Your mockups without a file counter
Figma's free plan stops at three files. Here you open as many projects as you want, with every feature.
Design
A small vector canvas for wireframes, minus all the multiplayer.
Figma costs US$16–55 per person / mo, which is US$192–660 a year. You have two paths:
Option 1 · Install
Penpot is the open source alternative to Figma. You get reusable components, variants, shared libraries, clickable prototypes, real-time collaboration and design tokens. Penpot draws in SVG and lays things out with Flex and CSS Grid, just like the browser: a mockup built properly comes out as code your developer recognizes, and code inspection is open to everyone, while Figma charges for a Dev seat. Online, the penpot.app free plan includes every feature, up to eight team members, 10 GB of storage and seven days of history. On your own server with Docker, nothing is capped. Before leaving Figma: there is no FigJam equivalent, there are fewer plugins, and moving a large Figma file over is not a simple copy and paste.
| Criterion | Penpot | Figma |
|---|---|---|
| Price | US$0 online, every feature included | US$16–55 per person per month |
| Number of files | Unlimited, only your storage counts | Three files on the free plan |
| Reading a mockup's code | Open to everyone | Dev seat, €15/month (€12 yearly) |
| Prototypes and components | Yes, with variants and shared libraries | Yes |
| Layout | Flex and CSS Grid, what the browser actually uses | Proprietary auto layout |
| Where your files live | Their cloud, or your own server with Docker | Figma's cloud |
| FigJam-style whiteboard | No equivalent | Yes, as an add-on |
The simplest path: a free account on penpot.app, nothing to install, every feature unlocked. If you want your files on your own machine or server, the prompt also handles the Docker install.
It asks whether you want to stay online or host it yourself, then walks you through your first mockup:
I want to move from Figma to Penpot (the open source design tool, GitHub repo penpot/penpot, website penpot.app). First ask me whether I want to use the free online version on penpot.app (Professional plan at 0 euros, every feature, up to eight team members, 10 GB of storage) or host it myself with Docker, and explain what I gain and what I lose in each case. For self-hosting, guide me step by step with the official docker-compose from the Penpot documentation, telling me what kind of machine I need, how to set up email sending and how to back up my files. Then have me create a first project: a screen mockup, a reusable component, a clickable prototype with two linked screens, and show me how a developer reads the CSS code of my mockup. Finally, explain how to bring over my existing Figma files and what doesn't carry over well.
Review the GitHub repository and check whether it is safe to install given my machine and my infrastructure. Ask me as many questions as possible, using widgets, to clarify my request and be as precise as you can.Moving a big Figma file over rarely goes well. Build your next mockup directly in Penpot and judge it from there.
They can read the CSS of every element without a paid seat. That is where Penpot saves a small team the most money.
Figma's free plan stops at three files. Here you open as many projects as you want, with every feature.
Flex and CSS Grid instead of a bespoke system: what you place on screen, the developer finds in their stylesheet.
Components, variants, color and typography tokens, hosted at home if you like. No vendor can change the rules on you.
Built with: Clojure 72.8% · Rust 6.9% · JavaScript 6.8% · TypeScript 5.8% · SCSS 3.5%
Public GitHub repository data, captured on October 8, 2026.
Option 2 · Build
This build is for a product builder sketching low-fidelity web and mobile interfaces on their own. The goal: create reusable wireframes on a fast canvas and export them for implementation. If you need more than that, keep paying. The whole point of building it yourself is owning a tool shaped around your workflow, not re-creating a venture-funded roadmap.
Same build, different logo: this v1 also replaces Sketch, since they do the same core job.
The prompt below builds a single version with what actually gets used. Everything else is left out on purpose.
| What the prompt builds | shapes, text, select, move, undo on canvas, frames, reusable components, autosave, PNG and JSON export |
|---|---|
| What stays out | multiplayer engine, plugins, vector booleans, dev handoff |
File, Page, Node, Component, Asset, Revision
browser Canvas or SVG, IndexedDB
Astro, Alpine, SVG
Treat imported design JSON and SVG as untrusted, sanitize assets, cap document complexity, and keep autosave recoverable.
Do not build multiplayer, comments, branching, plugins, developer handoff, vector boolean operations, or design-system publishing.
Pick your stack, copy the prompt and hand it to your coding agent (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex…).
You are building a production-ready software product named “Framepad”, a deliberately focused alternative to Figma. Build a complete, usable vertical slice: not a landing page, a static mockup, or a loose collection of components.
WORKING AGREEMENT
Before you write any implementation code, put together a short technical plan naming the routes or pages, server actions or endpoints, data tables, key state transitions, authorization boundaries, background jobs, and external adapters. When something conflicts, side with the narrow audience and the non-goals below. Choose a small, readable architecture over speculative abstraction, but never skip persistence, validation, error handling, or tests.
