YMSNOW27032026 artifacts

Use when creating or updating the artifact.toml for artifacts such as websites, web apps, mobile apps, slide decks, pitch decks, videos, and data visualizations. Formerly called the create-artifact skill.

install
source · Clone the upstream repo
git clone https://github.com/akhilksap2026/YMSNOW27032026
Claude Code · Install into ~/.claude/skills/
T=$(mktemp -d) && git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/akhilksap2026/YMSNOW27032026 "$T" && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r "$T/replit/.local/skills/artifacts" ~/.claude/skills/akhilksap2026-ymsnow27032026-artifacts && rm -rf "$T"
manifest: replit/.local/skills/artifacts/SKILL.md
source content

Artifacts Skill

What Is an Artifact?

An artifact is a runnable project that the agent creates for the user. It is the primary unit of output the agent delivers.

Each artifact is a workspace package under

artifacts/<slug>/
in the monorepo. Calling
createArtifact()
runs the shared bootstrap flow for the chosen artifact type, scaffolds the project files, installs dependencies, writes an
artifact.toml
with metadata, allocates service ports, and wires the artifact into
.replit
so it can be previewed and deployed.

When the user asks you to "build a website" or "create an app", you are creating an artifact. Call

createArtifact()
once, then continue implementation.

The workspace already includes a shared backend service. New web artifacts are primarily frontend packages and must treat

previewPath
as a required URL prefix for all app routes and API calls.

When to Use

Use this skill when:

  • Creating a new web application, video, or slide deck
  • Bootstrapping any new project in the monorepo

New Artifact vs. Existing Artifact

Add work to an existing artifact when it is a feature, page, or component of that artifact's product and shares the same domain, branding, and purpose.

Create a new artifact when the work is for a different product or domain, has different branding or purpose, or the user used standalone language like "make a web app" or "create a component." Do not reuse an existing artifact just because it is convenient.

Not everything needs an artifact. If the output is a file asset (script, document, image, CSV, config file, etc.), just create the file directly and tell the user where it is. Artifacts are for runnable projects with a preview, not for standalone files.

If ambiguous, ask the user: "Should I create this as a new standalone web app, or add it to [existing artifact name]?"

When NOT to call
createArtifact

  • The artifact has already been created (do not call
    createArtifact
    twice for the same
    slug
    )

Build Approach

Not all artifacts follow the same workflow. Choose your approach based on the artifact type:

  • Creative / canvas artifacts — no backend, no OpenAPI, no codegen:
    • mockup-sandbox (design mockups, landing pages, UI prototypes): Read the
      mockup-sandbox
      skill. It uses its own Vite dev server and canvas iframes. Delegate design work to a DESIGN subagent. No artifact is needed if the mockup sandbox is present.
    • slides (slide decks, presentations): Create a slides artifact and build following the
      slides
      skill — no subagent is needed. Use
      media-generation
      for images.
    • video-js (short animated videos, up to 5 minutes): Create a video artifact and build following the
      video-js
      skill. Always delegate the entire build to a DESIGN subagent — do not build the video yourself. This is for creating animated content from code, not a video editor.
  • Full-stack artifacts (react-vite, data-visualization, expo): Follow the OpenAPI-first workflow below.
    • If a
      react-vite
      artifact is frontend-only and does not need a backend, skip the OpenAPI spec and codegen steps — go straight to building the frontend after calling
      createArtifact()
      .

Full-stack artifacts — OpenAPI-first workflow:

Get async work running as early as possible so it can proceed in the background while you build.

  1. Create the artifact — call
    createArtifact()
    . It will guide you to the artifact's skill for build instructions.
  2. Write the OpenAPI spec in
    lib/api-spec/openapi.yaml
    — this is the single source of truth for all API contracts. It is on the critical path: the spec gates codegen, which gates the frontend.
  3. Run codegen (
    pnpm run --filter @workspace/api-spec codegen
    ) — generates React Query hooks and Zod schemas. Do NOT read the generated files; they are large and will fill your context.
  4. Launch the frontend build immediately after codegen — the artifact's skill will tell you how (e.g.,
    generateFrontend()
    for react-vite, design subagent for others). Do NOT do any other work between codegen and launching the frontend build.
  5. Build the backend while the frontend runs — provision the database, write the schema, build route handlers, and seed data. The frontend is the bottleneck.

