Claude Design is Anthropic's visual-work tool: describe what you want and Claude builds screens, mockups and slides on a canvas, which you refine through chat, comments and direct manipulation. Since September 16, 2026 you can create designs in any conversation, not only at claude.ai/design, and Claude Slides and Claude Docs arrived in conversations the same day. This guide covers where to open it, what you can build, design systems, export (PPTX, PDF, HTML, Claude Code handoff), plan requirements and known limitations, based on the official help articles as of November 1, 2026. The standalone claude.ai/design closes on December 14, 2026, so if you built a design system there, move it before then (see "entry points" below). (Official: Get started with Claude Design)
🟢 Model references match the current lineup · model notice · Fable subscription
Fable 5 and 5.1 subscription (updated November 1, 2026): Claude Fable 5.1, released September 1, 2026, is the current Fable model and Fable 5 is now legacy. Plan terms are the same for both — Max, Ultra, and Team Premium plans include Fable at up to 50% of the weekly usage limit; Pro and Team Standard use usage credits ($10/M input, $50/M output tokens). The one-time $100 credit applied only to the Fable 5 transition and is not offered for 5.1. Some coding and debugging requests may be answered by an Opus model due to a security classifier (both models). See the Fable 5.1 guide and the Fable 5 availability guide for details.
What is Claude Design
Claude Design started as an Anthropic Labs research preview in April 2026. With the October 8, 2026 announcement it left beta alongside Claude Docs and Slides and is now generally available on every plan, including Free. Instead of laying things out by hand on a blank canvas, you describe what you want in plain language; Claude produces the result and you refine it by talking. It began as a separate screen with its own URL (claude.ai/design); since September 16 it is also one of the artifact types inside ordinary conversations, so you can either open the design tool or simply ask for a design mid-chat.
Where to open it — entry points
The official help article lists these entry points.
- Straight from a conversation — ask for "a landing page mockup" and a design artifact opens beside the chat. You can also pick a Design, Slides or Docs template from the Output menu in the chat box.
- The Artifacts tab in the sidebar — every design, deck and doc you make is saved there, and you can start new ones from it.
- claude.ai/design — the original standalone screen. It closes on December 14, 2026 (official). It keeps working until then and existing projects stay there; moving projects into Claude is rolling out gradually to paid plans. Move design systems you made there before it closes so you can keep using them in chats and Claude Code. The help article does not say what happens to existing designs after the closure (uncertain).
- Claude Code — ask for a design or use the
/designcommand. - Desktop, iOS and Android — the same artifacts open in each app. You can request and edit designs on mobile, but sharing settings can only be changed on web or desktop.
What you can build
Anthropic says it can create visuals such as:
- Website/app prototypes and interactive screens
- Slides, pitch decks, and one-pagers
- Product mockups and marketing pages/assets
It targets two groups: designers who want to explore more directions quickly, and people without design experience (founders, PMs, marketers) who want to turn an idea into something visual.
How it works
The flow is simple. Describe what you want in chat and a draft appears on the canvas; from there, iteration is the point. You refine three ways — chat for structural changes, inline comments pinned to specific elements, and direct canvas editing (drag, resize, align). Anthropic notes that "the first generation is a starting point; the real value comes from iterating."
Export and handoff
Finished designs export as ZIP, PDF, PPTX, Google Slides or standalone HTML. The help article lists "send to" destinations including Adobe (Experience Manager, Journey Optimizer and more), Base44, Canva, Gamma, HubSpot, Hyperframes, Lovable, Miro, Netlify, Replit, v0, Vercel and Wix. To move into development, hand off a bundle to Claude Code in one step. Artifacts start private and can be shared by link at no extra cost.
Design systems — your brand's colors and type
Add a design system (colors, typography, spacing, component rules) once and every later design follows it. The help article gives four routes.
- Organization design system, automatically — on Team and Enterprise, the organization's registered design system is included by default.
- Import — from a GitHub repository, design files or raw uploads.
- Local codebase — run
/design-syncin Claude Code to sync your project's real styles. - Migration — design systems made at claude.ai/design can be moved into Claude, after which you use them in any chat and in Claude Code. The help article says to move them before the December 14 closure.
Linking a whole large repository can slow things down; the official recommendation is to link only the subdirectory you need.
Getting started · availability
According to the official help article (checked November 1, 2026), Claude Design is available on Free, Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans and is on by default. The artifacts help article likewise lists the Design, Slides and Docs templates as "all plans, on by default" (when this guide was written on September 27 the documents disagreed about Free; they now match). On Enterprise it became on by default on October 15, 2026; before that, owners could turn it on under Organization settings > Artifacts. The Design help article's plan list does not name Ultra separately, while the artifacts help article includes Ultra among all plans.
There is no separate charge; usage counts toward the same limits as the rest of Claude, including Claude Code (official wording). When you hit the limit Design is unavailable until it resets, unless you have usage credits enabled. Complex projects with large codebases use more. The underlying model is not published separately and may change.
What changed since October
New items from official announcements and help articles after the September chat integration (checked November 2, 2026).
