*tl;dr* Popmelt gives UI engineers and designers a lightweight set of visual feedback and styling/layout tools that talk directly to local LLM CLI instances so you can create and refine your product directly in the browser. This first version is built for React (I've mainly used it with Next.js projects) and plays well with Claude Code and Codex. It's free to use and I plan to keep it that way.

I started working as a designer and front-end developer on the web in my teens, making myspace layouts for local bands. Since then, I've worked in agencies, ecomm, and startups, bouncing between design and code depending on what each team or client needs.

As LLM code generation has gotten faster and more reliable in the last ~12 months, I've found myself spending more time working with code (directly and indirectly) earlier and earlier in my design process. Last November, design and development have more or less collapsed into a single code-driven step for me, with multiple LLM sessions running in parallel to keep the loop between idea, testing, and iterating as tight as possible.

Along the way I developed a way of working that lets me spend most of my time interacting with the page/product I'm designing without looking at the underlying code. Popmelt bottles that way of working, and saves me from having to flip between the thing I'm designing and the LLM sessions powering it. The repo's README covers most of the details, and I'm happy to answer any questions folks have. Critical feedback is also very welcome.

Thanks for looking!