frontend-design: Anthropic's Claude skill for less generic UI

Use the plugin: run /plugin install frontend-design@claude-plugins-official in a session and pick a scope. Claude Code adds the official marketplace itself on its first interactive start. In a script, run claude plugin install frontend-design@claude-plugins-official, and add the marketplace first with claude plugin marketplace add anthropics/claude-plugins-official on a fresh machine.

The older id frontend-design@claude-code-plugins still works. That copy was deleted on 2026-10-26 and now installs from claude-plugins-official.

In Claude Code, install the plugin. It is the same SKILL.md, wrapped with a manifest (version 1.1.1) so Claude Code can update it. The anthropics/skills folder is the plain skill for the skills CLI, other agents, Claude.ai upload and the API.

The two SKILL.md files were byte-identical on 2026-11-02, but they are separate copies and can drift. Our plugin page covers the package.

Yes, and you should avoid it. The example-skills plugin from anthropics/skills bundles 12 skills including frontend-design, so installing it next to the official plugin loads the skill twice. Open issues on anthropics/skills report that bundles duplicate skills and context.

Pick one route. If you only want this skill, use the official plugin or the skills CLI command, not example-skills.

Possibly already. Anthropic's skills README says its example skills are available on paid Claude.ai plans, but Anthropic's help pages only name the document skills by name, so check Customize > Skills first. If frontend-design is missing, zip the frontend-design folder and upload it there, with code execution turned on in Settings > Capabilities.

Skills you add do not sync between Claude.ai, Claude Code and the API. Add it on each one.

With the API, upload it as a custom skill through /v1/skills and call it with the code execution tool. It is not one of the built-in API skills, which are pptx, xlsx, docx and pdf.

For Codex, Cursor and many other agents, the skills CLI command in the install box installs the anthropics/skills copy. Anthropic documents only its own products, so treat other agents as supported by the CLI, not by Anthropic.

Yes, as far as the files go. The folder holds a Markdown file and an Apache 2.0 license, with no scripts and no network calls. skills.sh shows Gen Agent Trust Hub, Socket and Snyk audits as pass, and no security advisories are published for the repos.

The skill can only steer what Claude writes. Claude still edits files under your client's normal permission prompts. Anthropic's README adds that these skills are for demonstration, so test before you rely on them.

Yes, but the evidence is thin. Anthropic's launch post shows before and after screenshots and no metrics. In one side-by-side test, Paralect reports that Claude without the skill produced the default look almost exactly, and with the skill planned a product-specific one. The test used the same brief for 8 skill packs and did not state the model.

The same test found the agent still invents copy, clients and prices. One user's small eval found pill-shaped buttons on 10 of 21 pages. Read the result before you ship it.

The November 2025 text, about 400 tokens, told Claude to avoid Inter, Roboto and purple gradients and to pick a bold direction. The September 2026 rewrite (PR #1713) is about 1,500 words. It asks Claude to ground the design in your subject, write a plan before coding, and avoid five named AI looks.

It also sets a quality floor: responsive layout, visible keyboard focus, reduced motion and accessibility. The plugin README and marketplace description still use the 2025 wording, so they no longer match the skill.

frontend-design is a single prompt with no data or tools. UI UX Pro Max looks up styles and palettes in a database with Python scripts. Impeccable describes itself as a design vocabulary with commands such as polish, critique and audit. Taste Skill describes itself as art direction with reference images and a browser check.

In Paralect's test, UI UX Pro Max is pitched for a consistent, accessible system quickly, Taste Skill for landing pages and portfolios, and Impeccable for use before you ship. web-design-guidelines is a review skill for existing UI code.