Skip to content
ProductArena

How Sketch’s scores are calculated

The full audit trail, recomputed from the verdict data at build time through the same code that produced the leaderboard: verdict × quality × story weight per cell, cells sum to dimension scores, dimensions blend into the PA Score. Every number on the product page is reproducible from this page alone; for why the formula looks like this, see the methodology.

verdict factors: full ×1.0 · partial ×0.6 · disputed ×0.3 · none ×0.0 · n/a excluded from both sides · cell points = weight × quality × factor · cell max = weight × 10

PA Score21/100

Agent-ready 37.3 × 0.30 = 11.19

API quality 5.1 × 0.20 = 1.02

Openness 13.2 × 0.20 = 2.64

Built-in AI 24.0 × 0.15 = 3.60

Automation 14.0 × 0.15 = 2.10

(11.19 + 1.02 + 2.64 + 3.60 + 2.10) ÷ (0.30 + 0.20 + 0.20 + 0.15 + 0.15) = 20.55 ÷ 1.00 = 20.6

Scores are stored to 1 decimal; the product page’s pills round to whole numbers for display. Each dimension below shows the stories, verdicts, and cited evidence behind its number.

Agent-ready37.3/100×0.30 of the PA blend

Outside-in: can YOUR agent reach and drive this product — API, MCP, CLI, headless runs, agent docs.

Point an agent at llms.txt or agent-oriented docsweight 2

2 (weight) × 8 (quality) × 1.0 (full) = 16.0 of 20 max

  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/llms.txt“Learn how Single Sign-On (SSO) and SCIM provisioning work in Sketch, and find step-by-step guides to get set up.”
  • [probe] https://www.sketch.com/llms.txt“PROBE llms.txt: HTTP 200 at https://www.sketch.com/llms.txt # Sketch ## Docs - [Getting started](https://www.sketch.com/docs/getting-started/): Find out how to get started in Ske”
  • [probe] https://www.sketch.com/llms.txt“PROBE runtime (recorded 2026-09-07): https://www.sketch.com/llms.txt served a full docs index ('# Sketch') for agent consumption, covering getting-started, prototyping, developer-handoff, and workspace docs.”
  • [probe] https://www.sketch.com/docs/.md“PROBE docs-md: HTTP 404 at https://www.sketch.com/docs/.md”

Run the product headlessly / in CI for automationweight 2

2 (weight) × 5 (quality) × 0.6 (partial) = 6.0 of 20 max

  • [claimed-docs] https://developer.sketch.com/“Create assets with a single command with the Sketch command-line interface `sketchtool`.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developer.sketch.com/“Integrate Sketch into your workflows and server applications, on any platform.”
  • [community] https://hn.algolia.com/api/v1/items/19413271“It's not just their commitment to Desktop, but their commitment specifically to not move off MacOS where they have stated that they 'will not consider supporting Sketch' on Windows/Linux.”

Plug MCP servers into this product so it can use their toolsweight 3

3 (weight) × 0 (quality) × 0.0 (none) = 0.0 of 30 max

  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/ai/“Connect any MCP-compatible AI client you like to Sketch. There are no tokens to buy, no extra tiers, and no add-ons.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/ai/“Connect any MCP-compatible AI client you like to Sketch.”

Connect an agent via an official MCP serverweight 3

3 (weight) × 7 (quality) × 1.0 (full) = 21.0 of 30 max

  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/ai/“Connect any MCP-compatible AI client you like to Sketch. There are no tokens to buy, no extra tiers, and no add-ons.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/ai/“Connect any MCP-compatible AI client you like to Sketch.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/ai/“Point your AI client at a repo to recreate text styles, colors, UI components, and even entire pages inside Sketch.”

Use an official CLIweight 2

2 (weight) × 6 (quality) × 0.6 (partial) = 7.2 of 20 max

  • [claimed-docs] https://developer.sketch.com/“Create assets with a single command with the Sketch command-line interface `sketchtool`.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developer.sketch.com/“Integrate Sketch into your workflows and server applications, on any platform.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developer.sketch.com/“Integrate Sketch into your workflows with the `sketch://` URL scheme.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developer.sketch.com/“Use the Sketch Plugin Manager `skpm` to publish a new plugin or an update of an existing one.”

