses a coding agent already on your PATH, or OpenDesign Cloud, to create a prototype that follows your design system. The README reports 151 design-system packages built around a DESIGN.md file, plus 100+ functional skills and a plugin catalog. Outputs include web and mobile prototypes, slide decks that export to HTML, PDF, PPTX, ZIP or Markdown, generated images, and HyperFrames motion graphics exported to MP4. It also ships a stdio MCP server, so an agent in another repo can read files from your local Open Design projects after an od mcp install step.

## Best for

- Turning a brief into a prototype with your coding agent
- Applying a DESIGN.md brand spec to generated pages
- Decks and motion graphics from one project

## Use it when

You already use a coding agent such as Claude Code or Codex and want it to produce on-brand prototypes, decks or media from a brief, with a local daemon and a desktop app around it.

## Skip it if

It does not ship an agent, so you need a coding-agent CLI on your PATH, a BYOK API key, or OpenDesign Cloud, which is a separate hosted service. The daemon spawns those agent CLIs and the BYOK proxy takes provider API keys; scrubbed safety and reliability telemetry is always on (analytics and session replay are consent-gated), HyperFrames renders through headless Chrome, and the README also offers a curl-pipe-shell install.sh route that runs a remote script. The roadmap still lists unfinished items such as the AI-emitted tweaks panel and Figma or Pencil migration plugins (alpha), there is no prebuilt Linux desktop release, and on macOS a bare od command can resolve to the system octal-dump utility.

## Editor note

The README recommends the desktop app (macOS and Windows, from open-design.ai or GitHub Releases) and also lists Docker, od mcp install <agent> and a curl-pipe-shell install.sh. Run from source needs Node ~24 and pnpm 10.33.x per the README.

## Install

Run from source:

```sh
git clone https://github.com/nexu-io/open-design.git
cd open-design
corepack enable && pnpm install
pnpm tools-dev run web
```

Source: https://github.com/nexu-io/open-design#-run-from-source

## Live signals

Fetched 2026-10-16T11:45:34.404Z (status: ok).

- Repository: nexu-io/open-design
- Repository created: 2026-04-28
- Stars: 101,447 (GitHub's count; it cannot be authenticated)
- Stars per day, since repo creation: 592.2 (an average over the repo's life, not a growth rate)
- Forks: 11,665
- Open issues and PRs: 1,174
- License (GitHub): Apache-2.0
- Last push: 2026-10-16
- Latest release: open-design-v0.25.0 (2026-10-15)

## Links

- Website: https://open-design.ai
- GitHub: https://github.com/nexu-io/open-design
- Install instructions verified at: https://github.com/nexu-io/open-design#-run-from-source
- Source for this entry: https://github.com/nexu-io/open-design#readme
- AgentToolDrop page: https://agenttooldrop.com/tools/open-design
- Full catalog (JSON): https://agenttooldrop.com/tools.json