Onlook growth playbook

Rewrite the top of the README to match the homepage: the one-line "Developer Tool for Visual Engineers" position, a screenshot of the canvas on a real React app, and a "Download for Mac" link to /install with a GitHub tracking parameter. Below it, add a short "What is in this repo" section that explains how the open-source code relates to the Mac app and how to run it locally, then the Windows and Linux waitlist as a secondary link. Publish each Mac build as a GitHub Release with short notes, so people who star or watch the repo see new versions. Keep the contributor guide where it is.

Developers trust the repo more than a marketing site, and the README is the page with the most reach that Onlook controls. It already gets the traffic; changing its first screen turns existing visits into downloads at no cost, and Releases put every new version in front of people who already follow the project.

[ ] Headline matches the homepage: "The Developer Tool for Visual Engineers"
[ ] One sentence: free, local-first Mac app for designers working in real React code
[ ] Canvas screenshot on a real app
[ ] "Download for Mac" link to /install?utm_source=github
[ ] Waitlist link for Windows and Linux under it
[ ] "What is in this repo" and "Run locally" sections
[ ] Remove "now in early access" and the hosted-app wording
[ ] Current build published in Releases with notes

• Contributors lose track of how to run the open-source code

  Keep a clear "Run locally" section and link the docs guide.

• Windows and Linux visitors hit a Mac-only button

  Put the waitlist link directly under the download.

• GitHubRepository onlook-dev/onlook (checked November 9, 2026): 27.2k stars, 2.1k forks, Apache-2.0. The README headline is still "The design tool for AI-native designers — now in early access"; it describes a browser-based editor for Next.js and Tailwind, says "use our hosted app or run locally" and links to onlook.com/waitlist. The repo description already says "The Developer Tool for Visual Engineers". The Releases section is empty.Source
• Your websiteInstall page: "Download for Mac" (Apple silicon) and a separate Intel "Download" link; requirements "a Mac with Apple Silicon or an Intel processor running macOS 13 or later"; Windows and Linux: "Join the waitlist"; "as little as 90 seconds — from download to design"; each exploration gets its own git branch; it runs two coding agents with more "coming soon"; the app is free and users bring their own AI account.Source
• Your websiteHomepage (checked November 9, 2026): H1 "The Developer Tool for Visual Engineers", "a free, local-first editor"; the header shows "26.0k" GitHub stars while a banner says "Onlook just crossed 27,000 stars on GitHub!"; the main CTA everywhere is "Download Onlook" (to /install), plus "Book a Demo"; social proof is eight posts from X, with no customer logos or case studies; the footer lists no Docs link.Source
• HiringFounding Engineer (Fullstack), Y Combinator job board (open November 9, 2026): $130K-$200K and 1.00%-4.00% equity, San Francisco or remote (US/Canada); owns large features and code generation and works with "100+ contributors" worldwide; claims #1 on Hacker News and #1 trending GitHub repo; the post cites both "over 22,000" and "over 19,000" GitHub stars. YC lists the company as W25, founded 2024, team size 4; the About page shows 3 people.Source

Write one short pricing truth (what is free, what you need, what Teams adds) and paste it into the FAQ, the pricing page and every feature page. Rewrite the FAQ around the Mac app: who it is for, requirements, the AI account, privacy, platforms, and Teams. Remove the message-limit line and the dashboard-billing answer unless they are still true.

Price confusion is the most common reason a free download stalls, and developers notice contradictions fast. One consistent answer also stops AI assistants and search snippets repeating the old model.

• A paid tier or limit is planned and gets removed from the copy

  Say what is free today and that Teams adds paid features.

• Your websiteFAQ (sitemap date May 13, 2026): "Onlook is an open-source, visual editor for websites" for teams "without coding knowledge"; "Yes, Onlook can be self-hosted for free on GitHub", with the hosted cloud version by contacting the team; "You can upgrade your plan from the billing section in your dashboard"; "We accept all major credit cards through Stripe"; it lists real-time collaboration and GitHub imports. None of it mentions the Mac app.Source
• Your websiteFeature pages: /features/builder says you "drag, drop, and edit web apps in the browser" and both it and /features/ai say "Onlook is free for your first prompt, but you're limited by the number of messages you can send"; neither names a customer, testimonial or case study; the product mockup shown is a fictional "Villainterest" app.Source
• Your websiteInstall page: "Download for Mac" (Apple silicon) and a separate Intel "Download" link; requirements "a Mac with Apple Silicon or an Intel processor running macOS 13 or later"; Windows and Linux: "Join the waitlist"; "as little as 90 seconds — from download to design"; each exploration gets its own git branch; it runs two coding agents with more "coming soon"; the app is free and users bring their own AI account.Source
• Your websitePricing page: two columns, Free ("Download Onlook") and For Teams ("Custom pricing tailored to your team's needs", with a Contact us email link and a Book a demo meeting link); team features are project templates, branching and version history, centralized design tokens, and "SSO (SAML/OAuth), advanced security controls, audit logs, and admin controls"; the self-hosting line says "reach out to us" with no link; no prices, trial or security page.Source

