What it does

Open Design is a local-first desktop app that wires your existing terminal agents — Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Copilot, and 17+ others — into a structured design workflow. You type a brief, pick a design system, and the agent generates sandboxed HTML prototypes, pitch decks, motion graphics, or images that export to HTML, PDF, PPTX, or MP4. The app itself is a web layer plus local daemon; the heavy lifting happens inside the CLI tools you already have installed.

The interesting bit

The project treats your filesystem as the contract. Every run creates a real on-disk project folder with seed templates, layout libraries, and self-check checklists that the agent must read before generating. The README calls this “training the agent to behave like a senior designer with a checklist culture” — a deliberate attempt to reduce the usual AI slop by forcing the model through a 5-dimensional self-critique loop. It also imports Claude Design export ZIPs so you can continue where Anthropic’s closed tool left off.

Key highlights

• 150 built-in design systems (Linear, Stripe, Vercel, Apple, etc.) plus 259+ skills for web, mobile, deck, image, and video generation
• One-command MCP server install per agent: od mcp install claude wires the daemon into that agent’s config
• BYOK proxy supports Anthropic, OpenAI, Azure, Google, Ollama, and any OpenAI-compatible endpoint without requiring a local CLI
• Sandboxed iframe preview with real CSS and fonts; exports to HTML, PDF, PPTX, MP4
• Media generation includes gpt-image-2, Seedance 2.0 video, and HyperFrames motion graphics

Caveats

• The project is iterating fast on main and calls itself a “movement” — expect rough edges and shifting APIs
• Some numbers vary between README versions (137 vs 259+ skills, 150 vs 142+ design systems), suggesting active churn
• Windows path-length limits require stdin/prompt-file fallbacks on every adapter

Verdict

Worth a look if you already live in Claude Code or Cursor and want structured design output without another cloud subscription. Skip it if you want a polished pixel-pushing canvas like Figma — this is agent-first, not designer-first.