<!-- CHANGELOG 2026-03-19 — Added Mandatory Prompt Template (Fix 1) and Passing Design to Claude Code workflow (Fix 2). Fixes generic, cookie-cutter Stitch output and closes the Stitch→Claude Code handoff gap. -->

Google Stitch — AI UI Design Tool

When to Use

• BEFORE building ANY user-facing app, website, dashboard, or landing page
• When the user asks for something to "look good" or mentions design quality
• When building mobile app screens (set layout to mobile)
• When building web apps, dashboards, admin panels

Access Methods

Method A: mcporter (preferred — already configured)

mcporter call stitch.list_projects
mcporter call stitch.create_project title="My App"
mcporter call stitch.generate_screen_from_text --timeout 300000 projectId="ID" deviceType="DESKTOP" modelId="GEMINI_3_1_PRO" prompt="your prompt"
mcporter call stitch.get_screen --timeout 30000 name="projects/ID/screens/SID" projectId="ID" screenId="SID"
mcporter call stitch.list_screens projectId="ID"
mcporter call stitch.edit_screens --timeout 300000 projectId="ID" selectedScreenIds='["SID"]' prompt="changes"

Method B: CLI direct (fallback)

STITCH_API_KEY="$STITCH_API_KEY" npx @_davideast/stitch-mcp view --projects
STITCH_API_KEY="$STITCH_API_KEY" npx @_davideast/stitch-mcp view --project <project-id>
STITCH_API_KEY="$STITCH_API_KEY" npx @_davideast/stitch-mcp view --project <project-id> --screen <screen-id>
STITCH_API_KEY="$STITCH_API_KEY" npx @_davideast/stitch-mcp serve -p <project-id>

Design-First Build Workflow

1. User describes the app they want built
2. Create a Stitch project: mcporter call stitch.create_project title="App Name"
3. Generate each screen with detailed prompts: mcporter call stitch.generate_screen_from_text
4. Pull the HTML/CSS for each screen via the download URLs in the response
5. Use the HTML/CSS as visual reference when building React/Next.js/React Native components
6. Extract color tokens, fonts, spacing, and component patterns from the Stitch output
7. Build the actual app to match the design

Design Prompt Tips

• Always specify: theme (dark/light), accent color, target platform (mobile/web)
• Include component details: "card with status pill, avatar, timestamp"
• Reference design patterns: "Bloomberg terminal style", "Apple-like minimal"
• For multi-screen apps, reference the first screen's style in subsequent prompts
• Use deviceType: MOBILE for phone screens, DESKTOP for web pages
• Use modelId: GEMINI_3_1_PRO for best quality
• Set --timeout 300000 for generate calls (they take 2-3 minutes)

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Mandatory Prompt Template

NEVER send a vague prompt to Stitch. Generic prompts produce generic output. Every Stitch generate call MUST follow this template structure:

Design a [screen name] for [product name].

VISUAL REFERENCES: This should feel like a combination of [site-1.com] and [site-2.com] — not a template, not shadcn defaults.

TYPOGRAPHY:
- Hero headline: [e.g. 72px / font-weight 800 / Inter or Geist]
- Body: [e.g. 16px / font-weight 400 / Inter]
- Labels/caps: [e.g. 11px / font-weight 600 / letter-spacing 0.08em]

HERO TREATMENT: [e.g. Full-bleed dark hero (#0A0A0A background), single centered headline, one CTA button, no image grid, no stock photography]

LAYOUT — section by section:
1. Nav: [exact description — e.g. left logo, right: 3 nav links + CTA button, no hamburger on desktop]
2. Hero: [exact description]
3. [Section 3 name]: [exact description]
4. [Continue for every section on this screen]

ACCENT COLOR: [exact hex, e.g. #6366F1] — used only for CTA buttons and key interactive elements. Not used for backgrounds.

THINGS TO AVOID:
- No shadcn/ui default component styling
- No generic hero with image on right, text on left (the grid layout every SaaS uses)
- No gradient blobs or mesh backgrounds
- No stock photography or placeholder people images
- No card grids with icons as the main hero section
- [Add project-specific avoidances]

THINGS TO NAIL:
- [e.g. Information density — this is a tool, not a marketing page]
- [e.g. Trust — it must look like a company with real customers]

Iteration Requirement (MANDATORY)

Never accept the first Stitch output. Always send at least 2 follow-up refinement prompts before using the output:

1. Refinement 1 — Address what's generic, weak, or off-brand: "The hero feels too much like a standard SaaS template. Make the headline larger (80px+), remove the image grid, and push the CTA higher up the page."
2. Refinement 2 — Final precision pass: "Tighten the spacing in the nav, make the accent color more saturated (#4F46E5 → #3730A3), and increase font weight in the section headers to 700."

Only use the output after at least 2 rounds of refinement.

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Passing Design to Claude Code

After Stitch generates and refines screens, the design must be passed to Claude Code as visual references — not just extracted tokens.

Step 1 — Download Full-Resolution Screenshots

Stitch returns screenshot URLs in outputComponents[0].design.screens[0].screenshot.downloadUrl. By default these are thumbnails. Append =s0 to get full resolution:

# Full-res download
curl -sL "STITCH_SCREENSHOT_URL=s0" -o /tmp/stitch-<project>-<screen>.png

# Example
curl -sL "https://storage.googleapis.com/stitch-output/abc123=s0" -o /tmp/stitch-myapp-hero.png
curl -sL "https://storage.googleapis.com/stitch-output/def456=s0" -o /tmp/stitch-myapp-dashboard.png

Step 2 — Pass Images Inline to Claude Code Build Spec

Include the images directly in the Claude Code invocation — not as a separate step. The --image flag can be repeated for multiple screens:

cd ~/Projects/<name> && claude \
  --permission-mode bypassPermissions \
  --print \
  --image /tmp/stitch-<project>-hero.png \
  --image /tmp/stitch-<project>-dashboard.png \
  -p "FULL SPEC HERE — see design instructions below"

Step 3 — Claude Code Spec Must Include Pixel-Match Instructions

The spec passed to Claude Code must explicitly say:

DESIGN REFERENCE: The attached screenshots are the exact visual target.
- Pixel-match these screenshots. This is not aspirational — it is the requirement.
- Do NOT use default shadcn/ui, Radix, or Tailwind component styling. Style everything from scratch to match the visual.
- Do NOT approximate colors — extract exact hex values from the screenshot.
- Match font sizes, font weights, spacing, and border radii precisely.
- If anything in the design is unclear, err toward more opinionated and premium-looking, not simpler.
- The attached images are the source of truth. The design tokens below are secondary.

Key rule: Claude Code must be told to pixel-match the visual, not just "use these design tokens." Tokens alone produce generic output. The image is the spec.

Screenshot Downloads

Stitch returns screenshot URLs in outputComponents[0].design.screens[0].screenshot.downloadUrl

• Default: thumbnail resolution
• Append =s0 to URL for full resolution
• Example: curl -sL "URL=s0" -o screen.png

Limits

• 350 standard screens/month, 50 experimental screens/month
• Free tier — no usage costs
• Stitch outputs are HTML/CSS — always rebuild properly in the target framework

Config

• mcporter config: ~/.mcporter/mcporter.json
• API key: stored in mcporter env config
• DO NOT add stitch to openclaw.json — use mcporter or CLI only
• Stitch project for GRWM Studio Website: 11564154195642390915