PhotoCraft v0.21.0

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 v0.21.0 - Software Mirrors
PhotoCraft v0.21.0 for Windows photocraft-0.21.0-windows-x86.msi | 103.61 MB photocraft-0.21.0-windows-x86-symbols.zip | 6.21 MB photocraft-0.21.0-windows-x86-portable.zip | 122.39 MB photocraft-0.21.0-windows-x64.msi | 106.8 MB photocraft-0.21.0-windows-x64-symbols.zip | 6.5 MB photocraft-0.21.0-windows-x64-portable.zip | 128.14 MB photocraft-0.21.0-windows-arm64.msi | 101.15 MB photocraft-0.21.0-windows-arm64-symbols.zip | 6.04 MB photocraft-0.21.0-windows-arm64-portable.zip | 122.37 MB
PhotoCraft v0.21.0 for macOS photocraft-cli-0.21.0-macos-universal.zip | 108.97 MB photocraft-0.21.0-macos-universal.dmg | 245.18 MB
PhotoCraft v0.21.0 for Linux photocraft-0.21.0-linux-x86_64.tar.gz.asc | 228 B photocraft-0.21.0-linux-x86_64.tar.gz | 124.53 MB photocraft-0.21.0-linux-x86_64.rpm.asc | 228 B photocraft-0.21.0-linux-x86_64.rpm | 125.55 MB photocraft-0.21.0-linux-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst | 100.09 MB photocraft-0.21.0-linux-x86_64.flatpak.asc | 228 B photocraft-0.21.0-linux-x86_64.flatpak | 93.98 MB photocraft-0.21.0-linux-x86_64.deb.asc | 228 B photocraft-0.21.0-linux-x86_64.deb | 126.41 MB photocraft-0.21.0-linux-x86_64.AppImage.zsync.asc | 228 B photocraft-0.21.0-linux-x86_64.AppImage.zsync | 207.33 kB photocraft-0.21.0-linux-x86_64.AppImage.asc | 228 B photocraft-0.21.0-linux-x86_64.AppImage | 118.33 MB photocraft-0.21.0-linux-riscv64.tar.gz.asc | 228 B photocraft-0.21.0-linux-riscv64.tar.gz | 122.3 MB photocraft-0.21.0-linux-riscv64.rpm.asc | 228 B photocraft-0.21.0-linux-riscv64.rpm | 123.41 MB photocraft-0.21.0-linux-riscv64.deb.asc | 228 B photocraft-0.21.0-linux-riscv64.deb | 123.99 MB photocraft-0.21.0-linux-aarch64.tar.gz.asc | 228 B photocraft-0.21.0-linux-aarch64.tar.gz | 119.63 MB photocraft-0.21.0-linux-aarch64.rpm.asc | 228 B photocraft-0.21.0-linux-aarch64.rpm | 121.75 MB photocraft-0.21.0-linux-aarch64.pkg.tar.zst | 97.03 MB photocraft-0.21.0-linux-aarch64.flatpak.asc | 228 B photocraft-0.21.0-linux-aarch64.flatpak | 88.46 MB photocraft-0.21.0-linux-aarch64.deb.asc | 228 B photocraft-0.21.0-linux-aarch64.deb | 122.84 MB photocraft-0.21.0-linux-aarch64.AppImage.zsync.asc | 228 B photocraft-0.21.0-linux-aarch64.AppImage.zsync | 199.56 kB photocraft-0.21.0-linux-aarch64.AppImage.asc | 228 B photocraft-0.21.0-linux-aarch64.AppImage | 113.89 MB
PhotoCraft v0.21.0 for BSD photocraft-0.21.0-freebsd-x86_64.tar.gz | 123.73 MB photocraft-0.21.0-freebsd-aarch64.tar.gz | 117.61 MB
Others Download related to PhotoCraft v0.21.0 release-signing-key.asc | 803 B photocraft-web-0.21.0.zip | 13.74 MB
PhotoCraft v0.21.0 Source Code PhotoCraft v0.21.0 Source code (zip) PhotoCraft v0.21.0 Source code (tar.gz)
PhotoCraft v0.21.0 Release Notes: What's Changed Save the flattened document at full size into .pcraft files as an option by @dotCooCoo in #9913 Add guarded scratch storage and owned memory supervision by @vistaero in #5330 Save: stop doubling the encoded file in memory (#6607) by @VishnuByrraju in #8115 Stream native PSD/PSB and EXR imports through bounded bands by @vistaero in #5331 Size PSD import memory limits from available RAM by @wanikhawar in #10897 Portable mode: create the write probe exclusively, never through an existing entry by @dylanmtaylor in #10963 codecs: refuse EXR preview attributes larger than their value by @dylanmtaylor in #10982 security(affinity): charge allocation records, empty subpaths, paint lists, tile indexes and shape lookups by @dylanmtaylor in #10966 Stream GPU viewport pages with bounded staging and cancellation by @vistaero in #5332 fix(ui): Save for Web Matte takes only whole colours while typed (#8830) by @hnoerenberg in #8890 test(ui): pin the options-bar swatch's rounded checker clip (#8741) by @hnoerenberg in #8898 fix(ui): the Stroke Path dialog remembers Simulate Pressure (#10527) by @hnoerenberg in #10583 fix(plugins): the install error names the format the file actually is (#10362) by @hnoerenberg in #10633 fix(ui): Ctrl+Alt + wheel zooms the canvas like Alt + wheel (#10488) by @hnoerenberg in #10517 TIFF Options: compression, image pyramid and Save