# Design to code

> A screenshot-to-code card. You drop a UI screenshot or import a Figma frame, a scan line finds its layout regions, then React and Tailwind stream in beside it, linked region by region, with a working live preview one tab away.

- Type: Component (special)
- Access: Arc Pro
- Page: https://uiarc.dev/components/design-to-code
- Markdown: https://uiarc.dev/components/design-to-code/markdown
- Source file: `registry/components/design-to-code/design-to-code.tsx`
- Dependencies: motion, lucide-react
- Keywords: special, ai, new, design to code, screenshot to code, figma to code, image to code, ui generation, react tailwind generator, layout detection, ai code generation, v0, vision

## When to use

- A design to code feature: upload a screenshot or pick a Figma frame and get a component back.
- Showing an AI vision step where detected regions matter, such as layout parsing before generation.
- Marketing or onboarding demos that explain what a code generation product does in one glance.

## When not to use

- Plain file uploads with no generation step: use file-upload.
- Showing finished code without the source design: use code-block.
- A full editor with files, tabs and a terminal: build a workspace layout instead of stretching this card.

## Installation

Design to code is part of Arc Pro. The live preview is public; the source and install command need Pro.

### CLI with a Pro token

1. Create a token in your account and set it in the environment (or `.env.local`). Never commit it.

```bash
export ARC_PRO_TOKEN=arc_pro_...
```

2. Add the Pro registry to `components.json`:

```json
{
  "registries": {
    "@uiarc": "https://uiarc.dev/r/{name}.json",
    "@uiarc-pro": {
      "url": "https://uiarc.dev/r/pro/{name}.json",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer ${ARC_PRO_TOKEN}"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

3. Install:

```bash
npx shadcn@latest add @uiarc-pro/design-to-code
```

### Manual

Signed-in Pro members can copy the source from the Manual tab on the docs page.

- Plans: https://uiarc.dev/pricing
- Create a Pro token: https://uiarc.dev/account#pro-access
- Setup guide: https://uiarc.dev/docs/ai#pro-access

## Usage

```tsx
import { DesignToCode } from "@/components/arc/design-to-code/design-to-code";