Key principles:

  • Do NOT provision the database or write DB schema before launching the frontend build. DB work doesn't gate the frontend — OpenAPI does.
  • There is no need to test or code review the first build.
  • Trust generated frontend and subagent output as-is. Do not verify it.
  • Batch independent operations within the same artifact into parallel tool calls (e.g., write multiple files for the same artifact at once, read multiple files at once). Do NOT try to build two artifacts simultaneously — build one at a time.
  • Do not waste time reading files you don't need. All important files have been opened for you.
  • Do not read the artifact's skill before creating the artifact or the skill will be read twice. Creating an artifact automatically loads the relevant skill instructions into your context. Do not waste time reading the skill yourself.

Creating an Artifact

Artifact creation is a single callback call.

createArtifact()
handles bootstrap + registration internally.

const result = await createArtifact({
    artifactType: "<artifactType>",
    slug: "<slug>",
    previewPath: "/",
    title: "My Project"
});

createArtifact()
expects a fresh slug. If
artifacts/<slug>/
already exists, the call fails instead of trying to reuse partially created files.

Available Callbacks

createArtifact(artifactType, slug, previewPath, title)

Bootstrap and register a new artifact in one call. This should be your default for all new artifacts, and it requires an unused

slug
.

Parameters:

<!-- BEGIN_ARTIFACT_LIST -->
  • artifactType
    (str, required): The artifact type identifier. Use one of:
    • "expo"
      (mobile app)
    • "data-visualization"
      (data visualization scaffold (dashboards, analysis reports, dataset explorers) with chart/table defaults)
    • "mockup-sandbox"
      (isolated mockup sandbox for rapid UI prototyping on the canvas)
    • "react-vite"
      (React + Vite web app)
    • "slides"
      (presentation slide deck scaffold)
    • "video-js"
      (Replit Animation app)
<!-- END_ARTIFACT_LIST -->
  • slug
    (str, required): A short, kebab-case slug (e.g.,
    "my-website"
    ,
    "q1-pitch-deck"
    ,
    "budget-tracker"
    ). This slug is used in two places:
    • Workspace package name:
      @workspace/<slug>
    • Artifact directory:
      artifacts/<slug>/
  • previewPath
    (str, required): The URL prefix where the artifact is served. Use
    "/<slug>/"
    (e.g.,
    "/my-website/"
    ,
    "/budget-tracker/"
    ) for consistency.
    However, one artifact should always be at
    "/"
    — if nothing is at the root, the dev URL (e.g.
    my-app.replit.app
    ) shows a blank page, which is a bad experience. Prefer placing web apps (
    react-vite
    ,
    data-visualization
    ) at the root over mobile, video, or slides artifacts. Every artifact in the workspace must use unique service paths.
  • title
    (str, required): A short, human-readable title for the artifact (e.g.,
    "Recipe Finder"
    ,
    "Q1 Pitch Deck"
    ). Displayed to the user in the UI.

Returns: Dict with:

  • success
    (bool): Whether the operation succeeded
  • artifactId
    (str): The stable artifact ID — pass this to
    presentArtifact
  • ports
    (dict[str, int]): Map of service names to their assigned local ports

Example:

const result = await createArtifact({
    artifactType: "react-vite",
    slug: "my-website",
    previewPath: "/",
    title: "Recipe Finder"
});

listArtifacts()

List all artifacts currently registered in the workspace. Use this to look up artifact IDs when you need to present or reference an artifact you didn't just create.

Parameters: None

Returns: Dict with:

  • artifacts
    (list): Each entry contains:
    • artifactId
      (str): The stable artifact ID — pass this to
      presentArtifact
    • kind
      (str): How the artifact is presented (preview kind, e.g.,
      "web"
      ,
      "slides"
      ,
      "video"
      )
    • title
      (str | null): The human-readable title
    • artifactDir
      (str): The folder name where the artifact lives

Example:

const {artifacts} = await listArtifacts();

verifyAndReplaceArtifactToml(tempFilePath, artifactTomlPath)

Replace an existing

artifact.toml
file through a validated temp file. Do not edit
artifact.toml
directly.

