PhotoCraft v0.17.0

PhotoCraft is an open-source image editor designed as a clean-room reimplementation of Adobe Photoshop, built entirely in Rust. It provides a surprisingly broad set of professional image-editing features, including layers, masks, adjustment layers, filters, vector shapes, editable text, brushes, and native PSD support.

The project is particularly interesting for users who want a local, open-source Photoshop alternative without relying on Electron, cloud services, or proprietary software. However, PhotoCraft is still in early alpha, so it is better viewed as a promising alternative under active development than as a complete replacement for Photoshop.

Features

PhotoCraft offers a substantial collection of image-editing tools:

• Layer groups, clipping masks, pixel and vector masks

• Adjustment layers for Curves, Levels, Vibrance, Hue/Saturation, Black & White, Gradient Map, Selective Color and more

• Layer styles including Drop Shadow, Inner Shadow, Glow, Bevel & Emboss, Stroke, and overlays

• Brush, Pencil, Mixer Brush, Clone Stamp, Healing Brush and other painting tools

• Marquee, Lasso, Magic Wand, Quick Selection, Object Selection and Select Subject

• Editable point and paragraph text

• Pen and vector shape tools

• Smart objects and smart filters

• Free Transform with scale, rotate, skew, distort and perspective

• History and History Brush

• Multiple blend modes, opacity, fill and layer controls

• Color management with RGB, Grayscale, CMYK and Lab

• 8, 16 and 32-bit-per-channel documents

• PSD and PSB support

• PNG, JPEG, TIFF, WebP, GIF, BMP, TGA, ICO, OpenEXR, HDR, AVIF and other formats

• Export preview with quality, transparency, scale and estimated file size

• Command palette and recorded actions

Its PSD support is one of its strongest features. The project tests its implementation against real-world PSD files and reports very high rendering compatibility across its test corpora. Unsupported data is designed to be preserved rather than simply discarded when documents are saved.

Another unusual feature is its automation architecture. PhotoCraft exposes its editing engine through the desktop interface, CLI, JSON control channel and MCP, making the application suitable for scripted workflows and AI-agent automation.