// The self-playing demo
<DesignToCode />

// Wired to your model
<DesignToCode
  model={{ name: "Claude Opus 5.5" }}
  onGenerate={async (source, { signal, addRegion, write }) => {
    const response = await fetch("/api/design-to-code", { method: "POST", body: source.file, signal });
    for await (const event of readEvents(response.body!)) {
      if (event.type === "region") addRegion(event.region); // { id, label, x, y, width, height } in percent
      if (event.type === "code") write(event.text, event.regionId);
    }
  }}
  renderPreview={code => <SandboxFrame code={code} />}
  onComplete={code => saveDraft(code)}
/>
```

## API reference

### DesignToCode

Screenshot to code in one card. A dropped screenshot or imported Figma frame is scanned for regions, then React and Tailwind stream in beside it, linked region by region, with a live preview one tab away. With no props it plays a simulated run on a Pro pricing card.

| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `onGenerate` | `(source: DesignToCodeSource, context: { signal: AbortSignal; addRegion(region): void; write(chunk: string, regionId?: string): void }) => Promise<void>` | – | Turns a source into code. Call addRegion as parts are detected, then write code chunks as they stream; pass a region id to link a chunk to its box. Resolve when done, reject to show the error, stop when signal aborts. Without it a local simulation writes the sample PricingCard. |
| `onImportFigma` | `(signal: AbortSignal) => Promise<DesignToCodeSource \| null \| undefined>` | – | Runs your Figma picker or link flow. Resolve with the frame (with a rendered src) or null when cancelled. Simulated when omitted. |
| `onComplete` | `(code: string, source: DesignToCodeSource) => void` | – | Called with the finished code. |
| `renderPreview` | `(code: string, source: DesignToCodeSource) => ReactNode` | – | Renders the generated code in the Preview tab, for example in a sandboxed iframe. The simulation previews the sample card, working. |
| `defaultSource` | `DesignToCodeSource \| null` | `sample, or null with onGenerate` | The design shown first. A source without src draws the built in pricing card sample. Pass null to open on the drop zone. |
| `filename` | `string` | `"PricingCard.tsx"` | File name shown while writing and in the copy label. |
| `model` | `{ name: string; mark?: ReactNode }` | `{ name: "Claude Sonnet 5.5" }` | The model credited in the code header. Names starting with Claude get the Claude mark automatically. |
| `defaultView` | `"code" \| "preview"` | `"code"` | The tab open first. Each new run returns to Code so the stream is visible. |
| `autoPlay` | `boolean` | `true without onGenerate` | Plays the sample on a loop while on screen: generate, hold on the code, show the preview, start again. Stops at the first pointer or key press inside the card. |
| `accept` | `string` | `"image/png,image/jpeg,image/webp"` | Accepted file types, as in an input's accept attribute. Other files show an error instead of a source. |
| `maxFileSize` | `number` | `10485760` | Largest file accepted, in bytes. |
| `className` | `string` | – | Class on the root section. |

## Keyboard interactions

| Keys | Action |
| --- | --- |
| Tab | Moves through the remove button, region tags, view toggle, copy, Import from Figma and the main action. |
| Enter / Space | Activates the focused control. On the drop zone, Choose file opens the file picker. |
| Arrow keys | Switch between Code and Preview on the view toggle. |
| Escape | Stops a run that is analyzing or writing. The partial code is kept. |
| Focus a region tag | Highlights that region's box and its lines of code, scrolling them into view. |

## Accessibility

- The card is a labelled section with two groups, Design and Output. A polite live region announces each step: analyzing, regions found, writing, done with line count and time, stopped, and errors. The simulation says that nothing was uploaded or opened.
- Status is never color alone: each state pairs an icon with a short label, and errors name the problem and the fix.
- Region tags are real buttons with labels like "Price: show its code". The code view is a focusable, labelled region marked busy while streaming, and is not a live region, so screen readers are not flooded with tokens.
- The hidden layer of the Code and Preview pair is inert and hidden from assistive tech. The screenshot mock is decorative; uploaded images carry alt text with the file name.
- Drop works anywhere on the design side, and every drop path has a button: Choose file, Use sample and Import from Figma.

## Motion

- Analyzing: a 1px scan line crosses the screenshot in one second and each region's box and tag fade in as the line reaches it (160ms opacity, no scale).
- Writing: code streams in 3 to 8 word chunks every 34ms; each chunk only fades in over 140ms. The region being written is highlighted on the screenshot and its lines carry a quiet tint.
