Up and running in minutes.

Three commands and the editor opens in your browser. Everything runs on your machine.

What you need.

Node.js 20.19+

22 recommended.

A Chromium browser

Chrome, Edge, Brave or Chromium, for screenshots and exports. Edge ships with Windows.

macOS, Windows or Linux

Anywhere Node runs.

  1. 1

    Clone and build

    git clone https://github.com/arshit09/OpenPaper.git
cd OpenPaper
npm install
npm run build
  2. 2

    Start the editor

    npm start

    Runs in the background and opens http://127.0.0.1:29880.

  3. 3

    Connect your agent

    npm link --workspace openpaper
openpaper install claude-code

    Or click Connect agent in the editor. All agents

On Windows? Double-click OpenPaper.bat in the repository. It installs dependencies, builds when sources change, and starts the editor.

The openpaper command.

Available after npm link --workspace openpaper.

RunServer

openpaper start
Start the server in the background and open the editor.
openpaper status
Show the version, editor and MCP URLs, and data folder.
openpaper stop
Stop the running server.
openpaper doctor
Check Node, the data and export folders, the browser and the server.

AgentsMCP

openpaper install <agent>
Add OpenPaper to an agent's MCP config. Name several, or use --all.
openpaper mcp
The stdio MCP server agents launch. Starts the app if needed.

Environment variables.

All optional.

Paths

OPENPAPER_HOME
Where files live. Default ~/.openpaper.
OPENPAPER_EXPORT_DIR
Where exports go. Default ~/Downloads/OpenPaper.
OPENPAPER_BROWSER
Path to Chrome or Edge, if it isn't found automatically.

Keys

ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
For the built-in design agent.
OPENAI_API_KEY
Image generation with OpenAI.
GEMINI_API_KEY
Image generation with Gemini.
FIGMA_TOKEN
Brings images along when you paste from Figma.

Hacking on OpenPaper?

The server, editor and core live in one npm workspace. See CONTRIBUTING.md.

Development
$ npm run dev          # server with live reload
$ npm run dev:editor   # Vite dev server for the editor
$ npm test             # unit + MCP integration tests
$ npm run typecheck

Installed? Start designing.

Or hand the canvas to your agent.

GitHub Connect an agent