Interactive Outputs and Mini-Apps

Artifacts are phenomenal. They're a recent innovation, and they're particularly powerful for non-technical users who couldn't build something like this themselves. The best way to explain them is just to show what they do.

Marcus's Quote Calculator

Marcus creates plumbing quotes every day, factoring in call-out fees, hourly rates, material markups, and weekend surcharges. Most of the calculations are done in his head, which means mistakes occasionally slip through.

To build a tool that handles the calculations automatically, open Artifacts in Claude and create a new Artifact. Choose Productivity Tool and describe what you want in plain English:

Claude will summarise its understanding of the request and then generate the tool. You don't need to understand the code. As long as the tool works and produces the result you need, that's enough.

A task that once required a developer, several weeks of work, and a significant budget can now be completed in minutes with a single prompt.

Once generated, the Artifact appears in a panel on the right. Enter some example values, such as a half-day job, four hours of work, £100 of materials, and a weekend surcharge. The calculator provides a full cost breakdown and a customer-friendly quote summary.

Iterating with Natural Language

Artifacts can be improved simply by describing changes. For example:

Claude updates the Artifact, adds the new input field, and incorporates the travel charge into the calculations. You can continue extending the tool:

Claude will modify the Artifact accordingly. Not every change works perfectly on the first attempt, especially when the request becomes more technical. If something breaks, simply describe the problem:

Claude can often identify the issue and propose an alternative solution.

Publishing an Artifact

To share an Artifact, use Claude in a web browser rather than the desktop application.

Click Publish and choose whether to:

• Share with your team (requires a team plan)
• Publish to the web

Once published, Claude generates a shareable link that anyone can use. It can also provide embed code for adding the Artifact to a website.

If you make further changes, you'll need to publish the Artifact again. Each published version receives its own URL, so existing links continue pointing to the previous version until a new one is shared.

Why Artifacts Matter

Artifacts give non-technical users access to capabilities that previously required software development skills. Instead of hiring a developer or learning to code, you can describe a tool in plain English, refine it through conversation, and share it with colleagues or customers.

For many users, Artifacts are one of the most powerful and underused features in Claude.