Open CoDesign — Open-Source AI Design Tool for Prototypes and Slides

Introduction

Open CoDesign is an open-source, local-first desktop application that serves as an alternative to commercial AI design tools. It turns text prompts into prototypes, landing pages, slide decks, and PDF documents using your own API keys across multiple LLM providers, keeping your designs and data fully under your control.

What Open CoDesign Does

• Generates UI prototypes and landing pages from natural language descriptions
• Creates presentation slides with professional layouts and styling
• Exports designs to HTML, PDF, PPTX, and image formats
• Supports multiple LLM backends including Claude, GPT, Gemini, Kimi, and Ollama
• Runs as a desktop app with no cloud dependency for design generation

Architecture Overview

Open CoDesign is built with Electron and TypeScript for the desktop shell, with a code generation engine that translates prompts into HTML/CSS/JS or framework-specific code. The rendering pipeline produces live previews in an embedded browser, and an export module converts the output to PDF, PPTX, or static images. API calls go directly from the desktop app to the configured LLM provider — no intermediate server.

Self-Hosting & Configuration

• Clone the repo and build with npm install and npm run build
• Bring your own API keys (BYOK) for Claude, GPT, Gemini, or other providers
• Configure local model access through Ollama for fully offline operation
• Design templates and presets stored locally in the app data directory
• Available as pre-built binaries for macOS, Windows, and Linux

Key Features

• Multi-model support with BYOK — use Claude, GPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, or local models
• Local-first architecture with no data leaving your machine
• Live preview with hot-reload as the LLM generates design code
• Export to HTML, PDF, PPTX, PNG, and SVG formats
• Template library for common design patterns (dashboards, landing pages, decks)

Comparison with Similar Tools

• Claude Design — first-party Anthropic tool; Open CoDesign is open-source, multi-model, and self-hosted
• v0 by Vercel — cloud-based UI generator; Open CoDesign runs locally with no usage limits
• Bolt.new — cloud IDE for full-stack apps; Open CoDesign focuses on design output and export
• Figma — manual design tool; Open CoDesign generates designs from prompts instead of manual drawing
• Slidev — developer presentation framework; Open CoDesign auto-generates slides from descriptions

FAQ

Q: Which LLM providers are supported? A: Claude, GPT, Gemini, Kimi, GLM, DeepSeek, and any OpenAI-compatible endpoint including Ollama.

Q: Can I use my company's private LLM endpoint? A: Yes, any OpenAI-compatible API endpoint can be configured as a custom provider.

Q: What export formats are available? A: HTML, PDF, PPTX, PNG, SVG, and JPEG. Each format is optimized for its use case.

Q: Is there a web version? A: The primary distribution is a desktop app for local-first privacy, but the codebase can be adapted for web deployment.

Sources

• https://github.com/OpenCoworkAI/open-codesign