Download PhotoCraft v0.17.0 - Software Mirrors
PhotoCraft v0.17.0 for Windows photocraft-0.17.0-windows-x86.msi | 97.46 MB photocraft-0.17.0-windows-x86-portable.zip | 114.87 MB photocraft-0.17.0-windows-x64.msi | 100.72 MB photocraft-0.17.0-windows-x64-portable.zip | 120.47 MB photocraft-0.17.0-windows-arm64.msi | 95.34 MB photocraft-0.17.0-windows-arm64-portable.zip | 114.75 MB
PhotoCraft v0.17.0 for macOS photocraft-cli-0.17.0-macos-universal.zip | 101.09 MB photocraft-0.17.0-macos-universal.dmg | 129.82 MB
PhotoCraft v0.17.0 for Linux photocraft-0.17.0-linux-x86_64.tar.gz | 117.5 MB photocraft-0.17.0-linux-x86_64.rpm | 118.41 MB photocraft-0.17.0-linux-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst | 94.79 MB photocraft-0.17.0-linux-x86_64.flatpak | 88.24 MB photocraft-0.17.0-linux-x86_64.deb | 119.19 MB photocraft-0.17.0-linux-x86_64.AppImage.zsync | 195.94 kB photocraft-0.17.0-linux-x86_64.AppImage | 111.82 MB photocraft-0.17.0-linux-riscv64.tar.gz | 114.99 MB photocraft-0.17.0-linux-riscv64.rpm | 115.96 MB photocraft-0.17.0-linux-riscv64.deb | 116.49 MB photocraft-0.17.0-linux-aarch64.tar.gz | 112.73 MB photocraft-0.17.0-linux-aarch64.rpm | 114.61 MB photocraft-0.17.0-linux-aarch64.pkg.tar.zst | 91.73 MB photocraft-0.17.0-linux-aarch64.flatpak | 83.08 MB photocraft-0.17.0-linux-aarch64.deb | 115.57 MB photocraft-0.17.0-linux-aarch64.AppImage.zsync | 188.25 kB photocraft-0.17.0-linux-aarch64.AppImage | 107.43 MB
PhotoCraft v0.17.0 for BSD photocraft-0.17.0-freebsd-x86_64.tar.gz | 116.84 MB
Others Download related to PhotoCraft v0.17.0 photocraft-web-0.17.0.zip | 12.35 MB
PhotoCraft v0.17.0 Source Code PhotoCraft v0.17.0 Source code (zip) PhotoCraft v0.17.0 Source code (tar.gz)
PhotoCraft v0.17.0 Release Notes: What's Changed Package: never overwrite one link's copy with another, list a missing link once by @softwaregames1 in #9185 Fix CPU pixel grid stroke width on HiDPI displays by @ssh-den in #9199 Image Rotation › Arbitrary turns unlinked layer masks (#9201) by @davidmann4 in #9203 fix(cms): ignore tags inside .look XML comments (#9109) by @DuBearte in #9210 fix(cms): headerless .3dl tables read on at least the 12-bit scale (#9121) by @DuBearte in #9215 fix(engine): turn a shape's gradient stroke with the canvas (#9239) by @davidmann4 in #9240 fix(ui): Hue/Saturation's spectrum bars stretch with the panel (#9242) by @DuBearte in #9250 fix(ui): a swatch click recolours selected type and shapes with any tool (#9238) by @hectorviov in #9253 feat: New Document can start as an artboard (#9086) by @DuBearte in #9258 Crop: in Full Screen Mode Match Canvas is the black pasteboard (#9294) by @davidmann4 in #9295 Crop and Straighten Photos processes only the selection (#9297) by @davidmann4 in #9298 fix(algo): Dehaze leaves no bright halo beside dark objects (#9273) by @DuBearte in #9316 fix(engine): defined and imported patterns survive a restart (#9317) by @hectorviov in #9318 Paste: centre pixels copied from another document (#8945) by @DuBearte in #9353 feat(ui): Browse… for the folders of Image Processor and Batch (#9357) by @hectorviov in #9360 Tests: the smart filter stack-cache test runs in its own binary (#9376) by @davidmann4 in #9377 Reveal All: ignore erased, fully transparent pixels (#9379) by @davidmann4 in #9380 SVG: text reads each font file once instead of once per glyph (#9406) by @davidmann4 in #9407 Export Data Sets as Files keeps outputs in the chosen folder (#9420) by @davidmann4 in #9422 Plug-ins: refuse a manifest that declares a parameter twice (#9441) by @davidmann4 in #9442 Engine: assets_dir's doc comment back on assets_dir (#9390) by @davidmann4 in #9391 fix(atn): preserve unsupported event kinds by @justinjohn0306 in #8509 Kept composites follow the text gamma and free their memory; GPU timing survives an OOM retry (#8520, #8521) by @davidmann4 in #8522 Fix layout benchmark setup for preserved Smart Objects by @bommerts in #8664 Regression tests for eight fixes merged without one by @skylartaylor in #8690 Refuse .pcraft manifests with too many JSON values before parsing by @Silvertree2010 in #8893 ora: test that Soft Light exports as svg:soft-light by @switch87 in #9028 Filter Gallery: ⌘+ / ⌘− / ⌘0 / ⌘1 zoom the preview, stepping like Liquify's by @andeecollard in #9107 Channels panel: drag alpha channels to reorder them (#9163) by @hectorviov in #9168 fix(ui): Save for Web reopens on the preview tab chosen last (#9174) by @hectorviov in #9178 Codecs: save Amiga IFF (.iff) as 24-bit ILBM by @dotCooCoo in #9080 fix(cms): read UTF-16 LUT files by their byte-order mark by @bercedev in #9129 fix(ui): Properties Transform shows a shape's path, not its stroke by @hectorviov in #9181 contributors: credit VoiceLessQ by display name by @VoiceLessQ in #9264 Contributors: add my name (erenova) by @erenova in #9369 ci(deps): bump the actions group across 1 directory with 3 updates by @dependabot[bot] in #8979 Security: pin and verify the Windows signing client (#2936) by @Erica4fr in #3938 Migrate PhotoCraft to egui 0.37 by @skylartaylor in #9363 feat(updates): add startup self-update prompt modal by @dylanmtaylor in #9322 build: pin craft-update to craft-libs main (495e597) by @dylanmtaylor in #9548 chore(deps): refresh safe dependency bumps by @skylartaylor in #9558 chore: resolve SonarCloud maintainability issues by @dylanmtaylor in #9044 Integration batch 8: 37 reviewed community PRs on main by @davidmann4 in #9386 Crop tool: right-click on a pending crop opens its menu: presets, overlays, Cancel and Crop (#6561) by @marcoarnulfo in #6620 codecs: read and write TIFF extra samples (spot and alpha channels) by @jasallen in #7415 perf(photomerge): track multiband timing and peak memory by @ersoynarin-code in #7873 PSD: type on a path opens on its path and saves back into the file's Txt2 (#7962) by @Higgs32584 in #8175 Raw: open lossy DNGs (floating-point JPEG XL raw data), and fall back to the JPEG XL preview, not the tiny thumbnail (fixes #8125) by @SBaksa in #8402 Menu bar: Space no longer opens File › New after Alt+zoom, finishing #6256's fix (#7688) by @artman67 in #8679 fix(io): DDS export writes the document's alpha channel by @FinnNk in #8776 Fix stacked brush-tip artifacts in hard-round presets by @wanikhawar in #8846 PSD: recognise Photoshop's MTrn merged-transparency marker by @jasallen in #8877 PSD: spot channels in Photoshop's polarity; PSDs from earlier PhotoCraft versions keep their ink by @jasallen in #8885 fix(#9098): preserve PSD byte order in layered TIFF text descriptors by @ronibalthazar in #9128 Rebuild the Histogram panel by @mathildalabs in #9139 Layered TIFF: write Photoshop's global layer mask block (#9095) by @hectorviov in #9148 fix(cms): Resolve .cube files with a 1D shaper and a 3D table load (#9177) by @hectorviov in #9183 fix(ui): the font menu opens on the current family's recent row (#9160) by @hectorviov in #9197 fix(ui): Bevel & Emboss Highlight and Shadow Mode are separate dropdowns (#9368) by @hectorviov in #9370 raw: a non-finite black level no longer panics the AHD demosaic by @vangel76 in #9446 raw: grouped 10/12/14-bit unpack, single-strip buffer kept, in-place undelta by @vangel76 in #9449 raw: block-wise final encode stage for the default rendering by @vangel76 in #9452 raw: develop_half, a fused half-size preview develop (part of #9433) by @vangel76 in #9454 Add optional local models for subject matting and object selection by @mighty-programmer in #1199 Art History Brush in the Y-group flyout by @mvanhorn in #1610 Add intermediate UI scale presets between 100% and 125% by @WebWork-rrs in #3316 History panel: New Snapshot dialog and the first snapshot (#2966) by @itsF4LCON in #3567 Mixer Brush: render mixed paint during the stroke and commit the live result by @durtyrobbin in #3627 Integrations: wire Allow Agent Control and Control Port (#204) by @Erica4fr in #4097 Interface: Animation Effects follows the system setting, or is on or off by @JeremyYao in #4573 Camera Raw: Calibration panel, Auto, raw sidecars and live Camera