{"slug": "show-hn-free-open-source-adobe-lightroom-alternative-completely-local-with-ai", "title": "Show HN: Free open source Adobe Lightroom alternative, completely local with AI", "summary": "A developer publishing as thesnarkitecht released Rembrandt, a free open-source Adobe Lightroom alternative for macOS, Windows and Linux that runs entirely on-device, with builds distributed via GitHub Releases. Rembrandt offers GPU-accelerated 2× and 4× Super Resolution, AI Denoise to DNG, AI subject and depth masks, and natural-language editing commands such as \"shadows +25\" handled by an on-device vocabulary rather than a language model. The builds are not yet code-signed, and the project also ships a self-host server binary for Linux and macOS that saves edits as XMP sidecar files without modifying the original photos.", "body_md": "**Stop paying for Adobe. Flush the incrapification.**\n\nA free photo editor for macOS, Windows and Linux.\n\nNo account needed, no subscription, no “we’ve updated our terms” emails.\n\n[**Download**](#download) ·\n  [Self-host](#self-host-it) ·\n  [Features](#features) ·\n  [Build](#build)\n\n| <sub>**Ask**: “golden hour, shadows +25”, and watch Rembrandt paint it</sub> | <sub>** Touch**: drag on the photo to change that tone or colour</sub> | <sub>** Super Resolution**: 2× and 4× on your GPU</sub> | \n| <sub>**Library**: albums, search, sorting, one-click delete</sub> | <sub>** Masks**: brush, gradients, AI subject and depth</sub> | <sub>** Before / after**: split or side by side</sub> | \n\n| Platform |  | \n|---|---|\n| macOS · Apple silicon | [Rembrandt-macos-arm64.dmg](https://github.com/thesnarkitecht/rembrandt/releases/latest/download/Rembrandt-macos-arm64.dmg) | \n| macOS · Intel | [Rembrandt-macos-x64.dmg](https://github.com/thesnarkitecht/rembrandt/releases/latest/download/Rembrandt-macos-x64.dmg) | \n| Windows · x64 | [Rembrandt-windows-x64-setup.exe](https://github.com/thesnarkitecht/rembrandt/releases/latest/download/Rembrandt-windows-x64-setup.exe) | \n| Windows · ARM | [Rembrandt-windows-arm64-setup.exe](https://github.com/thesnarkitecht/rembrandt/releases/latest/download/Rembrandt-windows-arm64-setup.exe) | \n| Linux · x86_64 / arm64 | `curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/thesnarkitecht/rembrandt/main/install.sh \\| bash` | \n\nAll files and checksums: [Releases](https://github.com/thesnarkitecht/rembrandt/releases).\nBuilds aren't code-signed yet: on macOS use System Settings → Privacy & Security → **Open Anyway**;\non Windows **More info → Run anyway**.\n\nServe Rembrandt from the computer that holds your photos and edit them in any browser:\n\n```\ncurl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/thesnarkitecht/rembrandt/main/install.sh | bash -s -- --server\n```\n\nIt asks which photo folder to use, starts at login, and prints a private link. Edits are saved next\nto each photo as XMP; the photos themselves are never changed. Add `--lan` to reach it from other\ndevices on your network. Linux and macOS; one small dependency-free binary (`server/`).\nTo update, press **Update** in the browser (Settings › About); it installs the latest release,\nchecks it against the published SHA-256 sums, and restarts the server.\n\n- **Ask in words** : type “warmer and a bit brighter”, “down exposure by ten points”, “shadows +25”\nor “paste the edits from the previous photo” (Ctrl/⌘ K). A small Rembrandt in dots thinks it over,\nthen makes each change while you watch the sliders move. It runs on your device: a vocabulary, not\na language model.\n- **Edit the photo itself** : drag up or down on any part of the picture to lighten or darken that\ntone, left or right to change that colour; the sliders follow.\n- **AI looks** : Enhance, Relight, Sky, Atmosphere, Sunrays, Skin, Motion and Lens Blur with\naperture shapes, from on-device depth and subject maps.\n- **Refocus** : brings back detail in out-of-focus photos, even heavy defocus (regularised\ndeconvolution on the GPU), on the subject or the whole picture.\n- **Super Resolution** : 2× and 4× with real detail, or Restore at the same size for soft photos;\nruns on the GPU (Metal on Apple silicon).\n- **AI Denoise** : clean high-ISO shots into a new DNG with the same edits, on the GPU.\n- **Background work that stays out of the way** : AI Denoise, Super Resolution and merges run in small\nGPU slices that pause while you edit, or when you're away, or overnight in a night window you set\n(Settings › Performance). The queue survives restarts.