Transparency (#8827) by @Yuki-init in #10932 fix(ui): Minimum and Maximum preview at the scale they apply (#10474) by @hnoerenberg in #10524 Type: add OpenType Numerals submenu (figure styles) by @tareq-halaby in #11051 fix(ui): Roundness previews its radius within 1 px, and a held frame survives a factor change (#10474) by @FredApps in #11081 fix(ui): Overscroll off keeps an image smaller than the window centred (#10488) by @FredApps in #11085 Don't auto-select off-canvas layers from the pasteboard (#10665) by @RickiNano in #10731 Integrate streamed PSB saves with the shared save service by @vistaero in #5333 Integration batch 13: 13 parity epic PRs on main by @davidmann4 in #10952 Record actions in a document-independent form (#219) [depends on #4496] by @FabioLissi in #4514 Batch: subfolders, open documents, file naming, stop on error, error log, progress and cancel (#219) by @FabioLissi in #4579 Layers panel: the filter row lists linked, missing or embedded smart objects by @dotCooCoo in #9211 Layers panel: filter by Color, as in Photoshop (#5898) by @hectorviov in #10439 Layers panel: show the filter row in every theme by @Psychotoxical in #10752 Support newer recorded Action events by @yoriswind in #10755 Actions: support direct Gradient Map and Lab-range Replace Color by @yoriswind in #10765 ATN: keep encoding fallbacks among the top-scoring candidates by @neversaynv3r in #10832 Crop with Delete Cropped Pixels off turns the Background into Layer 0 (#10867) by @ljkx in #10905 Actions: a recorded Save As or Save for Web with the suggested name saves each document under its own (#5305) by @Daktyl198 in #5430 Actions: Check Spelling records and saves as the spellCheck event by @dotCooCoo in #8726 Crop: ⇧-corner drag follows the frame's diagonal (#10871) by @ljkx in #10941 CMYK: adjustment layers in the special eight keep the Fill rule on the ink path (#10386) by @davidmann4 in #10387 text: find paragraphs and trailing blanks without rescanning by @dylanmtaylor in #11045 Integration batch 14: 9 PRs planned by @davidmann4 in #11157 fix(ui): Free Transform keeps plain layers over the moving one under a blend or adjustment layer (#9387) by @x-labb in #9573 Fix Crop Clear retaining custom proportions by @vanvo in #9842 Crop: the Info panel shows the crop frame's W and H (#3145) by @indy2kro in #10453 Free Transform: lift a pixel's coverage up to all of it, as Move does by @hectorviov in #10565 Crop: no frame around the cropped image until the next press by @D-monized in #10642 fix(algo): Filter Gallery reach no longer overflows on out-of-range stored effect values by @jayzed80 in #10850 Crop: a Ctrl-held Straighten line keeps the frame size (#10870) by @ljkx in #10950 Actions: map recorded Shear curves by @yoriswind in #10955 Actions: map recorded Scale Effects and Create Layers by @yoriswind in #10998 Crop: give each overlay its own glyph in the menus and on the options-bar button (#10889) by @Raghav2012Code in #11019 Layers panel: filter by layer effect (#10880) by @Psychotoxical in #11067 Crop: turning the image keeps the frame inside it (#10869) by @ljkx in #11109 Crop: H and P pick the Hand and Pen tools over the default frame (#9731) by @Luis-0508 in #9855 text: group glyphs by colour once instead of rescanning per colour by @dylanmtaylor in #11069 text: merge a run of union components once when fitting area type by @dylanmtaylor in #11065 fix(gpu): saturate effect band edges at the coordinate ceiling by @dylanmtaylor in #11057 ipp: resume the reply's header search where the last read stopped by @dylanmtaylor in #11049 raw: check retone's pixel count with checked multiplication by @dylanmtaylor in #11043 raw: refuse lossy DNG tiles that carry Extended XMP by @dylanmtaylor in #11042 raw: decode a tile range once when several tiles share it by @dylanmtaylor in #11041 raw: refuse JPEG XL tiles with compressed metadata boxes or splines by @dylanmtaylor in #11039 raw: keep at most 64 GainMap opcodes from one list by @dylanmtaylor in #11023 codecs: leave Extended XMP fragments out of zune-jpeg's header parse by @dylanmtaylor in #10981 codecs: charge dropped PNG text against the metadata budget by @dylanmtaylor in #10980 codecs: admit animated GIF screens, sparse RLE BMPs and icon PNG profiles by @dylanmtaylor in #10979 format: bound blob inflation by the remaining load budget; browser budgets by @dylanmtaylor in #10984 Toolbar: Alt/Option-click cycles the flyout tool slot by @tareq-halaby in #10301 Properties: W/H/X/Y take a typed percentage (#10784) by @RickiNano in #10802 Preferences: show Effect Cache, which the engine reads (#204) by @RickiNano in #10921 perf(bench): split command and refresh time; refresh like the app; stop rows timing setup by @RickiNano in #10750 PSD: keep stylistic sets in Txt2 for PhotoCraft-native documents by @tareq-halaby in #10313 fix(layers): refuse to ungroup the sole empty layer group (#11118) by @hnoerenberg in #11163 fix(atomic): report where the original survives when the Windows restore fails by @hnoerenberg in #11189 fix(assets): bind post-save generation to the saved document's identity by @hnoerenberg in #11244 feat(filters): Lens Flare looks like Photoshop's (SSIM 0.97–0.995 per lens) by @the-unknown in #8705 Integration batch 15: Crop, Free Transform and Actions epic PRs by @davidmann4 in #11203 fix(gpu): build compositor pipelines without sharing FXC shader blobs across threads (#9173) by @FinnNk in #9182 feat(ui): live preview in Color Pickers for dialog colour fields and the Crop shield (#9886) by @ljkx in #9979 fix(ui): open export dialog for Data Sets as Files and gate on data sets by @kk376 in #10203 Edit › Transform › Distort: side handles move their edge, Perspective's side handles skew (#10085) by @ljkx in #10814 Load Actions: Mac Roman step names with accented letters or a degree sign read as Mac Roman (#10774) by @TrevorBrown-dev in #10837 Free Transform: Shift-rotate snaps the turn made by the drag (#11099) by @vangel76 in #11162 contributors: set names for vangel76 by @vangel76 in #11207 Crop: centred 48-point grid while turning by @yoriswind in #11220 fix(ui): a save that failed some Image Assets reports which outputs (#11117) by @hnoerenberg in #11168 Integration batch 16: 9 epic PRs on main by @davidmann4 in #11278 feat(zoom): refine zoom field input handling, focus rules, and animation by @sn-o-w in #6647 Crop: Esc hides the crop frame until the next press (#10370) by @qvest-ssels in #10396 Group action playback into one history state by @yoriswind in #10965 Actions: map recorded Content-Aware Fill settings by @yoriswind in #10986 Layers filter: fill layers match no Kind button, and the Mode list has no Pass Through (#10878) by @Hamza0101 in #11017 Layers panel: filter by layer attribute (#10881) by @Psychotoxical in #11077 Actions: support recorded Type Create Work Path by @yoriswind in #11222 Actions: map supported classic Gradient recordings by @yoriswind in #11223 Layers panel: applying a filter deselects the layers it hides (#10879) by @NaufalDzz in #11235 Free Transform: linked layers transform together (#11217) by @chamber074 in #11243 Pass the Linux signing key to the release workflow by @dylanmtaylor in #11344 PDF export: keep the top text and shape layers as vectors, with selectable text by @wanikhawar in #10355 perf(paint): create a large dab's new coverage tiles on the workers by @wanikhawar in #11349 perf(ui): cache Adaptive Wide Angle preview mesh for constraint overlays by @wanikhawar in #9872 Add a headless GPU backend for composition and flat export by @wanikhawar in #10842 Use native Pen cursors to avoid canvas-frame delay by @wanikhawar in #10860 Paste into another artboard keeps the place on the board (#8788) by @Probler-Yt in #10538 bs: Add Bosnian (bs) to the interface languages by @nine-codes in #10290 feat(paint): add History Brush opacity/flow controls, source selection, and custom icon by @davidvhk in #4446 Expose optional GPU composition and export in photocraft-cli by @wanikhawar in #10912 Fix imported gradient presets sharing selection names by @wanikhawar in #10521 Type: add OpenType Stylistic Sets submenu (Set 1–20) by @wanikhawar in #10304 Move tool: auto-nest layers into the artboard they're dropped on (#10218) by @Probler-Yt in #10512 Bound Photomerge memory and safely reject out-of-budget jobs (#7851) by @wanikhawar in #10463 Art History Brush: Opacity on