- General availability — the October 8 announcement "Build live dashboards and animate explainers with Claude" took Design, Docs and Slides out of beta.
- Sharing outside your team — if your admin allows it, you can share designs and slides with people outside your organization or with anyone who has the link.
- Two new templates — the same Output menu now has Dashboards (beta, paid plans — live dashboards connected to data such as BigQuery, Databricks, Snowflake or Salesforce) and Motion (beta, Team and Enterprise — short animated explainers you can download as MP4).
- Keyboard-only editing — the help article now documents moving between editor areas, the selection toolbar (F6), and the properties panel and list of layers by keyboard.
- Enterprise defaults — on by default from October 15, except in HIPAA-enabled organizations (claude.com product page FAQ).
What people who use it say — practical tips and limits
We gathered reviews from outside the official docs and kept only points that recur across sources. These are personal experiences, and launch-era (April) reviews come from when Design had its own weekly allowance, so conditions differ today.
- The first prompt matters most — many reviewers found that stating the goal, aspect ratio and tone up front cut down on revisions. Claude may ask clarifying questions before it starts (PCWorld hands-on).
- Build a design system first for consistency — one user found outputs became consistent once a design system was in place (Brunch review, Korean). Others note Claude can still drift back to its default style even with a design system (flowstep review).
- Small defects in the first output are common — overflowing elements and mismatched fonts or spacing come up often, so ask for an accessibility, spacing and hierarchy review before finishing (UX Planet).
- Manual editing is still basic — reviewers agree hands-on controls lag dedicated design tools, and there is no Figma export (flowstep review).
- Upload logos and illustrations — it is strongest at structured visuals like slides and card news; for complex logos or illustrations, uploading the file works better (Brunch review).
- Usage — at launch, one reviewer burned through a Pro weekly allowance in about half an hour (PCWorld, April). Today Design officially has no separate allowance and shares Claude's overall limits. The common advice is to invest in the first draft and keep later edits small.
- An October walkthrough — shows building slides from a saved design system and extracting a design system from existing web pages, and says the standalone site is reached via "Open standalone Claude Design" in the three-dot menu next to Design — this comes from the walkthrough, not the official help article (AI Maker, October 25).
Things to know
Known limitations listed in the official help article (checked November 1, 2026).
- Inline comments — they occasionally don't appear on the page; open the comments view to see them.
- Multi-person editing — still basic and may not work reliably; hand off after one person finishes.
- No version history — there is no way to roll back yet. Export a copy before big changes, or ask Claude to save the current state.
- Large codebases — very large repositories can cause lag or browser issues; link them from Claude Code instead.
- "chat upstream error" — start a new chat tab within the same project.
- No keyboard-only placement — placing a new text layer, artboard, shape or note needs a mouse or trackpad; you can ask Claude to add it.
- Mobile sharing settings — sharing settings can't be changed in the iOS and Android apps.
FAQ
Is Claude Design free? What does it cost?
There is no separate charge. It is available on every individual plan, including Free (official help article, checked November 1, 2026). Usage counts toward the same plan limits as the rest of Claude. For plan comparisons, see the Claude pricing overview.
How is Claude Slides different from Claude Design?
Both are artifact types you can create in a conversation since September 16. Slides is specialised for presentation decks and exports to PowerPoint or PDF; Design suits screens, mockups, prototypes and landing pages that you judge by looking at them (it can export PPTX too). Use Slides for a talk, Design for screens and brand visuals.
Does it integrate with Figma?
The official export and "send to" lists do not include Figma as of November 1, 2026. Importing design files and GitHub repositories as a design system is supported. To turn Figma files into code, see the Figma MCP guide.
What are "design skills"?
Skills are file bundles that teach Claude a specific procedure. With design-related skills enabled (canvas design, brand guidelines, algorithmic art and so on), design artifacts follow those rules. See the skills catalog guide for the list and how to enable them.
Does it use my usage (tokens)?
Design work draws on your plan's usage just like chatting with Claude (fact, general). The exact accounting isn't separately published (uncertain), so if limits are a concern, review how usage works on your plan.
Can it make PPT (PowerPoint) files?
You can build slides and export them as PPTX (fact). To work inside PowerPoint itself, Claude in PowerPoint or the Excel & PowerPoint guide fit better.
Can it design websites or landing pages?
It supports prototypes, mockups, and HTML export, so it's useful for web-screen mockups (fact) — more for design comps and handoff than a fully deployable finished site.
Do I need to install anything?
No separate install — you use it inside the Claude app (fact).
Related
- Using Artifacts — build outputs inside chat
- Claude Cowork — the desktop mode that works on your files
- Prompting basics — get the result you want
Disclaimer: This article is based on Anthropic's official Claude Design help article (support.claude.com/14604416), the artifacts help article (17153992) and the September 16, 2026 release notes, updated November 1, 2026. Claude Design's underlying model, features, limitations, and availability may change frequently per official announcements. Check the official help center for the latest before relying on it. This site is not affiliated with Anthropic.