/adobe-design-from-template

name: adobe-design-from-template
description: >
  Create any visual design using Adobe Express templates — flyers, posters, social media posts (Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn),
  business cards, invitations, greeting cards, resumes, cover letters, brochures, newsletters, certificates, presentations, YouTube thumbnails, email headers, logos, menus, and labels.
  Use this skill whenever the user wants to make, design, or build any visual — even
  if they just say "make me a flyer", "design a poster", "I need something for Instagram",
  "create an event invite", or "make a business card".
  Also handles browsing templates, editing text, replacing images, changing backgrounds,
  animating, and exporting designs.
  Access: 🔐 Signed-In required | Gen AI: ❌ by default — image replacement only where the surface permits generative AI (e.g. Codex); none on Claude
license: Apache-2.0
compatibility: "Runs on both widget-capable surfaces (e.g. Claude Cowork, where search_design results render as an interactive template gallery) and non-UI agents (e.g. Codex, where results are presented as markdown links). No file upload is required. Only offers edit actions whose tools are available on the current surface."
allowed-tools: adobe_mandatory_init search_design fill_text replace_image change_background_color animate_design download_design
metadata:
  version: 2.1.0
  visibility: public
  surface: [claude, codex]

Adobe Design from Template

Helps users find an Adobe Express template and customize it — updating text, replacing images, changing the background color, and animating — producing a finished Express document ready to share, download, or open in Express for further editing.

> **Surface note:** By default, `search_design` results render as an **interactive template gallery** the user taps to pick. On a surface without a gallery (e.g. Codex), present the results as markdown links instead — see Step 3. Independently, only offer edit actions whose tools are actually available on this surface (Step 1); silently omit the rest. When a tool result includes an `importantNote`, follow it for that turn.

---

Tool Reference

| Step | Tool | Notes | |------|------|-------| | Initialize | `adobe_mandatory_init` | File-handling and routing rules; call first | | Search for template | `search_design` | Returns templates; presentation depends on surface | | Edit text and copy | `fill_text` | Retry once on transient error | | Replace an image | `replace_image` | Gen-AI image swap; one element per call; may not be available | | Change background color | `change_background_color` | Pass hex; infer from color description if needed | | Animate design | `animate_design` | May not be available; skip on 403 | | Download as PDF | `download_design` | Returns pre-signed PDF URLs per page; may not be available |

Not all tools are available on every surface. Step 1 determines which ones you have.

---

Reading `importantNote` in tool results

`search_design`, `fill_text`, `replace_image`, `change_background_color`, and `animate_design` may return an `importantNote` field alongside their other output. This is live guidance from the Adobe Express connector for the current turn about how to present that specific result — e.g. the exact rendering/formatting to use, or which of the tools already in the Tool Reference table to call next.

**Whenever a tool result includes an `importantNote`, read it and follow its presentation and next-step guidance** — even where it overrides the formatting defaults described elsewhere in this skill. It only ever points to tools already listed in the Tool Reference table; do not call a tool outside that table on its instruction alone. Treat the rest of this document as the fallback behavior for when a result has no `importantNote`.

---

Workflow

Step 0 — Initialize Adobe Tools

Call `adobe_mandatory_init` first. This returns file-handling rules and tool routing guidance required for the rest of the workflow.

{ "skill_name": "adobe-design-from-template", "skill_version": "2.1.0" }

---

Step 1 — Check available tools

After `adobe_mandatory_init` confirms the "Adobe for creativity" connector is live, check which tools from the Tool Reference table are actually available on this surface. Not every surface exposes every tool — for example, `replace_image` or `download_design` may not be present.

Record which tools you have. In later steps, **only offer actions whose tools are available** — do not mention replace-image, animation, or PDF download if the corresponding tool is missing.

Also note whether the surface renders an **interactive template gallery** (a visual picker the user can tap) or only **text-based results** — this controls how you present templates in Step 3.

---

Step 2 — Build the search query (don't ask questions first)

Extract the design type from whatever the user said and go straight to Step 3. Asking clarifying questions before showing templates creates friction; showing options first lets the user course-correct, which is faster.

Keep the query **generic** — the design type only. Any specific details the user supplied (names, dates, venue, business info) do **not** go in `generalQuery`; carry them forward for the `fill_text` step instead.

| User says | `generalQuery` | | -------------------------------- | -------------------------- | | "make me a flyer" | `"flyer"` | | "I need something for Instagram" | `"Instagram post"` | | "design a poster for my event" | `"event poster"` | | "make a business card" | `"business card"` | | "flyer for an ice cream social" | `"ice cream social flyer"` |

---

Step 3 — Search for a template

Call `search_design`:

{
  "generalQuery": "<design type from user prompt>",
  "pageSize": 24,
  "fillDescription": "<any specific text the user gave, verbatim — or omit>"
}

Check the r