- Status, placeholders and the Code and Preview layers crossfade (old out 100ms, new in 160ms). The main button morphs its width without bounce. The preview's billing thumb uses a 0.24s spring with no bounce, and the price swaps with a 2px crossfade on tabular numerals.
- Reduced motion: no scan line or chunk fades, regions appear at once, the code arrives a part at a time, and the demo plays once instead of looping. The loop also waits while the card is off screen.

## Responsive behavior

- Two panes side by side from 640px of card width (design 344px, code the rest); below that they stack, each 352px tall.
- Under 520px the footer drops the file name from the status and Import from Figma becomes an icon button with its label kept for assistive tech. Under 440px meta text and the model name hide; the mark stays.
- Long code lines wrap with a hanging indent, so nothing scrolls sideways at 360px.

## Performance

- The code view tokenizes the current text on each chunk (a few kilobytes, well under a millisecond) and keys spans by offset, so earlier chunks never re-render their fade.
- Code and Preview stay mounted and crossfade, so switching tabs costs nothing and keeps the scroll position.
- Object URLs for dropped files are revoked on replace and unmount. The demo loop pauses off screen through an IntersectionObserver.

## Notes for AI

- Use for screenshot to code, Figma to code or any image to UI generation flow where people should see what the model detected and the code it wrote.
- Stream from your backend: emit region events first (percent boxes on the source image), then code text tagged with the region id it implements so the box and the lines link up.
- Render the preview yourself with renderPreview, ideally in a sandboxed iframe. Never eval generated code in the host page.
- Keep it one card in a page or dialog, 360 to 760px wide. It stacks below 640px.

## Related

- [File upload](https://uiarc.dev/components/blocks/file-upload/markdown): A complete file selection flow with constraints, progress, and error feedback.
- [Code block](https://uiarc.dev/components/code-block/markdown): Present code with legible hierarchy and copy access.
- [Tool call](https://uiarc.dev/components/tool-call/markdown): A tool call row for agent transcripts: the tool's mark and the call in plain words, a live state while it runs, and the input and output a click away, with approval and retry when needed.
- [Agent status](https://uiarc.dev/components/agent-status/markdown): A compact live status pill for a running AI agent: the agent's mark in a live ring, the current activity and an elapsed timer, opening into the steps so far.
- [Text shimmer](https://uiarc.dev/components/text-shimmer/markdown): Show ongoing work with a calm light across the words.

## Also in ai

- [Agent plan](https://uiarc.dev/components/agent-plan/markdown): The plan an agent writes before it acts: edit, reorder or add steps while it is a draft, then watch it work through them as a live checklist.
- [Agent timeline](https://uiarc.dev/components/agent-timeline/markdown): A compact timeline of one orchestrated agent run: the orchestrator and its subagents share a time axis, handoffs draw in between rows, and a playhead replays thinking, tool calls and waiting while the header counts time, tokens and cost. Hover a span for what it did, or click it to trace its handoff path.
- [Context window](https://uiarc.dev/components/context-window/markdown): An AI context window as a grid of 200 cells: the system prompt, tools, files, summary and messages fill it in order, a threshold row marks where compaction starts, and sending a message, attaching a file or compacting shows exactly how much still fits.
- [Reasoning block](https://uiarc.dev/components/reasoning-block/markdown): The collapsible thinking block of an AI reply. While the model thinks, a shimmering label counts the seconds and the latest reasoning streams underneath. When it finishes, it folds to "Thought for 7s" and opens to show the full reasoning as calm steps with headings.
- [Source cards](https://uiarc.dev/components/source-cards/markdown): A row of cited sources under an AI answer where cards stream in with real site marks while the model searches, the overflow collapses into a stack of favicons, hovering lifts a preview with the passage, and an inline [n] citation highlights its card.
- [Model card](https://uiarc.dev/components/model-card/markdown): A model details card where switching models rolls every price, limit and score in place, a token slider estimates monthly cost live, and benchmark bars show each model's rank on hover. Compare crossfades to a side-by-side table against any rival with the better values marked, and the card never changes size.
