OpenCoworkAI/open-codesign

What it solves

Open CoDesign is an open-source, local-first desktop application that allows users to turn prompts into polished design prototypes, slide decks, and marketing assets. It removes the need for expensive cloud subscriptions and provider lock-in by allowing users to bring their own API keys or use local models via Ollama.

How it works

Built on Electron, the app acts as an agentic design environment. It uses a unified provider model to connect to various LLMs (Claude, GPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, etc.) and applies a "taste layer" consisting of twelve built-in design skill modules to ensure high-quality typography, whitespace, and color. The agent plans, writes, and self-checks its work in a sandboxed iframe, rendering prototypes in HTML or JSX/React. It also features a "Decompose to UI Kit" function that converts images into componentized code bundles with a deterministic parity check to ensure visual accuracy.

Who it’s for

It is designed for designers and developers who want an AI-native prototyping tool that runs locally on their laptop, supports multiple AI providers, and maintains data privacy by keeping app state on-device.

Highlights

• BYOK (Bring Your Own Key): Supports 20+ models including Claude, GPT, Gemini, and local Ollama instances.
• Local-First Workflow: Runs as a desktop app with local session history and workspace files.
• Interactive Editing: Features "Comment Mode" for pinning specific elements for targeted rewrites and AI-generated sliders for refining parameters like color and spacing.
• Multi-Format Export: Exports artifacts as HTML, PDF, PPTX, ZIP, or Markdown.
• Agentic Design: Includes a live agent panel to monitor tool calls and a permissioned loop for reading, writing, and editing files.