Raw Defaults (FILE-215-11) by @FabioLissi in #5128 perf(algo): Content-Aware Scale 2x faster, within its P28 budget (#211) by @SckraT in #5236 Blend mode keys: Shift+Alt+letter picks a mode, as in Photoshop by @paulou-jpg in #5478 Mode dropdowns for Clone Stamp, Pattern Stamp, History Brush, Healing and Paint Bucket by @paulou-jpg in #5504 fix(zoom): Restore smooth wheel zoom by @sn-o-w in #5547 perf(camera-raw): develop the preview's per-pixel stages on the GPU (#6916) by @fjamesprice in #6923 feature: gradient paint to the shape tools, any shape can have a gradient stroke. by @deniskhud in #7203 Brush: large tips rasterize, accumulate and composite in parallel by @Unemars in #7218 Crop: Content-Aware Fill keeps the pixels a non-deleting crop hid (#8060) by @Higgs32584 in #8179 fix(xtask): derive scorecard corpus counts from pinned manifests by @Lucenx9 in #8658 io: TIFF alpha and spot channels, with PSD output unchanged by @jasallen in #8878 fix(ui): Type options bar alignment follows the target paragraph by @hectorviov in #9179 Panels: move onto craft-ui's shared docking by @aiongg in #9366 Panels: review follow-ups to the shared docking and egui 0.37 merges by @aiongg in #9575 lint: clear new-code S8855/S8856/S8862/S1612/S7688/S7679 findings by @dylanmtaylor in #9576 Panels: remove the old dock's drawing code by @aiongg in #9583 Preserve locale-aware CJK fonts and migration regressions after #9363 by @skylartaylor in #9518 refactor: lower cognitive complexity in styles apply, affinity text read and warp identity by @dylanmtaylor in #9577 ci: require nextest 0.9.150 by @skylartaylor in #9749 refactor: shared module layout (craft-contrib#20) by @aiongg in #9758 perf(selection): window marquee and lasso feather masks by @wanikhawar in #9794 Expand, Contract and Border: crop to the selection, up to 40× faster on small selections by @wanikhawar in #9697 refactor(selection): take the feather reach from the blur by @aiongg in #9802 fix(ui): dropdown menus grow back after a search with no matches by @aiongg in #9849 perf(save): faster .pcraft and PSD saves, byte-identical output by @Silvertree2010 in #9877 Integration batch: 22 PRs on main by @aiongg in #9880 Crop: X with a ratio preset turns the frame instead of shrinking it (#7057) by @davidmann4 in #7058 Tests: the effect-map deadlock watchdog waits 120 s for each render, not for all 101 by @dotCooCoo in #9340 Actions: save and read the Lab Lightness channel as Lght (#9384) by @davidmann4 in #9385 Preferences: the Generator checkbox reads Enable Generator, as in the reference application (#9392) by @davidmann4 in #9393 Color panel: the Color Wheel fits the panel at its default height (#9394) by @davidmann4 in #9395 SVG: an embedded data-URL SVG gets the nesting-depth check (#9397) by @davidmann4 in #9398 XML: deeply nested ORA, KRA, Camera Raw XMP, .kys and layer XMP are an error, not a crash (#9419) by @davidmann4 in #9421 Automation: refuse every Windows device name in request paths (#9424) by @davidmann4 in #9425 Automation: refuse to replace a non-image file in the write root (#9439) by @davidmann4 in #9445 Plug-ins: refuse a code section with no functions but many bytes instead of panicking (#9679) by @davidmann4 in #9680 CMYK: the test reference keeps a fully covered type pixel's ink exact (#9688) by @davidmann4 in #9689 History: History Options with Allow Non-Linear History and undoable visibility changes (#2966) by @davidmann4 in #3535 PSD save: choose PSB by the encoded size, not the raw estimate (#5285) by @davidmann4 in #5287 Channels: CMYK channels duplicate, load, split and merge as tone, not ink (#5787) by @davidmann4 in #5789 Compose: Transparency Shapes Layer off blends a layer's alpha as Fill in the special eight (#5692) by @davidmann4 in #5837 PSD: Frame layers keep their stroke (#4381) by @davidmann4 in #5890 PSD: Diffuse, Trace Contour, Crystallize and Pointillize smart filters open and save like Photoshop (#6302) by @davidmann4 in #6303 Paths: making a selection from a path deselects