Decide the truth for Intel. If the Intel build works, update the docs and remove Intel from the waitlist; if not, remove the Intel link and send Intel visitors to the waitlist with the same wording as the docs. Detect the visitor's chip on /install where the browser allows it and show one button, and state the minimum macOS version in both places.

A failed first run is the most expensive way to lose a user who already chose to download, and it turns into support email and bad posts. A single answer costs a few lines of copy.

• Dropping Intel loses some users

  Keep them on the waitlist and email them when support lands.

• Your websiteInstall page: "Download for Mac" (Apple silicon) and a separate Intel "Download" link; requirements "a Mac with Apple Silicon or an Intel processor running macOS 13 or later"; Windows and Linux: "Join the waitlist"; "as little as 90 seconds — from download to design"; each exploration gets its own git branch; it runs two coding agents with more "coming soon"; the app is free and users bring their own AI account.Source
• Your docsDocs (install and welcome pages, checked November 9, 2026): Onlook is "a free Mac app for designers", in beta; requirement "A Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or newer)"; Intel Macs, Windows and Linux are sent to the waitlist; users sign in with an email address and connect their own AI account for the agent; work goes to engineers as a GitHub pull request; the docs include a "How Onlook keeps your code safe" page.Source

Fetch the star count from GitHub at build time (refreshed daily) and use one component for it in the header, banner and feature pages. Update the job post and any About or press copy to the same number, or to a round "27k+" that stays true.

Stale numbers undersell real momentum, and mismatched ones look careless to the exact audience that verifies them.

• Build fails if the count can't be fetched

  Fall back to the last known value.

• Your websiteHomepage (checked November 9, 2026): H1 "The Developer Tool for Visual Engineers", "a free, local-first editor"; the header shows "26.0k" GitHub stars while a banner says "Onlook just crossed 27,000 stars on GitHub!"; the main CTA everywhere is "Download Onlook" (to /install), plus "Book a Demo"; social proof is eight posts from X, with no customer logos or case studies; the footer lists no Docs link.Source
• GitHubRepository onlook-dev/onlook (checked November 9, 2026): 27.2k stars, 2.1k forks, Apache-2.0. The README headline is still "The design tool for AI-native designers — now in early access"; it describes a browser-based editor for Next.js and Tailwind, says "use our hosted app or run locally" and links to onlook.com/waitlist. The repo description already says "The Developer Tool for Visual Engineers". The Releases section is empty.Source
• HiringFounding Engineer (Fullstack), Y Combinator job board (open November 9, 2026): $130K-$200K and 1.00%-4.00% equity, San Francisco or remote (US/Canada); owns large features and code generation and works with "100+ contributors" worldwide; claims #1 on Hacker News and #1 trending GitHub repo; the post cites both "over 22,000" and "over 19,000" GitHub stars. YC lists the company as W25, founded 2024, team size 4; the About page shows 3 people.Source

Add a "from $X per editor per month" line for a small-team tier (templates, branching, shared tokens), keep SSO, audit logs and admin controls as an Enterprise tier with a demo, and add a short "what you pay for your AI account" note so total cost is clear. If the price is not ready, publish "Teams pilot: free for 30 days" with an apply form.

Small teams self-qualify by price, and many will not book a call to find one. A visible anchor also makes demos shorter because buyers arrive knowing the range.

• Price set too low for later enterprise deals

  Keep Enterprise custom and publish only the small-team starting price.

• Your websitePricing page: two columns, Free ("Download Onlook") and For Teams ("Custom pricing tailored to your team's needs", with a Contact us email link and a Book a demo meeting link); team features are project templates, branching and version history, centralized design tokens, and "SSO (SAML/OAuth), advanced security controls, audit logs, and admin controls"; the self-hosting line says "reach out to us" with no link; no prices, trial or security page.Source
• Competitor researchSubframe's homepage: "a design tool for your codebase, and a coding agent with a canvas" in one desktop app; "Your codebase stays on your machine"; users can bring their own coding-agent subscription; public pricing: Free at $0 (one project) and Pro at $20 per editor per month.See the research Source

Add /install and /waitlist to the sitemap with real dates, link Docs in the header and footer, and add a public changelog page fed from GitHub Releases. Give the install page its own title and description ("Download Onlook for Mac").

