--- title: "canvas-design skill: design posters and art as PNG or PDF" canonical_url: https://cookiesforai.app/skills/anthropics/canvas-design last_updated: 2026-10-02T01:58:30+02:00 type: skill summary: "Canvas Design is Anthropic's open-source agent skill for static visual work: the agent writes a design philosophy, then makes a poster or art piece as a finished PNG or PDF file." install: "/plugin marketplace add anthropics/skills" related: - "https://cookiesforai.app/skills/heygen-com/hyperframes" - "https://cookiesforai.app/skills/remotion-dev/remotion-best-practices" - "https://cookiesforai.app/skills/bradautomates/watch" - "https://cookiesforai.app/skills/anthropics/algorithmic-art" - "https://cookiesforai.app/skills/anthropics/academy-guide" - "https://cookiesforai.app/skills/anthropics/brand-guidelines" - "https://cookiesforai.app/skills/anthropics/claude-api" - "https://cookiesforai.app/skills/anthropics/discernment-nudge" --- # Canvas Design Canvas Design is Anthropic's open-source agent skill for static visual work: the agent writes a design philosophy, then makes a poster or art piece as a finished PNG or PDF file. | Fact | Value | |---|---| | Publisher | Anthropic (official, own GitHub account) | | Source | https://github.com/anthropics/skills/tree/HEAD/skills/canvas-design | | License | Apache-2.0 | | Repository stars | 179,326 on 2026-10-02 | | Skill name | canvas-design | | Category | Video, images and media | | Skill last changed | 2026-04-20 | | Page updated | 2026-10-02 | | Facts checked | 2026-10-02 | ## Install In Claude Code, add Anthropic's skills marketplace: ``` /plugin marketplace add anthropics/skills ``` Then install the example-skills plugin, which holds this skill and Anthropic's other example skills: ``` /plugin install example-skills@anthropic-agent-skills ``` Or install only this skill, for any agent, with the skills CLI: ``` npx skills add anthropics/skills --skill canvas-design ``` In Claude.ai, Anthropic says its example skills are already available on paid plans: switch them on under Customize > Skills. ## Ask your coding agent A skill can include scripts that run on your computer, so read its source first: https://github.com/anthropics/skills/tree/HEAD/skills/canvas-design ```text Install the agent skill canvas-design from github.com/anthropics/skills. ``` ## What it does Canvas Design is an Anthropic skill for static visual pieces. It loads when you ask for a poster, a piece of art, a design or another static image. Its instructions tell the agent to make original designs and never copy existing artists' work, to avoid copyright problems. The output is a design philosophy as a Markdown file plus the finished piece as a PDF or PNG. With Canvas Design, the agent first names an aesthetic movement and writes its philosophy in four to six paragraphs. It then expresses that philosophy on a single page that is mostly visual with minimal text, weaving in a subtle reference to your request. It checks that nothing overlaps or falls off the page, then takes a second pass that refines what is already there instead of adding more. The Canvas Design folder bundles a canvas-fonts directory of typefaces, from serif and sans-serif families to monospace and pixel faces, and the agent picks type from them. When you ask for more pages, it makes them in the same style but each one distinct, bundled into one PDF or several PNGs. ## When to use it - You need a poster or cover image and want a finished PNG or PDF, not a mockup. - You want abstract art with a quiet reference to your topic built into it. - You want a short series of pages in one consistent visual style. ## When to pick something else - You want interactive or seeded generative art: use Algorithmic Art. - You want a whole web page or app screen designed: use Frontend Design. ## Which agents it works in Anthropic documents it for Claude Code, Claude.ai, Claude API. The open skills CLI also installs it into 78 agents (listed with the CLI on 2026-10-01). ## License Apache-2.0. Apache-2.0 comes from the LICENSE.txt in the skill's own folder (read 2026-10-01); the anthropics/skills repository has no root license file. In practice you may use, change and share the skill in any agent, commercially too, as long as you keep the license text and notices and mark your changes. ## Related ### Related skills for video, images and media - [HyperFrames](https://cookiesforai.app/skills/heygen-com/hyperframes): hyperframes is HeyGen's entry-point agent skill for HyperFrames, its open-source framework that renders HTML, CSS and animations into MP4 video; it captures your brief and routes to the right video workflow. - [Remotion best practices](https://cookiesforai.app/skills/remotion-dev/remotion-best-practices): remotion-best-practices is Remotion's own agent skill and the entry point to its other video skills: it routes an agent to the right guide for creating, previewing, captioning and rendering Remotion videos in React. - [Watch](https://cookiesforai.app/skills/bradautomates/watch): Watch is an open-source agent skill that turns a video link or file into frames and a transcript, or hands it to Google's Gemini, so your agent can answer questions about it. - [Algorithmic Art](https://cookiesforai.app/skills/anthropics/algorithmic-art): Algorithmic Art is Anthropic's open-source agent skill for generative art: the agent writes a short art philosophy, then builds an interactive p5.js piece with seeds and parameter sliders. ### More from Anthropic - [Academy Guide](https://cookiesforai.app/skills/anthropics/academy-guide): Academy Guide is Anthropic's agent skill that ends Claude's answers about using Claude with one or two matching Claude Academy courses or tutorials, and only when the match is strong. - [Brand Guidelines](https://cookiesforai.app/skills/anthropics/brand-guidelines): Brand Guidelines is Anthropic's open-source agent skill that holds Anthropic's own brand colors and fonts, so an agent can give a document, slide deck or web artifact the Anthropic look. - [Claude API](https://cookiesforai.app/skills/anthropics/claude-api): Claude API is Anthropic's open-source agent skill for code that calls Claude: current model IDs and prices, guides for seven SDK languages plus cURL, and guided migrations to newer models. - [Discernment Nudge](https://cookiesforai.app/skills/anthropics/discernment-nudge): Discernment Nudge is Anthropic's agent skill that ends a substantive Claude answer with two or three specific follow-up questions, so you can check its facts, reasoning and assumptions.