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What are Artifacts and how do I use them?

Updated this week

Accessing artifacts in the sidebar is available for Free, Pro, and Max plan users of Claude. Claude for Work users will have access to artifacts in the chat.

Claude-powered artifacts are available for Free, Pro, and Max plan users.

Artifacts allow you to turn ideas into shareable apps, tools, or content—build tools, visualizations, and experiences by simply describing what you need. Claude can share substantial, standalone content with you in a dedicated window separate from the main conversation. This makes it easy for you to work with significant pieces of content that you may want to modify, build upon, or reference later.

What are artifacts?

Claude creates an artifact when the content it is sharing has the following characteristics:

  • It is significant and self-contained, typically over 15 lines of content

  • It is something you are likely to want to edit, iterate on, or reuse outside the conversation

  • It represents a complex piece of content that stands on its own without requiring extra conversation context

  • It is content you are likely to want to refer back to or use later on

Some common examples of artifact content include:

  • Documents (Markdown or Plain Text)

  • Code snippets

  • Websites (single page HTML)

  • Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) images

  • Diagrams and flowcharts

  • Interactive React components

How do I create and manage artifacts?

For Claude Free, Pro, and Max plan users:

You can access all your artifacts through the dedicated artifacts space in your Claude app sidebar. This space allows you to:

  • View all your creations in one organized location

  • Browse Anthropic-created artifacts for inspiration

  • Create new artifacts from scratch or by customizing existing ones

  • Manage and organize your artifact collection

For Claude for Work users:

You can create artifacts simply by chatting with Claude. Claude for Work users currently do not have a dedicated artifacts space in their Claude app sidebar.

Working with artifacts

When Claude creates an artifact, you'll see the artifact content displayed in the dedicated window to the right side of the main chat. Here's what you can do:

Edit and iterate:

  • Ask Claude to modify or update the artifact content

  • These changes appear directly in the artifact window

  • Switch between different versions using the version selector

  • Your edits won't change Claude's memory of the original content

  • Edit prior chat messages to create a different version of a chat history, with its own set of Artifacts. This lets you easily create different versions of an Artifact without fear of losing your previous work.

View and export:

  • View the underlying code of any artifact

  • Copy content to your clipboard

  • Download files to use outside the conversation

  • These options are in the lower right corner of the artifact window

Multiple artifacts:

  • Open and work with several artifacts in one conversation

  • Use the chat controls (slider icon in upper right) to switch between them

  • Select which artifact you want Claude to reference for updates

Editing Artifacts with the analysis tool enabled

This functionality requires the analysis tool feature. For more information on enabling this feature, visit the resource here.

With the analysis tool feature enabled, Claude can make targeted changes to specific sections of an Artifact instead of rewriting it entirely. There are two ways to edit Artifacts:

1. Targeted Updates

  • For small changes to specific sections, Claude can update just that portion while leaving the rest unchanged.

  • You can simply describe what you want changed and where.

  • For example: "Could you change the color of the button from red to blue?" or “Update the first paragraph to include a problem statement.”

2. Full Rewrites

  • For major changes affecting most of the content, Claude can rewrite a new version

  • This is better for substantial restructuring or when multiple sections need to change

  • For example: "Could you completely redesign the button to be a toggle instead?" or “Could you rewrite this technical documentation to be a customer-facing FAQ instead?”

In both cases, each edit creates a new version that you can access through the version selector, letting you track changes while you work.

Best Practices:

  • Be specific about which part you want to change

  • For targeted updates, reference unique identifying text around your desired change

  • Consider whether a small update or full rewrite would be more appropriate for your needs

Creating Claude-powered artifacts

You can also build artifacts that embed AI capabilities, turning them into AI-powered apps. Users of your artifacts can access Claude's intelligence through a text-based API—answering questions, generating creative content, providing personalized coaching, playing games, solving problems, and adapting responses based on input. When you share these AI-powered artifacts, others can use them immediately—no API keys, no costs to you. Whether your artifact helps 10 people or 10,000, it's completely free to share.

To create artifacts with AI capabilities:

  • You describe what you want

  • Claude writes the code

  • The app runs on Anthropic’s infrastructure

  • Users authenticate with their Claude account and interact with their own instance of the artifact

  • Their usage counts against their Claude subscription (you do not pay for their usage)

You can:

  • Call a limited text-based completion API

  • Process files and create rich UIs with React

  • See, fork, and customize any artifact

What you can't do:

  • Make external API calls to third-party services

  • Use persistent storage

  • Use Anthropic’s full API (yet)

Read more about how to use Claude to power artifacts with these two guides:

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