{"slug": "a-developer-used-claude-to-rebuild-photoshop-premiere-and-five-more-adobe-apps", "title": "A developer used Claude to rebuild Photoshop, Premiere and five more Adobe apps for free", "summary": "Developer Brandon Thomas released seven free, open-source desktop apps modelled on Adobe software, including a Photoshop look-alike called PhotoCraft, with GitHub records showing 3,876 of 5,031 commits (about 77%) name Anthropic's Claude Opus 5.5 as a co-author. PhotoCraft alone had about 39,000 GitHub stars by October 10, and the seven repositories together had close to 75,000, according to ArtCraft's GitHub records. All seven apps are written from scratch in Rust and compiled as native apps for macOS, Windows and Linux, with six also running in a browser tab.", "body_md": "The app icons for ArtCraft’s seven Crafting Apps: PhotoCraft, VectorCraft, FilmCraft, LightCraft, PdfCraft, EffectCraft and DesignCraft. Image: ArtCraft press kit\n\nBrandon Thomas, the developer behind the AI art studio ArtCraft, has released [seven free, open-source desktop apps](https://getartcraft.com/apps) modelled on Adobe’s best-known software, from a Photoshop look-alike called PhotoCraft to stand-ins for Premiere Pro, Lightroom and After Effects. ArtCraft’s own records on GitHub show that most of the code was written with Anthropic’s [Claude Opus 5.5](https://madrobot.blog/2026/09/22/openai-gpt-6-sol-luna-half-price-anthropic-opus-5-5/).\n\nThe apps went public in the first week of October and have spread fast: PhotoCraft alone had about **39,000 GitHub stars** by October 10, and the seven repositories together had close to 75,000.\n\n## Seven Adobe apps, rebuilt in Rust\n\nEach app copies the layout, menus and keyboard shortcuts of the Adobe program it replaces, so people who already know Photoshop or Premiere can find their way around. All seven are written from scratch in the Rust programming language and compiled into native apps for macOS, Windows and Linux, with no Electron or web wrapper. Six of them also run in a browser tab.\n\n| Adobe app | ArtCraft version | What it does | Status | \n|---|---|---|---|\n| Photoshop | [PhotoCraft](https://getartcraft.com/apps/photocraft) | Image editor | Early alpha | \n| Illustrator | VectorCraft | Vector illustration | In development | \n| Premiere Pro | FilmCraft | Video editor | In development | \n| Lightroom | LightCraft | Photo library and raw developer | In development | \n| Acrobat | PdfCraft | PDF reader and editor | Early alpha | \n| After Effects | EffectCraft | Motion graphics and effects | In development | \n| InDesign | DesignCraft | Page layout and publishing | In development | \n\nStatus as listed on ArtCraft’s apps page on October 10, 2026. FilmCraft is the only one without a browser version.\n\nEvery app is also built to be driven by AI agents: each button and menu item is a command that can be called from a command line, a JSON control channel or an MCP server, the standard that lets tools like Claude Code operate other software.\n\n## How much of it did Claude write?\n\nEach repository carries a generated [contributors file](https://github.com/storytold/photocraft/blob/main/contributors/contributors.json) that credits the AI models named in its commits. Across the seven apps, 3,876 of 5,031 commits name Claude Opus 5.5 as a co-author, about 77%. In PhotoCraft, those commits added more than 244,000 lines of code. Smaller shares go to Claude Sonnet 5.5, Claude Fable 5.1, OpenAI’s Codex and GitHub Copilot, and the public history of each project starts on September 30 or October 1.\n\nThe projects are set up for AI agents to do most of the work. FilmCraft’s [developer guide](https://github.com/storytold/filmcraft/blob/main/docs/agents.md) describes an “autonomous work loop” in which an agent picks the next task, writes the tests first, builds the feature and checks it by driving the running app, and asks a human only about licences, spending money, publishing and a few other risky steps. It is the kind of hands-off setup that can also [go badly wrong](https://madrobot.blog/2026/10/07/claude-opus-5-5-deleted-c-drive-claude-code-auto-mode-boris-cherny/) when an agent is trusted with too much.\n\n## “Everything can be open source multiplatform Rust now”\n\nThomas, who posts on Hacker News as echelon, said there that he hadn’t meant to publish the repositories so soon, but he was bullish about what AI coding now makes possible:\n\nIt’s not just SaaSocalypse. Everything can be open source multiplatform Rust now. Party like it’s 1999 and the Internet / tech scene belongs to us again.\n\nBrandon Thomas, ArtCraft,[on Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49959605)\n\nIn the same comment he said he plans to take on Microsoft Office, AutoCAD and SolidWorks next, and offered stipends and bug bounties to anyone who joins in. In his [Reddit announcement](https://www.reddit.com/r/SaaS/comments/1wwnhbt/ive_created_open_source_100_rust_cleanroom/) he cited Adobe’s cancellation fees as part of the reason he started.\n\nHe says the apps carry no telemetry or paywalls. ArtCraft makes its money from a separate paid AI image and video tool.\n\n## Does it actually work?