- [AI workflow](https://uiarc.dev/components/ai-workflow/markdown): A Linear-style AI workflow card where a Gmail trigger, a Claude step, a branch and Slack and Linear actions sit on one hairline rail, and a test run glides down it, opening each step's output inline. Steps are added from a compact command menu with real app marks.
- [Code suggestion](https://uiarc.dev/components/code-suggestion/markdown): An AI code edit suggestion where the model's proposed changes stream into a small editor panel as inline diff hunks, and you accept or reject each one, or all at once with Cmd+Enter. Accepted hunks fold into the file with a smooth height change.
- [Ghost text](https://uiarc.dev/components/ghost-text/markdown): An inline AI autocomplete where muted ghost text continues your sentence exactly at the caret and Tab turns it solid in place. Cmd+Right takes it one word at a time, Escape fades it away, and a calm chip shows the model behind it.
- [Image generation](https://uiarc.dev/components/image-generation/markdown): An image generation card where four images resolve as a pixel mosaic, from coarse colour blocks to full detail under a soft shimmer, each with its own progress ring. Pick one to upscale with a sweeping pixel band, vary or download it, with real provider marks and a built-in simulation.
- [Dictation button](https://uiarc.dev/components/dictation-button/markdown): A chat composer with voice input, where the mic springs into a recording pill with a smooth live waveform, a timer, and cancel and insert buttons. Words stream into the field as you speak, muted until the recognizer settles them.
- [Speech player](https://uiarc.dev/components/speech-player/markdown): A read-aloud player for AI replies. The Read aloud button in the message's action row turns into a compact player with play, a scrubbable progress bar, speed and a voice picker, and a highlight follows the spoken word through the reply, karaoke style.
- [Meeting summary](https://uiarc.dev/components/meeting-summary/markdown): An AI meeting notes card: the header shows the Google Meet or Zoom mark, the attendees and the duration. Summary, Decisions and Action items stream in after a short summarizing pass. Hover any line to see the transcript quote it came from, then check off action items or send them to Linear or Notion.
- [Reply draft](https://uiarc.dev/components/reply-draft/markdown): An AI email reply drafter where Claude streams a reply under a received Gmail message. Quick replies steer a fresh draft, tone and length rewrite it with a single crossfade, and you can edit the finished draft before you insert it.
- [Agent handoff](https://uiarc.dev/components/agent-handoff/markdown): A support conversation where an AI assistant hands off to a person. When it transfers, a card shows the summary it passes to the team and the typical wait. The person then joins and takes over, and a thin timeline on the left marks each step.
- [PII redaction](https://uiarc.dev/components/pii-redaction/markdown): A guardrail card where personal data is redacted before the prompt reaches the model. Scan marks each name, email, phone number and card with its type and swaps it for a placeholder like [EMAIL_1]. The safe prompt travels to Claude, and the reply comes back with the original values put back for the person.
- [Response feedback](https://uiarc.dev/components/response-feedback/markdown): A feedback control for AI replies where thumbs down opens an inline panel with reason chips and an optional note, thumbs up fills and asks what was good, and a submit shows a short thank-you before folding back into the row.
- [LLM cost calculator](https://uiarc.dev/components/llm-cost-calculator/markdown): A pricing calculator for LLM workloads. Set tokens per request, requests per day and prompt caching, and eight current models re-rank by monthly cost. Bars glide and prices roll as you drag.
- [Provider keys](https://uiarc.dev/components/provider-keys/markdown): A settings card for bring-your-own-key AI products. Each provider row shows its real mark, the masked key, a status and when the key was last used. You can reveal a key for five seconds, copy, rotate or remove it with undo. Adding or rotating a key opens an inline form that checks the format as you type, then tests the connection before saving.
- [Generation stats](https://uiarc.dev/components/generation-stats/markdown): A live stats strip for a streaming LLM response where time to first token, speed with a sparkline, output tokens and cost count up in tabular numerals beside the model's real mark, then settle and open into a latency and token cost breakdown.
- [AI translate](https://uiarc.dev/components/ai-translate/markdown): A message card where picking a language streams the AI translation in place, sentence by sentence over the dimmed original, with a detected-language chip, a Show original toggle and a status line credited to the model's mark.