the path (#6079) by @davidmann4 in #6353 Color Lookup: PSD save keeps a .3dl/.look LUT file as loaded (#6544) by @davidmann4 in #6723 Paste: a drawing copied as SVG markup pastes its pixels by @dotCooCoo in #7154 Autosave: replace a recovery sidecar in one step, so a listing never misses or doubles it (#9034) by @davidmann4 in #9036 Integration batch: 21 PRs on main by @davidmann4 in #9775 feat(type): add editable font size, leading and tracking preset menus by @Ni-zav in #3558 fix(app): add missing supported file formats to Save As file picker (#3400) by @buivanvu94 in #3609 Layers: New Group dialog and modifiers; new layers go into an open group and join its clip group by @SckraT in #4329 feat(transform): show distort and skew cursor indicators when holding Ctrl/Cmd by @catursurapam in #5405 Font menu: favourites, recent fonts, class and similar-font filters, live preview by @D-monized in #6526 PSD/PSB open without reading the whole file: channel data read as decoded, in bands into tiles (#5106) by @ptrinh in #6583 perf(compression): Use zlib-rs with runtime detection by @reneleonhardt in #7689 fix(codecs): check header dimensions against the file size before allocating by @FinnNk in #8704 fix(ui): Remove Tool trail tints all a stroke removes; brush trails follow hardness (#8916) by @hnoerenberg in #8923 fix(io): preserve Halftone Pattern smart filters in PSD/PSB by @denstu473 in #9031 perf(gpu): NVIDIA's own memory on Linux, so many-layer documents stay off the CPU budget penalty (#5973) by @VishnuByrraju in #9042 Batch: folder sources take every format PhotoCraft opens by @dotCooCoo in #9097 Color panel: the cube modes warn when a colour can't print (#8672) by @hectorviov in #9154 feat: Artboard from Layers takes a size of your own (#9087) by @DuBearte in #9262 feat: type on a path follows its path when the path is edited (#9114) by @DuBearte in #9321 fix(ui): Select and Mask starts from its defaults unless Remember Settings is on (#9423) by @hectorviov in #9444 raw: AHD demosaic with reused planar scratch, about 1.6x fewer instructions by @vangel76 in #9450 raw: develop the default rendering band by band, without the f32 RGB frame by @vangel76 in #9455 fix(ui): Camera Raw's Color Mixer Hue tracks show the neighbouring hues by @hectorviov in #9601 Free Transform: show the live W/H readout in the ruler unit (#9400) by @NaufalDzz in #9678 paint.stroke: fill: true fills the enclosed region (#3659) by @dottedt in #3779 Windows installation policy: PhotoCraft by @Jeremy8776 in #9756 Perf: cliff rows for the CPU compositor, Advanced Blending, adjustment toggles, over-budget and huge documents (#7494) by @brennanMKE in #9565 Enforce Rust coding standards via Clippy by @dylanmtaylor in #9770 Render path: one place records why a view left the GPU (#9328) by @brennanMKE in #9566 xtask perf: a baseline knows how trustworthy it is (#7494) by @brennanMKE in #9564 refactor: split oversized filter, adjustment, crop and effect builders by @osaidahmed in #6463 New Contributors @softwaregames1 made their first contribution in #9185 @ssh-den made their first contribution in #9199 @DuBearte made their first contribution in #9210 @bercedev made their first contribution in #9129 @VoiceLessQ made their first contribution in #9264 @erenova made their first contribution in #9369 @dependabot[bot] made their first contribution in #8979 @jasallen made their first contribution in #7415 @mathildalabs made their first contribution in #9139 @mighty-programmer made their first contribution in #1199 @WebWork-rrs made their first contribution in #3316 @durtyrobbin made their first contribution in #3627 @JeremyYao made their first contribution in #4573 @sn-o-w made their first contribution in #5547 @deniskhud made their first contribution in #7203 @catursurapam made their first contribution in #5405 @D-monized made their first contribution in #6526 @ptrinh made their first contribution in #6583 @hnoerenberg made their first contribution in #8923 Full Changelog: v0.16.0...v0.17.0

