Redesign

Claude builds your LinkedIn and Instagram carousels, locally and free. MIT-licensed, open source, zero cloud. A Nodewave project.

npx @nodewave-io/redesign

That's the whole install. Open http://localhost:3000, paste the MCP snippet it prints into Claude Code, and start designing.

What it is

You tell Claude what your next post should say. Claude composes the slides in a local editor you watch live. Text, images, generated components, layout. You correct, refine, ship.

• Local-first. Posts, assets, and the SQLite DB live in ~/.redesign/. Nothing leaves your machine.
• Claude-native. 40-tool MCP server. Claude reads your post as data, edits with intent, validates before save.
• Open source. MIT. Fork it, audit it, run it yourself.

Quickstart

1. Boot the editor

npx @nodewave-io/redesign

What this does, step by step:

1. Picks a free port (3000 → 3100 → 3200) and binds to 127.0.0.1.
2. Creates ~/.redesign/ if it doesn't exist; bootstraps db.sqlite.
3. Prints the editor URL and a .mcp.json snippet for Claude Code.
4. Starts the Next.js editor and waits for Ctrl-C.

You don't need a Nodewave account. The package never makes a network call to us, only to npm (when you install) and to Google's CDN (first time you export, to download Chrome ~200 MB into ~/.redesign/chromium/).

2. Connect Claude Code

Paste the snippet start printed into either:

• Project-scoped: .mcp.json in your repo root (Claude Code picks it up on session start).
• Globally: ~/.claude/mcp.json.

Or just run:

npx @nodewave-io/redesign mcp-config

Then restart Claude Code. You'll see redesign in the MCP server list.

3. Build your first post

Open the editor URL. The home is a list of collections, a way to group posts by company, client, or topic so a single install can hold posts for multiple workstreams without mixing them. On first run a "Default" collection exists; rename it or click New collection to add more.

Open a collection, click New post, then in Claude Code:

Open my latest post and build a 5-slide carousel about my new product. Dark theme. Punchy hook on slide 1, value props on 2-4, install command on 5.

Claude calls media_get_post, composes the layers, screenshots to verify, and tells you when it's done. You watch the editor update in real time. Reload to refresh, or click Download to export a zip of PNGs ready to upload to LinkedIn / Instagram.

When you ask Claude to start a fresh post, it will check media_list_collections first and either pick the right one from context ("the Nodewave collection") or ask you which collection it belongs in.

4. Bring your own fonts (optional)

Built-ins (Geist, Manrope, Space Mono, Inter, system) cover most posts, but if you have a brand typeface drop it in. Two ways:

1. From the editor: open Assets, click Upload, pick Font, drop in a .ttf, .otf, .woff, or .woff2 file (up to 5 MB). The file's name without the extension becomes the font family. Once uploaded, the font shows up as a card on the Assets page with a live "AaBbCc" specimen, and the editor's right-panel font picker gains a "Your fonts" group.
2. By hand: drop the file straight into ~/.redesign/fonts/. The editor scans this folder on every page load, so a refresh is enough.

Claude discovers your fonts via the media_list_fonts MCP tool and can reference them by family name in any text layer:

Use the InstrumentSerifItalic font for the section headings on slides 2 and 4.

Headless export (the Download button) loads the same fonts before the screenshot, so PNGs ship with your typography intact.

Commands

redesign                       # Start the editor (shorthand for `redesign start`)
redesign start [--port 3000]   # Start the editor on a specific port
redesign mcp                   # Run stdio MCP server (Claude Code calls this)
redesign mcp-config            # Print .mcp.json snippet
redesign init                  # Just bootstrap ~/.redesign/, no editor
redesign seed [dir]            # Import a folder of TSX components/icons
redesign doctor                # Environment check
redesign update                # Upgrade to the latest version on npm
redesign reset [--yes]         # Wipe ~/.redesign/ (asks first)
redesign version

Updating

npm install -g @nodewave-io/redesign

That's it. No @<version> needed, npm pulls whatever's tagged latest on the registry. To check whether a new version is available without upgrading, run npm outdated -g. Or, from inside Redesign itself:

redesign update

Requirements

• Node 20+
• Claude Code (install)
• ~250 MB free disk for Chrome (downloaded on first export)
• macOS, Linux, or Windows

Tested on macOS. Linux and Windows feedback welcome, open an issue with the output of npx @nodewave-io/redesign connect if something breaks.

Data + privacy

Everything lives under ~/.redesign/:

~/.redesign/
  db.sqlite          single-file DB (WAL mode)
  assets/            uploaded images + component sources
  exports/           generated carousel zips
  fonts/             user-supplied .ttf/.otf/.woff/.woff2 files
  chromium/          puppeteer's Chrome (auto-downloaded)
  config.json        editor port + pid (overwritten each `start`)

The Next server binds to 127.0.0.1 only. Nothing in this package phones home. The MCP log table (media_mcp_log) records tool calls locally for debugging. Never transmitted anywhere.

To wipe everything: redesign reset.

Troubleshooting

port 3000 was in use, bound to 3100: fine, the CLI walked the port grid (3000 → 3100 → 3200). Use the URL it printed.

First export is slow (~30-60s): that's Chrome installing. Watch for [redesign] installing Chrome (...) to ~/.redesign/chromium/. Subsequent exports are ~3s/slide.

MCP tools missing in Claude Code: first, restart Claude Code after running redesign start. If the tools still don't appear:

1. Run the verified installer:

   npx @nodewave-io/redesign connect
   

   It registers the MCP, boots the stdio server locally to prove it responds, and reports any concrete error. Green here means Claude Code should see the tools after a restart.
2. If connect is green but tools still don't show, run claude mcp list. You should see redesign: connected. If it says connecting for more than ~10 seconds, the config is reaching Claude Code but the handshake isn't completing on its side.
3. Easiest fallback: ask Claude directly in any session, "try connecting to the redesign MCP and report what you see". Claude can read /mcp and claude mcp list output and diagnose the specific failure mode.
4. redesign doctor confirms the local schema + data dir are fine (independent of the MCP link).

This post was modified somewhere else: the editor and Claude both edited the same post simultaneously. Reload the editor; latest wins. (Optimistic concurrency on updated_at.)

Architecture

~/.redesign/db.sqlite : single source of truth at runtime

src/cli.ts            : one-shot CLI, spawns the editor + MCP
src/mcp/              : stdio MCP server, 11 tool files
src/db/               : SQLite repo + fs storage (server-side)
src/browser.ts        : lazy Chrome installer for export

web/                  : Next.js editor
  app/                : pages (posts list, edit, assets, render)
  app/api/            : REST shim that maps editor calls to src/db/
  lib/db/             : vendored copy of src/db/ for the Next server
  lib/supabase.ts     : translator: Supabase chain calls → fetch

schema/0001_init.sql  : DB bootstrap (idempotent)

The lib/db/ files are kept in lock-step with src/db/. If you patch one, patch the other.

Contributing

Issues + PRs welcome at github.com/Nodewave-io/redesign. The codebase is small (~10k LoC) and read-it-in-an-afternoon. Start with LAUNCH-CHECKLIST.md for a current map of what's shipped and what's pending.

Credits

Built by Tiago Lemos at Nodewave. Born from the internal tool we used for our own client work; open-sourced so everyone can have a Claude-native content workflow.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.