- [TL;DR toggle](https://uiarc.dev/components/tldr-toggle/markdown): An article card with a Full, Summary and Key points switch and a length slider. Switching streams an AI summary in place of the article as the card's height springs to fit, and each key point links back to the paragraph it came from, which gets scrolled to and highlighted.
- [Connector setup](https://uiarc.dev/components/connector-setup/markdown): A "Connect your tools" card for an AI assistant. Each app connects inline: it redirects, authorizes and runs a first sync with a progress hairline, then lists the scopes it was granted and offers Disconnect with an inline confirm.
- [Smart form fill](https://uiarc.dev/components/smart-form-fill/markdown): A paste-to-fill form card where AI reads an email signature or messy notes and fills a contact field by field. Each value flashes in with a confidence dot, its source lights up in the pasted text, low-confidence guesses ask for review, and Undo puts the old values back.
- [Enrich column](https://uiarc.dev/components/enrich-column/markdown): An AI enrichment column for a data table, where one prompt runs down every row and each cell shimmers while it works, then settles into a value with its source or a failure you can retry.
- [Ticket router](https://uiarc.dev/components/ticket-router/markdown): A support ticket router where messages from Gmail, Intercom, Slack and Zendesk come in one at a time. An AI classifier labels each one with intent, sentiment and confidence, and the ticket moves into a team lane with an assignee. Low confidence tickets wait in a review lane, and one click there routes them to the suggested team.
- [Ask your data](https://uiarc.dev/components/ask-your-data/markdown): A natural language to chart card: you ask a question, PostgreSQL streams into a collapsible, syntax highlighted panel, the query runs with a rolling row count, and the answer builds as stacked bars, lines or a table, with a one line insight streamed in underneath.
- [Agent cursor](https://uiarc.dev/components/agent-cursor/markdown): A live document where Claude edits like a collaborator. Its labeled cursor comes out of its avatar, selects a paragraph and streams in a rewrite, adds a heading and fixes a typo, while a teammate's cursor reads along. Changes stay tinted until someone accepts or undoes them from a floating review bar.
- [Provider status](https://uiarc.dev/components/provider-status/markdown): A status card for the AI providers your product depends on. Each row shows the provider's real mark, its health as an icon and label, p50 latency and a 30-day uptime bar with a tooltip for each day. An incident row expands into its timeline of updates, and the card checks again on a visible countdown.
- [Training run](https://uiarc.dev/components/training-run/markdown): A fine-tuning job card where a live train and validation loss curve draws across a fixed step axis that doubles as the epoch progress bar. It shows the learning rate, elapsed time, ETA and the latest evals and checkpoints, has Pause and Cancel while it runs, and ends in results with a Deploy button.
- [AI command](https://uiarc.dev/components/ai-command/markdown): A Cmd+K command palette with an AI mode. Search pages and actions, or press Tab to ask a question: the answer streams inside the palette with numbered sources, and the next steps it suggests, like filing a Linear issue or opening a Notion doc, run straight from the list.
- [Starter prompts](https://uiarc.dev/components/starter-prompts/markdown): A greeting and a grid of starter cards for the empty state of an AI app. The cards are grouped into Write, Code, Analyze and Plan tabs, and a shuffle swaps them with a short staggered crossfade. Picking a card fills the composer, and cards that use a connected app show its mark (Gmail, GitHub, Notion, Linear, Google Calendar).
- [AI mascot](https://uiarc.dev/components/ai-mascot/markdown): A small assistant character, a soft pebble with pill eyes and a companion dot, that shows what the AI is doing. It breathes and glances when idle, leans in to listen, looks up while the dot orbits its head, reads along the line it writes, squints with a sparkle when done and shakes once with worried brows on an error.
- [Image reveal](https://uiarc.dev/components/image-reveal/markdown): An image generation canvas where a soft, blurred preview made from the image's own colors sharpens top to bottom behind a soft-edged band. It works the way ChatGPT, Midjourney and Gemini show images forming, with fine film grain, a translucent progress pill and calm queued and error states.
- [AI spark](https://uiarc.dev/components/ai-spark/markdown): A brand-quality animated spark mark. Four tapered rays and four lighter diagonals breathe at rest, ripple while thinking, pulse like a heartbeat while writing, then gather and settle when done. Every status change blends from the pose the mark is already in.