"Onlook download" and "how to use Onlook with Next.js" are the searches people make after hearing about it; they should land on the install page and docs, not a directory site.

• Changelog goes stale

  Generate it from releases so it updates itself.

• Your websiteSitemap (17 URLs, checked November 9, 2026): home, pricing, about, FAQ, why-onlook, visual-engineer (updated October 8, 2026), six feature pages and three framework pages (Next.js, React, Vite). Not listed: /install, /waitlist or the docs. There is no blog, changelog, comparison page or case study on the domain; the blog lives on Substack.Source
• Your websiteHomepage (checked November 9, 2026): H1 "The Developer Tool for Visual Engineers", "a free, local-first editor"; the header shows "26.0k" GitHub stars while a banner says "Onlook just crossed 27,000 stars on GitHub!"; the main CTA everywhere is "Download Onlook" (to /install), plus "Book a Demo"; social proof is eight posts from X, with no customer logos or case studies; the footer lists no Docs link.Source
• Your docsDocs (install and welcome pages, checked November 9, 2026): Onlook is "a free Mac app for designers", in beta; requirement "A Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or newer)"; Intel Macs, Windows and Linux are sent to the waitlist; users sign in with an email address and connect their own AI account for the agent; work goes to engineers as a GitHub pull request; the docs include a "How Onlook keeps your code safe" page.Source

Ask three short questions on the waitlist: operating system, framework (Next.js, React, Vite, other) and team size, with an optional work email. Rank sign-ups by team size and framework fit, invite the top teams to a call and to early builds, and publish a short monthly "waitlist update" so the list stays warm.

It turns a passive list into pipeline for Teams and tells the team which platform to build next with real numbers.

• Extra questions lower sign-ups

  Keep only OS required; the rest optional.

• Your websiteInstall page: "Download for Mac" (Apple silicon) and a separate Intel "Download" link; requirements "a Mac with Apple Silicon or an Intel processor running macOS 13 or later"; Windows and Linux: "Join the waitlist"; "as little as 90 seconds — from download to design"; each exploration gets its own git branch; it runs two coding agents with more "coming soon"; the app is free and users bring their own AI account.Source
• Your docsDocs (install and welcome pages, checked November 9, 2026): Onlook is "a free Mac app for designers", in beta; requirement "A Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or newer)"; Intel Macs, Windows and Linux are sent to the waitlist; users sign in with an email address and connect their own AI account for the agent; work goes to engineers as a GitHub pull request; the docs include a "How Onlook keeps your code safe" page.Source
• Your websitePricing page: two columns, Free ("Download Onlook") and For Teams ("Custom pricing tailored to your team's needs", with a Contact us email link and a Book a demo meeting link); team features are project templates, branching and version history, centralized design tokens, and "SSO (SAML/OAuth), advanced security controls, audit logs, and admin controls"; the self-hosting line says "reach out to us" with no link; no prices, trial or security page.Source

Add opt-in, privacy-respecting step events (no code or file contents) for each first-run step and the time between them. Find the step where most people stop, fix it first (for example a sample project when no repo is ready, or clearer AI-account setup), and email people who stall with the exact help for their step.

Activation is where a free tool earns or loses its users, and a measured funnel shows which one fix is worth most. It also makes the 90-second claim something the team can stand behind.

• Tracking clashes with the local-first promise

  Make it opt-in, step-level only, and say so in the trust docs.

• Your websiteInstall page: "Download for Mac" (Apple silicon) and a separate Intel "Download" link; requirements "a Mac with Apple Silicon or an Intel processor running macOS 13 or later"; Windows and Linux: "Join the waitlist"; "as little as 90 seconds — from download to design"; each exploration gets its own git branch; it runs two coding agents with more "coming soon"; the app is free and users bring their own AI account.Source
• Your docsDocs (install and welcome pages, checked November 9, 2026): Onlook is "a free Mac app for designers", in beta; requirement "A Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or newer)"; Intel Macs, Windows and Linux are sent to the waitlist; users sign in with an email address and connect their own AI account for the agent; work goes to engineers as a GitHub pull request; the docs include a "How Onlook keeps your code safe" page.Source

Write three honest comparison pages: how each tool works with an existing repo, open source or not, where code lives, frameworks, handoff (Onlook sends a GitHub pull request), pricing and platforms. Say plainly where a rival is better (for example Windows or published pricing) and where Onlook wins. Date each page and refresh it quarterly.

