Settings and your project
Design settings for light or dark, the model and Auto new chats start with, your project's connected apps, and connecting Claude Code or Cursor. Plus switching the Machine project Design runs in.
Click the sliders in the top bar (Design settings). Design settings has four sections. Click outside the window or press Esc to close it.
Appearance
| Choice | Design looks |
|---|---|
| Match Machine (the default) | Light or dark, as the rest of the app (Settings › Appearance). |
| Match Code | Light or dark, as Machine Code's theme. |
| Light / Dark | Light or dark in Design only. The rest of the app stays as it is. |
The sun or moon in the top bar switches between Light and Dark quickly.
The colour behind the artboards is set per page: with nothing selected, use Canvas at the top of the right panel. Default follows light or dark.
Chats
- New chats start with: the model and thinking level every new chat uses. The prompt box can still change one chat without changing these.
- Auto on for new chats: new chats work without asking first. Questions and plans still come to you. See Auto.
Connections
Design's agents make pictures with Pixio, on your own Pixio account. Connections shows Pixio for the Machine project Design runs in:
- Not connected: click Connect, paste your Pixio API key, and save. Machine checks the key with Pixio and keeps it on the server; agents never see it. The card links to Pixio's page where you make a key.
- Connected: the card shows your Pixio account, plan and credits. Open it to replace the key or disconnect.
Other apps connected to the project in Machine still work for Design's agents. See Connected apps.
Connect another agent
Claude Code, Cursor or another agent on this computer can look at your artboards the way Design's own agents do, with the same canvas_list and canvas_view tools. This section shows what to paste for the design that's open, each with a Copy button:
- Claude Code: a
claude mcp addcommand. Run it in a terminal in the design's folder. - Cursor: a few lines for
mcp.json. Add them to.cursor/mcp.jsonin the design's folder, or to~/.cursor/mcp.jsonfor every project.
Machine Desktop needs to be open while they use it. The address and key stay the same when Machine restarts, so you set this up once. The key is hidden on screen; Copy copies the real one. Keep it to yourself.
Reset key makes a new key. Every agent you set up before, and every Design chat started before, loses the canvas tools: copy the new setup into your agents, and start a New chat in Design. See How agents see the canvas.
Switch the Machine project
At the bottom of the left panel, under the design, is the Machine project Design's agents run in: its connections and its credits. Click it to pick another project. Machine Code switches to it too, since the two share it.