designmd.me vs Design Extractor
designmd.me and Design Extractor both turn a website URL into a DESIGN.md for your AI coding agent. Design Extractor's file follows Google's DESIGN.md spec and ships each component it picks from the page as an HTML and CSS recipe your agent can rebuild. Each recipe is checked against the live site or flagged with the reason. It also works on sites that only answer visitors from certain countries.
New to the format? Read what a DESIGN.md is first.
Checked on against designmd.me, its pricing page, its CLI reference and its Figma page. Offers and prices change, so check their site before you decide.
Why Design Extractor
Follows Google's DESIGN.md spec
The YAML front matter uses only the properties the spec defines, with no custom top-level keys. The canonical sections come in the spec's order, from Overview to Do's and Don'ts. Component entries in the front matter use only the spec's eight properties, with literal values. Check any file with the free DESIGN.md Validator.
A recipe for each component it picks from the page
The header, footer, buttons, inputs, cards and other components picked from the page each ship as a recipe: distilled HTML and CSS with literal values, inside the Components section of the DESIGN.md. Each recipe lists its parts and the hover and focus states seen on the site, so your coding agent can rebuild the component instead of guessing it.
Verified against the live site
Each recipe is rendered on its own and checked against the live site: a structural match of the rendered parts against what was measured on the page, and a pixel comparison with a fresh capture of the real element. A recipe that fails is rebuilt and checked again. One that still does not pass is flagged with the reason, never shipped as verified. The result page shows how closely the components match and how many of the site's colors and text styles are covered: see Stripe in the gallery.
Works on region-restricted sites
Some sites only answer visitors from certain countries. When a run fails that way, the result page offers a country picker, with the countries the page was found to load from first, and runs the same extraction through a browser in the country you choose. A country run costs the Pro price plus a 6-credit surcharge (16 credits). If the extraction fails, we refund your credits.
Side by side
| designmd.me | Design Extractor | |
|---|---|---|
| Spec compliance | Says it generates DESIGN.md spec-compliant files. | Follows Google's DESIGN.md spec: front matter with only the spec's properties and no custom top-level keys, the canonical sections in the spec's order, and component entries limited to the spec's eight properties with literal values. |
| Component recipes | Its sample file lists components with short descriptive specs, such as an input's height, radius and focus ring. | Each component it picks from the page, such as the header, footer, buttons, inputs and cards, ships as a recipe: distilled HTML and CSS in the Components section, so your coding agent can rebuild it. |
| Verified against the live site | Says it reads every computed style. We found no description of checks of the output against the live site. | Yes. Each recipe is rendered on its own and checked against the live site: a structural match of its parts and a pixel comparison. A component that does not pass is flagged with the reason, never shipped as verified. |
| Region-restricted sites | Not described on the site. | Yes. When a site blocks visitors from some countries, the failed run offers a country picker, with the countries the page loads from first, and runs the same extraction through a browser there. A country run costs the Pro price plus a 6-credit surcharge (16 credits). |
| What it is | A generator: paste a URL, get a DESIGN.md. Built by Crowdlinker. | A generator: paste a public URL, get that site's DESIGN.md. |
| Pages read | Single-page (the landing page) or multi-page (the site's key pages), your choice per run. | Pro samples the site's key pages. |
| Price per run | 4 credits single-page, 8 credits multi-page. Charged only on success; regenerating a cached site is free. | 10 credits for a Pro extraction. Failed runs on our side are refunded. |
| Credit packs | $5 for 50, $15 for 175, $30 for 375, or a custom top-up. Credits never expire. | $5 for 50, $10 for 110, $25 for 300. Credits never expire. No subscription. |
| Free start | 4 free credits on your first visit and 20 more when you sign up. No card to start. | No free credits on sign-up. The gallery and the free tools cost nothing. |
| Extras | An HTML preview file (8 more credits), a Figma import of Variables, Styles and a board (12 credits, once per generation), and side-by-side comparisons of two sites. | A Source and Preview view of the file and a Visual system pane on the result page, plus free tools: a DESIGN.md validator, a font finder and a color palette extractor. |
| Pre-made examples | A Discover section of generated sites, with categories and a leaderboard. | A gallery of pre-extracted brands, free to read and copy. |
| Agent access | A CLI (@crowdlinker/designmdme) and an agent skill for Claude Code, Cursor and other skills-compatible agents. We found no MCP server. | A remote MCP server for Claude Code, claude.ai, ChatGPT, Codex, Cursor and other clients, and a plugin for Claude Code and Codex. |
| Browser extension | None found on the site. | A Chrome extension that extracts the tab you are on. |
What designmd.me offers
- Free credits on the first visit and on sign-up, with no card to start.
