Stitch Project Screens Lose Generated Designs and Show Random Images After Reopening Projects

Stitch
1

Stitch Project Screens Lose Generated Designs and Show Random Images After Reopening Projects

Issue Summary

I’m experiencing an issue with Stitch where generated screen designs are not being preserved correctly.

When I create screens using Stitch, everything appears normal initially. However, after leaving the project and returning later, the generated screen previews no longer display the original designs. Instead, random unrelated images appear as thumbnails/previews for the generated screens.

This behavior is occurring across all of my Stitch projects and is not limited to a single project.

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Create a project in Stitch.

  2. Generate multiple screens/designs.

  3. Leave the project or close the browser session.

  4. Reopen the project at a later time.

  5. Observe the generated screen previews/thumbnails.

Expected Behavior

  • Generated screen designs should persist after reopening a project.

  • Screen thumbnails should display the correct generated designs.

  • Previously generated UI screens should remain unchanged and accessible.

Actual Behavior

  • Original generated designs are no longer displayed.

  • Random and unrelated images appear in place of the generated screen previews.

  • The issue affects all projects in my account.

Frequency

  • Occurs consistently across multiple projects.

  • Reproducible whenever I revisit previously generated projects.

Environment

  • Browser: Google Chrome

  • Operating System: Windows

  • Product: Stitch

Additional Information

I have attached screenshots demonstrating the issue:

  1. Project dashboard showing random images displayed as screen thumbnails.

  2. Example project where generated screens have been replaced with unrelated image previews.

This issue appears to affect every project I create, suggesting it may be related to project persistence, thumbnail generation, or how generated assets are being loaded when reopening a project.

Question

Is this a known issue with Stitch project persistence or thumbnail rendering?

Are there any recommended troubleshooting steps, workarounds, or methods to restore the original generated screen designs?

Any guidance from the Stitch team would be appreciated.

Stitch issues

Screenshot 2026-06-05 140416
Screenshot 2026-06-05 1404161241×297 108 KB

2

Hey @Dharun1, sorry for writing late on this, and I completely understand your frustration! Here is what’s happening under the hood: when you generate screens, Stitch creates temporary image links and canvas thumbnail snapshots. When you close your browser, those temporary links expire. When you reopen the project later, the canvas camera tries to load expired links, panics, and fills the empty image slots and screen thumbnails with random fallback stock images.

Here is how to force Stitch to restore your original designs right now:

  1. Re-render Visual Components: Click on the canvas, hold Shift, and select all your broken screens. Type this exact line into the prompt bar: “Refresh image placeholders and force re-render visual components.” This forces the system to pull your original DOM structures back out of the database and rebuild fresh visual thumbnails!

  2. Lock in Your Styles via DESIGN.md: Since this affects every project in your account, grab your design code by hitting Export in the top right. When you open or start a project, paste your color codes and layout rules directly into the DESIGN.md tab in the right sidebar. Hard-coding your design system tokens into DESIGN.md prevents Stitch from relying on temporary session links that cause these thumbnail swaps.

Please try these and let me know if you still face the same issue!