DesignCraft v0.9.0

DesignCraft is a free, open-source desktop publishing application designed as an alternative to Adobe InDesign. Built in Rust by the ArtCraft team, it focuses on page layout, typography, multi-page documents, and print-oriented design. Its interface follows familiar desktop publishing conventions, making it approachable for users who already understand professional layout software.

The application supports Windows, macOS, and Linux, with a WebAssembly version for browsers. It also provides command-line tools and automation interfaces that allow compatible AI agents to interact with documents and design controls.

DesignCraft is an interesting option for creating magazines, brochures, newsletters, and other page-based publications without a commercial subscription. However, it is still an early-stage project, so users should carefully evaluate its export options and compatibility with existing publishing workflows before adopting it for production.

Features

Page Layout and Multi-Page Documents

DesignCraft provides a page-layout workspace with spreads, parent pages, layers, frames, and text stories. Its interface is inspired by familiar professional publishing applications, including conventional tools, panels, menus, and keyboard shortcuts.

Users can arrange text and graphics across multiple pages, build consistent layouts, and organize document elements into layers. Parent pages help maintain recurring elements across a publication, while spreads support designs that span facing pages.

These capabilities make DesignCraft suitable for experimenting with magazine layouts, newsletters, brochures, and other editorial projects.

Advanced Typography

Typography is one of DesignCraft's main strengths. Its text engine uses paragraph composition techniques designed to produce consistent line breaks and balanced text blocks.

Features include paragraph and character styles, multiple columns, threaded text stories, baseline grids, tabs, hyphenation, and text wrapping around objects. The engine also supports justification controls, optical margin alignment, and paragraph rules and shading.

These tools give designers greater control over text-heavy publications than a basic drawing application typically provides.

DesignCraft also supports international typography, including Japanese text handling. Its release builds bundle additional fonts to improve Japanese text rendering, while development builds can use the separate font collection or fall back to system fonts.

Frames, Layers, and Text Wrapping

DesignCraft uses frames to position text and graphics within a page. Threaded text frames allow a story to continue across multiple columns or pages, helping manage longer documents.

Layers provide a way to organize complex layouts and separate related elements. Text wrapping allows content to flow around objects such as images and decorative shapes.

These features are particularly useful when designing editorial spreads with headlines, captions, pull quotes, and multi-column body text.

Color and Design Tools

The application includes color management primitives for RGB, CMYK, and Lab color spaces, along with swatches, tints, and gradients.

These capabilities provide a foundation for creating consistent color palettes and designing layouts for different publishing needs. The project also includes tools for working with paths, geometry, measurements, and corner styles.

However, the presence of CMYK support does not automatically make DesignCraft a complete prepress solution. Designers preparing commercial print jobs should verify color output, embedded fonts, bleed settings, and print-production requirements before relying on it for final delivery.

Import, Export, and Document Formats

DesignCraft supports its own documented native document format and can import and export InDesign Markup Language (IDML). This provides a potential migration path for users who want to experiment with existing InDesign documents.

The application also supports PNG export, making it possible to render page layouts as images.

PDF export is listed on the project's roadmap rather than being a fully established production feature. This is a significant limitation for users who need print-ready PDFs as their primary deliverable.

Complex IDML documents should also be tested after import because advanced formatting and application-specific features may not transfer perfectly.

AI and Workflow Automation

DesignCraft includes a JSON control channel and a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server. These interfaces allow compatible automation tools and AI agents to interact with the application.

The control system is designed to expose interface operations, tools, panels, dialogs, and document commands, making it possible to automate layout work rather than relying entirely on manual mouse interactions.

A command-line application can also render documents in headless workflows. For example, the project provides a command for rendering every page of its sample document to PNG files.

This architecture makes DesignCraft particularly interesting for developers exploring automated publishing, template generation, and AI-assisted document creation.

EPUB Export and Digital Publishing

DesignCraft can export documents as EPUB files, extending its usefulness beyond printed publications. This provides an option for creating digital editions of magazines and other text-based layouts.

The export workflow is still evolving, so users should inspect the resulting EPUB in their intended reading applications, particularly when documents contain complex typography, columns, or custom layouts.