Drive the product through a documented public APIweight 3

3 (weight) × 7 (quality) × 1.0 (full) = 21.0 of 30 max

  • [claimed-docs] https://developer.sketch.com/“An official vanilla JavaScript API, fully supported between releases.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developer.sketch.com/“Create assets with a single command with the Sketch command-line interface `sketchtool`.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developer.sketch.com/“Integrate Sketch into your workflows and server applications, on any platform.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developer.sketch.com/“Integrate Sketch into your workflows with the `sketch://` URL scheme.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/ai/“Connect any MCP-compatible AI client you like to Sketch. There are no tokens to buy, no extra tiers, and no add-ons.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/ai/“Connect any MCP-compatible AI client you like to Sketch.”
  • [probe] https://www.sketch.com/openapi.json“PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://www.sketch.com/openapi.json, https://www.sketch.com/swagger.json, https://www.sketch.com/api/openapi.json, https://www.sketch.com/.well-known/openapi.json)”

Issue scoped/least-privilege API credentials for an agentweight 2

2 (weight) × 0 (quality) × 0.0 (none) = 0.0 of 20 max

  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/ai/“Connect any MCP-compatible AI client you like to Sketch. There are no tokens to buy, no extra tiers, and no add-ons.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/pricing/“SCIM provisioning”
  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/pricing/“Permissions groups”
  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/pricing/“Single Sign-On (SSO) * Project archiving * Permissions groups”

Build against official SDKsweight 2

2 (weight) × 6 (quality) × 0.6 (partial) = 7.2 of 20 max

  • [claimed-docs] https://developer.sketch.com/plugins/“Write a Sketch plugin in JavaScript. Take advantage of ES6, access macOS frameworks and use the Sketch APIs without learning Objective-C or Swift.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developer.sketch.com/“Try the Sketch JavaScript API now, directly within Sketch.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developer.sketch.com/“Create assets with a single command with the Sketch command-line interface `sketchtool`.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developer.sketch.com/“Integrate Sketch into your workflows and server applications, on any platform.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developer.sketch.com/“Integrate Sketch into your workflows with the `sketch://` URL scheme.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developer.sketch.com/“Use the Sketch Plugin Manager `skpm` to publish a new plugin or an update of an existing one.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developer.sketch.com/“An official vanilla JavaScript API, fully supported between releases.”
  • [probe] https://www.sketch.com/openapi.json“PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://www.sketch.com/openapi.json, https://www.sketch.com/swagger.json, https://www.sketch.com/api/openapi.json, https://www.sketch.com/.well-known/openapi.json)”

Subscribe to events via webhooksweight 2

2 (weight) × 0 (quality) × 0.0 (none) = 0.0 of 20 max

  • [claimed-docs] https://developer.sketch.com/“Integrate Sketch into your workflows and server applications, on any platform.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developer.sketch.com/“Integrate Sketch into your workflows with the `sketch://` URL scheme.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/ai/“Connect any MCP-compatible AI client you like to Sketch. There are no tokens to buy, no extra tiers, and no add-ons.”

Agent-ready = 78.4 ÷ 210 × 100 = 37.3

API quality5.1/100×0.20 of the PA blend

The programmable surface once an agent is there — machine-readable spec, interactive docs, sandbox, versioning discipline.

Explore an interactive API reference with runnable examplesweight 2

2 (weight) × 3 (quality) × 0.6 (partial) = 3.6 of 20 max

  • [claimed-docs] https://developer.sketch.com/“Try the Sketch JavaScript API now, directly within Sketch.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developer.sketch.com/“An official vanilla JavaScript API, fully supported between releases.”
  • [probe] https://www.sketch.com/openapi.json“PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://www.sketch.com/openapi.json, https://www.sketch.com/swagger.json, https://www.sketch.com/api/openapi.json, https://www.sketch.com/.well-known/openapi.json)”

Download a machine-readable API spec (OpenAPI or equivalent)weight 2

2 (weight) × 0 (quality) × 0.0 (none) = 0.0 of 20 max

  • [probe] https://www.sketch.com/openapi.json“PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://www.sketch.com/openapi.json, https://www.sketch.com/swagger.json, https://www.sketch.com/api/openapi.json, https://www.sketch.com/.well-known/openapi.json)”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developer.sketch.com/“An official vanilla JavaScript API, fully supported between releases.”