Parameters:

  • tempFilePath
    (str, required): Absolute path to the temporary TOML file you wrote and edited.
  • artifactTomlPath
    (str, required): Absolute path to the real
    artifact.toml
    file to replace.

Important rules:

  • First copy the current
    artifact.toml
    to a temp file, such as
    /absolute/path/to/artifacts/my-app/.replit-artifact/artifact.edit.toml
  • Make all TOML edits against the temp file using normal file editing tools
  • Then call
    verifyAndReplaceArtifactToml()
    with absolute paths to validate the temp file against the artifact schema and replace the real
    artifact.toml
  • The target path must point to a real
    .replit-artifact/artifact.toml
    file inside the repl
  • If validation fails, the temp file is left in place so you can inspect and fix it

Recommended update flow:

  1. Use
    listArtifacts()
    to identify the artifact directory when needed.
  2. Read the current
    artifact.toml
    .
  3. Write a sibling temp file such as
    /absolute/path/to/artifacts/my-app/.replit-artifact/artifact.edit.toml
    .
  4. Make the desired metadata or service changes in that temp file.
  5. Call
    verifyAndReplaceArtifactToml()
    with the absolute temp file path and the absolute real
    artifact.toml
    path.

When to use this:

  • changing artifact metadata like
    title
    ,
    previewPath
    ,
    kind
    , or
    version
  • changing service definitions, paths, commands, ports, rewrites, or env blocks in
    artifact.toml
  • making multiple coordinated TOML edits at once where a patch-style API would be awkward

Do not:

  • edit
    artifact.toml
    in place
  • call this with arbitrary file paths outside
    .replit-artifact/artifact.toml
  • expect the callback to merge partial changes for you; the temp file should contain the full final TOML you want to keep

Returns: Dict with:

  • success
    (bool): Whether the replacement succeeded

Example:

await verifyAndReplaceArtifactToml({
    tempFilePath: "/absolute/path/to/artifacts/my-website/.replit-artifact/artifact.edit.toml",
    artifactTomlPath: "/absolute/path/to/artifacts/my-website/.replit-artifact/artifact.toml"
});

Delivering the Result —
presentArtifact
+
suggestDeploy

After building the artifact, present it and — for deployable types — suggest publish, all in one code execution block.

Deployable artifacts (

react-vite
,
expo
,
data-visualization
) — present and suggest deploy:

await presentArtifact({artifactId: result.artifactId});
await suggestDeploy();

Non-deployable artifacts (

slides
,
video-js
,
mockup-sandbox
) — present only.
mockup-sandbox
is a local prototyping sandbox and is not meant to be deployed.
slides
and
video-js
are exported from the preview pane. Never call
suggestDeploy
for these types:

await presentArtifact({artifactId: result.artifactId});
  • presentArtifact
    opens the preview pane so the user can see what you built. Without this call, the user won't see the artifact preview — even if the app is running correctly. Pass the
    artifactId
    (str, required) returned by
    createArtifact
    .
  • suggestDeploy
    prompts the user to publish their project with one click. Takes no parameters. This is a terminal action — once called, do not take further actions.

Always call

presentArtifact
after finishing work on any artifact — whether you just created it, made changes to it, or fixed a bug in it. If you built multiple artifacts, present each one. Some skills define additional post-present steps (e.g., data analysis); follow those skill-specific instructions after presenting.

Services and Workflows

<!-- BEGIN_SERVICES_TABLE -->
ArtifactPreview KindService name(s)Dev command(s)PathProduction serveProduction buildProduction run
expo
mobile
expo
pnpm --filter @workspace/__SLUG__ run dev
previewPath
pnpm --filter @workspace/__SLUG__ run build
pnpm --filter @workspace/__SLUG__ run serve
data-visualization
web
web
pnpm --filter @workspace/__SLUG__ run dev
previewPath
static
pnpm --filter @workspace/__SLUG__ run build
mockup-sandbox
design
web
pnpm --filter @workspace/__SLUG__ run dev
previewPath
react-vite
web
web
pnpm --filter @workspace/__SLUG__ run dev
previewPath
static
pnpm --filter @workspace/__SLUG__ run build
slides
slides
web
pnpm --filter @workspace/__SLUG__ run dev
previewPath
static
pnpm --filter @workspace/__SLUG__ run build
video-js
video
web
pnpm --filter @workspace/__SLUG__ run dev
previewPath
static
pnpm --filter @workspace/__SLUG__ run build
<!-- END_SERVICES_TABLE -->

The web service's URL prefix is set to whatever you pass as

previewPath
. Route handling is prefix-aware: frontend routes and API requests must include this prefix.

