Open Design & Building New Tools
Local-first design tooling. Build the tool you wish existed.
What you'll be able to do
- Explain local-first design tooling and why connecting it over MCP matters
- Prototype a net-new design tool to fill a gap no existing app covers
- Decide when to build a tool versus reach for one that already exists
Local-first, on your terms
Most design tools are someone else's product, running on someone else's servers, on someone else's terms. Open, local-first design tooling flips that: the tooling runs close to you and connects to your AI over MCP (a standard way to plug tools and data into a model). That means your work, your files, and your context stay where you control them, and you assemble the workflow instead of renting it.
Build the tool you wish existed
The bigger unlock: when the tool you need does not exist, you prototype it. A small script, a focused agent, a tiny app that does the one thing no off-the-shelf product does for your work. You do not need to be an engineer; you need a clear job and the willingness to direct the build. AI is the studio assistant that writes the tool. You stay the art director who decides what it should do and whether it is good enough to keep.