What is a Claude artifact, and who can see it?

What Claude artifacts are, the kinds there are since September 2026, who can open one when you share it, and how to show one to someone without Claude.

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By Kaz Kato · Published 12 October 2026 · Updated 12 October 2026

A Claude artifact is anything Claude makes for you to put in front of someone, from a design to a small tool. It starts private. Shared from Claude’s apps, it opens for people signed in to Claude. A published legacy artifact opens without an account, and so does a public link from Claude Code.

This guide says what an artifact is, the kinds there have been since Claude changed them in September 2026, and who can open each. Then what happens when one uses Claude, and how to show one to someone who does not use Claude at all. Deploying from Claude and the quickstart cover the Roomi side.

What is a Claude artifact?

Claude calls an artifact anything it makes for you that you would put in front of someone: a design, a deck, a document, a dashboard or a small interactive tool. Artifacts are on every Claude plan, Free included, and in Claude Code.

Claude Code can publish a session’s output as an artifact: a live page at a private address, which updates as the session goes on and can be shared. So an artifact can be as small as one chart, or a working tool a client could click through. That second kind is the one people want to send to someone, and where the questions below start. Prototype vs MVP vs proof of concept says where a tool like that sits.

What kinds of artifact are there?

Since September 2026 there are six kinds to tell apart. They are current artifacts, legacy artifacts made in a chat before 16 September, and Cowork live artifacts made before 19 August. Then artifacts that use Claude or your apps, template artifacts, and artifacts Claude Code publishes. They differ in who can open them and what they need from the viewer.

Kind What it is Who it can be shared with Does the viewer need a Claude account?
A current artifact Made in Claude’s apps since 16 September 2026, and shared from its Share menu You, your organisation, anyone signed in with the link, or people you invite Yes
A legacy artifact Made in a chat before 16 September 2026; no new ones can be made Published by link on Free, Pro and Max; shared by link on Team and Enterprise Not once published on Free, Pro or Max
A Cowork live artifact Made in Claude Cowork before 19 August 2026 Its own sharing rules Not covered here
An artifact that uses Claude or your apps It calls Claude, or reads an app you connected Not by “Anyone with the link”, from Claude’s apps Yes, and it runs on theirs
A template artifact Started from Docs, Slides or Design As a current artifact Yes, though an exported file is just a file
An artifact Claude Code publishes A page from a Claude Code session, on claude.ai You, your organisation, or anyone with its public link Not by its public link; inside your organisation, yes

Claude calls artifacts made in a chat before 16 September 2026 legacy artifacts. They still work and can still be published, but no new ones can be made. A legacy Claude artifact’s code can be viewed, copied or downloaded from the top of its panel.

Artifacts made in Claude Cowork before 19 August 2026 are called live artifacts. They keep working but cannot be edited in place, and they have their own sharing rules.

A Claude artifact can start from a template, and the Docs, Slides and Design templates are on every plan. A template artifact exports a doc to Word, PDF, Markdown or Google Docs, a deck to PowerPoint or PDF, and a design to a zip, PDF, PowerPoint or HTML file.

Who can see an artifact?

Only you, until you share it. From Claude’s apps, on Pro and Max, that is anyone signed in to Claude with the link, or people you invite by email. On Team and Enterprise, it is your organisation, and outsiders only if an owner allows it. A Claude Code public link needs no sign-in.

A Claude artifact starts private to the person who made it. Nothing is shared until they share it.

Sharing an artifact with “Anyone with the link” is on Claude’s Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans, not on Free. From Claude’s apps, whoever opens the link must still be signed in to Claude. A Claude artifact can be shared with anyone who has its link, or with people you invite by email. An invitation works only for the person invited.

In Claude’s apps, no setting opens a current artifact to anyone at all, the way a web page opens. That suits work between colleagues, and trips people up when the person they want to show is a client. Making a Claude artifact private goes through each setting, plan by plan.

Claude Code is the exception. Claude Code can publish an artifact to a public link that anyone can open, with no claude.ai sign-in. On Team and Enterprise plans, public sharing is off until an owner turns it on. Someone who opens a Claude Code artifact’s public link without signing in, or from outside your organisation, sees the label “Content is user-generated and unverified” instead of your name.

Does someone need a Claude account to open one?