Download DesignCraft v0.9.0 - Software Mirrors
DesignCraft v0.9.0 for Windows designcraft-0.9.0-windows-x86.msi | 59.39 MB designcraft-0.9.0-windows-x86-portable.zip | 74.58 MB designcraft-0.9.0-windows-x64.msi | 60.71 MB designcraft-0.9.0-windows-x64-portable.zip | 77.53 MB designcraft-0.9.0-windows-arm64.msi | 56.82 MB designcraft-0.9.0-windows-arm64-portable.zip | 73.66 MB
DesignCraft v0.9.0 for macOS designcraft-cli-0.9.0-macos-universal.zip | 67.82 MB designcraft-0.9.0-macos-universal.dmg | 86.63 MB
DesignCraft v0.9.0 for Linux designcraft-0.9.0-linux-x86_64.tar.gz | 77.64 MB designcraft-0.9.0-linux-x86_64.rpm | 78.4 MB designcraft-0.9.0-linux-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst | 74.4 MB designcraft-0.9.0-linux-x86_64.flatpak | 53.6 MB designcraft-0.9.0-linux-x86_64.deb | 78.78 MB designcraft-0.9.0-linux-x86_64.AppImage.zsync | 255.87 kB designcraft-0.9.0-linux-x86_64.AppImage | 73.03 MB designcraft-0.9.0-linux-riscv64.tar.gz | 76.22 MB designcraft-0.9.0-linux-riscv64.rpm | 77.02 MB designcraft-0.9.0-linux-riscv64.deb | 77.2 MB designcraft-0.9.0-linux-aarch64.tar.gz | 74.19 MB designcraft-0.9.0-linux-aarch64.rpm | 75.65 MB designcraft-0.9.0-linux-aarch64.pkg.tar.zst | 71.15 MB designcraft-0.9.0-linux-aarch64.flatpak | 49.97 MB designcraft-0.9.0-linux-aarch64.deb | 76.14 MB designcraft-0.9.0-linux-aarch64.AppImage.zsync | 244.34 kB designcraft-0.9.0-linux-aarch64.AppImage | 69.74 MB
DesignCraft v0.9.0 for BSD designcraft-0.9.0-freebsd-x86_64.tar.gz | 77.51 MB
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DesignCraft v0.9.0 Source Code DesignCraft v0.9.0 Source code (zip) DesignCraft v0.9.0 Source code (tar.gz)
DesignCraft v0.9.0 Release Notes: What's Changed Swatches panel header like InDesign's (Fill/Stroke proxy, container/text, Tint); swatches go to the fill or stroke in front (blocked by #592) by @moppeeer in #838 Object › Fitting with InDesign's shortcuts (Fill Frame Proportionally Ctrl+Alt+Shift+C, …) by @moppeeer in #840 Respect Find/Change scope and first-match limits by @sanyamsingh001 in #845 fix: repaint canvas when entering and leaving parent editing by @harrisonoconnorhover in #855 Page tool: click selects a page; its handles preview the liquid rule, Alt-drag resizes, Shift keeps proportions by @moppeeer in #862 Control panel for the Page tool (W/H, preset, orientation, Liquid Page Rule); Controlled by Parent; Show Parent Page Overlay (blocked by #862) by @moppeeer in #864 Page tool: liquid pins and resize locks on the canvas for object-based pages (blocked by #862, #864) by @moppeeer in #866 Liquid Layout panel in InDesign's layout (Auto-Fit, Object Constraints); Create Alternate Layout in the Layout menu (blocked by #864) by @moppeeer in #867 Pages panel: Alt-drag copies a page, drop a page on Create new page, Edit page size; duplicates keep their size by @moppeeer in #869 Pages panel menu in InDesign's order (blocked by #869) by @moppeeer in #870 Gradients between process colours blend as inks (C 50 M 50 halfway), as InDesign shows them by @moppeeer in #836 Page tool draws liquid guides from the rulers (dashed), as in InDesign by @moppeeer in #868 Layout: Table of Contents dialog, entry options and IDML TOC styles by @aiongg in #850 Control: bound click and drag input before queuing events by @MMexicann in #859 refactor(pdf): use guarded shared writing by @skylartaylor in #875 Path edits respect locked layers; Properties links open panels when docking is on by @aiongg in #795 Images: reject EPS bounding boxes with nonfinite corners or size (#740) by @MarekSpodBiedry in #810 Fix overset preflight page for frames inside translated groups (#738) by @MarekSpodBiedry in #812 fix(pdf): leave form fields and media out of PDF/A-2b exports (#743) by @MarekSpodBiedry in #815 fix(cli): reject --pdf-options that is not a JSON object instead of panicking (#731) by @MarekSpodBiedry in #817 Keep a missing graphic missing when it is pasted into another document (#720) by @MarekSpodBiedry in #819 fix(geom): decompose of a flattened transform reports 0 shear instead of NaN by @saadkhantareen in #820 Window menu in InDesign's order; Window › Workspace with Essentials Classic by @moppeeer in #832 Typography panel by @andrestelex in #881 Facing pages take their side from their section's page numbers (odd on the right), as InDesign shuffles them by @moppeeer in #889 Type menu in InDesign's order; Character ⌘T, Paragraph ⌥⌘T, Current Page Number ⌥⇧⌘N by @moppeeer in #894 ui_shot: render every script line so long scripts don't time out on the GPU by @moppeeer in #895 Linux: build an Arch package (.pkg.tar.zst) by @ujo4eva in #903 Render: wide effect blurs are drawn at a lower resolution by @noah1400 in #912 Color parsing: bare CMYK is always 0..100, so C 1 is a 1 % tint by @marcoarnulfo in #913 Package: a missing link stays missing, with no empty file in Links/ by @marcoarnulfo in #914 PDF: a placed PDF 1.7 with /Version /1.7 in its catalog goes into PDF/X-4 exports by @marcoarnulfo in #917 packaging: RPM requires library sonames, so openSUSE can install it by @tydude001 in #928 Images: indexed-colour TIFFs decode through their palette by @marcoarnulfo in #930 Type tool: a press over a locked empty frame draws a new text frame instead of converting it by @moppeeer in #933 Show 100% black as rich black on screen by default, as InDesign does by @moppeeer in #940 Type: let a blank line's hidden paragraph mark take leading immediately by @zydvc26s67-web in #949 Fix overflow in layout.pages.insert when after is u64::MAX by @Silvertree2010 in #951 Keep viewBox-only placed SVGs at viewBox size on IDML import by @Silvertree2010 in #952 math: cap LaTeX expression nesting depth so hostile input can't overflow the stack by @midasmatterhorn in #954 Fix the AppStream screenshot URL and caption by @IanHollow in #957 Pathfinder keeps the frontmost object, as InDesign does (a photo intersected with shapes shows through