I think I found the holy grail of building with AI agents: vibe code, but stay in control of the whole process. 1. @jetbrains IDEs - control what agents change + diffs 2. @getsome_air - orchestrate Codex, Claude & others 3. @sketch - one-time purchase + built-in MCP for designs
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Sketch on X
The largest group in the conversation is plain praise for Sketch itself, at 20 people, with 10 more enthusiastic about the MCP and agent workflows. Complaints are smaller and split: a settings-pane redesign, and agents that can't read layer properties.
First written 27 Oct · what changed · from 88 posts by 58 people
Tracking posts that say “@sketch”
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as of 27 Oct · checked once a monthFirst written 27 Oct. When what people say changes, it shows here.
Tone· 49 posts from 39 people· written 27 Oct
How do people feel about Sketch?
Praise for the app itself leads, at 20 people, with 10 more enthusiastic about the MCP and agent workflows. 6 people say they are coming back or about to buy in.
The liking is spread across small, concrete things: release notes called the most consistent and well written of any app someone uses, the command bar, blur, fade and glass effects, and a noise generator one person keeps coming back to. A low-vision user singles out the illustrations on each paste option as really helpful. Another credits the on-device part of a feature with removing an "upload your image somewhere random" detour.
The MCP is a distinct, more intense strand: 10 people describe agents driving Sketch through it — Claude Code, two terminals passing a design back and forth, one-time purchase with a built-in MCP. Several say they use it all day, and the iOS app comes up as a way to watch agents work while away from the desk.
6 people are returning or nearly in: someone says they are back "for good", another is waiting until they can buy a Mac, a third says they are "this close" to a subscription.
Minority notes: one person says features shipped later than they should have; two like Sketch but say their day-to-day work still doesn't run through it.
- Loves it24
- Enthusiastic about the MCP and agents14
- Coming back to Sketch6
- Frustrated features came too late3
- Likes it but it doesn't fit their workflow2
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@sketch has the most consistent, thorough, well written release notes out of any app I've used. Major props.
I’ve changed my mind about design tools I thought that having @sketch in between my agent and the App Store screenshots is just a middleman and another overhead item, but it’s been an incredible amount of help for iterations
Hey @sketch I'm back for good!
I can't wait until I buy a Mac and install this app. I love the authenticity that's in your app.
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Pain points· 17 posts from 10 people· written 27 Oct
What do people complain about with Sketch?
The settings-pane redesign is the biggest single complaint, at 3 people, with several defending the old layout. Next is agents that can't read a design properly, at 2 people.
The new settings pane is the largest group of complaints: one person calls the old format more readable, another says "NOOOO I love the current one with the legacy design", and a third argues the new layout drags mobile limitations into a richer desktop window. It is an argument rather than a walkout — the same people describe a pane with tabs, right-justified labels and left-justified controls they'd rather keep.
The MCP complaints are more specific: agents reportedly can't read a layer's fill, border width, corner radii, opacity, shadow or blur, X and Y, or deeply nested elements. One person lists several tools — get_node_info, get_computed_styles, get_children, find_nodes — that appear in the schema but are rejected when called, leaving only the layer tree summary, screenshot and document info responding. Their conclusion is that a polished design can't be handed to development if the agent can't read those decisions. Another asks whether agents should be able to see Sketch Cloud comments, which they say they currently can't.
Smaller, single complaints: Sketch is Mac only, with one person joking it's free "except if you're a Windows user"; an autoupdate saved a file in a new version and the artboards were gone; and zooming stops selection or text editing and jumps in steps.
- Agents can't see parts of the design6
- New settings pane is harder to read5
- Mac only, no Windows version2
- Updating goes wrong2
- Zoom breaks selection and isn't smooth2
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I personally find the old format more readable
Sure, but at least the current one has an interesting rhythm to it with tabs at the top, right justified labels and left justified controls . This one is just dragging mobile limitations into richer desktop layouts for no good reason.