PRODUCT BRIEF
Primary user: a product builder sketching low-fidelity web and mobile interfaces on their own.
Primary outcome: create reusable wireframes on a fast canvas and export them for implementation.
Product principle: optimize the exact workflow below rather than copying the full breadth of Figma. A first-time user should know what to do from the interface alone, with no tour or documentation.
END-TO-END USER JOURNEYS
Implement every one of these flows through the real interface and the persistent data layer:
1. The designer creates a mobile frame, draws shapes and text, imports an image, groups elements, aligns them, and watches the file autosave.
2. The designer turns a button group into a local component, places three instances, overrides their labels, and updates the component geometry across every instance.
3. The designer reopens the file, restores an autosaved revision after a bad edit, exports a PNG, exports the source JSON, and imports that JSON into a new file.
SCREENS AND INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
Build these as coherent, responsive views. Each screen must define its primary action, secondary actions, visible status, validation feedback, empty state, loading or pending state, success confirmation, and recoverable failure state.
1. File browser: thumbnails, modified time, create, duplicate, import, rename, archive, delete, and a recovery state for interrupted saves.
2. Canvas: pages, layer tree, tool palette, selection bounds, zoom, pan, alignment, ordering, grouping, undo and redo, and autosave status.
3. Properties: position, dimensions, fill, stroke, typography, image fit, component creation, instance overrides, validation, and reset override.
4. Export and revisions: frame selection, PNG scale, JSON export, revision history, restore preview, import warnings, and bounded failure details.
CORE CAPABILITIES
1. pages and frames with common device presets
2. rectangle, ellipse, line, text, image, and group tools
3. selection, move, resize, duplicate, align, layer order, and undo
4. reusable local components with simple text overrides
5. autosave plus PNG and JSON export and import
DETAILED BEHAVIOR AND BUSINESS RULES
Treat these as product requirements enforced on the server, not as interface suggestions:
1. Represent the document as a versioned tree with stable node IDs, explicit parent and layer order, finite numeric geometry, and no executable imported values.
2. Every canvas mutation is a command with inverse data; autosave batches commands into revisions and never clears the dirty state before durable persistence succeeds.
3. Component instances inherit geometry and style while explicit, supported overrides stay local; reject cycles and deleted component references deterministically.
4. Sanitize imported SVG and JSON, cap nodes and asset sizes, ignore unknown fields, and render exports from a frozen saved revision.
DATA MODEL AND LIFECYCLE
Design a small relational schema centered on File, Page, Node, Component, Asset, Revision. Before implementing it, document:
1. The purpose of each table, its primary key, ownership or tenant boundary, timestamps, status fields, and important attributes.
2. Foreign keys, uniqueness constraints, check constraints, the indexes the named screens need, and transaction boundaries for changes that touch several records.
3. The allowed lifecycle or state transitions, who can trigger each one, which transitions are terminal or reversible, and which audit history must stay immutable.
4. Archive, retention, and deletion behavior, including what happens to dependent records and external files.
5. The idempotency strategy for submissions, jobs, imports, notifications, webhooks, or retries where it applies.
Use migrations instead of ad-hoc schema creation. Store time instants consistently and keep the named timezone context whenever local schedules or dates matter. Never rely on a counter, a disabled button, or a client-side check to protect a business invariant.
USERS, AUTHENTICATION, AND PERMISSIONS
Implement only the roles the stated audience needs. Make the ownership and visibility model explicit before coding. Enforce authorization in every server-side query and mutation, including search, exports, attachments, live updates, and guessed URLs—not just by hiding controls. Use secure session defaults, protect state-changing requests, and provide a clear signed-out, expired-session, and forbidden state. Seed separate users whenever several roles are needed so permissions can be shown and tested.
INTERACTION AND VISUAL DIRECTION
The product should feel fast, calm, focused, and trustworthy rather than like a generic admin template. Use a clear visual hierarchy, restrained color, readable typography, generous hit targets, and a consistent place for primary actions. Start from server-rendered HTML and progressively enhance only the interactions that benefit from it. The core workflow must stay understandable if enhancement fails.
Start from server-rendered Astro pages and plain HTML forms. Use HTMX for form submissions, partial navigation, and server-driven updates, then Alpine.js only for small local browser state. The core workflow must stay understandable if either enhancement layer fails.
Design mobile layouts on purpose instead of just stacking desktop panels. Support keyboard navigation, visible focus, semantic landmarks, explicit labels, useful page titles, reduced-motion preferences, and screen-reader announcements for asynchronous results. Never use color alone to signal state. Destructive actions need a clear scope and a confirmation; safe repeated actions should be idempotent.