Comparison searches come from people about to choose, and fair pages earn trust with developers. They also give AI assistants a clear source for how Onlook differs.

• Claims go out of date in a fast-moving market

  Date every page and link rivals' sources.

• Your websiteWhy Onlook: "Great products are built when designers ship code"; "Onlook reads the React components in your repo as-is"; "Onlook picks up where Figma ends" and many teams use both; audiences named are product and UI designers, design engineers, design technologists, frontend engineers, founders, design leaders and agency principals; no other tool is named.Source
• Your websiteSitemap (17 URLs, checked November 9, 2026): home, pricing, about, FAQ, why-onlook, visual-engineer (updated October 8, 2026), six feature pages and three framework pages (Next.js, React, Vite). Not listed: /install, /waitlist or the docs. There is no blog, changelog, comparison page or case study on the domain; the blog lives on Substack.Source
• Competitor researchSubframe's homepage: "a design tool for your codebase, and a coding agent with a canvas" in one desktop app; "Your codebase stays on your machine"; users can bring their own coding-agent subscription; public pricing: Free at $0 (one project) and Pro at $20 per editor per month.See the research Source
• Competitor researchBuilder.io's homepage: "Production code, edited like design"; "A visual canvas wired directly into your components and design tokens"; teams can start from scratch, import Figma designs or work in an existing repo.See the research Source
• Competitor researchFigma Make: prompt-to-code inside Figma that uses the team's design system; local builds in any codebase are listed as coming soon; the page shows logos from large brands.See the research Source

Publish a free, copyable Visual Engineer job description and interview exercise built on the seniority levels already on the page. Add a simple "teams hiring Visual Engineers" page where companies submit a role link, and invite each team that posts to try Onlook for Teams. Onlook's own open role can be the first listing.

A name spreads when hiring managers use it in job posts, and every post that says "Visual Engineer" points back to Onlook. Teams posting roles are self-identified buyers.

• Low posting volume at first

  Start with the template download; add the page once ten teams use it.

• Your website"What is a Visual Engineer?" (about 2,000 words, updated October 8, 2026): someone who "designs and builds production software directly in code"; "From designer who hands off to creator who ships"; sections on practice, career path, seniority levels and what to look for when hiring one; the CTA is "Download Onlook".Source
• Your websitePricing page: two columns, Free ("Download Onlook") and For Teams ("Custom pricing tailored to your team's needs", with a Contact us email link and a Book a demo meeting link); team features are project templates, branching and version history, centralized design tokens, and "SSO (SAML/OAuth), advanced security controls, audit logs, and admin controls"; the self-hosting line says "reach out to us" with no link; no prices, trial or security page.Source
• HiringFounding Engineer (Fullstack), Y Combinator job board (open November 9, 2026): $130K-$200K and 1.00%-4.00% equity, San Francisco or remote (US/Canada); owns large features and code generation and works with "100+ contributors" worldwide; claims #1 on Hacker News and #1 trending GitHub repo; the post cites both "over 22,000" and "over 19,000" GitHub stars. YC lists the company as W25, founded 2024, team size 4; the About page shows 3 people.Source

Find three teams using Onlook on a real codebase (from demos, the waitlist or contributors) and write short stories: the stack, what designers now ship themselves, pull requests merged, time saved on handoff. Add their screenshots to the feature pages in place of, or next to, the mockup, and a logo row once permission allows.

Team proof is what moves a free download to a paid team conversation, and it answers "does this work on a real repo?" better than any copy.

• Teams can't share their product screens

  Use an anonymized story with the stack and numbers only.