them) by @moppeeer in #958 layout.section: keep the settings the command does not name by @midasmatterhorn in #964 script.run: roll a failed script back instead of stranding its edits by @midasmatterhorn in #966 guard: restore the whole command transaction on a panic by @midasmatterhorn in #967 Color panel: the Tint field keeps typed text and applies it on Enter or leaving the field by @guillehr2 in #968 IDML: import and export ruler guides by @moppeeer in #974 Find Font: a style that differs only in spacing isn't reported missing by @moppeeer in #978 i18n: Georgian (ka) interface language by @devius in #979 UI: CJK interface text from installed fonts, on the Latin baseline by @con3code in #394 UI: Alt + wheel zooms the view at the pointer by @noah1400 in #491 pt-BR: complete the interface translation by @WladmirJunior in #495 Selection tool: Alt and Shift resize around the centre and keep side-handle drags centred by @aiongg in #497 UI: show Tamil, Indic, Southeast Asian and other scripts from installed fonts by @aiongg in #504 feat: Add UI checkbox for Optical Margin Alignment (#494) by @mjohnson7cd in #509 SVG text: find fonts by PostScript name (#430) by @itrycodinganditsbad in #548 Sections: the section marker shows the section's marker text by @aiongg in #559 fix(compose): enable Norwegian hyphenation patterns by @AkashBhat14 in #565 Swatches: Load Swatches refuses .ase files over 100,000 colors and merges in linear time by @dotCooCoo in #567 Blend modes don't blend with the paper by @moppeeer in #570 Gradient feather on a group: fade it on screen, and don't hide it in PDF by @moppeeer in #577 Footnotes: notes stack baseline to baseline by @aiongg in #584 (fix)Small frame wrap for overset small text boxes by @seanth in #589 Place: with no frame selected, the graphic loads into the place cursor by @aiongg in #599 MCP: confine file access with --automation-read-root and --automation-write-root by @isaac-levine in #604 Styles: selection capture accepts deleted-swatch fills by @KnottyDyes in #606 Complete the Arabic (العربية) catalog: every missing key translated by @hasan-sdaif in #629 fix(index): keep level 3 and 4 topics in a run-in index by @webdevtodayjason in #637 Eyedropper: a sampled colour goes to the stroke when the Stroke box is in front by @moppeeer in #648 Text: stroke behind fill by @aiongg in #657 Word import: bullets and numbering from numbering.xml by @aiongg in #658 macOS: open the window on Intel Metal by skipping indirect-call validation by @fabian-co in #664 Copy a selected placed graphic on its own, so Paste Into puts the whole image in place by @moppeeer in #691 test: make the MCP reconnect test socket blocking on macOS by @haranishi in #692 Effects apply to frames with pasted-in content (Inner Glow, Basic Feather, shadows…) by @moppeeer in #698 fix: show source paths in the Links panel by @haranishi in #703 fix(tables): keep each table anchor in its own paragraph by @noah1400 in #704 Text Wrap panel: four offsets with the link button, and Invert by @moppeeer in #751 Dialogs: drag the title to move the window by @aiongg in #759 Scripts: GREP replacements like $1 stay literal by @aiongg in #760 Radial gradients stretch with the object's box (an ellipse), as InDesign draws them by @moppeeer in #765 EPUB/HTML: anchored objects are exported where they are anchored by @switch87 in #779 Recovery: an explicit recovery folder never overwrites another instance's checkpoints by @aiongg in #793 IDML export keeps overridden parent items by @aiongg in #799 macOS: menu-bar commands run at once by @aiongg in #801 MCP: render_page and screenshot are not read-only because they can write to path (#733) by @MarekSpodBiedry in #813 fix(render): cap the failed-image cache at 64 entries (#728) by @MarekSpodBiedry in #814 fix: eyedropper ignores inactive states of a multi-state object (#737) by @MarekSpodBiedry in #816 Layers panel: the selection shows in it, images are listed by file name, double-click renames an object by @govindaroyaiub in #936 dtd: cap parameter-entity expansion instead of trusting a pass count by @midasmatterhorn in #965 Text recomposes when the baseline grid, a wrap layer's visibility or section numbering changes by @aiongg in #796 #21: opening or dropping an InDesign file says how to bring it over by @Nmarello in #824 Compose: spaces at the end of a paragraph take no room on the line by @govindaroyaiub in #828 Text: kerning takes a typed value, and the Character panel has it by @govindaroyaiub in #901 Tools panel as InDesign's: Gradient Feather its own tool, two-column layout, View Options, Apply Color (,) and Apply Gradient (.) by @moppeeer in #925 A line of text is set when its baseline fits in the frame, as in InDesign (descenders may hang below) by @moppeeer in #976 An empty last paragraph isn't overset text, as in InDesign by @moppeeer in #977 Gradient swatches on text, laid across the text frame as in InDesign by @moppeeer in #825 idml: cap IDML package part size on import instead of reading unbounded by @midasmatterhorn in #921 fix: find optical-size fonts named by their WWS family and style (#911) by @MarekSpodBiedry in #935 Margins and Columns and Create Guides laid out as InDesign's: link button, Preview, arithmetic on leaving a field (blocked by #468) by @moppeeer in #937 Fill with Placeholder Text in paragraphs, as InDesign does by @moppeeer in #959 Pathfinder panel laid out as InDesign's: Paths, Pathfinder, Convert Shape, Convert Point (with Join Path and Convert Point commands) by @moppeeer in #960 idml: read PDFAttribute PageNumber so placed PDFs show their page by @midasmatterhorn in #963 Preserve stored IDML page liquid rules by @sanyamsingh001 in #972 Flex Layout (InDesign 2026): containers that lay out their objects, the Flex Layout panel and Object › Flex Layout by @moppeeer in #973 IDML: InDesign's default CJK leading model only with a Japanese composer (Western text spaced as InDesign) by @moppeeer in #975 Layout: parent-page margins and guides, Create Guides on the current page, ruler-unit-aware Margins and Columns by @soro-82 in #468 CMYK blend space: blend modes blend in CMYK on screen by @moppeeer in #588 Bump quick-xml to 0.41: linear-time attribute check on .docx/.xlsx import (RUSTSEC-2026-0194, -0195) by @natocool2 in #687 Create Outlines makes one compound path per line, so Ungroup separates the lines by @moppeeer in #688 Ctrl/Cmd + the + key zooms the canvas, not the whole window by @PiMinusMax in #757 Swatches: dropping an .ase file on the window loads its swatches by @dotCooCoo in #764 EPUB/HTML: list paragraphs share one ul/ol, and pre lines one block by @switch87 in #780 EPUB: the navigation lists the headings, with a title in the book's language by @switch87 in #782 EPUB: real modified time, a stable unique identifier, and a cover image file by @switch87 in #783 EPUB/HTML: generic font fallback from the font's class, and optional font embedding by @switch87 in #787 Styles: name the attributes in the params docs, and a wrong one in the command's error by @switch87 in #789 EPUB: one content file per chapter, split before each h1 by @switch87 in #791 Word import: table cells skip deleted text and field codes; Normal style formatting is kept by @aiongg in #797 EPUB export includes tables, footnotes and endnotes by @aiongg in #798 Gradient strokes: on screen, in PDF, in IDML and the Gradient panel by @moppeeer in #823 Footnotes: Span Footnotes Across Columns sets notes across the frame by @marcoarnulfo in #918 Canvas & Tools panel: Selection is filled arrow, Direct Selection hollow arrow (fixes #437, #438) by @el-j in #929 Type tool: dead keys and input-method composition on the canvas by @andrestelex in #887 feat(pptx): export documents as editable PowerPoint presentations by @PhilippKrueger in #170 Paragraph and Character Styles: wire save and delete into the UI (#169) by @zydvc26s67-web in #171 Warichu: hostile line spacing and break minimums can't break layout by @aiongg in #302 IDML: text in a paragraph-level cross-reference source keeps its formatting by @aiongg in #304 fix(geom): prevent invalid zoom values from breaking ruler ticks by @Ni-zav in #306 fix(layout): reject invalid spread rotation angles by @Ni-zav in #307 fix(geom): correct pica and cicero rounding at unit boundaries by @Ni-zav in #308 i18n: translate the whole interface into German by @dwetscher in #311 Text: combining marks that start a run are shaped with their base letter by @aiongg in #317 Fix help buttons disabled when on homepage by @crqch in #329 fix(ui): Highlight swatch list rows and keep panels clear of scroll bars by @moppeeer in #344 Route macOS text clipboard commands through egui by @ironinthesoul in #349 Compose: No Break runs and nonbreaking spaces stretch on justified lines by @aiongg in #372 UI: no crash on textures past the GPU limit by @con3code in #393 UI: the welcome screen's Discord button clears the text beside it by @con3code in #396 Fonts: a pan-CJK font's family name decides its font menu group by @con3code in #413 Preserve endnote and editorial payloads in text slices by @sanyamsingh001 in #458 Docs: explain hyphenation defaults and image fitting modes to agents by @KnottyDyes in #463 Fonts: discover Linux user fonts in XDG_DATA_HOME by @KnottyDyes in #464 Recover document copies after browser graphics loss by @sanyamsingh001 in #471 Moving a sheared, rotated text frame leaves no text trails by @moppeeer in #472 Show the first parent page behind single-sided pages (#429) by @MarekSpodBiedry in #474 Fix needless horizontal scrollbar in the app bar at 115% scale (#481) by @MarekSpodBiedry in #488 Skip .ase swatches with NaN or infinite colour components by @Silvertree2010 in #982 UI: document views have scrollbars, and Alt pans while editing text by @aiongg in #446 Keep '-' after an RTF control word when no digit follows by @Silvertree2010 in #1042 fix(export): reject oversized page selections by @skylartaylor in #1089 ci: add nix check workflow by @dylanmtaylor in #1101 feat(installer): unify Windows setup and completion screens by @skylartaylor in #1103 Integration batch: 197 PRs on main by @aiongg in #1139 fix: IDML links in a subfolder beside the package load on another machine by @Kerrrunchhh in #1015 Window > Paragraph Styles opens the floating Character Styles | Paragraph Styles group, as InDesign does by @moppeeer in #1022 idml: one unusable CJK metric no longer refuses the whole file by @midasmatterhorn in #1027 Objects snap to the bleed guide by @pepen11 in #1034 The status bar's error count opens the Preflight panel by @pepen11 in #1035 Overset marks for text frames inside groups (ports when selected; the red mark always) by @pepen11 in #1036 Layout: First/Previous/Next/Last Page and Next/Previous Spread, with InDesign's shortcuts by @moppeeer in #1043 View: Presentation shows one spread fitted to the screen; arrow keys and clicks go through the spreads by @moppeeer in #1044 Keep text of inline content controls in DOCX import by @Silvertree2010 in #1054 Canvas: pages show their paper while their render is on its way, not black by @moppeeer in #1056 Pages: deleting pages that contain objects asks first, with Don't show again by @moppeeer in #1058 Properties: Edit Page takes the Page tool to the page and sets that page's size, as InDesign's by @moppeeer in #1059 Styles: show paragraph overrides and clear them from the row menu by @moppeeer in #1060 Styles: captured text follows later style edits by @moppeeer in #1061 Styles: preview paragraph and character style edits before applying them by @moppeeer in #1062 UI: Typography opens with its named panel groups and a clear page by @moppeeer in #1063 Styles: redefine paragraph and character styles from local formatting by @moppeeer in #1064 Styles: show captured color and spacing in Paragraph Style Settings by @moppeeer in #1065 Pages panel: Panel