Google Stitch: The Complete Beginner's Guide

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What is Google Stitch?

Google Stitch is a free AI-powered design tool from Google Labs. You describe what you want in plain English (or upload a sketch, screenshot, or photo), and it generates complete user interface designs for web and mobile apps. It also generates the corresponding HTML, CSS, and React code.

Limits: 350 generations per month in Standard Mode. 50 generations per month in Experimental Mode. That's more than enough for most projects.

Infinite Canvas: The old single-screen view is gone. Stitch now has an infinite canvas workspace where you can spread out multiple screens, compare directions, and build entire app flows in one view. Think of it like a Figma artboard but AI-powered.

Voice Canvas: You can now talk to Stitch. Speak directly to your canvas and the AI listens, asks clarifying questions, gives design critiques, and makes live updates. Say "give me three different menu layouts" or "make this darker with more contrast" and watch it happen in real time. This is currently available with 8 different voice options.

Vibe Design: Instead of specifying exact components and layouts, you can describe a feeling, a business goal, or an inspiration. "I want this to feel like a premium fintech app that builds trust." Stitch generates multiple design directions that match that vibe. This is Google's term for intent-based design where you communicate what you want the user to experience and the AI handles execution.

Design Agent: A new AI agent that reasons across your entire project's evolution. It remembers what you've done, understands your design direction, and can work on multiple ideas in parallel through the new Agent Manager.

Direct Editing: You can now click on any text element and rewrite it, swap images, adjust spacing, and make fine-grained tweaks right inside Stitch. No more re-prompting just to fix a typo.

DESIGN.md: A new agent-friendly markdown file that captures your design rules, brand guidelines, and style preferences. You can export it from one project and import it into another to keep everything consistent. You can also share it with coding agents like Claude Code or Cursor.

MCP Server and SDK: Stitch now has a Model Context Protocol server with 2,400+ GitHub stars. This means you can connect Stitch to developer tools like AI Studio, Antigravity, Claude Code, and Cursor. Your designs flow directly into your development environment.

React Export: You can now export fully functional React applications from your designs, not just static HTML/CSS. This is a complete working app you can actually run and deploy.

How to Get Started (5 Minutes)

Step 1: Go to stitch.withgoogle.com and sign in with your Google account.

Step 2: Choose your layout. At the top of the interface you can switch between Web and Mobile. Pick whichever matches what you're building.

Step 3: Choose your mode. You'll see a toggle between Standard and Experimental.

Standard Mode (Gemini 2.5 Flash): Type a text prompt and get instant UI generation. Faster, more generations per month (350). Best for quick iteration and brainstorming. Supports Figma export.

Experimental Mode (Gemini 2.5 Pro): Upload images (sketches, wireframes, screenshots) as input. Higher quality output but slower. Fewer generations per month (50). Best for turning rough visuals into polished designs.

Step 4: Type your first prompt or upload an image. Hit generate. That's it.

How to Write Good Prompts

The quality of your output depends almost entirely on how you describe what you want. Vague prompts give generic results. Specific prompts give usable designs.

Bad prompt: "A fitness app."

Good prompt: "A mobile fitness tracking app with a dark theme and green accents. Include a dashboard with daily stats (steps, calories, heart rate), a workout logging screen with exercise cards, and a progress chart screen showing weekly trends. Target audience is gym enthusiasts."

Here's a framework for writing effective prompts.

Start with the basics: What type of app? What platform (mobile or web)? Who is it for?

Add visual direction: Color scheme, theme (dark/light), style (minimal, bold, playful, corporate), any brands or apps that inspire you.

Specify screens: List every screen you want. Dashboard, login, settings, onboarding, profile, whatever your app needs.

Describe components: Cards, charts, navigation bars, buttons, forms, modals. The more specific you are about what elements should appear, the better.

Example prompts that work well:

"Design a landing page for an AI writing assistant called InkFlow. Hero section with headline, subheadline, and CTA button. Features section with three cards showing key benefits. Social proof section with customer logos. Pricing section with two tiers. Footer with links."

"A mobile food delivery app with a warm color palette. Home screen with restaurant cards showing ratings and delivery time. Search screen with category filters. Cart screen with item list and checkout button. Order tracking screen with a map."