• Your websiteFeature pages: /features/builder says you "drag, drop, and edit web apps in the browser" and both it and /features/ai say "Onlook is free for your first prompt, but you're limited by the number of messages you can send"; neither names a customer, testimonial or case study; the product mockup shown is a fictional "Villainterest" app.Source
• Your websiteHomepage (checked November 9, 2026): H1 "The Developer Tool for Visual Engineers", "a free, local-first editor"; the header shows "26.0k" GitHub stars while a banner says "Onlook just crossed 27,000 stars on GitHub!"; the main CTA everywhere is "Download Onlook" (to /install), plus "Book a Demo"; social proof is eight posts from X, with no customer logos or case studies; the footer lists no Docs link.Source
• Your websitePricing page: two columns, Free ("Download Onlook") and For Teams ("Custom pricing tailored to your team's needs", with a Contact us email link and a Book a demo meeting link); team features are project templates, branching and version history, centralized design tokens, and "SSO (SAML/OAuth), advanced security controls, audit logs, and admin controls"; the self-hosting line says "reach out to us" with no link; no prices, trial or security page.Source

Start a small named group (for example "Onlook Visual Engineers") for active contributors and power users: early builds, a private channel with the team, credit in release notes and the app's About screen, and a simple kit (talk slides, a sample repo) for meetups and posts. Label clear "good first issue" tasks to bring designers into contributing.

Developer tools grow through people who already care; recognition and early access cost little and keep them talking about Onlook.

• Group goes quiet

  Keep it small and give a monthly reason to show up, such as a preview build.

• #1 Rewrite the 27,000-star GitHub README so it sells the Mac app, not an "early access" waitlist

• HiringFounding Engineer (Fullstack), Y Combinator job board (open November 9, 2026): $130K-$200K and 1.00%-4.00% equity, San Francisco or remote (US/Canada); owns large features and code generation and works with "100+ contributors" worldwide; claims #1 on Hacker News and #1 trending GitHub repo; the post cites both "over 22,000" and "over 19,000" GitHub stars. YC lists the company as W25, founded 2024, team size 4; the About page shows 3 people.Source
• GitHubRepository onlook-dev/onlook (checked November 9, 2026): 27.2k stars, 2.1k forks, Apache-2.0. The README headline is still "The design tool for AI-native designers — now in early access"; it describes a browser-based editor for Next.js and Tailwind, says "use our hosted app or run locally" and links to onlook.com/waitlist. The repo description already says "The Developer Tool for Visual Engineers". The Releases section is empty.Source

Write three role pages: for design leaders (one source of truth, fewer handoff tickets, Teams features), for founders (ship UI changes without waiting on engineering) and for agencies (deliver in the client's real repo, reuse templates). Each with a role-specific example, the right CTA (download for founders, demo for leaders and agencies) and links to the framework pages.

Buyers search and share by role and problem, not by framework, and role pages give paid and social campaigns somewhere specific to land.

• Thin pages that repeat each other

  Give each page a different example and proof.

• Your websiteWhy Onlook: "Great products are built when designers ship code"; "Onlook reads the React components in your repo as-is"; "Onlook picks up where Figma ends" and many teams use both; audiences named are product and UI designers, design engineers, design technologists, frontend engineers, founders, design leaders and agency principals; no other tool is named.Source
• Your websiteSitemap (17 URLs, checked November 9, 2026): home, pricing, about, FAQ, why-onlook, visual-engineer (updated October 8, 2026), six feature pages and three framework pages (Next.js, React, Vite). Not listed: /install, /waitlist or the docs. There is no blog, changelog, comparison page or case study on the domain; the blog lives on Substack.Source

Publish a weekly 8 to 12 minute video: pick a well-known open-source React or Next.js app, redesign one screen in Onlook, and open the pull request on camera. Cut each into short clips for X and LinkedIn, and link the pull request in the description. Invite the project's maintainers to review it.

It is proof on code viewers already know, it produces a public pull request each week, and maintainers often share it with their own audience.

• Maintainers reject the pull request

  Agree scope with them before recording.

• Researchprogrammable.info research (November 2026): YouTube channel with 1,620 subscribers, 23 videos and 84,032 views; a Substack newsletter; a domain authority score of 23; positioning changed in the past year from "Cursor for Designers" to "The Developer Tool for Visual Engineers", and the site moved off Framer to Next.js on Vercel.Source
• GitHubRepository onlook-dev/onlook (checked November 9, 2026): 27.2k stars, 2.1k forks, Apache-2.0. The README headline is still "The design tool for AI-native designers — now in early access"; it describes a browser-based editor for Next.js and Tailwind, says "use our hosted app or run locally" and links to onlook.com/waitlist. The repo description already says "The Developer Tool for Visual Engineers". The Releases section is empty.Source

Publish posts on onlook.com/blog first (Next.js makes this easy), then send them through Substack as the newsletter with a link back. Move the best past posts over with redirects or canonical links. Write toward the searches the product answers: designing in a Next.js repo, shadcn theming, design tokens in code, designer pull requests.