the options bar (#10263) by @wanikhawar in #10278 UI: 2-column Home screen with recent file cards and centered workspace by @coqui-software in #7231 perf(io): build JPEG/PNG tiles straight from the decoded rows, in parallel (#10259) by @wanikhawar in #10281 fix(compose): align CMYK adjustment Fill and Posterize with split rendering by @wanikhawar in #11001 Home screen: hide the tools, options bar, status bar and docks while Home is up by @wanikhawar in #11253 PSD: flat files keep their spot and alpha channels by @wanikhawar in #10260 Selection: Grow and Similar match only selected colours, Grow starts from the frontier by @wanikhawar in #9673 perf(paint): cache sampled-tip mipmaps between strokes by @wanikhawar in #9617 MCP headless: waited commands run as jobs, with progress and cancel (#8129) by @wanikhawar in #8132 feat(frame): rework the Frame tool's selection, handles and placement by @wanikhawar in #8920 test(engine): cover File Info exposure 1/n formatting by @mroxso in #6983 Select sky beneath an obstructed top border by @wanikhawar in #9693 fix(compose): keep CMYK backdrop inks exact at zero Fill by @wanikhawar in #10985 MCP bridge: waited commands poll the app's job, with progress and cancel (#8130) by @wanikhawar in #8134 perf: JPEG/PNG open bench with per-phase timings and peak memory (#10259) by @wanikhawar in #10271 Make Select and Mask refinement and previews tile-sparse by @wanikhawar in #10732 Guides: integrate edit-session previews and interaction-check scenarios by @PerchAnton in #9190 Artboards: clipping groups move between boards together; pastes off the boards and into masks land right by @FredApps in #11441 perf(io): stream large PNGs row by row into the layer's tiles (#10259) by @wanikhawar in #10305 Canvas: a right-click that moved a few pixels still opens its menu (#10183) by @ZIDAN44 in #10351 Add recipe-driven checks for PSD exports by @wanikhawar in #10307 fix(ui): About credits table columns can be dragged wider or narrower by @FredApps in #11182 Release: refresh contributor credits for each release (#8737) by @Luis-0508 in #11426 Type: a duplicated type layer is renamed after its new text (#9023) by @ZIDAN44 in #10352 Integration batch 17: 14 epic PRs by @davidmann4 in #11320 Free Transform: hide the reference point behind a Toggle Reference Point check box (#11098) by @NaufalDzz in #11247 Color Lookup: apply a .3dl's shaper before the table (#8982) by @hectorviov in #9170 Layers panel: the filter row lists the artboards that hold the selected layers by @dotCooCoo in #9315 feat(ui): add a Reset button to the Crop tool's options bar (#9730) by @x-labb in #9739 fix(ui): a click during a background Free Transform commit runs when it lands (#9974) by @DuBearte in #10360 Free Transform takes soft edges whole after a move, leaving no outline behind (#10461) by @Lcoding15 in #10505 Run the selected action in Batch and Create Droplet by @yoriswind in #10612 Support recorded dialog filters, Calculations and Batch naming by @yoriswind in #10788 Crop: Fill labels follow Delete Cropped Pixels, and the Selection preset entry (#10872) by @Raghav2012Code in #11011 Free Transform: a click outside the box on the image no longer commits (#11100) by @vangel76 in #11165 Expose Move transform controls through the control channel by @yoriswind in #11210 feat(atn): map Batch steps inside actions to file.automate.batch (#7104) by @HirthikBalaji in #7170 Fix Paint Bucket target with Gradient-style crosshair by @envy-ai in #7994 Grow and Similar: budget the colour index and report allocation failures by @wanikhawar in #9825 perf(algo): build Remove Tool target masks with a bounded separable dilation (#10179) by @wanikhawar in #10194 Select Subject: keep parts that run off the image edge and detached parts near the subject by @wanikhawar in #10160 Web build: big operations that won't fit fail with an error instead of trapping, and a trap says so by @wanikhawar in #10129 perf(paint): sampled, textured and wet-edge dabs rasterize on all cores by @wanikhawar in #11369 Build the GPU compositor off the UI thread by @wanikhawar in #9969 Place decodes and fits in the background: dropping a large file no longer freezes the window