Options (sizes, thumbnails, parents side by side, pages on top, resize), as InDesign's by @moppeeer in #1067 Table › Convert Rows › To Header, To Body and To Footer, as in InDesign by @marcoarnulfo in #1068 Units: inches show four decimals, as InDesign's fields (0.1667 in, 8.2677 in) by @moppeeer in #1073 Rulers: the corner where they meet sets both rulers' units; ruler menus as InDesign's by @moppeeer in #1074 Thread the loaded text cursor into a text frame inside a group by @Hamza0101 in #1075 Tools: a tool group's flyout closes on Esc and on a click outside it, as InDesign's by @moppeeer in #1076 Hyphenate Greek by @Hamza0101 in #1077 Color Theme: extract a placed image palette and add it to Swatches by @moppeeer in #1079 Fill and stroke with nothing selected set the colours of new shapes, as InDesign's document defaults by @moppeeer in #1081 Canvas: Enter and Tab in a panel field no longer reach the selected text by @marcoarnulfo in #1090 Contributors: add Marco Arnulfo by @marcoarnulfo in #1098 Add A0, A1 and A2 poster page presets by @harrisonoconnorhover in #1099 New Swatch names a gradient "New Gradient Swatch"; gradient swatches from colour swatches by @moppeeer in #763 Story Editor stays with its document; Undo restores the selection from before the command by @aiongg in #794 PDF export leaves out form fields, buttons and media that aren't shown by @aiongg in #800 Open .indd and .indt files through indd-utils by @aiongg in #808 fix: drop the background render when a display option changes (#730) by @MarekSpodBiedry in #818 End the RTF \uN fallback skip at the end of its group by @Silvertree2010 in #985 Flatten deleted text variables in table cells and notes by @Silvertree2010 in #986 Type menu: Define Lists path matches the menu by @aiongg in #989 Toolbar: Apply Gradient on the stroke is one undo step by @aiongg in #991 Sections: consecutive right pages get separate spreads by @aiongg in #992 Effects: wide feathers and inner effects stay sharp at high zoom by @aiongg in #994 Typography panel: every OpenType toggle, exported figure styles, working Standard Ligatures by @aiongg in #995 Paths: Join and Convert Point respect locked layers and groups by @aiongg in #996 Kerning: a value at the caret kerns the pair at the caret by @aiongg in #997 Type tool: a drag after several clicks extends the selection by words, lines or paragraphs (#981) by @wstock in #1000 Importers: XML element nesting and DTD group nesting are bounded (#712) by @wstock in #1001 Tools: Cmd held with another tool borrows the Selection tool for one gesture (#919) by @wstock in #1002 IDML: preserve liquid guides on document and parent pages by @keynepekar in #1010 Text: Digits setting in the Character panel and character styles; page numbers and list numbers follow it by @soro-82 in #1012 i18n(de): clearer terms, missing strings, six hard-coded dialog labels by @danielwbittner-hub in #1013 Panel tabs: InDesign's Close, Close Tab Group, Minimize and Collapse to Icons by @moppeeer in #1021 New Workspace: Capture Panel Locations and Menu Customization, as InDesign's by @moppeeer in #1024 docx: an explicit off imports as off by @midasmatterhorn in #1029 Fix \rightarrow closing a \left fence early in math expressions by @Silvertree2010 in #1038 Reject threading that would create linked-story ancestor cycles by @sanyamsingh001 in #1040 UI: Tab, Shift+Tab and Presentation hide the flyout and floating panels too by @moppeeer in #1045 UI: double-clicking the status bar's preflight count shows the Preflight panel (builds on #1035) by @moppeeer in #1046 Pages panel: parents and pages scroll on their own, a divider resizes them, the footer stays at the bottom by @moppeeer in #1066 Table of Contents: page number and separator character styles, Sort Entries in Alphabetical Order by @switch87 in #1070 Layers: a slow double-click renames an object, a quick one only selects, as InDesign's by @moppeeer in #1083 Placed greyscale and bitmap images take the swatch applied to them, as in InDesign (IDML, screen, PDF) by @marcoarnulfo in #1100 Honor IDML SameParaStyleSpacing between same-style paragraphs (#449) by @MarekSpodBiedry in #473 UI: make the application bar's search field find and run commands by @aiongg in #499 IDML: import and wrap around custom text-wrap boundaries by @aiongg in #500 View: leave Presentation mode with Esc or Shift+W by @aiongg in #503 Tint and Apply To in the Properties Fill and Stroke menus by @moppeeer in #525 IDML: a spread's view rotation is read and written by @aiongg in #529 View: draw the document grid by @aiongg in #532 Type: a Justification dialog for the selected paragraphs by @aiongg in #533 Transform values act on a selected placed graphic, not its frame by @moppeeer in #550 docs: add user docs in docs/user by @itrycodinganditsbad in #553 IDML: font family names keep their spaces; FontStyle "Nothing" inherits by @aiongg in #560 Text wrap: anchored objects wrap text by @aiongg in #563 Styles: Load Styles from another document or IDML file by @noah1400 in #571 IDML: tracked deleted text takes no room in the layout by @aiongg in #583 Double-click a frame handle to fit the frame to its content; Fit Frame to Content fits text frames by @moppeeer in #591 Canvas: arrow keys and Tab keep keyboard focus on the canvas by @aiongg in #598 Tables: drag row and column borders with the Type tool by @aiongg in #601 UI: spring-loaded zoom (Cmd+Space / Cmd+Alt+Space) by @rasnoland in #608 Add a Nix flake (NixOS, GNOME and Hyprland) by @untypequicode in #611 Windows: dragging across monitors with different scales doesn't grow or crash the window by @aiongg in #631 Text frames: auto-size grows and shrinks frames to fit their text by @aiongg in #632 Text frames: Balance Columns evens out the last frame's columns by @aiongg in #633 Pages panel: double-clicking a parent shows that parent; parent thumbnails by @aiongg in #635 The Effects dialog: Object › Effects and