PhotoCraft

storytold/photocraftReviewed by AI

What it does

PhotoCraft is a desktop image editor written in Rust: layers, masks, adjustment layers, layer styles, text, vectors, brushes, filters and real PSD files, and it also opens Paint.NET, GIMP, Krita, OpenRaster and Affinity documents. Signed installers are published for Windows, macOS and Linux (roughly 100-230 MB), plus a command-line version that scripts or an AI agent can drive. The team says it is in early alpha and, in their words, "not yet a Photoshop replacement for daily professional work".

The project itself says it is not a replacement for Photoshop.

How easy it is to install

A · download and open · Windows

Windows A
macOS A
Linux A

A on all three: each release has a ready installer — a signed .msi (or a portable .zip) for Windows, a signed and notarized .dmg for macOS, and an AppImage, .deb, .rpm, Flatpak or tarball for Linux, with SHA256SUMS.txt for checking the download. Nothing else has to be installed.

Numbers on GitHub

Stars: 75,573on Oct 31, 2026
Downloads: 3,492,183634,996 this week
Growth: +2,708stars in 6 days

Stars over time

Facts

Runs on: Windows, macOS, Linux
You need to install: Nothing extra
To build from source: Docker, Rust
Disk space: 102 MB–305 MB · from the installer
Accounts or keys: None
Cost: Free · Dual-licensed MIT or Apache-2.0, no paid version mentioned.
License: Apache-2.0 (Permissive)
Can replace: Photoshop, Pixelmator Pro
Last update: Oct 31, 2026

Risk signals (6)

AttentionVery new repository with many stars
75575 stars in 31 days
automatic check
Attentionearly alpha self declared
README's Status box: "PhotoCraft is in early alpha ... it is not yet a Photoshop replacement for daily professional work. The biggest gaps are AI/generative features, 15 missing tools, depth in typography and pro workflows, and plug-in compatibility ... Expect rough edges". The version is 0.18.0 and the repository has 3628 open issues.
AI review
Infoclean room claim unverified
The README calls PhotoCraft "an open-source, clean-room reimplementation of Adobe Photoshop", says it was "implemented from public specs and observed behaviour only. No proprietary code, shaders or assets", and states it "is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by Adobe Inc." Those claims cannot be checked from outside the project.
AI review
Infolocal control channel and mcp server
README: the app offers "an authenticated, loopback-only control channel (`photocraft --control`) for inspecting UI state, driving tools with pointer events, and taking offscreen screenshots", and `photocraft-cli mcp` starts an MCP server, so other programs or an AI agent can operate the editor.
AI review
Infobuilds depend on another repository
Cargo.toml pulls `craft-ui`, `craft-print`, `craft-jpeg`, `craft-docpath` and `craft-update` from the git repository `https://github.com/storytold/craft-libs` at a fixed revision, and `craft-update` means the app can check for new versions at startup.
AI review
Infoknown limitations on linux wayland
README: "On a Wayland session, files dropped on the window don't open yet" (winit has no Wayland drag and drop, issue #386), and the XWayland workaround makes the interface blurred at fractional display scaling (#1072).
AI review

Evidence is shown in its original language.

What Radar could not check

Whether it is stable enough for real work, which is what "early alpha" leaves open
Whether your own PSD files survive a round trip with all layers and effects intact
How it performs on large documents and on your graphics card
Whether the installers were built from this source code and what the update check sends