Mobile: Expo is served directly at its assigned port and uses

previewPath
as its registered route.

Failure Recovery

If

createArtifact
fails, inspect the error and retry with corrected inputs. The callback requires a clean
slug
on each attempt, so remove any partial
artifacts/<slug>/
directory before reusing that slug.

  • Slug already exists → Choose a different
    slug
    , or remove the existing artifact directory before retrying
  • DUPLICATE_PREVIEW_PATH
    → Choose a different
    previewPath
  • Bootstrap fails → Fix the reported shell/setup issue, then retry with a clean slug or after removing any partial directory
  • Artifact is missing
    files/
    → Migrate that artifact type to the shared bootstrap layout before using
    createArtifact

Examples

<!-- BEGIN_EXAMPLES -->

Mobile app (
expo
)

const result = await createArtifact({
    artifactType: "expo",
    slug: "my-app",
    previewPath: "/",
    title: "My App"
});
const expoPort = result.ports.expo;

// Expo is scaffolded under artifacts/my-app
// and API work should be added to the shared api-server.
await startAsyncSubagent({
    task: "Build the mobile app",
    fromPlan: true,
    relevantFiles: [
        ".local/skills/expo/SKILL.md",
        "artifacts/my-app/app/_layout.tsx",
        "artifacts/my-app/app/(tabs)/_layout.tsx",
        "artifacts/my-app/app/(tabs)/index.tsx",
        "artifacts/api-server/src/index.ts",
        "artifacts/my-app/constants/colors.ts"
    ]
});

await presentArtifact({artifactId: result.artifactId});
await suggestDeploy();

Dashboard scaffold with chart/table defaults (
data-visualization
)

const result = await createArtifact({
    artifactType: "data-visualization",
    slug: "sales-dashboard",
    previewPath: "/sales-dashboard/",
    title: "Sales Dashboard"
});

// Recharts, PapaParse, and TanStack React Table are pre-configured
await startAsyncSubagent({
    task: "Build the dashboard",
    fromPlan: true,
    relevantFiles: [
        ".local/skills/data-visualization/SKILL.md",
        "artifacts/dashboard/client/src/pages/Dashboard.tsx",
        "artifacts/dashboard/server/routes.ts",
        "artifacts/dashboard/client/src/config.ts"
    ]
});

await presentArtifact({artifactId: result.artifactId});
await suggestDeploy();

Creates a data visualization dashboard with Recharts (charts), PapaParse (CSV parsing), and TanStack React Table (data tables) pre-configured.

<!-- END_EXAMPLES -->

Multiple artifacts in one workspace

Each artifact must have a unique

slug
and
previewPath
. At least one artifact MUST use
previewPath: "/"
— otherwise users will see a blank page at the root.

IMPORTANT: When building multiple artifacts, you MUST read the file

references/multi-artifact-creation.md
BEFORE creating any artifacts. Do not skip this — it contains critical sequencing and parallelism rules that will significantly affect build quality and speed.

Limitations

  • Each
    slug
    can only be used once — calling
    createArtifact
    again with the same
    slug
    will fail
  • Artifacts must use one of the artifact types listed above
  • Port assignment is automatic and cannot be manually specified

Bootstrap Constraints

<!-- BEGIN_BOOTSTRAP_CONSTRAINTS -->

Mobile bootstrap rules (
artifact: "expo"
)

  • Expo now uses the shared Express API server in the monorepo. Add backend routes in
    artifacts/api-server
    .
  • The generated package owns its Expo dependencies; keep them in
    files/package.json.template
    so
    pnpm install
    produces a runnable app.
<!-- END_BOOTSTRAP_CONSTRAINTS -->