PencilTranslation site

What's a Pencil?

Pencil is an AI-native design and code integration tool with a core concept of “Finish the design where you write the code.”. It runs directly in IDEs (e.g. VS Code, Cursor, Claude Code), making the design less of a standalone deliverable and more of a part of the project.

Pencil creates UI designs within the development environment using an infinite canvas, with the design content being openly available as .pen It's stored as a file, version-controlled by Git, and supports branching, rollback, and collaboration. For the first time, designs are engineered and truly integrated into the software development process.

In terms of AI capabilities, Pencil doesn't just generate interfaces, but allows AI to directly participate in the design: understanding the project context, generating multiple design options, modifying the layout in the canvas, and naturally transitioning to the front-end code implementation. The design structure is highly consistent with the code structure, dramatically reducing the cost from design to realization.

Pencil is for front-end developers, design engineering teams, and indie developers to quickly build UI, explore design solutions, and improve collaboration. It represents a trend - theDesign, code and AI will collaborate on software builds in the same space.

Key features of the Pencil

1. Unlimited Design Canvas::
   Pencil provides virtually unlimited design space, allowing developers to freely utilize their creativity to design product interfaces with pixel-level precision in a familiar IDE environment. The design canvas is tightly integrated with the code editor, allowing you to switch between design and code with a single click, dramatically improving productivity.
2. AI multiplayer collaboration::
   Utilizing advanced AI technology, Pencil simulates multi-person collaboration scenarios, providing developers with an additional design “hand”. This capability enables team members to work in parallel to quickly generate interfaces or entire user flows, accelerating the process of design iteration and exploration of new directions.
3. Design for speed and accuracy::
   Pencil supports prompting for design requirements directly in context and offers a selection of design actions optimized for speed and quality. At the same time, developers can custom write actions to meet specific design needs, ensuring design flexibility and precision.
4. Perfect conversion from vector to code::
   Pencil ensures that the design-to-code conversion process maintains pixel-level accuracy so that the code aligns perfectly with the design. Design files and code coexist in the codebase for easy version control and team collaboration.
5. Branding Toolkit & Custom Design System::
   Pencil provides a selection of branded toolkits with commonly used UI components and styles to help developers quickly build beautiful and brand-compliant products. It also supports the use of a team's existing design system, ensuring brand consistency.
6. Fully open file format::
   Pencil utilizes a completely open file format that allows developers to read, debug, or extend design files using their own tools. This feature avoids black-boxing and lock-in issues, improving design flexibility and maintainability.
7. Importing Design from Figma::
   For those who have already used Figma, etc.Design Toolsteam, Pencil supports copying and pasting design elements, including vector graphics, text, and styles, directly from Figma. This feature simplifies the process of migrating to Pencil from other design tools and reduces learning costs.
8. Design as Code::
   Pencil stores design files directly in the codebase, working with the code for version control, branching and merging. This feature enables true integration of design and development, allowing teams to collaborate and iterate more efficiently.
9. Bidirectional MCP vector canvas::
   Pencil provides full MCP read and write access as well as many other utilities. This allows developers to easily integrate with the MCP world, bring in data from other sources (e.g., databases, APIs, chart data) or plug-in other agents, further expanding the capabilities and possibilities of the design.

Scenarios of Pencil use

1. front-end development::
   During front-end development, Pencil allows developers to design interfaces directly in the coding environment, ensuring consistency between design and implementation and reducing rework and revision time.
2. Teamwork and Iteration::
   With the AI multiplayer collaboration feature, team members can work in parallel and iterate their designs quickly, improving the team's overall efficiency and responsiveness.
3. Maintenance of brand consistency::
   Utilizing the Branding Toolkit and Custom Design System features, Pencil helps developers ensure that their products maintain a consistent brand image and user experience across platforms and devices.
4. Rapid Prototyping::
   For scenarios where ideas need to be validated quickly or product concepts need to be demonstrated, Pencil provides an efficient design and development environment that enables teams to quickly build interactive prototypes.

How do I use Pencil?

1. Download & Installation::
   Visit the official Pencil website (https://www.pencil.dev/), download the plugin or app for your IDE and follow the installation guide.
2. Integration into IDE::
   Depending on your type of IDE (e.g. VS Code, IntelliJ IDEA, etc.), follow the integration guidelines provided by Pencil to integrate the tool into your development environment.
3. start designing::
   Create or open design files in the IDE and utilize the Infinite Canvas and AI Collaboration features for interface design. You can add, modify, or delete design elements as needed, and use selected or customized actions to improve design efficiency.
4. Importing and exporting designs::
   If you need to migrate a design from another design tool, such as Figma, you can use Pencil's import feature. Similarly, you can export designs to other formats for sharing or further processing.
5. Version Control and Collaboration::
   Version control, branch and merge design files using Git. Share design files with team members and utilize AI multiplayer collaboration features for parallel design and iteration.

Recommended Reasons

1. Improve development efficiency::
   Pencil allows developers to design directly in the coding environment, reducing design handoff time and errors, and significantly improving development efficiency.
2. Seamless Collaboration Experience::
   The AI multiplayer collaboration feature allows team members to work in parallel, accelerating the design iteration process and improving the overall efficiency and responsiveness of the team.
3. Maintaining brand consistency::
   Through the Branding Toolkit and Custom Design System features, Pencil helps developers ensure that their products maintain a consistent brand image and user experience across platforms and devices.
4. Flexibility and Scalability::
   The fully open file format and bi-directional MCP vector canvas provide extreme flexibility and scalability to meet the needs of different teams and projects.
5. Easy to integrate and use::
   Pencil's seamless integration with major IDEs and Git makes it easy to fit into existing development workflows, reducing the cost of learning and use. Whether for individual developers or large teams, Pencil is an efficient design tool worth trying.