What is PhotoCraft used for?

PhotoCraft is an open-source, clean-room reimplementation of Adobe Photoshop written entirely in Rust, offering a native image editor with layers, masks, and non-destructive editing. It is a good fit for image editing for users familiar with Adobe Photoshop; non-destructive photo editing with layers and masks; and cross-platform image editing on macOS, Windows, Linux, and Web.

Is PhotoCraft open source?

Yes. PhotoCraft is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at storytold/photocraft and is written mainly in Rust.

Yes. PhotoCraft is open source, so the software itself is free to use. A managed cloud version is also available.

Can I self-host PhotoCraft?

Yes. PhotoCraft can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What is PhotoCraft an alternative to?

PhotoCraft is an open-source alternative to Adobe Photoshop. Other open-source alternatives to Adobe Photoshop include GIMP, Graphite and Krita.

Is PhotoCraft actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to PhotoCraft was on 14 October 2026, and the latest release is v0.8.2, published on 12 October 2026. The project has 58k stars on GitHub.

PhotoCraft: open-source alternative to Adobe Photoshop

About PhotoCraft

PhotoCraft is a native image editor written entirely in Rust, designed as a clean-room reimplementation of Adobe Photoshop. It provides a familiar interface with menus, shortcuts, panels, and tools that users already know, aiming for productivity without retraining.

The application supports layered PSD and PSB files, with 134 of 135 real-world test files round-tripping byte for byte. It includes non-destructive editing features such as 16 adjustment layers, 70+ live-preview filters, smart objects, and layer styles, along with on-device selection tools and serious color management for 8, 16, and 32-bit documents in RGB, CMYK, Lab, and Grayscale.

Key features

Familiar by design: menus, shortcuts, panels, and tools
Native GPU canvas: renders on Metal, Vulkan, DirectX 12, and WebGPU
Real layered files: opens and saves PSD and PSB documents
Non-destructive editing: 16 adjustment layers, 70+ filters, smart objects
On-device selection: subject and object selection with mask refinement
Serious color: 8, 16, 32-bit documents with ICC color management

Good fit for

Image editing for users familiar with Adobe Photoshop
Non-destructive photo editing with layers and masks
Cross-platform image editing on macOS, Windows, Linux, and Web

Built with: Rust tools
Tags: image-editor; rust; photoshop; open-source; cross-platform

PhotoCraft: questions and answers

What is PhotoCraft used for?: PhotoCraft is an open-source, clean-room reimplementation of Adobe Photoshop written entirely in Rust, offering a native image editor with layers, masks, and non-destructive editing. It is a good fit for image editing for users familiar with Adobe Photoshop; non-destructive photo editing with layers and masks; and cross-platform image editing on macOS, Windows, Linux, and Web.
Is PhotoCraft open source?: Yes. PhotoCraft is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at storytold/photocraft and is written mainly in Rust.
Is PhotoCraft free?: Yes. PhotoCraft is open source, so the software itself is free to use. A managed cloud version is also available.
Can I self-host PhotoCraft?: Yes. PhotoCraft can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is PhotoCraft an alternative to?: PhotoCraft is an open-source alternative to Adobe Photoshop. Other open-source alternatives to Adobe Photoshop include GIMP, Graphite and Krita.
Is PhotoCraft actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to PhotoCraft was on 14 October 2026, and the latest release is v0.8.2, published on 12 October 2026. The project has 58k stars on GitHub.