Photoshop
in pure Rust
PhotoCraft is a clean-room, open-source image editor: layers, masks, adjustment layers, type, vectors, brushes and real PSD files — a native app and a WebAssembly build, written from scratch in Rust.
Native on every platform, drivable by every agent
Clone, edit, ship a real PSD
Three commands from a fresh clone to a saved layered document.
Clone and build
git clone the repo and run cargo run --release -p photocraft. Rust builds the desktop app, or compile the whole engine to WebAssembly for the browser.
Edit with familiar tools
The menus, shortcuts, panels and tools are where your hands expect them. Layers, masks, adjustment layers, layer styles, type, vectors and a real brush engine.
Save and drive it anywhere
Open, edit and save layered PSD and PSB files, then drive the same engine from the UI, the CLI, a JSON control channel or an MCP server.
A serious editor, not a demo
The engine, the tools and the file format — all implemented from public specs.
Familiar by design
Menus, shortcuts and panels sit where your hands expect them, from ⌘J to ⇧⌘D.
Native and fast
A GPU compositor on wgpu (Metal, Vulkan, DX12, WebGPU), copy-on-write tiles and multithreaded filters. No Electron, no web view.
Real PSD files
Open, edit and save layered Photoshop documents; re-saving keeps the render of 307 of 309 psd-tools test files.
Edit without regret
16 adjustment layers including Curves with per-channel editing and Levels with a live histogram, all maskable and reorderable.
Selections that understand
Marquees, lassos and the Magic Wand, plus Quick Selection, Object Selection and Select Subject — all on your machine, no cloud.
Type, vectors and brushes
Type edited on canvas, pen and shape layers with gradient fills, and a brush engine driven by pressure, tilt and rotation.
One engine, every surface
The document model and command engine sit under a thin UI — so the UI, the CLI and agents all run the same commands.
Groups & clipping
Nest layers, clip masks, link and align selections.
Pixel & vector masks
Mask with pixels or resolution-independent paths.
Smart objects
Live smart filters and lossless transforms and warps.
27 blend modes
Opacity, fill, locks and colour labels per layer.
Layers & masks
Groups, clipping masks, pixel and vector masks, fill layers, smart objects and 27 blend modes.
Explore layersWhere PhotoCraft stands
An honest look against a closed-source editor and a generic tool.
| Feature | Photoshop Subscription | Generic editors Limited PSD | Most Popular PhotoCraft Open source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open source (MIT / Apache-2.0) | Partial | ||
| Offline, no account | Partial | ||
| Real PSD round-trip | Partial | ||
| Scriptable + MCP | Partial | ||
| Runs in the browser | Partial | ||
| Pure Rust, no Electron | |||
| Daily-driver feature parity | Early alpha | ||
| Learn more | Learn more | View on GitHub |
Fits your platform and your pipeline
Desktop, browser, file formats and the agents that drive it.
macOS
Signed and notarized app and CLI.
Windows
Native desktop build and installer.
Linux
AppImage, deb, rpm, tarball or Flatpak.
Web (WASM)
The whole engine and UI compile to WebAssembly.
PSD & PSB
Layered documents open, edit and re-save faithfully.
PNG, JPEG, TIFF, WebP
Symmetric read and write at 8, 16 and 32 bits.
OpenEXR & HDR
High dynamic range and float pipelines.
.pcraft
PhotoCraft's own document format.
MCP server
Drive the engine from any MCP-capable agent.
photocraft-cli
Headless editing and batch processing.
ArtCraft
One of the Crafting Apps: VectorCraft, FilmCraft, LightCraft and more.
craft-fonts
Optional build input for Japanese UI and type fonts.
Clean-room, offline and yours
Implemented from public specs and observed behaviour only. No proprietary code, shaders or assets.
MIT / Apache-2.0
Dual-licensed, free to use, study and fork.
Clean-room
Built from public specifications and observed behaviour, not Adobe code.
Offline & local
No account, no cloud round-trip for the core tools.
1,700+ tests
PSD round trips, compositor oracles and multi-depth checks.
Pure Rust
24 crates with layering enforced at build time.
Runs in the browser
The engine and UI compile to WebAssembly.
Certified & Compliant with
Free and open source
Download the app or build from source. Optional support tiers fund development.
Open source
For everyone
- The full desktop app
- The WebAssembly build
- photocraft-cli and MCP
- 1,700+ test suite
- MIT / Apache-2.0
Supporter
For regular users
- Everything in Open source
- Priority issue triage
- Discord supporter role
- Early release builds
- Email support
Team
For studios and pipelines
- Everything in Supporter
- Custom CLI pipelines
- MCP integration help
- Onboarding workshop
- Dedicated support
What people make with it
Real workflows powered by a native, scriptable editor.
"Stack Levels, Curves and Vibrance on a scanned painting, mask them, and never touch the original pixels."
Retouch public-domain art
Adjustment layers
"Apply one action list to hundreds of images from the command line, no window required."
Batch-grade a folder
photocraft-cli
"Point an MCP-capable agent at a layered file and have it add type, styles and adjustment layers."
Let an agent edit PSDs
MCP
"Open the same engine and UI on the web, with no install and no account."
Design in the browser
WebAssembly
Engine first, UI on top
A pure-data document model and a command engine, with a thin egui UI.
24 crates
Layered by design
Layering is enforced at build time across the workspace.
Two compositors
CPU oracle + wgpu
A reference CPU compositor and a GPU compositor, tested against each other.
Copy-on-write tiles
256² sparse tiles
Cheap undo and light huge canvases, with effect maps cached per layer state.
Your document next
Open a PSD
Open a layered file, edit it, and re-save it faithfully.
Where it goes next
PhotoCraft is in early alpha and is honest about the gaps.
PSD, tools and agents
Layered PSD round-trips, 34 tools, layer styles and the MCP control channel are shipped.
Native + WebAssembly
One engine on macOS, Windows, Linux, FreeBSD and the browser.
Deeper typography & tools
About twenty missing tools, plus depth in typography and pro workflows.
AI & generative features
The biggest current gap, alongside plug-in compatibility.
Daily-driver parity
Closing the distance to a full professional replacement.
Frequently asked questions
Can't find what you're looking for? Open an issue on GitHub.
What is PhotoCraft?
An open-source, clean-room reimplementation of Adobe Photoshop, written from scratch in Rust, with layers, masks, adjustment layers, layer styles, type, vectors, brushes and real PSD files.
Is it a full Photoshop replacement?
Not yet. PhotoCraft is in early alpha: much of the feature surface exists, but the biggest gaps are AI/generative features, about twenty missing tools, typography depth and plug-in compatibility. See the roadmap for an honest assessment.
Which platforms does it run on?
macOS, Windows, Linux and FreeBSD as a native app, and anywhere as a WebAssembly build in the browser. Release installers include AppImage, deb, rpm, tarball and Flatpak on Linux.
Does it open real PSD files?
Yes. It opens, edits and saves layered Photoshop documents, and re-saving keeps the render of 307 of the 309 files in the psd-tools test set. Unmodeled data is carried over rather than dropped.
How can an agent drive it?
Every action is a command from one registry of 500+. You can call them from the UI, photocraft-cli, an authenticated JSON control channel, or an MCP server.
Come make things with us
Questions, ideas or a broken build? Open an issue or join the Discord.