\n\nPartly. ArtCraft is frank about it: PhotoCraft’s own page says it “is not yet a Photoshop replacement for daily professional work”, and lists the biggest gaps as AI and generative features, about twenty missing tools, typography and pro workflows, and plug-in support. FilmCraft’s team puts its readiness for real projects at about 50 to 60%.\n\nThere is real substance underneath. PhotoCraft opens and saves layered PSD files, and re-saving keeps the look of 307 of 309 files in a public PSD test set. It ships with more than 1,700 automated tests. FilmCraft decodes H.264, HEVC, AV1 and other formats with its own Rust code rather than FFmpeg.\n\nEarly testers have been less kind. One Hacker News user who said they had worked in design and film for years [reported](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49960138) laggy controls, broken text editing and shortcuts that did nothing. Thomas [replied in the thread](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49961661) that reaching 99% parity with Adobe “will take a while, but I’m sure it’ll be measured in months and not years”.\n\nArtCraft calls each app a “clean-room” rebuild: its rules for contributors say Adobe’s software was studied for behaviour and look only, and code must come from public specifications, never from Adobe. Adobe hasn’t commented on the project.\n\n## How to download PhotoCraft and the other apps\n\nThe apps are free for anyone, anywhere, under the MIT or Apache 2.0 licences. The simplest route is the [ArtCraft Launcher](https://github.com/storytold/craft-launcher/releases/latest), which installs all seven and keeps them updated. Each app also has its own installers on its GitHub releases page, for macOS, Windows and Linux (PhotoCraft adds FreeBSD), and the browser versions need no install at all. Expect bugs: these are alpha builds that change several times a week.\n\n## Why it matters\n\nAdobe built these programs over decades; ArtCraft’s versions came together in under two weeks of public development, with most of the code written by one AI model. They are far from finished, but the project shows how cheaply AI agents can now copy the interface and core features of a well-known paid app, and Thomas says Office, AutoCAD and SolidWorks are next.\n\n## Frequently asked questions\n\n### Is PhotoCraft free?\n\nYes. PhotoCraft and the other six ArtCraft apps are free and open source under the MIT or Apache 2.0 licences, with no subscription. You can download them from GitHub or through the ArtCraft Launcher.\n\n### Was PhotoCraft made with AI?\n\nMostly. ArtCraft’s own contributor records credit Anthropic’s Claude Opus 5.5 as co-author on about 77% of commits across the seven apps, with smaller shares from other Claude models, OpenAI’s Codex and GitHub Copilot.\n\n### Can PhotoCraft open Photoshop PSD files?\n\nYes. PhotoCraft opens and saves layered PSD and PSB files, including adjustment layers, layer styles and type, though some features still render differently from Photoshop.\n\n### Can PhotoCraft replace Photoshop?\n\nNot yet. ArtCraft says PhotoCraft is in early alpha and not a replacement for daily professional work, with gaps in generative AI features, some tools, typography and plug-in support.\n\n### Who made ArtCraft’s Adobe alternatives?\n\nBrandon Thomas, the developer behind the AI art studio ArtCraft, released them in early October 2026, with code from more than 150 GitHub accounts on PhotoCraft alone.\n\n*Sources: [ArtCraft: Crafting Apps](https://getartcraft.com/apps); [PhotoCraft on GitHub](https://github.com/storytold/photocraft); [FilmCraft on GitHub](https://github.com/storytold/filmcraft); [FilmCraft agent guide](https://github.com/storytold/filmcraft/blob/main/docs/agents.md); contributors files in the seven ArtCraft repositories; [Hacker News thread](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49958850); [Brandon Thomas on Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/SaaS/comments/1wwnhbt/ive_created_open_source_100_rust_cleanroom/).*", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/a-developer-used-claude-to-rebuild-photoshop-premiere-and-five-more-adobe-apps", "canonical_source": "https://madrobot.blog/2026/10/10/artcraft-photocraft-free-adobe-photoshop-alternatives-built-with-claude-opus/", "published_at": "2026-10-10 12:34:00+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-10-10 12:46:01.555503+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-tools", "generative-ai", "developer-tools", "ai-agents", "agent-protocols"], "entities": ["Brandon Thomas", "ArtCraft", "PhotoCraft", "Anthropic", "Claude Opus 5.5", "Adobe", "GitHub", "Rust"], "also_reported_by": [], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/a-developer-used-claude-to-rebuild-photoshop-premiere-and-five-more-adobe-apps", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/a-developer-used-claude-to-rebuild-photoshop-premiere-and-five-more-adobe-apps.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/a-developer-used-claude-to-rebuild-photoshop-premiere-and-five-more-adobe-apps.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/a-developer-used-claude-to-rebuild-photoshop-premiere-and-five-more-adobe-apps.jsonld"}}