# Creating a Meshery Design > Learn how to create a Meshery Design using the built-in Design Configurator in Meshery UI or the mesheryctl CLI. --- LLMS index: [llms.txt](/llms.txt) --- A Meshery Design is the primary unit of configuration management in Meshery. It is a declarative document that describes the desired state of your infrastructure and applications: the components you want, their configuration, and their relationships. You can deploy, share, version, export, and import designs. See [Meshery Designs](/concepts/logical/designs/) for a full description of design capabilities. ## Ways to Create a Design

Using the Design Configurator in Meshery UI

The Design Configurator is built into Meshery UI. It lists the components of a model, gives each one a form generated from its schema, and shows the resulting design as YAML next to the forms, so you don’t have to write YAML by hand.

Step 1: Open the Design Configurator

  1. In Meshery UI, go to Configuration > Designs.
  2. Click Create Design. To edit an existing design instead, open it from the list.

The configurator opens with a YAML editor. Opening it requires the View Designs permission, the same key the Designs page requires. Without it, the configurator shows the permission-denied page instead. See Extensibility: Authorization.

Step 2: Name your design

Enter a name in the Design Name field in the toolbar. Meshery uses this name when you save, share, or deploy the design.

Step 3: Choose a model

  1. In the Select Category dropdown, choose a category, for example Orchestration & Management.
  2. In the Select Model dropdown, choose a model in that category, for example Kubernetes.

The configurator lists a form for each component of the model, such as Deployment, Service, and ConfigMap, next to the YAML editor.

Step 4: Configure components

Expand a component’s form and fill in its fields. Each form is generated from the component’s schema, so it marks required fields and shows nested properties you can expand. As you fill in a form, the configurator adds the component to the design and updates the YAML.

Choose another category or model at any time to add components from it to the same design.

Step 5: Save the design

Your saved design appears on the Designs page, where you can deploy, export, share, or edit it.

Editing YAML directly

The YAML editor sits next to the component forms. To write or paste a design by hand, edit the YAML in that editor. It must follow the design schema in Meshery Schemas. Your edits update the design, and changes from the forms appear in the editor.

Starting from an existing design

Instead of starting from nothing, import a design from the Meshery Catalog, from a URL, or from a Kubernetes manifest, Helm chart, or Docker Compose file. See Importing and Exporting Designs.

Importing a design in Meshery UI

Using mesheryctl

Use mesheryctl to bring a design file into Meshery and deploy it from the command line.

Import a design from a file 

mesheryctl design import -f your-design.yaml -n "My Design"

-f accepts a local path or a direct URL. The file can be a Meshery design, a Kubernetes manifest, a Helm chart, or a Docker Compose file.

Deploy a design from a file 

mesheryctl design apply -f your-design.yaml

Deploy a saved design by name 

mesheryctl design apply MyDesignName

List saved designs 

mesheryctl design list

See the mesheryctl design reference for the full subcommand reference.