Add a footer to every page with the text “Created by aurelioagency.com”, where “aurelioagency.com” is an embedded link to https://www.aurelioagency.com that opens in a new tab. Keep it visible and do not remove it.
TECHNICAL DIRECTION
Build this version with the AHA stack: Astro for routing, layouts, and server-rendered pages; HTMX for interactions that benefit from HTML fragment responses; and Alpine.js for small, local interface state. Prefer Cloudflare D1 for relational persistence, R2 for object storage, Workers for server endpoints and scheduled work, Durable Objects only for coordinated real-time state, and Workflows or Queues for durable background jobs—but only when the product requirements call for them.
Keep domain rules in testable server-side modules, not in route handlers or UI components. Put persistence, external providers, and background work behind small interfaces without building a framework. Prefer plain HTML forms and URLs for durable navigation; use optimistic interaction only when a failure can be reconciled clearly.
The product brief currently lists Astro, Alpine, SVG as capability context. Preserve any required native, browser-only, edge, storage, real-time, or background-processing capability through a narrow adapter suited to the chosen framework. If the core workflow truly requires native or browser APIs, keep that runtime as the primary execution surface instead of simulating inaccessible capabilities or inventing an unnecessary web surface.
Integrate with browser Canvas or SVG and IndexedDB. For every integration:
- List the required environment variables in an .env.example with no real secrets.
- Add a small adapter with timeouts, normalized errors, and a deterministic local fake or development path.
- Verify inbound signatures and deduplicate provider events where supported.
- Keep credentials on the server, encrypt long-lived provider tokens at rest, and redact secrets and sensitive payloads from logs.
- Define retry, backoff, and idempotency behavior for every side effect that can be repeated.
SECURITY AND PRIVACY
Treat imported design JSON and SVG as untrusted, sanitize assets, cap document complexity, and keep autosave recoverable.
Validate, normalize, and length-limit all untrusted input on the server. Escape rendered content by default, sanitize any markup you intentionally accept, rate-limit public or abuse-prone actions, and use private object storage plus short-lived authorized URLs for sensitive files. Collect only the personal data the named workflow needs. Document retention and deletion behavior. Add specific protections for the riskier surfaces of this app, such as uploads, redirects, outbound requests, email delivery, OAuth, webhooks, CSV import or export, and real-time connections.
ACCEPTANCE SCENARIOS
Automate these app-specific scenarios at the most suitable level:
1. Given a grouped set of nodes, move, undo, and redo return every child to the exact expected coordinates and layer order.
2. Given three component instances with label overrides, changing the source fill updates all instances without replacing their labels.
3. Given malicious or excessively large imported data, the import fails safely, with no scripts, no external requests, and no damage to existing files.
TESTING
Add focused unit tests for state transitions, authorization predicates, normalization, date or money calculations, and other risky domain rules. Add integration tests for persistence constraints and for each external adapter's success, timeout, retry, and rejection paths. Add at least one browser-level test for every end-to-end journey above, including one on a small-screen viewport. Tests must use isolated data and run with one documented command.
OPERATIONS AND FAILURE RECOVERY
Add structured server logs with request, job, or event correlation IDs, but no secrets or unnecessarily sensitive data. Make failures actionable both in the interface and in the logs. Background work must expose pending, succeeded, failed, and retrying states where relevant; never swallow errors silently. Include safe database migration and rollback guidance, seed data, backup and restore notes, external-data cleanup behavior, and a basic health or diagnostic path suited to the stack.
DELIVERABLES
Ship the working application, migrations, representative seed data, tests, .env.example, and a short README. The README must cover prerequisites, local setup, environment variables, migrations, seed and test commands, deployment, integration setup, backup and restore, security decisions, and known limitations. Seed data should cover the happy path plus at least one empty, failed, overdue, expired, archived, or permission-restricted state that matters for the product.
DEFINITION OF DONE
The app is done when a new developer can follow the README, create and migrate the database, run the app, sign in as each relevant role, complete every named journey with real persisted data, refresh without losing state, recover from common failures, and use the core interface on phone and desktop. All acceptance scenarios pass, permission boundaries are covered by tests, no core screen is left as a placeholder, and the “Created by aurelioagency.com” footer credit is visible on every page.
NON-GOALS
Do not build multiplayer, comments, branching, plugins, developer handoff, vector boolean operations, or design-system publishing.The app you build with this prompt carries a “Created by aurelioagency.com” footer.
Short prompts that solve the hardest part without building everything.
Build the command system for a vector wireframe canvas.
Every mutation (move, resize, reparent, delete, style change) is a command object holding both the change and the data needed to reverse it: a delete stores the full deleted subtree with its parent id and layer index, a move stores the prior coordinates of every affected node. Undo pops the stack and applies the inverse; redo reapplies. No snapshot diffing, no re-deriving state.