Yes, for anything made in Claude’s apps since 16 September 2026: whoever opens it must be signed in, by link, invitation or organisation. A legacy artifact published from a chat needs no account, but no new ones can be made. An artifact Claude Code publishes to a public link needs none either.

Anyone opening an artifact shared from Claude’s apps, rather than published by Claude Code, needs a Claude account and must be signed in. The one exception is an older artifact published from a chat, which opens without one.

When you invite someone to a Claude artifact, Claude doesn’t tell you whether they have an account. Its help page on sharing describes no record of who opened one. Claude Code’s artifacts page describes no record of who opened an artifact, no expiry date and no guided tour. For anyone outside your organisation, it describes a public link, not one for a named person. So from Claude’s apps, a client who has never used Claude meets a sign-up page before they meet your work. Either way, neither page describes a way to know whether they opened it.

What happens when an artifact uses Claude?

It runs on the viewer’s own Claude account: what they ask counts against their plan, not yours, and connected apps are theirs, not yours. In Claude’s apps, it cannot be shared with “Anyone with the link”. And for people invited from outside your organisation, the parts that use Claude do not work at all.

An artifact that calls Claude runs on Anthropic’s own servers. The people using it sign in with their own Claude account, and their use counts against their own plan’s limits, not the creator’s. A shared Claude artifact that pulls from connected apps uses each viewer’s own connections, not its creator’s. Where a viewer cannot reach a source, that part of the artifact shows an error instead.

In Claude’s apps, an artifact shared with “Anyone with the link” opens for anyone signed in to Claude who has the link, not for anyone at all. One that connects to your apps or uses Claude cannot be shared that way. For people invited from outside your organisation, the parts of a Claude artifact that use Claude or your connectors do not work.

So an artifact that answers questions with Claude is a good thing to share with a colleague who uses Claude. For a client, the part that impressed you is the part that will not work for them.

How do you show an artifact to someone without Claude?

Take it out of Claude. Ask Claude to deploy it to Roomi, with canned answers in place of anything that called Claude. It writes the artifact out as files a browser runs and shows you what would go live. Your client then opens a link in their browser, with no account, and you see what they did.

  1. Add the connector. Add Roomi to Claude as a connector. Deploying from Claude has the steps.
  2. Ask for the deploy. In the chat where you made the artifact, say “deploy it to roomi”. Claude writes it out as plain files with an index.html at the root, because the room serves files as they are and builds nothing.
  3. Swap the parts that used Claude. Ask Claude to replace anything that called Claude or a connected app with canned answers. Outside Claude there is nothing behind them.
  4. Read the rehearsal. Claude checks the files and shows you what would go live. Nothing is published until you say yes.
  5. Make a link and send it. On Pro, ask Claude for a link in your client’s name, and send it yourself.

When you send it, tell your client who you are and how to reach you about their data. Say that the room records what they do there and shows it to you; the terms ask every publisher to. On Free, there are no private links: a room is a draft only you open, or a public listing on the community.

Five ways to share a Claude artifact with a client compares this with Claude’s own Share, a Claude Code public link, a static host and a recording. If the artifact is one you want a client to try, deploy it from the chat you made it in, and send them their own link. Sharing a Claude prototype with a client takes that route step by step.

Questions people ask

Are Claude artifacts public?

A Claude artifact starts private to the person who made it. Nothing is shared until they share it.

Can I download an artifact?

A Claude artifact can start from a template, and the Docs, Slides and Design templates are on every plan. A template artifact exports a doc to Word, PDF, Markdown or Google Docs, a deck to PowerPoint or PDF, and a design to a zip, PDF, PowerPoint or HTML file.

Does it cost the person I share it with?

An artifact that calls Claude runs on Anthropic’s own servers. The people using it sign in with their own Claude account, and their use counts against their own plan’s limits, not the creator’s.

Can an artifact store data?

On Claude’s Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans, an artifact can store up to 20 MB of text between sessions. Whoever builds it chooses whether that data is private to each person or shared by everyone who uses it.

Can I see who opened my artifact?

Claude’s help page on sharing artifacts describes no way to see who has opened one. Claude Code’s artifacts page describes none either. A room on Roomi does: on its paid plans, you see who opened each link and what they did there.

Sources

About the author

Kaz Kato, Co-founder & CTO, Roomi. Kaz co-founded Roomi with Tesh, whom he has built with since 2017: two startups that failed, one venture studio that didn’t, and an exit.

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