- Single-page runs at 4 credits and multi-page runs at 8, charged only on success.
- An HTML specimen page and a Figma import of Variables and Styles, each for extra credits.
- Side-by-side comparisons of two sites' design systems.
- A CLI and an agent skill for Claude Code, Cursor and other skills-compatible agents.
Where they differ
Both tools return a DESIGN.md from a URL. Design Extractor ships each component it picks from the page as a recipe and checks it against the live site, so your agent knows which components it can rebuild as written and which were flagged, with the reason. See it on Stripe in the gallery.
Design Extractor also meets you where you work. Your agent can start an extraction and read the result over the MCP server, and the Chrome extension extracts the tab you are on. See more finished files in the gallery.
How to switch from designmd.me
- Paste the site's URL on the Design Extractor home page and run a Pro extraction.
- Save the result as DESIGN.md in your repository root, replacing the old file. Your pointer in AGENTS.md or CLAUDE.md keeps working.
- To let your agent run extractions itself, connect the MCP server instead of the designmd.me CLI.
Verdict
Choose Design Extractor if you need a DESIGN.md that follows Google's spec, with a recipe for each component it picks from the page, each checked against the live site or flagged with the reason. It reaches region-restricted sites. Your agent can run it over MCP. designmd.me costs fewer credits per run, as the table shows.
Other comparisons
getdesign.md vs Design Extractor
A curated collection of ready-made DESIGN.md files compared with a spec-compliant DESIGN.md, with component recipes checked against the live site, from any URL.
Refero Styles vs Design Extractor
A large free library of website styles compared with a spec-compliant DESIGN.md, with component recipes checked against the live site, from any URL.
TypeUI vs Design Extractor
TypeUI's free Chrome extension, which fills its own template from the styles in your tab, compared with a spec-compliant DESIGN.md with component recipes checked against the live site.
FAQ
designmd.me vs Design Extractor: questions
Short answers about designmd.me and Design Extractor, checked on 2026-10-14.
It starts free: on 2026-10-14 new visitors got 4 free credits and 20 more on sign-up, with no card. After that, credit packs start at $5 for 50 credits. A single-page run costs 4 credits and a multi-page run 8.
designmd.me, on the numbers we checked. Its packs start at $5 for 50 credits and ours at $5 for 50 credits. A designmd.me multi-page run costs 8 credits and a single-page run 4; a Design Extractor Pro run costs 10. Its HTML preview and Figma import cost extra credits.
A DESIGN.md that follows Google's spec, with tokens in the front matter and each component it picks from the page, such as the header, footer, buttons, inputs and cards, as a recipe of distilled HTML and CSS. Each recipe is checked against the live site with a structural match and a pixel comparison, and one that does not pass is flagged with the reason.
We found a CLI and an agent skill on designmd.me but no MCP server, checked on 2026-10-14. Design Extractor is a remote MCP server: claude.ai, Claude Desktop, ChatGPT and Claude Code connect by signing in, and Codex, Cursor and scripts use an API key.
Design Extractor can run the extraction from another country. After a run fails that way, the result page offers a country picker, with the countries the page loads from first, and runs the same extraction through a browser there. A country run costs the Pro price plus a 6-credit surcharge (16 credits). If the extraction fails, we refund your credits.
Yes. Both produce a DESIGN.md that sits in your repository, so your agent setup stays the same. Run the site through Design Extractor and replace the file.
Get a DESIGN.md for the site you need
Paste any public URL. Pro samples the site's key pages and returns a spec-compliant DESIGN.md with component recipes checked against the live site.