A new design system is not published until you tick one box. Published systems show up in the Design system picker for everyone in your organization, so anyone can pick the right system when they start. No re-uploading brand assets, no repeating brand prompts.
How to publish
Open the Design systems tab
At claude.ai/design, scroll below the prompt to the tabs Projects, Design systems and Templates, and click Design systems. Every system is listed with when it was updated, its owner, and a Published column.
Tick Published
Open the system and tick Published on its page; the list then shows a tick in the Published column. To make it the one everybody starts with, open the row's ⋯ menu and choose Set as org default. Set as my default pre-selects it for you alone.
Check the picker
Click the Design system button under the prompt. Your system is now in the list, and the org default carries an Org default tag.
Published vs. org default
Setting a system as the org default is separate from publishing it. Published means 'pickable in the Design system picker'. Org default means 'pre-selected for everyone', and the picker tags it Org default. Set as my default does the same for you alone. 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.
Synced from code? Re-run /design-sync
A system imported with /design-sync is changed in the code, not with Remix. Update the components, then run /design-sync again in Claude Code and it refreshes the same system (Lesson 7).
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 (one click, then check)
When Docs, Slides and Design became artifacts in September 2026, systems published the old way were tagged Legacy, and Legacy systems don't reach the new surfaces: open a Slides or Design artifact and the design-system picker comes up empty. One click brings them across.
Open the Design page
Click Design in the Claude sidebar menu, or go to claude.ai/artifacts/design. The banner at the top reads "Claude Design lives here now".
Click Migrate team design systems
The button sits in that banner. When it finishes, the banner changes to "All of your design systems have migrated". Settings > Design systems is for managing systems, not migrating them.
Let Claude clean it up
A migrated system can show a "Let Claude clean it up" banner. Run it: Claude tidies what came across so it applies cleanly in the new surfaces.
Check the picker
Open a new Slides or Design artifact and click Choose design system. Your system should be in the list. If it is not, it is still Legacy.
If a system still shows Legacy and you need to work today, 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 set of starting templates. You can build in either place; new Slides and Design projects default to artifacts. 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.