the panel's fx button, with Preview by @moppeeer in #643 feat(i18n): translate the French interface by @Atalantis in #645 Autoflow: one frame per column, as the page's columns are set by @aiongg in #655 Type: Alt+Left/Right kerns at the caret and tracks a selection by @aiongg in #656 Images: CMYK and profiled photos show in their colours by @aiongg in #659 Color Picker and Color panel: typed values stay; colours are read on a fixed scale by @aiongg in #660 Text frames: lines follow an oval or polygon frame's shape by @aiongg in #661 fix(import): preserve XLSX numeric and cached text values by @storybored379 in #673 Parents: a parent can be based on another parent by @aiongg in #674 Styles: object styles carry effects by @aiongg in #675 New Document: Preview by @aiongg in #683 Ungroup leaves frames with pasted-in content whole; name them by their shape by @moppeeer in #689 Resize a selected placed graphic by its own handles (blocked by #415, #550) by @moppeeer in #699 docs: fix the README font integration link by @haranishi in #701 fix: use group transforms for HTML and EPUB reading order by @haranishi in #702 Text Frame Options laid out as InDesign's: columns type and width, inset link, Ignore Text Wrap, Baseline Options by @moppeeer in #753 Save: delegate atomic writes to craft-atomic by @aiongg in #758 Colour management on craft-cms by @aiongg in #761 Saving: an error never leaves an empty file or a document marked saved by @aiongg in #792 File › Open Recent, and recent files with previews on the start screen by @PiMinusMax in #802 Refuse command params the description doesn't name (#776) by @switch87 in #803 Preferences: OK without vertical units keeps them by @noah1400 in #807 Eyedropper: with text selected, pick up the clicked text's formatting, as InDesign does by @moppeeer in #983 Swatches: Load Swatches numbers repeated .ase names and names unnamed colors by value by @dotCooCoo in #988 Layers: Enter in the rename field keeps an unnamed object's automatic label by @aiongg in #990 Type: formatting set on a blank line applies to the text typed there by @aiongg in #993 docs: add public font integration guidance to README by @haranishi in #998 Scaling a text frame scales its text, as InDesign's When Scaling: Apply to Content by @moppeeer in #1007 fix(text): Character panel: VF sliders preview live implementation by @andrestelex in #1011 UI: Paragraph Style Options gains the remaining sections by @aiongg in #359 Paragraph borders, shading, span space and list levels: every setting from model to dialog by @aiongg in #360 Paste: copied objects land on the spread in view by @noah1400 in #369 UI: a context menu on the canvas for objects, text and the page by @aiongg in #373 feat(i18n): apply russian language by @wondarkus in #374 Layers: drag layers and objects to reorder them by @aiongg in #378 Startup: pick the GPU that drives the display, fall back across adapters and backends, and log startup errors by @aiongg in #380 Layout: text wrap set on a placed graphic wraps text by @aiongg in #381 Layout: right-to-left binding puts parent page items on the right side by @aiongg in #382 Sections: Kanji page numbers by @aiongg in #383 macOS: the menu bar follows the interface language at once by @con3code in #397 Undo: a command that runs another is one undo step by @noah1400 in #411 Tools: move a placed graphic inside its frame by @aiongg in #415 Swatches and layers: Swatch Options and Layer Options dialogs rename them by @aiongg in #416 Documents: Save adds .designcraft, and the OS opens DesignCraft and IDML files by @aiongg in #417 IDML: frames take corners, effects and text wrap from their object style by @aiongg in #418 IDML: gradient and directional feathers import and export by @aiongg in #419 PDF: right-to-left text extracts in reading order by @aiongg in #421 PDF: generated text keeps its characters under small caps by @aiongg in #422 CJK: smaller runs align to the line's em box centre by @aiongg in #423 CJK: custom mojikumi tables without a base set apply their rules by @aiongg in #424 Text: Optical kerning spaces pairs from their outlines by @MaridWSH in #427 PDF: items with soft effects keep their text wrap by @aiongg in #433 Objects: group siblings inside a group; refuse mixed levels and spreads by @aiongg in #434 macOS: the window buttons sit centred in the title bar by @aiongg in #442 Fonts: macOS fonts that font services and managers activate are listed by @aiongg in #443 Tools: live corners round a frame's corners by dragging by @aiongg in #444 macOS: Settings… is in the app menu by @aiongg in #445 i18n: translate print, import and table controls by @haranishi in #454 Wrap saved story revision increments consistently by @sanyamsingh001 in #456 feat(ui): Lay out the font menu like InDesign's by @moppeeer in #466 feat(ui): Lay out Document Setup like InDesign's by @moppeeer in #469 CLI: --export writes the file type its extension names by @noah1400 in #475 Tools panel: Selection is the filled arrow, Direct Selection the hollow one by @aiongg in #486 Pen: a click does what the cursor shows over an open path's end point by @aiongg in #487 i18n: Czech interface language by @Losminek in #490 Text: copied text keeps its endnotes and editorial notes by @aiongg in #498 Layout: parent pages pass margins and guides to their pages by @aiongg in #501 UI: set the interface language in Preferences by @aiongg in #502 Images: clipping paths from IDML clip the image on screen and in PDF by @aiongg in #561 IDML: anchored objects take unset settings from their object style; left-aligned X offsets read in the layout's direction by @aiongg in #562 feat(desktop): portable mode, portable.txt next to the executable (#574) by @marcoarnulfo in #580 Paste vector art from Illustrator, VectorCraft or Figma as editable paths by @moppeeer in #618 Gradient panel in InDesign's layout; drop swatches from the Swatches panel onto its stops by @moppeeer in #826 