Install Better Design MCP in Zed

Follow the setup below to give Zed Better Design's systems and interface guidance.

Set up in one command

Run it in your terminal. It connects your coding tools and adds the rule that tells agents to use Better Design on every UI change.

terminal

npx -y better-design

Adding the server by hand? Paste this rule into CLAUDE.md or AGENTS.md too.

markdown

<!-- better-design:start -->
## Better Design

For every UI build, run these steps in order, and never present a page that skipped step 2 or 4:
1. Design system: keep the product's own design. Use its theme and components when the code has them, or its `extract-from-url` tokens for a live site. Only a product with no design of its own takes `find-design-system`, then `get-design-system-kit`.
2. Principles: `get-ui-principle` before styling, `get-ux-principle` before behavior.
3. Build. A product screen sits inside its app shell, with realistic sample data and an app-scale title.
4. Review: `get-review-rules`, `check-comprehension` and `inspect-spacing`. Fix every critical and serious finding.

Always use the Better Design MCP tools for any frontend, UI, UX, interaction, flow, form, navigation, dialog, error, onboarding, component, styling, article widget, calculator, estimator, converter, generator, quiz, checklist, React Native, Expo, Three.js, Shopify, or sales work, without me having to explicitly ask. For a calculator or article widget, load `get-widget-guide`; for React Native or Expo, load task guidance with `get-react-native-guide`; for Three.js or React Three Fiber, use `get-three-js-guide`; for Shopify Liquid or theme work, use `get-shopify-guide`; for sales conversations or assets, use `get-sales-principle`. Load visual guidance with `get-ui-principle`, load flow guidance with `get-ux-principle`, and self-review with `get-review-rules` and `check-comprehension`. Run `inspect-spacing` on rendered DOM evidence. For dashboards, deploy the exact source to a public HTTPS preview; `finalize-dashboard-review` must return VALID after Better Design captures it at 390, 1440, and 1728. Start UI builds with `find-design-system`. For a custom brand, call `create-design-system`, poll `get-design-system-status`, and run its React install command in coding hosts; in inline canvases, call `get-design-system-kit` with target `html` and the generated projectId. For a catalog system, call `get-design-system-kit` with target `react` in coding hosts or `html` in inline canvases. For a Shopify store, load `get-shopify-guide`, then call `get-design-system-kit` with target `shopify`.
<!-- better-design:end -->

Or add the server to Zed by hand:

Setup

Config

json

{
  "context_servers": {
    "better-design": {
      "url": "https://better-design.com/api/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer <YOUR_API_KEY>",
        "X-Better-Design-Client": "zed"
      }
    }
  }
}