Owned posts compound into search traffic and links for the domain that converts, while Substack keeps doing the job it is good at: email delivery.

• Newsletter readers drop if posts move

  Keep sending full posts by Substack.

• Your websiteSitemap (17 URLs, checked November 9, 2026): home, pricing, about, FAQ, why-onlook, visual-engineer (updated October 8, 2026), six feature pages and three framework pages (Next.js, React, Vite). Not listed: /install, /waitlist or the docs. There is no blog, changelog, comparison page or case study on the domain; the blog lives on Substack.Source
• Researchprogrammable.info research (November 2026): YouTube channel with 1,620 subscribers, 23 videos and 84,032 views; a Substack newsletter; a domain authority score of 23; positioning changed in the past year from "Cursor for Designers" to "The Developer Tool for Visual Engineers", and the site moved off Framer to Next.js on Vercel.Source

Add an optional, on-by-default footer to Onlook-generated pull request descriptions: before and after screenshots of the changed screen, the components touched, and one line "Made in Onlook" with a link to /install. Let users turn it off in settings. Track installs from that link.

It makes reviews faster (screenshots) and puts the product in front of the other half of every buying team at the exact moment they see what it produced.

• Users see the footer as advertising

  Keep it one line, lead with useful screenshots, and make it easy to switch off.

• Your docsDocs (install and welcome pages, checked November 9, 2026): Onlook is "a free Mac app for designers", in beta; requirement "A Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or newer)"; Intel Macs, Windows and Linux are sent to the waitlist; users sign in with an email address and connect their own AI account for the agent; work goes to engineers as a GitHub pull request; the docs include a "How Onlook keeps your code safe" page.Source
• Your websiteInstall page: "Download for Mac" (Apple silicon) and a separate Intel "Download" link; requirements "a Mac with Apple Silicon or an Intel processor running macOS 13 or later"; Windows and Linux: "Join the waitlist"; "as little as 90 seconds — from download to design"; each exploration gets its own git branch; it runs two coding agents with more "coming soon"; the app is free and users bring their own AI account.Source

Recruit five to ten design and development agencies working in Next.js or React. Give them Teams access at a partner rate, a listing on an Onlook partners page, and help building reusable templates. Ask them to leave Onlook set up in each client's repo at handover, with a client invite.

Agencies bring many clients at once, and a client who receives a site already set up in Onlook has a reason to keep using it.

• Agencies try it once and stop

  Start with agencies already using it, measured on real client projects.

• Your websiteWhy Onlook: "Great products are built when designers ship code"; "Onlook reads the React components in your repo as-is"; "Onlook picks up where Figma ends" and many teams use both; audiences named are product and UI designers, design engineers, design technologists, frontend engineers, founders, design leaders and agency principals; no other tool is named.Source
• Your websitePricing page: two columns, Free ("Download Onlook") and For Teams ("Custom pricing tailored to your team's needs", with a Contact us email link and a Book a demo meeting link); team features are project templates, branching and version history, centralized design tokens, and "SSO (SAML/OAuth), advanced security controls, audit logs, and admin controls"; the self-hosting line says "reach out to us" with no link; no prices, trial or security page.Source

Add an "Invite a teammate" button next to the pull-request step and in the project menu. The invite email shows the work and a download link. When a second person from the same company domain joins, offer the pair a free Teams pilot and a 15-minute setup call.

Teams form around shared work; catching the second user turns individual downloads into team accounts and gives sales a warm, specific reason to call.

• Invites feel spammy

  Only send when the user chooses, with their own message.

• Your docsDocs (install and welcome pages, checked November 9, 2026): Onlook is "a free Mac app for designers", in beta; requirement "A Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or newer)"; Intel Macs, Windows and Linux are sent to the waitlist; users sign in with an email address and connect their own AI account for the agent; work goes to engineers as a GitHub pull request; the docs include a "How Onlook keeps your code safe" page.Source
• Your websitePricing page: two columns, Free ("Download Onlook") and For Teams ("Custom pricing tailored to your team's needs", with a Contact us email link and a Book a demo meeting link); team features are project templates, branching and version history, centralized design tokens, and "SSO (SAML/OAuth), advanced security controls, audit logs, and admin controls"; the self-hosting line says "reach out to us" with no link; no prices, trial or security page.Source
• HiringFounding Engineer (Fullstack), Y Combinator job board (open November 9, 2026): $130K-$200K and 1.00%-4.00% equity, San Francisco or remote (US/Canada); owns large features and code generation and works with "100+ contributors" worldwide; claims #1 on Hacker News and #1 trending GitHub repo; the post cites both "over 22,000" and "over 19,000" GitHub stars. YC lists the company as W25, founded 2024, team size 4; the About page shows 3 people.Source
• Your websiteFAQ (sitemap date May 13, 2026): "Onlook is an open-source, visual editor for websites" for teams "without coding knowledge"; "Yes, Onlook can be self-hosted for free on GitHub", with the hosted cloud version by contacting the team; "You can upgrade your plan from the billing section in your dashboard"; "We accept all major credit cards through Stripe"; it lists real-time collaboration and GitHub imports. None of it mentions the Mac app.Source