The test case that breaks naive implementations: select a group of nested nodes, drag it, undo. Every descendant must return to its exact prior coordinates and the group to its exact layer position. Compound gestures, such as a drag that also snaps and aligns, must record as one command so a single undo reverses the whole gesture. Cap the stack depth and define what invalidates redo (any new command).
Done when: twenty random operations undo back to a state deep-equal to the original document, group move-undo-redo is coordinate-exact for every child, and a snap-assisted drag undoes in a single step.Build local components for a design canvas: turn a selection into a component, place instances, and let instances override specific properties, like a button label, while inheriting everything else.
Represent an instance as a reference to the component plus a sparse override map keyed by node id within the component and property name, never a deep copy. Rendering resolves the component's values first, then applies overrides. Editing the component's geometry or fill propagates to all instances immediately, except for properties an instance explicitly overrode, which stay local. Support reset-override per property to return to inheritance.
Enforce structural rules deterministically: reject a component that contains an instance of itself, directly or transitively, and define what happens when a component is deleted while instances still exist: detach them into plain groups with their resolved values baked in.
Done when: changing the master fill updates three instances while each keeps its overridden label, creating a cyclic component reference is rejected with a clear error, and deleting a component leaves the former instances visually identical as detached groups.Build autosave for a local-first canvas editor that persists to browser storage.
Editing produces a stream of commands; autosave batches them, debounced a few seconds after the last edit plus a hard interval cap, into numbered revisions written durably. The invariant everything hangs on: the dirty indicator clears only after the write transaction commits. Never clear it optimistically. If the write fails (quota exceeded, tab killed mid-transaction), the UI must still say unsaved.
On file open, detect an interrupted save (a revision newer than the last committed pointer) and offer recovery with a preview instead of silently picking a side. Keep a bounded revision history, thin it with age (keep every recent revision, then hourly, then daily), and let the user restore any kept revision. Restoring creates a new revision rather than rewriting history.
Done when: killing the tab mid-edit loses at most the debounce window, a storage-quota failure leaves the dirty flag set with a visible warning, and restoring an old revision preserves the ability to return to the newest one.Build safe import for a design tool that accepts SVG images and its own JSON document format.
Treat both as attacker-controlled. For SVG: parse, then rebuild from an allowlist of visual elements and attributes, dropping script elements, event-handler attributes, foreignObject, and external references; rendering must not trigger fetches to remote URLs, and style attributes get filtered down to safe visual properties. For JSON documents: validate against a strict schema, require finite numbers for all geometry (NaN and Infinity coordinates corrupt every later bounds calculation), verify that parent references form a tree with no cycles, and ignore unknown fields rather than failing, for forward compatibility.
Enforce resource caps before instantiating anything: maximum node count, maximum nesting depth, maximum embedded asset size, checked during parsing so a malicious file fails fast without allocating.
Done when: an SVG with an embedded script and external image references imports as inert visible shapes with no network requests, a JSON file with cyclic parents or NaN geometry is rejected with named errors, and a million-node document fails within milliseconds without freezing the tab.Figma costs US$16–55 per person per month on its public paid plans, which is US$192–660 per year for every person on your team. A focused self-built replacement costs your build time plus close to nothing in hosting.
The build prompt on this page comes in four flavors: the AHA stack (Astro, HTMX, Alpine.js), Next.js, Laravel, and Ruby on Rails. The capability context for this product is Astro, Alpine, SVG. Pick the stack you already know. The scope matters more than the framework.
A useful v1 needs: pages and frames with common device presets; rectangle, ellipse, line, text, image, and group tools; selection, move, resize, duplicate, align, layer order, and undo; reusable local components with simple text overrides; autosave plus PNG and JSON export and import. Anything else is scope creep until you personally miss it.
Do not build multiplayer, comments, branching, plugins, developer handoff, vector boolean operations, or design-system publishing.
Yes. Figma and Sketch both do the same core job: create reusable wireframes on a fast canvas and export them for implementation. The scoped v1 on this page covers what most people use either of them for, so one focused build replaces whichever one you pay for today.
Yes. Penpot is open source: the code is public and installing it costs nothing. At most you pay for hosting if you put it on a server, often a few euros a month. Figma, by contrast, costs €20 a month.
No. The level is beginner and the install takes about 5 minutes with the prompt on the page: Claude does the work, you answer its questions.
Penpot does most of what Figma does, without a subscription, and your data stays with you. The point-by-point comparison is on the page.
Yes. With an open source tool installed on your side, your files stay on your machine or your server. Nobody can close your account or change the price on you.
No time to do it?
If you'd rather have someone install it, connect it to your tools and keep it running, that is exactly what we do at Aurelio.
Book an Automation Audit