i18n: add Polish interface language by @lewandowskit in #829 Text: kerning survives a colour change (#29) by @aiongg in #81 Layout: first baselines, Jump Object wrap, drop caps, IDML defaults by @aiongg in #83 Compose: an empty paragraph takes its mark's character format by @denizkoekden in #96 Compose: fit horizontal text frames by the last baseline by @skylartaylor in #106 README: install on Gentoo from the ::snakebyte overlay by @switch87 in #121 IDML: preserve anchored text frames and footnote artwork by @ShaoWenbinSaleh in #124 Fix composite font resolution, missing-glyph diagnostics, and document-wide font replacement by @ShaoWenbinSaleh in #126 Fix IDML Mojikumi spacing, kinsoku composition, and nested text preflight by @ShaoWenbinSaleh in #129 Memory: release retired layouts and reserve text growth exactly by @skylartaylor in #177 fix(ui): Integrate Windows window controls into the menu bar by @moppeeer in #253 fix(ui): Compact the Advanced object Control panel into aligned rows by @moppeeer in #255 IDML: text variables keep their text by @aiongg in #301 Preserve explicit nullable text defaults when reopening documents by @sanyamsingh001 in #305 Snap: smart guides beat the baseline grid; a box centres between two others by @noah1400 in #309 Justification: tight word spacing doesn't isolate a word; fixed-width spaces don't stretch by @aiongg in #310 Retry missing font fallbacks after a font rescan by @sanyamsingh001 in #315 GREP: the dialect's classes and metacharacters (\l \u \h, ~ codes, lookaround) in GREP styles and Find/Change by @aiongg in #316 DTD: bound parameter-entity expansion, nesting and sequence matching by @haranishi in #319 feat(ui): Lay out the New Document window like InDesign's by @moppeeer in #325 Compose: page numbers take the Digits setting of their text by @aiongg in #331 UI: CJK features behind a preference that follows the interface language by @aiongg in #336 feat(engine): Document chapter numbering and section prefix rules by @moppeeer in #341 feat(ui): Lay out Numbering & Section Options like InDesign's by @moppeeer in #342 Tabs: commands, Tabs panel and a Tabs section in Paragraph Style Options by @aiongg in #343 Layout: section start numbers are bounded and page numbering can't overflow by @aiongg in #346 Text: the paragraph mark's size counts in its line's auto leading by @aiongg in #357 Rulers: a document zero point, a ruler origin, and guides from the ruler corner by @aiongg in #358 IDML: $ID/ font names, placed PDF page and crop, package IDML without embedded images by @aiongg in #362 CJK: ruby, kenten, shatai, auto tate-chu-yoko, grid references and the leading model by @aiongg in #363 UI: CJK sections in Paragraph and Character Style Options by @aiongg in #364 UI: every CJK section in the style dialogs, and the full Ruby dialog by @aiongg in #365 Text: input method (IME) composition in the Type tool by @aiongg in #366 Tables: cell edge strokes in the Stroke panel and Cell Options, with gap colour and tint by @aiongg in #379 Layout: wrap both sides of an object and around its contour by @aiongg in #384 Align panel: add objdistribute- icons, reuse upstream objalign- by @vxkj1211 in #408 Compose: the CJK leading model and character alignment apply only under the Japanese composers by @aiongg in #330 fix(ui): Show the Pencil stroke while drawing by @moppeeer in #388 Graphics: keep a failed OpenGL out of the instance by @Hamza0101 in #1164 Fix relink atomicity and EPS source retention by @skylartaylor in #150 Follow paths stored in documents only on this computer or the document's share by @skylartaylor in #1236 New Contributors @harrisonoconnorhover made their first contribution in #855 @MMexicann made their first contribution in #859 @MarekSpodBiedry made their first contribution in #810 @saadkhantareen made their first contribution in #820 @andrestelex made their first contribution in #881 @ujo4eva made their first contribution in #903 @tydude001 made their first contribution in #928 @zydvc26s67-web made their first contribution in #949 @Silvertree2010 made their first contribution in #951 @midasmatterhorn made their first contribution in #954 @IanHollow made their first contribution in #957 @guillehr2 made their first contribution in #968 @devius made their first contribution in #979 @con3code made their first contribution in #394 @WladmirJunior made their first contribution in #495 @mjohnson7cd made their first contribution in #509 @itrycodinganditsbad made their first contribution in #548 @AkashBhat14 made their first contribution in #565 @isaac-levine made their first contribution in #604 @hasan-sdaif made their first contribution in #629 @fabian-co made their first contribution in #664 @Nmarello made their first contribution in #824 @soro-82 made their first contribution in #468 @natocool2 made their first contribution in #687 @PiMinusMax made their first contribution in #757 @el-j made their first contribution in #929 @PhilippKrueger made their first contribution in #170 @Ni-zav made their first contribution in #306 @dwetscher made their first contribution in #311 @crqch made their first contribution in #329 @ironinthesoul made their first contribution in #349 @Kerrrunchhh made their first contribution in #1015 @pepen11 made their first contribution in #1034 @Hamza0101 made their first contribution in #1075 @wstock made their first contribution in #1000 @keynepekar made their first contribution in #1010 @danielwbittner-hub made their first contribution in #1013 @rasnoland made their first contribution in #608 @untypequicode made their first contribution in #611 @Atalantis made their first contribution in #645 @wondarkus made their first contribution in #374 @MaridWSH made their first contribution in #427 @Losminek made their first contribution in #490 @lewandowskit made their first contribution in #829 @vxkj1211 made their first contribution in #408 Full Changelog: v0.8.0...v0.9.0