NOOOO I love the current one with the legacy design 🥺
Hello Paulo, could not read the background of the layer or the fill in a stack, could not read the border, its width. could not read the radii of the angles, could not read the opacity, could not read the shadow/blur and the X and Y parameters, could not read deeply nested elements. With all these parameters, the agent remained, I tried with several agents and obtained worse results or the same as the initial, none were able to implement a single element correctly because they could not read the node properties well.
I discovered another detail: get_node_info, get_computed_styles, get_children and find_nodes are listed in schema but the server rejects them when call them — only get_layer_tree_summary, get_screenshot and get_document_info respond. I don't know why this happens, but it's a detail that happens to me with all the agents, I'm running the Sketch Beta.
5 of the 17 posts behind this answer, one per person. The other 12, and every new one as it’s posted, come with tracking. Get early access
Alternatives· 12 posts· written 27 Oct
What are the alternatives to Sketch?
Figma is what Sketch is weighed against, at 8 people of 12 in this section. Paper and Elyx each come up with 2 people.
The Figma comparison splits by what people value. One calls Sketch "miles better"; another says Sketch does "a bit more heavy design stuff" while Figma is "more practical"; a third says Sketch works better for the back and forth with agents, with Figma more feature rich. Rage moments with Figma are mentioned, aimed at a button sitting next to the frame. Pricing and native-ness come up: pay once or monthly, a native macOS app, and AI without extra token fees or MCP limits. One person picks Sketch for performance.
Paper is the other real contest: one person finds Sketch more convenient after trying Paper, and another is deciding between Paper, Sketch and one more tool, saying Sketch is winning on an unrestricted trial, a more polished UI and a CLI and API — while Paper wins on output, because it emits JSX where Sketch exports an image.
Two people try Elyx on work made in Sketch: one drops a home-screen screenshot in and is impressed; another says Sketch "no sirve a mi flujo" right now.
- Figma8
- Paper2
- Elyx2
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he uses both, sketch is just able to do a bit more heavy design stuff, figma is just more practical
I tried Figma a while ago. What attracts me to @sketch is that I can pay once (or monthly), get a native macOS app, and use AI without extra token fees or MCP limits from Sketch. According to their website, I can connect AI via MCP and even use skills.
Ok so at this point the main design tools i'm deciding between are @paper @and @sketch So far I think Sketch is winning in a number of ways. The biggest one is that their trial doesn't restrict usage of the app, so you can actually try it on a bigger workflow or something without hitting limits. Also, paper does some weird shit in the editor and the overall UI is not as polished as Sketch (no surprise it's a newer app) but to their credit, they constantly put out new updates and overall it's a pretty fantastic product. Paper wins in terms of output so far. Paper allows me to directly output JSX (which is effectively HTML and easy to convert) whereas Sketch only let's me export things as an image of some sort (like most traditional design tools). Setting up the MCP was easy for both (as you'd expect) but Sketch also has a CLI and API whereas paper only has the MCP (which is an L for paper).
I tried the @paper it’s a good start for the tool, but I still find it more convenient to work in @sketch. I spotted an interesting idea for vectorization on the canvas and added this functionality to the sketch. Thanks @QuiverAI for such a great tool!
Ayer inverti unas cuantas horas para darle cuidado a la interfaz de link usando @sketch y lo mas doloroso es lo limitado que esta su #MCP, bueno no fue tiempo perdido pero una lastima que no pueda implementar correctamente el diseño, el agente no puede leer muchas de las propiedades que agregue a los elementos, de hecho todos los agentes terminaban haciendo locuras jajajajaja super chistoso. Me gusta mucho Sketch y me gusta lo que están haciendo con @elyxdesign es una cosa de locos, pero ahora mismo Sketch no sirve a mi flujo, una lastima pero entiendo muchas de las restricciones sobre las cuales construyen y por ende moverse mas rapido es mas duro y costoso. Por ahora a seguir usando Elyx, creo que mi siguiente paso es usarlo para este proyecto, pero antes quiero probar @paper para construir solo una pieza y probar como los agentes la implementan.