Performance and Compatibility

PhotoCraft is built as a native Rust application rather than a web wrapper or Electron application. Its rendering architecture uses wgpu for GPU compositing with support for graphics APIs including Metal, Vulkan, DirectX 12 and WebGPU.

The application also uses multithreaded filters and copy-on-write sparse tiles. This design is intended to reduce unnecessary copying and make large layered documents more manageable.

The project reports extensive automated testing, including PSD round-trip tests, compositor comparisons and multi-depth testing. Its architecture also includes a CPU compositor used as a reference against the GPU compositor.

PhotoCraft can run natively on Windows, macOS, Linux and FreeBSD, with a WebAssembly build for browser use.

The main limitation is maturity. The developers explicitly describe the project as early alpha and acknowledge that it is not yet suitable as a complete replacement for Photoshop in professional daily workflows. Missing areas include AI and generative features, some tools, deeper typography and professional workflows, and plugin compatibility.

System Requirements

PhotoCraft supports:

• Windows

• macOS

• Linux

• FreeBSD

• WebAssembly/browser

Linux distributions can use AppImage, DEB, RPM, tarball or Flatpak packages.

Hardware requirements are not presented as a simple minimum specification. Because PhotoCraft uses GPU acceleration, actual performance will depend heavily on the graphics hardware and the size and complexity of the documents being edited.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Open-source and available under permissive MIT or Apache-2.0 licensing

• Native Rust application

• No Electron or embedded web browser required

• Excellent focus on PSD compatibility

• Extensive layer and adjustment-layer support

• GPU-accelerated rendering

• Supports CMYK, Lab and high-bit-depth documents

• Strong brush and vector capabilities

• Windows, macOS, Linux and FreeBSD support

• Can also run through WebAssembly

• Powerful CLI and automation capabilities

• MCP support makes it interesting for AI-assisted workflows

• Offline-first approach

Cons

• Still early alpha

• Not yet a complete Photoshop replacement

• Missing some tools and professional workflows

• No Photoshop plugin compatibility

• AI and generative editing features are limited or absent

• Typography capabilities are not yet as mature as established professional editors

• Some rough edges should be expected

How to Install

The easiest approach is to download the appropriate package from the project's GitHub releases.

Linux users have several packaging options, including AppImage, DEB, RPM, tarball and Flatpak. Windows has a portable package, while macOS has a universal disk image.

Developers can also build PhotoCraft directly from source using Rust:

git clone https://github.com/storytold/photocraft
cd photocraft
cargo run --release -p photocraft -- image.psd

The repository also provides CLI functionality for automated editing and batch processing.

Final Verdict

PhotoCraft is one of the more ambitious open-source Photoshop alternatives currently available. Its combination of native Rust performance, extensive layer support, serious PSD compatibility work and an unusually capable automation architecture makes it much more than a basic image editor.

The strongest reason to watch PhotoCraft is its engineering approach. The project is building a real image-editing engine rather than simply creating a Photoshop-like interface, and its extensive PSD testing provides a useful foundation for compatibility.

The biggest problem is maturity. The project itself acknowledges that it is still early alpha and lacks several areas required for professional Photoshop replacement workflows. Users who depend on plugins, advanced typography, AI features or highly polished production workflows should not switch completely yet.

For enthusiasts, developers, Linux users, open-source advocates and anyone interested in building automated image-processing workflows, however, PhotoCraft is particularly compelling.

Free

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Software Informations:
Developer:
ArtCraft
Operating System:
Windows / macOS / Linux / BSD
Date Added:
2026-10-28T21:07:16.761Z
Categories:

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