Test against a sandbox environment without touching production dataweight 1

1 (weight) × 0 (quality) × 0.0 (none) = 0.0 of 10 max

no evidence cited — the verdict rests on absence of evidence, re-checked on refresh

Rely on versioned APIs with a documented deprecation policyweight 2

2 (weight) × 0 (quality) × 0.0 (none) = 0.0 of 20 max

  • [claimed-docs] https://developer.sketch.com/“An official vanilla JavaScript API, fully supported between releases.”
  • [probe] https://www.sketch.com/openapi.json“PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://www.sketch.com/openapi.json, https://www.sketch.com/swagger.json, https://www.sketch.com/api/openapi.json, https://www.sketch.com/.well-known/openapi.json)”

API quality = 3.6 ÷ 70 × 100 = 5.1

Openness13.2/100×0.20 of the PA blend

Can you leave, inspect, or self-host — data export, open source, portability.

Do everything through the API that I can do in the UIweight 2

2 (weight) × 5 (quality) × 0.6 (partial) = 6.0 of 20 max

  • [claimed-docs] https://developer.sketch.com/plugins/“Write a Sketch plugin in JavaScript. Take advantage of ES6, access macOS frameworks and use the Sketch APIs without learning Objective-C or Swift.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developer.sketch.com/“Try the Sketch JavaScript API now, directly within Sketch.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developer.sketch.com/“Create assets with a single command with the Sketch command-line interface `sketchtool`.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developer.sketch.com/“Integrate Sketch into your workflows and server applications, on any platform.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developer.sketch.com/“Integrate Sketch into your workflows with the `sketch://` URL scheme.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/ai/“Connect any MCP-compatible AI client you like to Sketch. There are no tokens to buy, no extra tiers, and no add-ons.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developer.sketch.com/“An official vanilla JavaScript API, fully supported between releases.”
  • [probe] https://www.sketch.com/openapi.json“PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://www.sketch.com/openapi.json, https://www.sketch.com/swagger.json, https://www.sketch.com/api/openapi.json, https://www.sketch.com/.well-known/openapi.json)”

Export all of my data in open formats and leaveweight 3

3 (weight) × 4 (quality) × 0.6 (partial) = 7.2 of 30 max

  • [claimed-docs] https://github.com/sketch-hq/sketch-document“Sketch stores documents in .sketch format, a zipped archive of JSON formatted data and binary data such as images.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://github.com/sketch-hq/sketch-document“Sketch stores documents in `.sketch` format, a zipped archive of JSON formatted data and binary data such as images.”
  • [community] https://hn.algolia.com/api/v1/items/19413271“The file format is basically zipped json files, so there's a robust plugin ecosystem and you can do things like git integration pretty easily. And it's a native Mac app, unlike Figma.”

Read the product's source under an open licenseweight 2

2 (weight) × 0 (quality) × 0.0 (none) = 0.0 of 20 max

no evidence cited — the verdict rests on absence of evidence, re-checked on refresh

Self-host the core productweight 3

3 (weight) × 0 (quality) × 0.0 (none) = 0.0 of 30 max

no evidence cited — the verdict rests on absence of evidence, re-checked on refresh

Openness = 13.2 ÷ 100 × 100 = 13.2

Built-in AI24.0/100×0.15 of the PA blend

Inside-out: how agentic the product itself is for its users — built-in assistants, autonomous features.

Get AI-generated insights and suggestions from my data inside the productweight 2

2 (weight) × 6 (quality) × 0.6 (partial) = 7.2 of 20 max

  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/ai/“Switch light mode components for their dark mode counterparts — all without making a single manual swap.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/ai/“Drop in a photo and get a full set of named color variables that complement it.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/ai/“Drop in a photo and get a full set of named color variables that complement it. An instant color palette, ready to use in your document.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/ai/“Sort, rename, and align layers automatically. Wrangle icon sets, keep Libraries clean, and bring calm to chaotic files.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/ai/“Replace placeholder text across every layer with true-to-life, context-aware content. No more lorem ipsum.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/ai/“Connect any MCP-compatible AI client you like to Sketch. There are no tokens to buy, no extra tiers, and no add-ons.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/ai/“Connect any MCP-compatible AI client you like to Sketch.”

