--- title: "What Is a Claude Artifact?" slug: /blog/what-is-a-claude-artifact publishedAt: "2026-10-14" updatedAt: "2026-10-14" author: ott description: "A Claude artifact is a document, page, diagram or small app that Claude builds in a panel next to the chat. Where it lives, who can open it, which limits apply, and how to keep it at a URL your company controls. Checked 14 October 2026." --- # What is a Claude artifact? > **TL;DR:** A Claude artifact is a document, page, diagram or small app that Claude creates in a panel next to the chat. It is usually HTML, Markdown or code. It lives in your Claude account. Who else can open it depends on your plan and on how you share it. Readers usually need a Claude account. To keep an artifact at a URL that your company controls, publish its HTML to a host. Display (display.dev), the docs workspace for agents and people, publishes it from Claude behind company sign-in. Display is our product. We checked the Anthropic facts against the Claude Help Center and the Claude Code documentation on 14 October 2026. --- ## What Claude puts in an artifact The Claude Help Center describes an artifact as anything that Claude makes for you to give to someone. Examples are a design, a deck, a document, a dashboard or a small interactive tool. Claude makes one when the content is large and complete without the chat. It also makes one when you will probably edit it, use it again or refer to it. Common kinds: - Documents and reports, in Markdown or rich text. - Single web pages, in HTML with CSS and JavaScript. - Diagrams and flowcharts. - Dashboards and small tools that you can click and use. - Slides, designs and documents from the Slides, Design and Docs templates. --- ## Where an artifact lives Claude saves everything it makes in the Artifacts tab in your Claude sidebar. The artifact belongs to your account, and Anthropic hosts it. The Claude Code viewer loads each artifact from a sandboxed `claudeusercontent.com` address, under a strict content security policy. There are two main kinds: - **Chat artifacts.** The panel next to a conversation. Anthropic calls the ones made in a chat before 16 September 2026 "legacy artifacts". They still work and you can publish them, but you cannot make new ones. - **Claude Code artifacts.** A page that Claude Code publishes from a terminal session to claude.ai. The published file must be `.html`, `.htm` or `.md`. Claude Code updates the page at the same URL, and each publish becomes a version. Artifacts can also keep a small amount of text data between sessions. Each artifact has a limit of 20 MB for that data. --- ## Who can open an artifact A new artifact is private to you. When you share it: | Where you share | Who can open it | | ------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Claude Code, public link | Anyone with the link. No claude.ai sign-in | | claude.ai, "Anyone with the link" | Generally only a person with a Claude account | | claude.ai, email invitation (beta) | Up to 50 invited people outside your organization. Each one needs a Claude account with the invited address | | Team or Enterprise, inside the organization | Signed-in members of your Claude organization | On Team and Enterprise, an Owner decides if members can use public links and outside invitations. For the full table by plan, read [How to share a Claude artifact privately](/share-claude-artifact). --- ## Four limits that are important 1. **Readers need an account.** Most sharing options make the reader sign in to Claude. 2. **No backend.** An artifact is one static page. It cannot sign in viewers itself and cannot serve other routes. 3. **Size and sources.** Claude Code documents a limit of 16 MiB for the rendered page. The page can load scripts only from a short list of CDN hosts, and fonts from Google Fonts. Read [Claude artifact too large to share](/blog/claude-artifact-too-large-to-share). 4. **Plan and provider rules.** Claude Code artifacts need Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise, and a claude.ai sign-in. They are not available through Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud or Microsoft Foundry, or when zero data retention, HIPAA or customer-managed keys are on. --- ## When an artifact should become a page on your own host Keep the artifact in Claude while you still edit it with Claude. Move it to a host when one of these is true: - Colleagues without a Claude account must read it. - A client outside your company must read it, and it must not be public. - You need a URL that stays after the conversation and the subscription end. - You need to see who is viewing it, or to control access in one place. On Display, you tell Claude: "Publish this artifact to Display as a Company page." Claude publishes it through the connector at [claude.ai/directory/display](https://claude.ai/directory/display). Colleagues sign in with their company email. The URL stays the same when Claude updates the page. Read [Connect Claude to Display](/docs/mcp-claude-desktop). --- ## FAQ **Is a Claude artifact the same as a Claude Doc?** No. Claude Docs is a template for rich-text documents that people and Claude edit together. A doc also appears in the Artifacts tab. On Team and Enterprise, you cannot share a doc outside the organization. **Is an artifact the same as a project?** No. A project holds files, instructions and chats. An artifact is one thing that Claude made. **Do I need a paid plan?** Chat artifacts are on every plan, including Free. Claude Code artifacts need Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise. **Are artifacts public?** Not until you share them. Read [Are Claude artifacts private?](/blog/are-claude-artifacts-private). **Can I download an artifact?** Yes, for most kinds. You can download a legacy artifact from the panel. You can export a design as standalone HTML and a doc as Markdown. You can also ask Claude for the file. Then publish the file to any host. **What is a live artifact?** The Claude Help Center uses "live artifacts" for artifacts made in Claude Cowork before 19 August 2026. They still work, but you cannot edit them in place.