Artifacts Builder

Source: Content adapted from anthropics/skills (MIT).

To build powerful frontend claude.ai artifacts, follow these steps:

1. Initialize the frontend repo using scripts/init-artifact.sh
2. Develop your artifact by editing the generated code
3. Bundle all code into a single HTML file using scripts/bundle-artifact.sh
4. Display artifact to user
5. (Optional) Test the artifact

Stack: React 18 + TypeScript + Vite + Parcel (bundling) + Tailwind CSS + shadcn/ui

Design & Style Guidelines

VERY IMPORTANT: To avoid what is often referred to as "AI slop", avoid using excessive centered layouts, purple gradients, uniform rounded corners, and Inter font.

Quick Start

Step 1: Initialize Project

Run the initialization script to create a new React project:

bash scripts/init-artifact.sh <project-name>
cd <project-name>

This creates a fully configured project with:

• React + TypeScript (via Vite)
• Tailwind CSS 3.4.1 with shadcn/ui theming system
• Path aliases (@/) configured
• 40+ shadcn/ui components pre-installed
• All Radix UI dependencies included
• Parcel configured for bundling (via .parcelrc)
• Node 18+ compatibility (auto-detects and pins Vite version)

Step 2: Develop Your Artifact

To build the artifact, edit the generated files. See Common Development Tasks below for guidance.

Step 3: Bundle to Single HTML File

To bundle the React app into a single HTML artifact:

bash scripts/bundle-artifact.sh

This creates bundle.html - a self-contained artifact with all JavaScript, CSS, and dependencies inlined. This file can be directly shared in Claude conversations as an artifact.

Requirements: Your project must have an index.html in the root directory.

What the script does:

• Installs bundling dependencies (parcel, @parcel/config-default, parcel-resolver-tspaths, html-inline)
• Creates .parcelrc config with path alias support
• Builds with Parcel (no source maps)
• Inlines all assets into single HTML using html-inline

Step 4: Share Artifact with User

Finally, share the bundled HTML file in conversation with the user so they can view it as an artifact.

Step 5: Testing/Visualizing the Artifact (Optional)

Note: This is a completely optional step. Only perform if necessary or requested.

To test/visualize the artifact, use available tools (including other Skills or built-in tools like Playwright or Puppeteer). In general, avoid testing the artifact upfront as it adds latency between the request and when the finished artifact can be seen. Test later, after presenting the artifact, if requested or if issues arise.

Reference

• shadcn/ui components: https://ui.shadcn.com/docs/components

Resource Files

LICENSE.txt

Download LICENSE.txt

Binary resource

scripts/bundle-artifact.sh

Download scripts/bundle-artifact.sh

#!/bin/bash
set -e

echo "📦 Bundling React app to single HTML artifact..."

# Check if we're in a project directory
if [ ! -f "package.json" ]; then
  echo "❌ Error: No package.json found. Run this script from your project root."
  exit 1
fi

# Check if index.html exists
if [ ! -f "index.html" ]; then
  echo "❌ Error: No index.html found in project root."
  echo "   This script requires an index.html entry point."
  exit 1
fi

# Install bundling dependencies
echo "📦 Installing bundling dependencies..."
pnpm add -D parcel @parcel/config-default parcel-resolver-tspaths html-inline

# Create Parcel config with tspaths resolver
if [ ! -f ".parcelrc" ]; then
  echo "🔧 Creating Parcel configuration with path alias support..."
  cat > .parcelrc << 'EOF'
{
  "extends": "@parcel/config-default",
  "resolvers": ["parcel-resolver-tspaths", "..."]
}
EOF
fi

# Clean previous build
echo "🧹 Cleaning previous build..."
rm -rf dist bundle.html

# Build with Parcel
echo "🔨 Building with Parcel..."
pnpm exec parcel build index.html --dist-dir dist --no-source-maps

# Inline everything into single HTML
echo "🎯 Inlining all assets into single HTML file..."
pnpm exec html-inline dist/index.html > bundle.html

# Get file size
FILE_SIZE=$(du -h bundle.html | cut -f1)

echo ""
echo "✅ Bundle complete!"
echo "📄 Output: bundle.html ($FILE_SIZE)"
echo ""
echo "You can now use this single HTML file as an artifact in Claude conversations."
echo "To test locally: open bundle.html in your browser"

scripts/init-artifact.sh

Download scripts/init-artifact.sh

Binary resource

scripts/shadcn-components.tar.gz

Download scripts/shadcn-components.tar.gz

Binary resource

See in GitHub

See in GitHub