A design system sits as a Draft until you flip one toggle. Published systems show up in every new project's setup flow, so anyone in the org can pick the right system at creation time. No re-uploading brand assets, no repeating brand prompts.
How to publish
Open organization settings
Click your organization name in the lower-left, then the 'Design systems' tab at the top. Every system you've created appears in the list, each with its own Draft/Published toggle.
Flip the toggle
Click the toggle in the right-hand column of your system's row. It switches from 'Draft' to 'Published' inline, no confirm dialog, no separate screen.
Check the sidebar
Head back to the homescreen. The New-prototype panel now shows a 'Design system' dropdown above Wireframe / High fidelity, proof your system is available for any new project.
Published vs. Make default
The 'Make default' button next to each system is a separate setting from the Publish toggle. Published means 'pickable at project creation'. Default means 'pre-selected in the dropdown'. You can publish many systems but only one is the default, useful when you have a primary brand plus a couple of sub-brands or white-label variants, and you want the primary one auto-selected.
Updating a published system
Open the system
From the design-systems list, click 'Open' on the right side of the row (not the toggle).
Remix via chat
Inside the system, use Remix to refine via chat. 'Add a dark-mode variant of the primary palette.' 'Introduce an error state for buttons.' Remix keeps the system published, your edits flow through live.
Flip back if you break it
If a Remix change makes the system worse, toggle back to Draft to pull it from new-project selection while you fix it, or delete the system and restore from an earlier source.
Before publishing widely, create a test project with a prompt representative of what your team builds. If the test output doesn't feel on-brand, the system source wasn't rich enough, go back to Lesson 7 and add more sources.
Migrating to artifacts (do this, or the system stays invisible)
Publishing used to be the end of the job. It is not any more. Since Docs, Slides and Design became artifacts in September 2026, every system published the old way carries a Legacy tag, and Legacy systems do not reach the new surfaces. Open a Slides or Design artifact, click Choose design system, and the list comes up empty even though your systems are all still there.
You can see this for yourself in Claude's settings, under Design systems, reached from Manage design systems in that same picker. Every published system is listed with its owner and publish date, each one tagged Legacy. Nothing is lost and nothing is broken. It simply has not been brought across.
Open the artifacts page
Go to Artifacts in the Claude sidebar. The banner at the top reads that Claude Design lives there now, and that new Slides and Design projects are created as artifacts.
Use Migrate team design systems
The action sits in that banner. It brings your published systems onto the artifact side so they can be applied to any artifact or Claude session, not just projects made in the standalone app.
Do not look for it in settings
The Manage design systems link in the picker opens Claude's settings, and the row menu there offers only Open legacy version. There is no migrate action in settings. The banner is the only route, other than starting a fresh system with New design system.
Check the picker
Open a new Slides or Design artifact and click Choose design system. A migrated system appears in the list. If it does not, it is still Legacy.
If you need to work today and migration is not done, open the system from Design systems in settings, choose Open legacy version, and use the New design button on the system page. Everything is intact there: readme, brand, colours, components, spacing, type and UI kit, with Published and Set as org default still available. A legacy system is not damaged. It simply cannot reach the new artifact surfaces until it is migrated.
Both places still work, and knowing the split saves a wasted session. claude.ai/design holds everything you own: projects, design systems and a dozen templates. New work is created as an artifact inside a conversation. Migration is what connects the two.
Your team inherits the system
- Published the system
- Know how to Remix it later
- Validated with a test project
Last design-system lesson: team and enterprise setup for admins.