Publish onlook.com/trust from the existing docs page: what stays local, what goes to the user's own AI provider, what Onlook's servers see (sign-in only, or more), how Teams SSO and audit logs work, and the open-source code anyone can inspect. Link it from pricing, the FAQ, the install page and demo invites.

It answers the security question before the demo, shortens procurement for Teams, and turns local-first and open source into a visible advantage.

• Promises the product can't keep

  Only state what the code does today, and date the page.

• Your websitePricing page: two columns, Free ("Download Onlook") and For Teams ("Custom pricing tailored to your team's needs", with a Contact us email link and a Book a demo meeting link); team features are project templates, branching and version history, centralized design tokens, and "SSO (SAML/OAuth), advanced security controls, audit logs, and admin controls"; the self-hosting line says "reach out to us" with no link; no prices, trial or security page.Source
• Your docsDocs (install and welcome pages, checked November 9, 2026): Onlook is "a free Mac app for designers", in beta; requirement "A Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or newer)"; Intel Macs, Windows and Linux are sent to the waitlist; users sign in with an email address and connect their own AI account for the agent; work goes to engineers as a GitHub pull request; the docs include a "How Onlook keeps your code safe" page.Source
• Your websiteInstall page: "Download for Mac" (Apple silicon) and a separate Intel "Download" link; requirements "a Mac with Apple Silicon or an Intel processor running macOS 13 or later"; Windows and Linux: "Join the waitlist"; "as little as 90 seconds — from download to design"; each exploration gets its own git branch; it runs two coding agents with more "coming soon"; the app is free and users bring their own AI account.Source

Add a "Create a team" flow in the app: invite teammates, share project templates and tokens, and start a 14-day Teams trial that converts to per-editor billing. Keep SSO, audit logs and admin controls as an Enterprise upgrade with a demo. Trigger the offer at natural moments, such as a second person opening the same repo.

Small design teams buy the way developers do: try, invite, pay. A self-serve path captures them without adding sales headcount to a team of four.

• Self-serve undercuts enterprise deals

  Keep security and admin controls in the Enterprise tier.

• Engineering time pulled from the core editor

  Use a hosted billing tool and a minimal team model first.

• #5 Publish a starting team price beside the "custom pricing" box

• Your websiteFAQ (sitemap date May 13, 2026): "Onlook is an open-source, visual editor for websites" for teams "without coding knowledge"; "Yes, Onlook can be self-hosted for free on GitHub", with the hosted cloud version by contacting the team; "You can upgrade your plan from the billing section in your dashboard"; "We accept all major credit cards through Stripe"; it lists real-time collaboration and GitHub imports. None of it mentions the Mac app.Source
• Your websitePricing page: two columns, Free ("Download Onlook") and For Teams ("Custom pricing tailored to your team's needs", with a Contact us email link and a Book a demo meeting link); team features are project templates, branching and version history, centralized design tokens, and "SSO (SAML/OAuth), advanced security controls, audit logs, and admin controls"; the self-hosting line says "reach out to us" with no link; no prices, trial or security page.Source
• Your docsDocs (install and welcome pages, checked November 9, 2026): Onlook is "a free Mac app for designers", in beta; requirement "A Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or newer)"; Intel Macs, Windows and Linux are sent to the waitlist; users sign in with an email address and connect their own AI account for the agent; work goes to engineers as a GitHub pull request; the docs include a "How Onlook keeps your code safe" page.Source
• Competitor researchSubframe's homepage: "a design tool for your codebase, and a coding agent with a canvas" in one desktop app; "Your codebase stays on your machine"; users can bring their own coding-agent subscription; public pricing: Free at $0 (one project) and Pro at $20 per editor per month.See the research Source

Use the ranked waitlist (idea 7) to size the Windows demand and recruit 20 teams for a closed beta. Ship a Windows build with the same local-first model and git workflow, then open it to the whole waitlist with a launch post, a README update and a changelog entry.

