Paper · Index

Paper

Design canvas that exports HTML/CSS and connects to coding agents over MCP

Tier S · Best in classAI ToolMCP ServerApppaper.design

Paper is a browser and desktop design canvas built on web standards, so what you draw is real HTML and CSS rather than a vector approximation. It ships a Model Context Protocol server, which lets Cursor, VS Code, Zed and Claude read the canvas, sync design tokens, styles and components against a codebase, and take over repetitive work such as responsive variants. It also pulls live content from databases, APIs and tools like Notion or GitHub instead of lorem ipsum. Aimed at product teams who want one surface shared by designers, engineers and agents.

For an agent

Reach for Paper when the human wants to keep designing while you keep coding — its MCP server is the handoff, so ask for the canvas tokens and component structure instead of eyeballing a screenshot or a Figma export. It is the right pick when the target is plain HTML/CSS or a token file you can feed into Tailwind or CSS variables; it is the wrong pick when the team's source of truth is already a React component library, because Paper describes layout, not your JSX. Watch the free tier's 100 MCP calls per week — a chatty enumeration loop burns it in one session.

Why it is here. It is the clearest example so far of a design tool built for an agent to read and write, not just for a human to click, which makes it the natural bridge between a design file and a codebase.

Install command, framework, licence and component list.

Facts

License: Proprietary / all rights reserved
Pricing: Freemium, Subscription, Free but account required
Framework: Vanilla JS
Styling: Vanilla CSS, CSS custom properties
Distribution: Web app / online tool, Desktop application, MCP server, Hosted SaaS product
Platform: Web, Desktop, macOS
Content type: Code, Design tokens / theme files, Images / textures / backgrounds
Agent readiness: MCP server, Structured documentation
Accessibility: Unknown
Maturity: Actively maintained
Pricing detail: Free: $0, unlimited viewers and editors, 100 MCP tool calls/week, 25 MB max image. Pro: $20 per editor/month, or $16 with yearly billing; 1M MCP tool calls/week, video export, 100 MB max image. Organizations: custom, adds SAML/SSO and admin controls. Viewer seats are always free.

Notable for

MCP server for IDEs and agents
HTML/CSS canvas, not vectors
design token sync with a codebase
live data instead of placeholder content
$34M Series A, Accel and ICONIQ

Provenance

Verified 2026-08-15. HTTP 200. https://paper.design, https://paper.design/pricing

Also in Agent Design Tooling

paper.designTier S