Text-to-UI, image-to-UI, sketch-to-UI: which AI tools handle each input
Every AI UI tool advertises the same output: a wireframe or design. What they don't advertise is that the input modality changes the output dramatically. A text prompt produces different results than a screenshot upload, which produces different results than a hand-drawn sketch. For a specific screen, the right input modality often matters more than the tool choice. Here's what actually works with each input type, and which tools are best at each in 2026. If you're new to the category, our [full workflow guide for using AI in UI/UX design](/blog/how-to-use-ai-for-ui-ux-design-2026) covers where modality choice fits into the bigger three-step pipeline. ## The four input modalities Every AI UI tool takes one or more of these: - **Text prompt.** "Customer detail page for a B2B billing SaaS." Every tool supports this. Quality varies. - **Screenshot of an existing product.** Upload a picture of a competitor's page, get an editable version. Fewer tools support this. - **Hand-drawn sketch.** Photograph a whiteboard drawing, get a wireframe. Very few tools do this well. - **Existing design file or code.** Point at a Figma file or a React component, get variants. Rare in mid-2026, but emerging. The right modality depends on what you have. If you have a competitor's page in mind, screenshot is faster than describing. If you have a rough idea, text is faster than sketching. If you've been at a whiteboard, sketch upload beats retyping. ## Text-to-UI: the modality every tool support