"A SaaS analytics dashboard with a sidebar navigation, dark theme, data cards showing key metrics at the top, a line chart for revenue trends, a table of recent transactions, and a notification bell in the header."

Three Ways to Use Stitch

Way 1: One-Prompt MVP Prototyping

This is the fastest way to go from idea to visual. You type one description and Stitch generates full screens with variants you can compare.

How to do it:

1. Open Stitch in Standard Mode.
2. Write a detailed prompt describing your app.
3. Hit generate. Stitch produces multiple screen designs.
4. Browse the variants. Pick the direction you like.
5. Use the chat to refine. "Make the header bigger." "Change the accent color to blue." "Add a notification badge to the nav."
6. Export to Figma or as code when you're happy.

Best for: Solo founders validating ideas without design skills. People who need a visual to show investors, cofounders, or clients. Anyone who wants to skip the blank canvas problem.

What people are saying: This replaces 1 to 2 weeks of Figma work for early-stage mockups.

Way 2: Sketch or Screenshot to Polished UI

You have a rough idea on paper, a whiteboard drawing, or a screenshot of an app you like. Upload it and Stitch turns it into a clean, editable design.

How to do it:

1. Switch to Experimental Mode (uses Gemini 2.5 Pro).
2. Draw your layout on paper or a whiteboard. Include rough boxes for navigation, content areas, buttons, and headers.
3. Take a photo or screenshot.
4. Upload it to Stitch.
5. Add a prompt for context: "Generate a mobile crypto dashboard UI based on this sketch. Dark theme with rounded cards, charts, and navigation."
6. Stitch interprets your layout and produces a polished version.
7. Use voice mode to refine: "Make the portfolio chart bigger" or "Add a search bar at the top."
8. Generate 3 variants at once using the new 3x mode to explore different directions quickly.

Best for: Developers who can't design but have a layout in mind. Anyone who hates starting from a blank screen. Teams that sketch on whiteboards and need to digitize quickly.

Note: Figma export is only available in Standard Mode with text prompts. Image-based designs in Experimental Mode cannot be exported to Figma directly, but you can export the code.

Way 3: Full App Flow with Code Export

This is the advanced workflow. You design every screen of your app, connect them into a clickable prototype, and export working code.

How to do it:

1. Start with your core screen (usually the dashboard or home screen).
2. Generate it in Standard Mode.
3. Use the infinite canvas to spread out. Generate additional screens: onboarding, login, settings, profile, detail views.
4. Use the "Imagine More Screens" feature to let Stitch suggest complementary screens you might need.
5. Select multiple screens (hold Shift and click) and apply consistent styling with a single prompt: "Apply dark theme with blue accents to all selected screens."
6. Hit play to preview the clickable prototype. You can click through screens like a real app.
7. Export as HTML/CSS, React, or Tailwind code.
8. Or push directly to Google AI Studio or Antigravity for backend integration.
9. Use DESIGN.md to export your style rules and share them with your development tools for consistent styling.

Best for: Building complete frontends solo or with small teams. Going from concept to working prototype in under an hour. Freelancers who need to show clients a clickable demo fast.

Exporting Your Work

Stitch gives you multiple export options.

Paste to Figma: Copy your design and paste it into Figma. It arrives with nested layers and Auto Layout already configured. You can immediately edit spacing, colors, and typography using Figma's native tools. Available in Standard Mode with text prompts only.

HTML/CSS Code: Every design generates clean, structured HTML and CSS. The code follows modern web standards and is usable out of the box. You'll need to add interactivity, backend connections, and state management yourself, but the layout foundation is solid.

React Export (new in March 2026): Export fully functional React applications from your designs. Not just markup. Actual working components you can run and deploy. This is the biggest addition for developers.

DESIGN.md Export (new in March 2026): Export your design rules as an agent-friendly markdown file. Import it into other projects or share it with coding agents (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.) to maintain consistent styling when they generate code.

MCP Server: Connect Stitch to developer tools through the Model Context Protocol. Your designs flow directly into your development environment. The Stitch MCP server has 2,400+ stars on GitHub.

Tips for Getting Better Results

Be specific in your prompts. "A fitness app" gives generic output. "A mobile fitness app with dark theme, green accents, workout logging with exercise cards, and weekly progress charts for gym enthusiasts" gives something usable.

