Clate Beta is out today, free for everyone. It's a no-code, AI-native UX design tool built for embedded and HMI applications, with QML under the hood, so designers can stay in control of the full user experience.
Designers Are Missing A Tool They Can't Name
At the end of last year, we talked to more than 400 designers working on embedded devices. Six in ten told us they need a tool they don't have today. Most of them couldn't say what it was. In our experience and practice, we also found that embedded UX designers use an average of four tools to complete a single project, often stitching them together by hand.
Looking at the market, one can see that none of the tools were built around how UX designers of embedded and HMI applications work.
Most design tools were built for web and mobile, and they're very good at that job. But designs created with such tools aren't tied to real data; there's no way to know what the target hardware can render; and there's no real code output. Then there are game engines that focus on delivering outstanding visuals but assume a generous GPU budget, leaving teams to fight for memory for the rest of the project. Finally, there are specialized embedded tools that can deliver on actual devices, but most of them lock users into built-in IDEs or code editors that keep designers away.
In this landscape, the bar for embedded design has gone up, as smartphones have quietly become the reference point for every user interface we touch. And AI has shifted the focus from speed to quality, making the question every designer has to answer even more relevant: Will the beautiful thing on the screen actually get the job done?
Qt has built tools for developers and engineers for decades, and it now powers more than 1 billion devices worldwide. We know what it takes for a UI to run on real hardware, to be ported across products, and to deliver on its intended purpose.
Today, with Clate, we introduce a tool where designers who have never touched Qt will feel at home, confident that what they hand off is working QML that developers can just build around.
What is Clate
Clate is the first design tool for real-world experiences. It's a single tool where designers own the full user experience of embedded and HMI applications, not just the visual mockups.
Clate is built on three principles:
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Design for real-world devices. Clate is made for embedded interfaces. As you design, Clate matches your work to QML, Qt's declarative language for user interfaces. Developers build around what you hand over, rather than rebuilding it from a static mockup.
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Built by designers, for designers. Clate is a no-code tool, designed by people who have worked on embedded human-machine interface (HMI) projects for years. If you've used a modern design tool, you'll feel at home on day one.
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AI is built into the workspace. Clate is AI-native. Prompt new screens or design changes in natural language and stay in control of what you keep and when to publish.
What's in Clate Beta
Clate Beta gives you the foundations for designing embedded HMIs. It's out today, and it’s free for anyone to use. Here’s what you can expect to find.
A Designer-Friendly UI
In Clate Beta, you can create UI elements from scratch using the intuitive toolbar and panel controls. You work on an Infinity Canvas, a shared design project space: you can create without boundaries and have more room to explore and connect without visual limitations.
You can upload and store assets in the same library for use across your design files, and you have full control over your design using the Property Editor, with features like the color picker and gradient editor.
If you import components or assets, you can still view and adjust the component layers within the imported design. This way, you maintain control over the details of your design and can edit the nested elements of the visuals as large components become more complex.
You can manage and work on multiple project files simultaneously. You can create, edit, and delete files on your canvas, and you can move objects between project files.
Clate AI Assistant
Open the AI Assistant from the top bar and describe what you want, in as much detail as you like. It creates elements and screens directly on the canvas or in the chat, so you can keep refining them yourself.
To get started, connect your AI service provider through the Agent Client Protocol (ACP). All you need is an existing AI subscription. At launch, Clate supports Claude by Anthropic, with more providers coming soon.
Clate also includes a local Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, so you can connect the AI agents you already use to Clate.
QML Export
As you design, Clate matches your work to QML in the background. When you're ready to share, export a code preview and the files. Developers pick up working QML, review it, and start building from a real foundation instead of reverse-engineering a PDF.
What's Next
The Beta is just the start, and we hope to be engaging with as many embedded UX designers as possible to ensure Clate meets their needs.
The full commercial version of Clate is planned for summer 2027, and we'll keep shipping features to Beta users along the way.
Coming in 2026
Variables and data bindings - A real-world experience is functional, not just good-looking. Define data inputs, give them a type and values, and bind any property to them so the UI is driven by data. Take a thermostat: set its range from 10 to 35 degrees, turn it red above 27, and drag a slider to simulate values and catch layout issues early. Bindings tell developers exactly what to wire up, directly in the code, instead of in a text box next to the mockup.
Planned for Spring 2027
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Extended components: states, variants, and overrides of component structures.
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In-canvas editing: gradient controls for subtle gradients with precise control, directly on the canvas.
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Design system management: design tokens for color, spacing, and typography, and base components, defined once and reused everywhere. We're also looking into importing tokens from the most widely used tools.
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Asset management: icon libraries and conversion of different asset formats to QML.
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Design templates: create and customize templates to reuse across projects and with your team.
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Screen flows and node graphs: one of the hardest parts of an HMI project to document and hand over. Visually connect screens, states, components, and interactive elements, and define what triggers each navigation, without writing code.
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Animations: timelines and curve editors for motion designers. Move a property while the playhead runs and Clate adds the keyframe, or hit record, interact with objects, and let Clate turn that into keyframes. Developers get animations that match the build, not specs to reinterpret.
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Collaboration: work on the same file in real time, see who's online and what they're editing, pin comments to the canvas, and mention the person who needs to act.
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More AI providers in the AI Assistant.
Clate, Figma to Qt, and Qt Design Studio: Which One is For You
Clate joins a family of Qt design tools. Each one answers a different need:
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Figma to Qt is for designers who want to stay in Figma. The plugin runs inside Figma, lets you preview your design as a real Qt interface, flags what won't translate, and exports a complete QML project. If you're on a Figma project that ships soon, it's the most reliable way to get your file to the device.
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Qt Design Studio is for technical artists who work hands-on with Qt Quick and QML, side by side with developers, including 3D user interfaces for demanding use cases such as automotive.
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Clate is for UX designers who want to own the full experience of an embedded product in a dedicated, no-code tool built for real-world devices, from the first sketch to the QML your developers build on.
Get started with Clate Beta
We built Clate with hundreds of UX and visual designers working on HMI projects across industries, and we'll keep building it with our Beta users. Download Clate Beta for free today, try it on your next embedded project, and tell us what's getting in your way.
