What it is
A clean-room Rust editor, not an Adobe file.
An open-source image editor, written in Rust by the ArtCraft team, aimed at a Photoshop-like workflow. It is free to read and run. It is still early alpha.
A clean-room Rust editor, not an Adobe file.
Native apps plus a browser build.
People who know Photoshop and can tolerate rough edges.
The project says it is not daily professional replacement.
The public README calls PhotoCraft a clean-room reimplementation of Adobe Photoshop in pure Rust: layers, masks, adjustment layers, type, vectors, brushes, and PSD files. Clean-room here means the authors say they studied behavior and public specs, not that this deck audited their process.
MIT or Apache-2.0, at your option. The ArtCraft name stays a brand.
Installers for macOS, Windows, Linux, and FreeBSD, plus a browser build.
The same commands can be driven from the UI, a CLI, JSON, or MCP.
Pure Rust, in the storytold/photocraft repository.
A wgpu compositor: Metal, Vulkan, DX12, and WebGPU. The README describes copy-on-write tiles.
The project says the engine and UI compile to WebAssembly.
The repo showed a 0.20.1 release commit on 3 Nov 2026. Check current tags before you rely on a version.
Live adjustment layers such as Levels, Curves, and Hue/Saturation. The README lists 16 that can also hit pixels directly.
Editable type, shape layers, and pen tools. A project corpus claim says 116 of 116 shape layers matched Photoshop pixels.
Open, edit, and save layered PSD. Re-saving is claimed to keep the render of 307 of 309 psd-tools test files.
Those counts are project statements. This deck did not rerun them.
The commercial benchmark: plug-ins, generative tools, and daily file interchange.
The mature open-source raster editor if you need stability today.
A browser editor for a PSD on a machine where you cannot install software.
A native Rust attempt at that familiar layout. Try it on copies, not on the only file that matters.
The README’s own status, current in the November 2026 text: much of the Photoshop surface exists in some form, and it is not yet a replacement for daily professional work. The largest gaps it names are generative features, missing tools, typography depth, pro workflows, and plug-in compatibility. It also says every Photoshop menu item is wired to a command, and that wiring is not behavior.
Earlier reporting, including InfoQ on 22 Oct 2026, quoted the project’s then-roadmap on readiness and on PSD files Photoshop did not reliably accept. Treat those figures as dated. Read the current ROADMAP before you depend on interchange.
Public sources, read in November 2026. Projects move. Claims marked as project statements were not remeasured for this deck.