EditUI

Product Introduction

1. Definition: EditUI is a browser-based developer tool and Chrome extension designed for visual UI feedback and code generation. It operates as a client-side overlay that captures DOM context and user instructions to create structured prompts for AI coding agents.
2. Core Value Proposition: It exists to streamline the UI review and iteration workflow by eliminating the friction of manually describing visual changes to AI assistants like Claude Code or Cursor. Its primary value is translating visual, contextual feedback directly into actionable, technical instructions for code generation, bypassing the need for screenshots, manual selector identification, or complex repository setup.

Main Features

1. In-Browser Element Inspection & Context Capture: Users click directly on any element within a live, running web application in Chrome. EditUI automatically captures a rich technical context, including the element's HTML tag, text content, CSS classes, DOM hierarchy, parent/child relationships, nearby sibling elements, the current URL, viewport dimensions, and computed styles. This data is packaged for the AI agent.
2. Batch Instruction Collection & Prompt Compilation: The tool allows for the aggregation of multiple discrete UI change requests into a single session. Users can click, describe an edit (e.g., "Make this button primary blue"), and continue reviewing. All collected edits are stored and can be compiled into one comprehensive, structured text prompt optimized for consumption by coding agents.
3. Agent-Agnostic Prompt Export: The final compiled batch of instructions is formatted as plain text, designed for universal compatibility. It can be copied and pasted directly into the chat interface of any AI coding assistant (Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Windsurf, etc.) without requiring a dedicated plugin or integration on the agent's side.

Problems Solved

1. Pain Point: The inefficiency and ambiguity of communicating visual design changes to text-based AI coding assistants. Manually writing prompts that include specific CSS selectors, describing spatial relationships, or annotating screenshots is time-consuming and error-prone.
2. Target Audience: Front-end developers, full-stack engineers, UI/UX designers involved in implementation, product managers providing visual feedback, and solo founders building web applications who utilize AI coding tools in their workflow.
3. Use Cases: Rapidly prototyping UI tweaks after a design review; collecting a list of visual bugs (spacing, color, alignment) from a staging site for batch fixing; providing precise feedback to an AI agent when the developer lacks immediate knowledge of the relevant CSS class or component structure.

Unique Advantages

1. Strengths & Limitations (Pros & Cons):

   • Pros: Dramatically reduces the cognitive load and time required to formulate technical UI change requests. Requires zero setup—no linking to a Git repository, no build processes. It's free, open-source, and operates entirely client-side, ensuring privacy. The context capture is far richer than a simple screenshot.
   • Cons: Limited to visual changes that can be inferred from the live DOM and styles; cannot directly suggest changes to application state logic or backend code. Effectiveness is dependent on the capabilities of the downstream AI coding agent. Requires the UI to be running and accessible in a Chrome tab.

2. Key Alternatives & Differentiation:

   • Manual Prompting in Cursor/Claude: The standard alternative is manually describing elements and changes. EditUI differentiates by automating context capture, eliminating guesswork in selectors, and enabling efficient batch processing.
   • Browser DevTools: While DevTools allow element inspection and style editing, changes are temporary and not translated into instructions for an AI to replicate in source code. EditUI bridges this gap by documenting changes as agent-ready prompts.
   • Dedicated Visual Editing Tools (e.g., Builder.io, Figma to Code plugins): These are often full design systems or require design file integration. EditUI differentiates by working on any live production or staging website, fitting into the existing codebase and AI-assisted development workflow without a proprietary design layer.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. Does EditUI require access to my source code or GitHub repository? No, EditUI requires no repository setup or code access. It works by inspecting the live Document Object Model (DOM) and styles of any webpage you can view in your Chrome browser, making it ideal for providing feedback on staging sites or production applications.
2. Which AI coding agents is EditUI compatible with? EditUI is agent-agnostic. It outputs clean, structured text prompts that can be pasted into any AI coding assistant that accepts text input, including Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot Chat, Windsurf, and others.
3. Can I use EditUI to redesign an entire webpage? Yes, for visual and stylistic changes. You can collect a batch of instructions covering multiple elements (e.g., "reduce hero height," "change font stack," "recolor all primary buttons") and send them as one prompt. However, for complex structural overhauls or new feature logic, you will still rely on the AI agent's capability to interpret and execute the instructions correctly.
4. Is my data sent to EditUI's servers? No. EditUI is a client-side Chrome extension. All processing—element selection, context capture, and prompt compilation—happens locally in your browser. The only external data transfer occurs when you choose to send the generated prompt to your chosen AI agent's service.
5. How does EditUI differ from simply taking a screenshot and annotating it? EditUI captures machine-readable technical context (HTML, CSS, DOM relationships) that an AI agent can directly reason about, unlike a static image which requires the AI to perform optical character recognition (OCR) and guess at the underlying code structure. This leads to more accurate and actionable code suggestions.