If you've ever asked Cursor or Claude to build a UI component and gotten back something that looks like a Bootstrap default from 2012, you know the pain. The AI generated functionally correct code, but the styling is generic, inconsistent, and miles away from the polished look you were going for.
The fix exists: feed your AI a DESIGN.md file that defines your exact colors, fonts, spacing, and layout rules. But until recently, the best tool for extracting these specs from any website relied on Context.dev—a paid API that recently locked free-tier access behind a subscription wall.
Open DesignMD solves this. It's a free, self-hosted fork that does the same job using open alternatives: Jina Reader for markdown extraction, Microlink for screenshots, and multi-provider LLM support via the Vercel AI SDK. No subscriptions, no API keys required for the extraction layer.
Why This Fork Exists
The original designmd.supply by Context.dev pioneered the concept of compiling live website telemetry into markdown-based design systems. It was brilliant—and free. Then Context.dev transitioned to a paid-only model, and the extraction pipeline started returning 502 errors for local deployments.