Iterate in conversation. Don't try to get everything perfect in one prompt. Generate a starting point, then refine with follow-up prompts. "Move the navigation to the bottom." "Make the cards have rounded corners." "Add a search bar below the header."

Use the Zoom-Out-Zoom-In framework. Start with a high-level description of the product and its users. Then zoom into specific screens, one at a time, with detailed requirements. This works better for complex apps than trying to describe everything at once.

Multi-select for consistency. Hold Shift and click multiple screens to select them. Then apply a single style change to all of them at once. This keeps your color scheme, typography, and spacing consistent across the whole app.

Upload reference images in Experimental Mode. If you see a design you like on Dribbble, a competitor's app, or anywhere else, screenshot it and upload it. Stitch will interpret the layout and style and generate something in that direction.

Use voice for faster iteration. Instead of typing refinements, switch to voice mode and just talk. "Make that bigger." "Try three different color schemes." "Add a footer." It's faster than typing and feels more natural for design work.

Start with fewer screens. Don't try to design 20 screens at once. Start with 2 or 3 core screens. Get those right. Then expand to the rest of the app. The AI gives better results when it can focus.

What Stitch Can't Do (Yet)

No real-time collaboration. Unlike Figma, you can't have multiple people editing the same project simultaneously. For team work, export to Figma and collaborate there.

No animations or interactions. Stitch generates static screens and basic click-through prototypes. It doesn't create animations, transitions, or micro-interactions. Add those in code or in your development tool after export.

No automatic brand guidelines. Stitch doesn't auto-apply your existing brand tokens or design system. You need to specify your colors, fonts, and styles in your prompts or use DESIGN.md to maintain consistency.

Limited editing controls. The direct editing feature (new in March 2026) lets you tweak text and swap images, but for serious layout changes you still need to re-prompt or export to Figma.

Output quality varies. Sometimes components don't align perfectly, colors drift, or the design needs human refinement. AI-generated UI is a starting point, not a finished product. Always review and polish before shipping.

No component naming or design system structure by default. The exported Figma files have layers and Auto Layout, but they're not organized into a proper component library. You'll need to clean that up yourself for production use.

How Stitch Compares to Other Tools

Stitch vs Figma: Stitch is for generation and exploration. Figma is for refinement and production. The best workflow is to start in Stitch, then export to Figma for final polish. They complement each other rather than compete.

Stitch vs v0 (Vercel): v0 generates code from prompts but doesn't have the visual design canvas or Figma export. Stitch is stronger for design exploration. v0 is stronger for going straight to deployable code.

Stitch vs Bolt/Lovable: Bolt and Lovable generate full-stack apps from prompts. Stitch focuses on the design and frontend layer. If you need a backend, database, and authentication, use Bolt or Lovable. If you need beautiful UI designs with Figma export, use Stitch.

Stitch vs Uizard/UX Pilot: These are AI design tools with similar capabilities. Stitch's advantages are that it's free, backed by Google, has Gemini 2.5 Pro under the hood, and now has the infinite canvas with voice and vibe design. The competitors often have more mature features for team workflows and design systems.

Practical Workflows

Workflow 1: Founder building an MVP Open Stitch. Describe your app in one paragraph. Generate screens. Iterate 3 to 5 times with follow-up prompts. Export to Figma for polish. Share with your developer or export the React code directly. Total time: 30 to 60 minutes.

Workflow 2: Developer who needs a frontend Describe your screens in Stitch. Export the HTML/CSS or React code. Drop it into your project. Connect your backend. You now have a working frontend without touching Figma or hiring a designer. Total time: 15 to 30 minutes.

Workflow 3: Freelancer building client projects Use Stitch to generate 3 design directions in 10 minutes. Show the client. Get feedback. Refine the chosen direction. Export to Figma for final adjustments. Deliver. You just did in 2 hours what used to take a week. Charge the same rate.

Workflow 4: Designer exploring ideas Use vibe design to explore multiple creative directions quickly. "Show me this concept as minimal and clean" then "now show me the same thing but bold and colorful." Compare on the infinite canvas. Pick the winner. Export to Figma and build it out properly.

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