by @wanikhawar in #10147 Preview spot inks over the RGB/CMYK composite as an overprint by @wanikhawar in #10276 GPU plan: cache adjustment LUT rows between plans (#11498) by @RickiNano in #11539 SVG: refuse filters too costly to render (#9409) by @davidmann4 in #9410 SVG: a drawing the renderer panics on is an error, not a crash (#9404) by @davidmann4 in #9405 Crop: the options-bar swap button turns the frame instead of shrinking it (#7738) by @davidmann4 in #7739 History snapshots: follow-ups to #3567 (#6087) by @davidmann4 in #6088 Export to files: a Custom JPEG quality in Artboards, Layers and Layer Comps to Files (#11481) by @ZIDAN44 in #11558 Channels: the panel menu has the channel commands, New Spot Channel among them (#11451) by @ZIDAN44 in #11557 SVG: the fallback font search reads each font's character map once (#9671) by @davidmann4 in #9672 Crop / Perspective Crop: a drag held past the canvas edge scrolls the view (#9307) by @davidmann4 in #9310 Layers: separators between the Blend Mode groups (#5532) by @davidmann4 in #5533 Crop: Esc in full screen cancels a drag on the default frame (#9275) by @davidmann4 in #9276 Crop: a tool switch during a frame drag ends the drag (#9223) by @davidmann4 in #9224 Crop W x H budgets the hidden pixels it resamples (#9212) by @davidmann4 in #9213 SVG: a DTD entity can't hide nesting from the depth check (#9669) by @davidmann4 in #9670 Image Size: refuse a resolution outside 1..30000 ppi instead of clamping it (#9260) by @davidmann4 in #9261 Crop: a click on the frame or a handle never snaps it (#9283) by @davidmann4 in #9284 Crop: a Straighten line inside the frame no longer snaps like a frame move (#9277) by @davidmann4 in #9278 Crop: History jumps wait for a pending crop (#9285) by @davidmann4 in #9286 Crop: switching documents leaves the old document's view turned (#9202) by @davidmann4 in #9204 History Options: Automatically Create First Snapshot, New Snapshot When Saving, Show New Snapshot Dialog by Default (#2966) by @davidmann4 in #3634 Single Row / Column Marquee: a drag from inside the selection moves it (#11392) by @RickiNano in #11534 Integration batch 18: 23 epic PRs (toolbar, move, selection, artboard, menus) by @davidmann4 in #11563 Selection tools: dragging the outline records Move Selection, as the reference does (#11390) by @TrevorBrown-dev in #11444 Polygonal Lasso: History step "Polygonal Lasso" and Shift diagonals snap to the shorter offset (#11393) by @Hamza0101 in #11453 Shortcuts: Ctrl+Alt+0 also zooms to 100% and F9 also opens Actions, the reference's second keys (#11396) by @TrevorBrown-dev in #11456 Elliptical Marquee: the anti-aliased edge ramps across the pixel, matching the reference within 1 level (#11391) by @Hamza0101 in #11461 Menus: Edit › Preferences says Plugins… and Camera Raw… and has the reference's separators (#11398) by @TrevorBrown-dev in #11494 Artboard tool: the first board drawn in a document takes the Background in as "Layer 0" (#11387) by @TrevorBrown-dev in #11496 Menus: View › Guides submenu in the reference's order, with Edit Selected Guides and Clear Selected Guides (#11400) by @TrevorBrown-dev in #11497 Layers panel: a right-click on the empty area opens the reference's menu (#11404) by @TrevorBrown-dev in #11500 The document tab's right-click menu lists the reference's eight entries in order, with its two separators (#11403) by @TrevorBrown-dev in #11502 Layer > Smart Objects says Reveal in Explorer, Embed Linked and Embed All Linked, in the reference order, without the Warp rows (#11401) by @TrevorBrown-dev in #11503 Select and Mask: E switches the tool mode between add and subtract (#11402) by @TrevorBrown-dev in #11511 Shift+letter cycles a tool group in toolbar order and the anchor point tools no longer take the letter P (#11376) by @TrevorBrown-dev in #11521 The Artboard tool's Add New Artboard button switches on a placing mode where a click puts a bar-sized board at the click (#11386) by @TrevorBrown-dev in #11532 The healing slot starts on Spot Healing Brush and the brush slot lists Color Replacement before Mixer Brush (#11375) by @TrevorBrown-dev in #11535 Actions: replay recorded Perspective Warp steps by @yoriswind