Agent skill · Anthropic

Canvas Design skill for Claude Code, Codex and Cursor

Produces posters and static artwork as PNG or PDF files, guided by a written design philosophy.

Officialname: canvas-design★ 184k (repo)pushed 2026-10-09See repoSKILL.md on GitHubchecked 2026-11-07

What it does, in the publisher's words

Create beautiful visual art in .png and .pdf documents using design philosophy. You should use this skill when the user asks to create a poster, piece of art, design, or other static piece. Create original visual designs, never copying existing artists' work to avoid copyright violations.

The description field of the SKILL.md. The agent reads only this at startup and decides from it when to load the full skill.

Install Canvas Design

The skills CLI copies the skill into the folder of each agent you pick (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, Windsurf...). Add -g for all projects. Needs Node.js 22.20+. docs

npx skills add anthropics/skills --skill canvas-design

This repo is a plugin marketplace. Inside Claude Code, add it and install the plugin that holds the skill (document-skills, example-skills, claude-api, academy-guide...), or copy only this skill into ~/.claude/skills. docs

/plugin marketplace add anthropics/skills
/plugin install <plugin>@anthropic-agent-skills

# or only this skill:
npx skills add anthropics/skills --skill canvas-design -a claude-code

Download the skill folder, zip it, then Customize > Skills > + > Create skill > Upload a skill. Code execution must be on (Settings > Capabilities). docs

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/anthropics/skills.git /tmp/canvas-design-src
cp -r /tmp/canvas-design-src/skills/canvas-design ./canvas-design
zip -r canvas-design.zip canvas-design

Codex reads skills from .agents/skills in the repo or ~/.agents/skills. Type $ in Codex to use one. docs

npx skills add anthropics/skills --skill canvas-design -a codex

gh skill (GitHub CLI 2.90+, preview) installs it for Copilot in VS Code, the CLI and the cloud agent. Copilot also reads .github/skills and ~/.copilot/skills. docs

gh skill install anthropics/skills canvas-design

Cursor reads .cursor/skills, .agents/skills and ~/.cursor/skills (and .claude/skills). It does not install loose skills from a GitHub URL, so copy it in. docs

npx skills add anthropics/skills --skill canvas-design -a cursor

Installs from the GitHub repo; --path picks this skill out of the repo. Default scope is user (all projects). docs

gemini skills install https://github.com/anthropics/skills.git --path skills/canvas-design

OpenCode reads .opencode/skills, ~/.config/opencode/skills and the Claude and .agents folders. docs

npx skills add anthropics/skills --skill canvas-design -a opencode

Windsurf (now Devin Desktop) reads .devin/skills, .windsurf/skills and ~/.codeium/windsurf/skills. docs

npx skills add anthropics/skills --skill canvas-design -a windsurf

Works with

Claude Code, Claude.ai and Claude Desktop, Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, Windsurf and other agents that read the open Agent Skills format.

What's in the SKILL.md

9 sections

DESIGN PHILOSOPHY CREATION
THE CRITICAL UNDERSTANDING
HOW TO GENERATE A VISUAL PHILOSOPHY
PHILOSOPHY EXAMPLES
ESSENTIAL PRINCIPLES
DEDUCING THE SUBTLE REFERENCE
CANVAS CREATION
FINAL STEP
MULTI-PAGE OPTION

Bundled files

LICENSE.txt
canvas-fonts/ArsenalSC-OFL.txt
canvas-fonts/ArsenalSC-Regular.ttf
canvas-fonts/BigShoulders-Bold.ttf
canvas-fonts/BigShoulders-OFL.txt
canvas-fonts/BigShoulders-Regular.ttf
canvas-fonts/Boldonse-OFL.txt
canvas-fonts/Boldonse-Regular.ttf
canvas-fonts/BricolageGrotesque-Bold.ttf
canvas-fonts/BricolageGrotesque-OFL.txt
canvas-fonts/BricolageGrotesque-Regular.ttf
canvas-fonts/CrimsonPro-Bold.ttf
canvas-fonts/CrimsonPro-Italic.ttf
canvas-fonts/CrimsonPro-OFL.txt
canvas-fonts/CrimsonPro-Regular.ttf
canvas-fonts/DMMono-OFL.txt
canvas-fonts/DMMono-Regular.ttf
canvas-fonts/EricaOne-OFL.txt
canvas-fonts/EricaOne-Regular.ttf
canvas-fonts/GeistMono-Bold.ttf
+ 62 more

Loaded only when the instructions point to them.

Facts

Skill name: canvas-design
Publisher: Anthropic (official)
Repo: anthropics/skills
License: Complete terms in LICENSE.txt
SKILL.md size: 1,693 words, 124 lines
Bundled files: 82, 19 docs
Repo stars: 184k (as of 2026-10-24)
SKILL.md checked: 2026-11-07

More skills from anthropics/skills

Claude API: Reference for building on the Claude API and Anthropic SDKs: models, tool use, streaming, caching, pricing.
Doc Co-authoring: Walks you through drafting specs, proposals and design docs step by step with Claude.
Word Documents (DOCX): Creates, reads and edits Word .docx files, including templates, tracked changes and formatting.
Frontend Design: Steers UI work toward deliberate visual direction and typography instead of generic template looks.
MCP Server Builder: Guide for designing and building Model Context Protocol servers that wrap external APIs as tools.
PDF: Extracts text and tables, merges, splits, fills forms and creates PDF files.
PowerPoint (PPTX): Builds, reads and edits PowerPoint decks and templates, including layouts and speaker notes.
Skill Creator: Helps write new skills, refine existing ones and test how well they trigger and perform.
Slack GIF Creator: Makes small animated GIFs sized and validated for Slack's emoji and message limits.
Web Artifacts Builder: Builds multi-component HTML artifacts with React, Tailwind and shadcn/ui, bundled into one file.
Web App Testing: Uses Playwright to drive a local web app, check behavior, read console logs and take screenshots.
Excel Spreadsheets (XLSX): Opens, cleans, edits and creates spreadsheets (.xlsx, .csv), including formulas and charts.

Related media skills

FAQ

What does the canvas-design skill do?+

Produces posters and static artwork as PNG or PDF files, guided by a written design philosophy. In its own SKILL.md, Anthropic describes it as: "Create beautiful visual art in .png and .pdf documents using design philosophy. You should use this skill when the user asks to create a poster, piece of art, design, or other static piece. Create original visual designs, never copying existing artists' work to avoid copyright violations."

How do I install the canvas-design skill?+

Run npx skills add anthropics/skills --skill canvas-design and pick your agents, or use the tab for your agent above. In Claude Code the skill ends up in ~/.claude/skills/canvas-design/SKILL.md; in Codex and Cursor in .agents/skills/canvas-design/.

Does Canvas Design work in Codex, Cursor and Copilot, or only Claude?+

It's a standard SKILL.md, so any agent that reads the Agent Skills format can use it: Claude Code, the Claude apps, Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, Windsurf and more.

Who maintains Canvas Design?+

Anthropic, the company or project behind it, in the anthropics/skills repo on GitHub, last pushed 2026-10-09. License: Complete terms in LICENSE.txt.

Read a skill's SKILL.md and scripts before you install it: skills aren't verified by any agent vendor. Claude skills marketplace · How to install skills · MCP servers