FAQ
Basics
What is OpenDesign?
An open-source AI design workspace from the nexu-io/open-design project. It turns a local coding agent — Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, Qwen — into a design engine driven by composable skills and portable DESIGN.md systems.
Is it official?
The canonical site is open-design.ai and the source is at github.com/nexu-io/open-design. OpenDesign, Open Design, open-design, opendesign, Open Design AI, and OD all refer to the same project. It's maintained by Powerformer, Inc.
How is it different from Claude Design?
Claude Design is a hosted product tied to one vendor. OpenDesign is local-first, Apache-2.0, and BYOK — your agent, your credentials, your design system. See Get started 01.
What's a "vibe design workspace"?
The project's own definition: a place where you design by describing intent to an AI agent — prompt to prototype, page, slides, or HTML video — instead of hand-placing every element.
Money
What does it cost?
The app is free and Apache-2.0. There's no OpenDesign subscription. You pay for models — whichever provider you use bills you directly. BYOK keeps both the credentials and the spend on your side.
The managed tiers are optional; they sell key management plus cloud deploys. See Go deeper 08.
I already pay for Claude Code. Do I pay twice?
No. Design work and coding work draw on the same pool. That's the most concrete saving this tool offers.
Are the managed tiers worth it?
Depends on volume. Pro buys $120 of model credit for $100; Max buys $300 for $200. If your usage is already at that level, it's slightly cheaper than buying API access yourself. At low usage, free plus your own key wins.
Data and privacy
Does my data go to Anthropic, OpenAI, or Google?
Only your prompt and skill context, and only to whichever provider you brought a key for. OpenDesign has no server in that path — the daemon talks to your provider directly. Artifacts are files in your project directory, not in any vendor cloud.
Can I avoid exposing an API key entirely?
Yes. Point it at a CLI you already have signed in (Codex, Claude Code, Cursor, OpenCode) and generation runs on that CLI's credentials. No key leaves your machine.
Can I use it for client work?
That's one of its main arguments. Everything runs locally and material doesn't cross a third party. Note that the model provider you connect still receives the prompt contents — say so to the client.
Install and run
What do I need?
Desktop: macOS 11 or newer (Apple Silicon or Intel), or Windows 10 / 11 x64. Install and go.
From source: Node.js 24 (Node 22 is not supported), pnpm 10.33.2 via Corepack, git, and at least one agent CLI.
Can I skip both the desktop app and the CLI?
Not today. OpenDesign is local-first by design; the minimum is a local daemon plus an agent. A hosted sandbox is on the roadmap but not the priority.
Can I self-host or fork it?
Yes. Apache-2.0. Fork the repo, edit skills, add your own design systems, or run the daemon on your own machines. The daemon runs anywhere Node 24 runs.
It won't install on Windows.
Usually better-sqlite3 hanging on Node 24. Install Visual Studio Build Tools first. Or run the source build inside WSL, as much of the community does. Simplest of all: use the Windows installer.
Using it
Which agents are supported?
The official FAQ says 17 first-party BYOK adapters; the agents page lists 21. The list grows and the two pages update at different times. Full table in Reference / Agent adapters.
Does switching agents cost me work?
No. Skills and design systems are agent-agnostic, and the same SKILL.md runs against any supported adapter. Switching is one config line in the daemon.
How do I bring our brand in?
Drop a screenshot or Figma export into the UI, ask the agent to extract a DESIGN.md, and save it under design-systems/<your-brand>/ in your repo. Every skill then renders in that brand. See playbook 04.
The output looks too "AI".
Three things, in order: answer the discovery form properly, pick a brand-grade design system, and run a self-critique after generation. See Go deeper 05.
Can I export an editable PPTX?
Yes. pptx-generator produces a real .pptx with native shapes and editable text, not one image per slide. Complex HTML visuals, Three.js scenes, and JS-dependent interaction degrade in the conversion. See deck step 10.
Teams
How do teams use it?
The simplest arrangement is git: brand systems, skills, and artifacts in one repo, with everyone bringing their own agent subscription. The free tier covers it.
The Team plans buy in-product collaboration (live co-editing, unified usage). Team Basic carries no model credits at all — it sells collaboration and nothing else.
Is there an enterprise offering?
Yes: shared team design systems, real-time collaboration, multi-user project and artifact editing, unified billing and usage, SSO / SAML, and priority support. Contact support@open-design.ai.
The project
Where's the roadmap?
docs/roadmap.md in the GitHub repo, with weekly release notes through GitHub Releases. Named next-quarter themes: more agent adapters, richer template families (3D, video, audio), and an optional shared-daemon mode.
How do I contribute?
The plugin library is community-extensible. Build your template, skill, or design system, then open a PR against nexu-io/open-design, or an issue to propose it. Merged contributions appear in the web catalogue and the product automatically.
Discussion lives on GitHub Issues and Discord.
Is this book official?
No. It's an unofficial community guide compiled from public material on open-design.ai and hands-on notes. Where it disagrees with the official docs, believe the official docs. Sources are listed on the credits page.