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What is the /design skill in Claude Code?

/design is a Claude Code skill, released as a research preview on August 17, 2026, that turns a described screen into a canvas of editable artboards. You pick a variant, tweak it visually, then have Claude write the code that implements it.

Type /design in Claude Code, describe the screen you want, and instead of code you get several visual drafts side by side. Change a color. Move a block. Widen a gap. Only when the picture convinces you do you say "build this one." The terminal just grew a drawing board.

What it is (in plain English)

Anthropic shipped /design on August 17 as a research preview. It brings the artboard workflow from Claude Design, Anthropic's visual design surface, into the Claude Code CLI and desktop app, built on artifacts (the interactive pages Claude can publish and share).

The loop works like this: you run the slash command with a brief ("a dashboard showing this week's orders, returns, and the three numbers I check every morning"), and Claude publishes a canvas of editable artboard variants. Each one is a real, adjustable design, not a screenshot: you edit it directly until it looks right, then hand it back and Claude implements it in your project.

It's available on Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise plans, and needs Claude Code v2.1.233 or later. Research preview means exactly what it sounds like: it works, it's evolving, expect rough edges.

Why you should care as a CEO

If you've built your first software tool with Claude Code, you know the pattern: the tool works on day one and looks like a science project for a month. The gap between "works for me" and "my team will actually use it" is almost always the interface, and until now the only way to close it was to describe a change in words, wait for the build, look at the result, and describe again.

/design moves your judgment to before the build instead of after it. Iterating on a picture is the cheapest feedback loop there is; you react to a draft in seconds, and the reaction doesn't cost a rebuild. That's how working with a real designer feels, and it's now how working with your coding agent feels.

This lands squarely on the internal tools this site teaches you to build. The ops dashboard, the intake form, the member page: none of them have to look like a terminal anymore, and you don't need to hire for the difference.

Where you'll see it

• In Claude Code (CLI and desktop) on paid plans, once you're on v2.1.233 or later.
• In the Claude Code hub, next to the workflows /design will make better-looking.
• In Build your first software tool, the workflow whose output this upgrades.
• In What are skills in Claude Code?, the mechanism /design is one instance of.

What you should do next

Update Claude Code, type /design, and describe the messiest internal screen your team lives in; pick the variant you'd actually use and tell Claude to build it.