WHAT IS IT?
Penpot is an open source design platform built for seamless collaboration between designers and developers. Unlike proprietary tools, it uses SVG as its native format and generates real CSS — no approximation, no lossy translation. The tool is fully self-hostable, giving teams complete control over their data and design files.
WHY IS IT INTERESTING?
- Native SVG : Designs are stored as standard SVG. No proprietary format, no lock-in. What you draw is exactly what renders in the browser.
- Built-in CSS Grid : Since version 2.0, Penpot natively supports CSS Grid for layouts. Designers work with the same layout primitives as front-end developers.
- Inspect mode with real code : The inspection mode generates usable CSS, HTML and SVG code. No more copy-pasting from a tool that invents its own units.
- Design tokens : A single source of truth between design and code. Tokens are shared and synchronized, drastically reducing inconsistencies between mockups and production.
- Self-hostable : Deployable on your own infrastructure via Docker. Data stays on your servers — a strong argument for organizations with regulatory constraints.
- Plugin system : Extensible through a plugin ecosystem to adapt the tool to your own workflows and integrations.
USE CASES
- Design-dev teams that want to bridge the gap between mockups and implementation through native CSS output
- Organizations that need an internally hosted design tool for compliance or data sovereignty reasons
- Open source projects looking for a collaborative design tool with no licensing costs
- Front-end teams that want to extract usable CSS code directly from design mockups