Adobe XD Co-Founder Launches pen.dev, a New Way to Compare UI Ideas

Creating an app or website with AI often means going through the same routine: write a prompt, wait for a result, decide it is not quite right, then try again.

pen.dev takes a different route.

The new design tool, launched by Adobe XD co-founder Tom Krcha, allows several AI agents to work on the same canvas at once. A user describes the page they need, and multiple versions appear side by side.

One version might be clean and simple. Another may use a more visual layout. A third could focus on showing more information. Instead of generating each option separately, users can compare them all in one place.

That makes the process feel more like a real design review. Several ideas are presented at the same time, and the user can choose what works, combine parts from different versions, or make changes directly.

pen.dev is also built to work alongside developers. It can be used inside tools such as Cursor and Visual Studio Code, with design files stored in the same project as the code.

This could help with a common problem in product teams. Designers often create a mock-up, then developers rebuild it from scratch. Along the way, details such as spacing, colours and button sizes can change. pen.dev aims to reduce that gap by keeping design and development closer together.

Krcha previously helped build Adobe XD and later founded the video meeting company Around, which was acquired by Miro. His new project returns to a familiar question: how can designers and developers work together with less back-and-forth?

pen.dev does not remove the need for designers. AI can produce several options quickly, but it cannot always judge whether a page suits a brand, feels easy to use or solves the right problem. Those decisions still need people.

What the tool changes is the pace. Teams can see several directions early, compare them quickly and move forward without waiting for one version at a time.

The idea behind pen.dev is straightforward: instead of asking AI for a single answer, let it show several possibilities and leave the final decision to the user.