Set up automations that run autonomously in the backgroundweight 2

2 (weight) × 0 (quality) × 0.0 (none) = 0.0 of 20 max

no evidence cited — the verdict rests on absence of evidence, re-checked on refresh

Delegate tasks to a built-in AI assistant inside the productweight 3

3 (weight) × 4 (quality) × 0.6 (partial) = 7.2 of 30 max

  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/ai/“Switch light mode components for their dark mode counterparts — all without making a single manual swap.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/ai/“Drop in a photo and get a full set of named color variables that complement it.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/ai/“Drop in a photo and get a full set of named color variables that complement it. An instant color palette, ready to use in your document.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/ai/“Sort, rename, and align layers automatically. Wrangle icon sets, keep Libraries clean, and bring calm to chaotic files.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/ai/“Replace placeholder text across every layer with true-to-life, context-aware content. No more lorem ipsum.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/ai/“Point your AI client at a repo to recreate text styles, colors, UI components, and even entire pages inside Sketch.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/ai/“Connect any MCP-compatible AI client you like to Sketch. There are no tokens to buy, no extra tiers, and no add-ons.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/ai/“Connect any MCP-compatible AI client you like to Sketch.”

Operate the product with natural-language commandsweight 2

2 (weight) × 6 (quality) × 0.6 (partial) = 7.2 of 20 max

  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/ai/“Point your AI client at a repo to recreate text styles, colors, UI components, and even entire pages inside Sketch.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/ai/“Connect any MCP-compatible AI client you like to Sketch. There are no tokens to buy, no extra tiers, and no add-ons.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/ai/“Connect any MCP-compatible AI client you like to Sketch.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/ai/“Switch light mode components for their dark mode counterparts — all without making a single manual swap.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/ai/“Replace placeholder text across every layer with true-to-life, context-aware content. No more lorem ipsum.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/ai/“Sort, rename, and align layers automatically. Wrangle icon sets, keep Libraries clean, and bring calm to chaotic files.”

Built-in AI = 21.6 ÷ 90 × 100 = 24.0

Automation14.0/100×0.15 of the PA blend

Depth of automation primitives — rules, scheduling, bulk operations, webhooks.

Perform bulk operations across many items at onceweight 2

2 (weight) × 5 (quality) × 0.6 (partial) = 6.0 of 20 max

  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/ai/“Sort, rename, and align layers automatically. Wrangle icon sets, keep Libraries clean, and bring calm to chaotic files.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/ai/“Replace placeholder text across every layer with true-to-life, context-aware content. No more lorem ipsum.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/ai/“Switch light mode components for their dark mode counterparts — all without making a single manual swap.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developer.sketch.com/“Create assets with a single command with the Sketch command-line interface `sketchtool`.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developer.sketch.com/“Integrate Sketch into your workflows and server applications, on any platform.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developer.sketch.com/“An official vanilla JavaScript API, fully supported between releases.”

Define rules that trigger actions automatically on eventsweight 3

3 (weight) × 0 (quality) × 0.0 (none) = 0.0 of 30 max

no evidence cited — the verdict rests on absence of evidence, re-checked on refresh

Schedule recurring jobs or workflowsweight 2

n/a — not applicable to this product: excluded from numerator and denominator

no evidence cited — the verdict rests on absence of evidence, re-checked on refresh

Version, review, and roll back my automationsweight 1

1 (weight) × 4 (quality) × 0.6 (partial) = 2.4 of 10 max

  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/docs/sharing-and-collaborating/sharing-and-viewing-documents/creating-starred-versions/“starring a version will publish any changes as a Library update. Any unstarred versions after that won’t become Library updates.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/docs/sharing-and-collaborating/sharing-and-viewing-documents/creating-starred-versions/“When you star a version in a Library document, anyone using that Library will receive a Library update.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/docs/sharing-and-collaborating/sharing-and-viewing-documents/creating-starred-versions/“With starred versions, you can indicate important updates in a document's history, set which versions Viewers and Guests can see”
  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/docs/sharing-and-collaborating/sharing-and-viewing-documents/creating-starred-versions/“With starred versions, you can indicate important updates in a document’s history, set which versions Viewers and Guests can see, and control which versions become Library updates for Editors.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/ai/“Connect any MCP-compatible AI client you like to Sketch. There are no tokens to buy, no extra tiers, and no add-ons.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://www.sketch.com/ai/“Point your AI client at a repo to recreate text styles, colors, UI components, and even entire pages inside Sketch.”

Automation = 8.4 ÷ 60 × 100 = 14.0