- [Sketch to image](https://uiarc.dev/components/sketch-to-image/markdown): An image generation visual that paints the way an artist does. Pencil strokes sketch the scene, a round brush blocks in flat colors region by region, grain and warm light refine it, and it resolves into the finished photo, with crossfading stage labels and a thin progress line.
- [Building blocks](https://uiarc.dev/components/building-blocks/markdown): An animated "AI is building your app" visual where rounded blocks for a nav bar, cards, a chart, an avatar row and a button snap into a tiny app layout with no bounce. They land as tinted placeholders, fill with real looking content and pick up the accent in a styling pass, while the label steps from Laying out to Ready.
- [Pixel mascot](https://uiarc.dev/components/pixel-mascot/markdown): A pixel-art robot that shows what an AI assistant is doing. It idles, thinks, types, celebrates and errors in frame-stepped sprite animations, and stays crisp at every integer size from 24px to 192px.
- [Ghost mascot](https://uiarc.dev/components/ghost-mascot/markdown): A floating ghost mascot whose soft sheet ripples at the hem while it hovers. It blinks when idle, turns toward you to listen, fades a little translucent while thinking, draws a tiny pen line while writing, smiles with a sparkle when done and wobbles once on an error.
- [Cube mascot](https://uiarc.dev/components/cube-mascot/markdown): An isometric cube mascot where three shaded faces and a painted-on face show what the assistant is doing. It turns a quarter turn in eased steps while thinking, prints lines onto the floor while writing, settles with a sparkle when done, and shakes once on error.
- [Tone tuner](https://uiarc.dev/components/tone-tuner/markdown): A brand voice card where two sliders (formality and detail) and Friendly, Confident and Empathetic chips rewrite a customer reply. Each changed sentence crossfades in place, new words can be highlighted against the original, and Copy takes the current version.
- [Upgrade prompt](https://uiarc.dev/components/upgrade-prompt/markdown): An upgrade nudge for the moment someone hits a limit. It shows a usage meter at 50 of 50 AI credits, a rolling price with a monthly and yearly toggle, three concrete unlocks with real model marks, and Upgrade or Maybe later. Upgrading leads into a success state with the new limits, and the card never changes size between states.
- [Referral card](https://uiarc.dev/components/referral-card/markdown): A give-and-get referral card where people copy or share their invite link, invite friends by email as chips, and watch invites move from invited to signed up to earned, with the credit total counting up and a milestone reward unlocking.
- [Trial banner](https://uiarc.dev/components/trial-banner/markdown): A trial status banner where a ring counts down the days left, the copy names what the workspace loses, and the upgrade path is one click away. It comes as a slim banner, a sidebar card or a header pill. It shifts to a warning tone in the last days, has expired and upgraded states, and folds into the pill when dismissed or snoozed.
- [Team switcher](https://uiarc.dev/components/team-switcher/markdown): A workspace switcher like Linear, Vercel or Slack. The trigger shows the current workspace's logo and plan. The menu has search, your role in each workspace and a Cmd+1 to 9 shortcut for each, and lets you create or join a workspace inline. A highlight glides between rows, and switching crossfades the trigger through a short loading state.
- [Live visitors](https://uiarc.dev/components/live-visitors/markdown): A realtime visitors card where the live count rolls digit by digit, new arrivals ping in on a dotted world map, the top pages reorder with bars, and signups and upgrades tick in with country flags.
- [Social proof toast](https://uiarc.dev/components/social-proof-toast/markdown): A stack of social proof notifications for landing and pricing pages, where recent trials, upgrades and verified purchases from people and companies arrive every few seconds. The stack pauses and fans out on hover, and visitors can dismiss any toast.
- [Install snippet](https://uiarc.dev/components/install-snippet/markdown): A "get started in 30 seconds" card where framework tabs, three numbered steps and highlighted snippets take a developer from install to first event. Generate key wipes a fresh API key into the placeholder in place.

## Guidance for AI tools

Design to code: A screenshot-to-code card. You drop a UI screenshot or import a Figma frame, a scan line finds its layout regions, then React and Tailwind stream in beside it, linked region by region, with a working live preview one tab away. Follow the declared prop types and do not invent props. Keep keyboard access, reduced motion support, and both light and dark themes intact when adapting it.

Full library index: https://uiarc.dev/llms.txt