The open-source organization ArtCraft has released 7 native applications written in pure Rust on getartcraft.com, targeting image, vector, video, photo library, PDF, motion graphics, and page layout. The tools are free, open-source, and run locally, with installation packages available for macOS, Windows, and Linux, and some have web versions. The repository is centralized in the GitHub organization storytold, which is not affiliated with or authorized by Adobe.

The image tool PhotoCraft's tagline is "An open-source image editor you already know how to use." It claims to be a clean-room rewrite of Photoshop, not using Adobe's source code, with menus, shortcuts, and panels arranged according to existing habits. Features include layers, masks, adjustment layers, layer styles, text, vector, brushes, and the ability to open, edit, and save layered PSD files. Composition uses wgpu, covering Metal, Vulkan, DirectX 12, and WebGPU, without using Electron.

The repository itself marks the completeness as early alpha. The README states that after re-saving, it can retain the rendering results of 307 out of 309 psd-tools test files, with over 1,700 additional tests covering PSD round-trip, compositor comparison, and multi-bit depth. Selection and subject recognition run locally, without uploads or account creation. Each action is a command, which can be driven by the interface, command line, JSON control channel, or MCP server. An example of a plugin is WebAssembly in a sandbox.

The other six tools are VectorCraft, FilmCraft, LightCraft, PrintCraft, EffectCraft, and DesignCraft, most of which are still marked as "in development." FilmCraft targets Premiere Pro, LightCraft targets Lightroom-style photo libraries and RAW, DesignCraft focuses on layout, and EffectCraft targets motion graphics. The public pages do not claim to have replaced complex PSD restoration, third-party plugin ecosystems, or professional layout processes.

Stars surged a few days after the public release. PhotoCraft has about 16,200 stars and 2,100 forks, FilmCraft has about 3,100 stars, LightCraft has about 2,800 stars, and the main repository artcraft has about 4,600 stars. PetaPixel reports that the author Brandon Thomas founded ArtCraft about a year ago, previously serving as CEO of Storyteller.ai and as a software engineer at Square. He wrote on Reddit that he used Anthropic's Opus 5.5 to rewrite these 7 applications in Rust. The license is MIT or Apache-2.0.

The buyers are designers who do not want to renew subscriptions and studios that need local files, while the seller is Adobe, which rents out Creative Cloud on a monthly basis. This is a substitute expectation driven by repository stars and early installation packages, not a reflection of actual seat losses. Funding is shifting from subscription seats to zero-license local binaries. Beneficiaries are individual users needing offline PSD and auditable code, while subscription revenue reliant on plugins, fonts, collaboration, and file fidelity is under pressure.

The repository was still being updated on October 7, including layered TIFF, Camera Raw previews, and renaming PrintCraft to PdfCraft. Clean-room statements and references to "decompiling Adobe" are circulating simultaneously, with project documentation leaning towards the former interpretation.

Source: Public Information