Performance and Compatibility

DesignCraft is written in Rust and uses a modular architecture that separates document handling, typography, rendering, and the user interface. Its rendering engine supports multithreaded processing and cached text composition, while copy-on-write document snapshots help make undo operations efficient.

The application runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, and FreeBSD. A WebAssembly build also runs in modern browsers, using WebGPU when available and WebGL2 as a fallback.

For document interchange, DesignCraft supports IDML import and export. It also exports PNG, PDF, and EPUB files, although complex documents should be checked carefully before being used in professional production workflows. PDF export includes selectable text and embedded font subsets, with color and print-layout features such as bleed boxes and crop marks.

The main limitation is maturity. DesignCraft is an actively developed project, and compatibility with complex InDesign documents, advanced publishing features, and professional print requirements should not be assumed. Its own documentation identifies further work on publishing workflows and PDF/X-4 output.

System Requirements

• Operating systems: Windows, macOS, Linux, and FreeBSD.

• Browser support: WebAssembly build for modern browsers.

• Windows architectures: x86, x64, and ARM64.

• Linux architectures: x86-64 and ARM64.

• macOS: Universal build for Intel and Apple silicon.

• Build requirements: Rust 1.90 or newer, plus the documented development dependencies.

• Browser rendering: WebGPU or WebGL2.

The project does not specify a comprehensive minimum RAM or processor requirement. Performance will depend on document complexity, font usage, image content, and the system's available resources.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Free and open-source under the MIT or Apache 2.0 license.

• Available for major desktop operating systems and the web.

• Familiar page-layout interface inspired by professional publishing software.

• Advanced typography, paragraph composition, and text wrapping.

• Supports spreads, parent pages, layers, and threaded text.

• Imports and exports IDML documents.

• Supports PNG, PDF, and EPUB export.

• Includes CMYK, RGB, and Lab color tools.

• Command-line tools enable headless rendering and automation.

• JSON control channel and MCP support for AI-assisted design.

• No mandatory subscription, license server, or telemetry.

Cons

• Still under active development.

• Complex InDesign documents may not transfer perfectly.

• Professional print workflows require careful output validation.

• PDF/X-4 output support is still a development priority.

• Some advanced publishing and document-management capabilities remain incomplete.

• Users may need to learn project-specific workflows and work around missing features.

How to Install

The easiest option is to download the appropriate package from the official DesignCraft website or its GitHub Releases page.

Windows users can choose an installer or portable archive. macOS users can download the universal disk image, while Linux users can choose AppImage, Flatpak, DEB, RPM, or a tarball. A browser-based build is also available.

To build and launch DesignCraft from source, install Rust 1.90 or newer and run:

git clone https://github.com/storytold/designcraft.git
cd designcraft
cargo run --release -p designcraft

To open the sample magazine:

cargo run --release -p designcraft -- --sample

To render every page of the sample document to PNG files without opening the graphical interface:

cargo run --release -p designcraft-cli -- run --sample --all-pages out/

To build the web version, install Trunk and the wasm32-unknown-unknown Rust target, then run:

cd apps/designcraft-web
trunk build --release

The resulting static files can be served using a web server. Refer to the official repository for additional build instructions and platform-specific details.

Final Verdict

DesignCraft is a promising open-source desktop publishing application that combines sophisticated typography, multi-page layout tools, color management, document interchange, and automation in a single Rust-based project.

Its typography engine and support for IDML, PDF, and EPUB make it more compelling than a simple page-layout prototype. The ability to automate document operations through a command-line interface and MCP also gives it an advantage for developers exploring template-driven publishing and AI-assisted design.

The biggest concern is production readiness. Although DesignCraft supports important publishing workflows, users who depend on complex InDesign documents, specialized print requirements, or established professional production processes should test it thoroughly before switching.

For hobbyists, independent publishers, developers, and users interested in open-source design software, DesignCraft is worth exploring. For professional publishing, it is best treated as a developing alternative rather than a drop-in replacement for Adobe InDesign.

Free

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Software Informations:
Developer:
ArtCraft
Operating System:
Windows / macOS / Linux / BSD
Date Added:
2026-10-18T08:07:17.830Z
Categories:

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