It opens the rest of the developer market and removes the most common reason a team can't standardize on Onlook, and the waitlist gives a ready launch audience.

• Slows the Mac roadmap

  Ship after the first Founding Engineer hire lands, and limit the beta to supported frameworks.

• #7 Turn the Windows and Linux waitlist into a ranked list of teams to launch with

• Your websiteInstall page: "Download for Mac" (Apple silicon) and a separate Intel "Download" link; requirements "a Mac with Apple Silicon or an Intel processor running macOS 13 or later"; Windows and Linux: "Join the waitlist"; "as little as 90 seconds — from download to design"; each exploration gets its own git branch; it runs two coding agents with more "coming soon"; the app is free and users bring their own AI account.Source
• Your docsDocs (install and welcome pages, checked November 9, 2026): Onlook is "a free Mac app for designers", in beta; requirement "A Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or newer)"; Intel Macs, Windows and Linux are sent to the waitlist; users sign in with an email address and connect their own AI account for the agent; work goes to engineers as a GitHub pull request; the docs include a "How Onlook keeps your code safe" page.Source
• HiringFounding Engineer (Fullstack), Y Combinator job board (open November 9, 2026): $130K-$200K and 1.00%-4.00% equity, San Francisco or remote (US/Canada); owns large features and code generation and works with "100+ contributors" worldwide; claims #1 on Hacker News and #1 trending GitHub repo; the post cites both "over 22,000" and "over 19,000" GitHub stars. YC lists the company as W25, founded 2024, team size 4; the About page shows 3 people.Source

Add a "Check design drift" action in the app (and an open-source command in the repo) that scans the local project and reports hard-coded colors, spacing and font sizes that don't match the tokens, and near-duplicate components. Each finding opens in the canvas to fix. The report stays on the user's machine; sharing a summary is optional.

It gives a design leader a reason to open Onlook on day one, before any design work, and a report they can share with engineers that makes the case for the Teams plan.

• Too many false positives

  Start with the two most reliable checks and let users ignore rules.

• Your websiteWhy Onlook: "Great products are built when designers ship code"; "Onlook reads the React components in your repo as-is"; "Onlook picks up where Figma ends" and many teams use both; audiences named are product and UI designers, design engineers, design technologists, frontend engineers, founders, design leaders and agency principals; no other tool is named.Source
• Your websitePricing page: two columns, Free ("Download Onlook") and For Teams ("Custom pricing tailored to your team's needs", with a Contact us email link and a Book a demo meeting link); team features are project templates, branching and version history, centralized design tokens, and "SSO (SAML/OAuth), advanced security controls, audit logs, and admin controls"; the self-hosting line says "reach out to us" with no link; no prices, trial or security page.Source
• Competitor researchBuilder.io's homepage: "Production code, edited like design"; "A visual canvas wired directly into your components and design tokens"; teams can start from scratch, import Figma designs or work in an existing repo.See the research Source

Run a short survey each year for designers and engineers who work in code: role titles, how often designers ship to production, tools, handoff time, salary bands by level. Publish the report on onlook.com with charts and a downloadable summary, and pitch the findings to design newsletters and podcasts.

A report with real numbers earns links and press that product pages can't, and it ties the term "Visual Engineer" to Onlook every time it is quoted.

• Sample skews to Onlook users

  Say so in the method and partner with a design community to widen reach.

• #10 Make "Visual Engineer" a hiring term: a job-description template and a page of teams hiring them

• Your website"What is a Visual Engineer?" (about 2,000 words, updated October 8, 2026): someone who "designs and builds production software directly in code"; "From designer who hands off to creator who ships"; sections on practice, career path, seniority levels and what to look for when hiring one; the CTA is "Download Onlook".Source
• GitHubRepository onlook-dev/onlook (checked November 9, 2026): 27.2k stars, 2.1k forks, Apache-2.0. The README headline is still "The design tool for AI-native designers — now in early access"; it describes a browser-based editor for Next.js and Tailwind, says "use our hosted app or run locally" and links to onlook.com/waitlist. The repo description already says "The Developer Tool for Visual Engineers". The Releases section is empty.Source
• Researchprogrammable.info research (November 2026): YouTube channel with 1,620 subscribers, 23 videos and 84,032 views; a Substack newsletter; a domain authority score of 23; positioning changed in the past year from "Cursor for Designers" to "The Developer Tool for Visual Engineers", and the site moved off Framer to Next.js on Vercel.Source