VectorCraft
storytold/vectorcraftReviewed by Radar
What it does
VectorCraft is a free vector drawing app for illustrations, logos, posters and simple technical drawings. Its layout, tools and shortcuts copy the style of mainstream illustration software. It opens and saves SVG and PDF, and can open .ai, EPS and Affinity files. It is still alpha: the team itself estimates it is about 65% ready for real work, and reliable .ai exchange is listed as missing. There are installers for Windows, Mac and Linux. It also has an MCP server so AI agents such as Claude can draw and export with it.
How easy it is to install
A · download and open · Windows
The latest release has a Windows .msi installer and a portable .zip for x64, ARM and 32-bit PCs, so you download it and open it.
Numbers on GitHub
- Stars
- 11,133on Oct 31, 2026
- Downloads
- 1,962,527321,053 this week
- Growth
- +372stars in 5 days
Stars over time
Facts
- Runs on
- Windows, macOS, Linux
- You need to install
- Nothing extra
- To build from source
- Rust
- Disk space
- 102 MB–305 MB · from the installer
- Accounts or keys
- None
- Cost
- Free
- License
- Apache-2.0 (Permissive)
- Can replace
- Illustrator, CorelDRAW, Affinity Designer
- Last update
- Nov 1, 2026
Risk signals (4)
- AttentionVery new repository with many stars
10760 stars in 26 days
automatic check
- Attentionunusual fork ratio
GitHub API: created 2026-09-30, Stars: 10760, Forks: 5255. Almost one fork for every two stars in under a month is far above what is common for an end-user app.
AI review
- Infoalpha software
README.md: "Where we are (2026-10-10): alpha." and "we estimate ~65% ready for real work for a mainstream illustrator"; the scores are described as "self-assessed".
AI review
- Inforeadme files missing from release
README.md lists `SHA256SUMS.txt`, `vectorcraft-<ver>-freebsd-x86_64.tar.gz` and `vectorcraft-web-<ver>.zip`, but none of these appear among the v0.17.0 release files.
AI review
Evidence is shown in its original language.
What Radar could not check
- How stable the alpha version is in daily use on Windows.
- How well real .ai and Affinity files from other people open.
- Whether the built-in update component (craft-update in Cargo.toml) contacts a server and what it downloads.
- Whether the Windows installers are really code-signed, as the README says.
- Why the repository gained so many stars and forks so quickly.