storytold/photocraft

PhotoCraft: An open-source, photo editor written by scratch in pure Rust

What it solves

PhotoCraft is an open-source, clean-room reimplementation of Adobe Photoshop built entirely in Rust. It provides a professional-grade image editing environment that is offline, native, and free from proprietary dependencies, allowing users to open, edit, and save layered PSD files without relying on subscription-based software.

How it works

The application is built on a pure-data document model and a command engine where every action (menu item, tool, or dialog) is mapped to a specific command. It uses a GPU compositor via wgpu (supporting Metal, Vulkan, DX12, and WebGPU) and copy-on-write tiles to ensure high performance and efficient undo operations. The engine is designed to be headless-capable, meaning it can be driven via a CLI, a JSON control channel, or an MCP server, allowing AI agents to perform the exact same edits as a human user.

Who it’s for

It is designed for digital artists, designers, and developers who need a powerful, layered image editor with PSD compatibility and those who want to automate image editing tasks using scripts or AI agents.

Highlights

  • Full PSD Support: Open, edit, and save layered Photoshop documents with high fidelity.
  • Professional Toolset: Includes 34 tools, a comprehensive brush engine, 16 adjustment layers, and support for vector shapes and live type.
  • Agent-Ready Architecture: Every UI action is a command that can be triggered via CLI or MCP server for AI automation.
  • High Performance: Written in Rust with a GPU-accelerated compositor and multithreaded filters.
  • Cross-Platform: Runs natively on macOS, Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, and the web via WebAssembly.

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