in #11553 feat(ui): bounding box with eight handles for several selected shape layers (#11107) by @x-labb in #11295 Move tool: Shift+drag of a layer locks to the eight directions, as the reference does (#11382) by @TrevorBrown-dev in #11436 Shortcuts: Ctrl+/ opens Layer › Lock Layers…, shown in the Layer menu and the Layers panel menu (#11397) by @TrevorBrown-dev in #11437 Move tool: History names its steps Move, Nudge and Duplicate as the reference does (#11383) by @TrevorBrown-dev in #11443 Marquee: with no selection, Shift and Alt held from the press constrain the shape (#11389) by @Hamza0101 in #11449 Menus: Combine Shapes, Open Recent, Arrange and Proof Setup items carry the reference's names (#11399) by @TrevorBrown-dev in #11455 Crop: fill the active layer and Background with Content-Aware Fill by @yoriswind in #11458 Actions: play recorded Stack Modes and Video Frame events by @yoriswind in #11495 Copy the shared house rules into AGENTS.md by @FredApps in #11632 Image: Trim (Transparent Pixels) ignores alpha that rounds to 0 at the document's depth (#9299) by @davidmann4 in #9300 PSD write recipes: keep every exported candidate and pin the base file by @wanikhawar in #11607 Match Rotation leaves a pending crop's turn out (#9308) by @davidmann4 in #9309 ui.click / ui.move reject coordinates beyond the screen range (#9137) by @davidmann4 in #9138 Review follow-up to #10328: Liquify saved twirl, copied type brings its styles, restored tests (#10500) by @davidmann4 in #10501 Interface: remove the Enable animations preference (#9479) by @davidmann4 in #9480 Image Rotation: a flip reverses an Angle gradient fill's sweep (#9243) by @davidmann4 in #9244 Windows: count scratch room when opening large files; refusal names the build's limit by @wanikhawar in #11513 Keep each colour's values in the Selective Color dialog by @wanikhawar in #11474 Windows: run explorer.exe and reg.exe by full path (#9666) by @davidmann4 in #9667 Content-Aware Scale works on the Background with a selection (#7717) by @davidmann4 in #7719 Rotated view: Type box and Move marquee previews follow the document axes (#7063) by @davidmann4 in #7064 Stop stale settings overriding edits to adjustment smart filters by @wanikhawar in #11609 Stop an adjustment smart filter losing settings when its dialog is confirmed by @wanikhawar in #11613 Web build: Place runs a slice per frame, so a large PNG no longer freezes the page by @wanikhawar in #10164 Network scratch folders report their own free space, or say they can't by @wanikhawar in #11628 A scratch folder that stops answering no longer freezes the app by @wanikhawar in #11652 A little free memory no longer refuses every PSD; the refusal says what to do by @wanikhawar in #11641 Add an opt-in WinTab backend for pen pressure on Windows by @Triwarr in #11331 CI: run the GPU tests on lavapipe on Linux and fail if they skip by @FredApps in #7975 New Contributors @vistaero made their first contribution in #5330 @tareq-halaby made their first contribution in #11051 @Psychotoxical made their first contribution in #10752 @x-labb made their first contribution in #9573 @indy2kro made their first contribution in #10453 @jayzed80 made their first contribution in #10850 @Raghav2012Code made their first contribution in #11019 @Luis-0508 made their first contribution in #9855 @kk376 made their first contribution in #10203 @TrevorBrown-dev made their first contribution in #10837 @qvest-ssels made their first contribution in #10396 @chamber074 made their first contribution in #11243 @nine-codes made their first contribution in #10290 @davidvhk made their first contribution in #4446 @coqui-software made their first contribution in #7231 @ZIDAN44 made their first contribution in #10351 @Lcoding15 made their first contribution in #10505 @HirthikBalaji made their first contribution in #7170 @Triwarr made their first contribution in #11331 Full Changelog: v0.20.2...v0.21.0

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

Download

Software Informations:
Developer:
ArtCraft
Operating System:
Windows / macOS / Linux / BSD
Date Added:
2026-11-06T21:07:26.735Z
Categories:

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