\n- **Merge** : HDR from brackets, panoramas and focus stacks, each to a RAW-like DNG.\n- **RAW** from 1,000+ cameras, developed on the GPU: tone, colour, curves, grading, dehaze, detail.\n- **Masks** : brush, gradients, colour and tone ranges, AI subject, background, object and depth.\n- **Remove** : heal and clone spots and strokes; Rembrandt picks a matching source for you.\n- **Lens corrections** : the camera's built-in profile from Fujifilm and Sony RAWs, or one of 1,500\nlens profiles from[Lensfun](https://lensfun.github.io) (distortion, vignetting, chromatic\naberration), plus manual distortion and vignetting for any photo. Auto straighten levels horizons.\n- **On-device AI** : Refocus, background replacement. Nothing is uploaded.\n- **Library** : albums, ratings, flags, colour labels, keywords, virtual copies, search, Find similar,\nsorting, keyboard shortcuts (or Lightroom's), one-click delete with Undo.\n- **Batch** : copy and paste edits to hundreds of photos, batch export, and presets that fit each\nphoto's exposure. Watch a folder to apply a preset and album to new photos as they arrive.\n- **Share how** : a before/after page with a slider, a replay video of the edit, or the recipe inside\nthe exported file so anyone can see (and reuse) how it was edited.\n- **Bring your photos** : folders, Lightroom Classic (edits, keywords, labels, virtual copies,\ncollections, with a report of anything that can't come over) and Lightroom, Google Photos, Google Drive,\nDropbox, OneDrive ([setup](https://github.com/thesnarkitecht/rembrandt/blob/main/docs/cloud-services.md) ). Export back to them too.\n- **Open formats** : edits are standard XMP, readable by Lightroom and others.\n- **Cloud sync (optional, paid)** : turn it on in Settings to sync edits, albums and photos between\nyour computers, the web and your phone. It's the only thing that needs an account, and the only\nthing that costs money; everything else stays free.\n\nRembrandt is free and stays free. Star the repo, tell a photographer,\n[report a bug](https://github.com/thesnarkitecht/rembrandt/issues) or send a fix.\n\n```\nnpm ci && npx http-server -c-1 .   # web app\nnpm run tauri dev                  # desktop app (Rust + Tauri prerequisites)\n```\n\nDetails in [docs/building.md](https://github.com/thesnarkitecht/rembrandt/blob/main/docs/building.md). Contributions welcome: [CONTRIBUTING.md](https://github.com/thesnarkitecht/rembrandt/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md).\n\nFree software under the [GNU General Public License v3.0 or later](https://github.com/thesnarkitecht/rembrandt/blob/main/LICENSE), the same licence as\ndarktable. Use it, study it, change it and share it; if you distribute a modified version, share its\nsource under the same terms. It may also be distributed through app stores (an additional permission\nunder the GPL; see [NOTICE.md](https://github.com/thesnarkitecht/rembrandt/blob/main/NOTICE.md), which also lists the third-party parts).\n\n<sub>Screenshot photos from the scikit-image sample data: espresso by Rachel Michetti and cat by\nStefan van der Walt (CC0), rocket launch by SpaceX and Hubble eXtreme Deep Field by NASA (public\ndomain).</sub>", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-free-open-source-adobe-lightroom-alternative-completely-local-with-ai", "canonical_source": "https://github.com/thesnarkitecht/rembrandt", "published_at": "2026-10-08 21:00:55+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-10-08 21:17:18.292478+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-products", "generative-ai", "computer-vision", "ai-tools"], "entities": ["Rembrandt", "Adobe Lightroom", "thesnarkitecht", "GitHub", "macOS", "Windows", "Linux", "Metal"], "also_reported_by": [], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-free-open-source-adobe-lightroom-alternative-completely-local-with-ai", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-free-open-source-adobe-lightroom-alternative-completely-local-with-ai.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-free-open-source-adobe-lightroom-alternative-completely-local-with-ai.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-free-open-source-adobe-lightroom-alternative-completely-local-with-ai.jsonld"}}