5 of the 12 posts behind this answer, one per person. The other 7, and every new one as it’s posted, come with tracking. Get early access
Questions· 9 posts· written 27 Oct
What do people ask about Sketch?
Most questions are how-to: 5 people ask how to update the app, which version has a feature, or how a feature works. 3 ask what the MCP can reach.
The how-to questions are practical and specific: how to update the web install version, when an update reports it can't be updated on the machine running it; which version has a feature just shown; and whether there's a tutorial for variants, because selecting the variant you want on the canvas is confusing. One asks whether the official iOS GUI can be filtered to dark mode and iPhone only, since the thumbnails are too small to review. Another asks whether styles can be copied from object to object with the color picker.
The MCP questions are about reach rather than use: whether whatever is selected can be part of the message context, whether there is a CLI or API or only MCP, and why the K-tool's Scale isn't reachable from run_code — the person reports scaleBy not being exposed in the plugin bridge.
One lighter question, with the most reach on the page, asks whether Figma was designed in Sketch.
- How do I get this feature working?5
- What can the MCP reach?3
- Was Figma designed in Sketch?1
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@sketch I finally updated to the web install version of sketch to use the MCP (it’s great) How do I update it? If I check for updates it says it can’t be updated on the machine that is running it. I’m not running a self hosted version as far as I know.
Are you posting a tutorial on how to use variants? I am having trouble understanding how to select the variant I want in the canvas.
@sketch When using "y" to show official iOS 27 GUI, is there a way to filter to show just dark mode and just iPhone? Since otherwise from the little thumbnails with text cut off hard to review all available options for the specific device designing for at a particular time.
also do you have that feature were you use the color picker to copy styles from object to object?
@sketch does the mcp / app support having whatever you select be in message context ?
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Wishes· 11 posts from 8 people· written 27 Oct
What do people want from Sketch?
Wishes are scattered one-offs: 8 people raise 11 separate asks, and none is shared by more than one person except fluid zoom, at 1 people.
Fluid zoom is the only ask made by more than one post, and it comes from one person: keep the current selection while zooming, don't force Sketch to stop editing a text block or image, and move through values smoothly instead of jumping from 80 to 85.
The rest are single requests a maker could still act on, several tied to the agent workflow. One wants a headless Sketch that agents can drive without the app; another asks for native Scale (K) for the MCP, and another says the documented agent harnesses should include Pi. For teams, one argues that keeping LLM and design data inside a corporate tenancy would be a win, claiming most designers in large corporates can't use external AI with Figma's cloud.
On the app itself: a free tier, native tinted glass, JPEG XL export ("it's the future"), keyboard shortcuts that don't fire while a text field has focus, and a finished capture plugin.
- Make zoom fluid2
- Free tier1
- Native tinted glass1
- JPEG XL export1
- Native Scale in the MCP1
- Ignore shortcuts in text fields1
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I’d love to get back to @sketch. I like that they stayed true to themselves, especially through the rise (and fall) of other competitors. What’s still missing for me is being able to zoom in and out while keeping text selected, a more fluid zoom, and other details of that sort.
Of course! First, please keep current selections while zooming. If I’m editing an image or writing in a text block, zooming in or out forces Sketch to stop that action. Also, zoom isn’t fluid: it jumps from 80 to 85 instead of moving through the values in between so I can decide when to stop.
Feature Request (mostly for @sketch): I would like a headless design tool 😎
missing native Scale(K) for @sketch MCP?
Test it out and so far this is pretty fuckin nice. Might I humbly request adding Pi to your list of Agent/Harness examples? As of 1.0 they now ship an MCP interface natively: pi mcp add sketch --url localhost See here: link Also I didn't see anything about skills on the actual agents page.
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