Vibe-coded clones of Photoshop and Word are free on GitHub

A developer in the United States has released free, open-source rebuilds of seven Adobe apps, including Photoshop, and has started on Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. The code is on GitHub, and the project's commit history credits Anthropic's Claude Opus 5.5 as a co-author. For Malaysian students, freelancers and small studios who pay monthly for these tools, the apps are worth a look. They are also a clear example of how much one person can now build with an AI model, and of how much is still missing.

What was released

The apps come from ArtCraft, a project led by Atlanta-based developer Brandon Thomas, according to Gizmodo, which reported on them on 7 October. Each app is written in the Rust programming language and is described as a "clean-room" reimplementation, built from public specifications and observed behaviour rather than from Adobe's code.

GitHub shows these seven repositories were created on 30 September and 1 October. On 7 October, ArtCraft added WordCraft, GridCraft and DeckCraft, modelled on Word, Excel and PowerPoint, plus CadCraft (an AutoCAD-style design app) and SoundCraft (modelled on Avid Pro Tools). WordCraft went from version 0.1.0 on 7 October to 0.6.1 on 12 October.

Developers have taken notice. As of 13 October, PhotoCraft had about 54,000 stars on GitHub, and FilmCraft, PdfCraft and LightCraft had more than 11,000 each. WordCraft had about 9,500.

Where Claude comes in

Gizmodo reported that Thomas built the apps with Claude Opus 5.5. The repositories back this up: "Claude Opus 5.5" appears as a co-author throughout the recent commits to PhotoCraft and WordCraft, alongside Thomas and other contributors.

This is not a beginner typing one prompt, though. Gizmodo noted that Thomas describes himself as a 15-year industry veteran. He has also invited other developers to contribute and offered to pay bug bounties, the outlet reported.

How far along they are

ArtCraft is upfront that the apps are early.

• PhotoCraft says it is in early alpha and "not yet a Photoshop replacement for daily professional work". It lists the biggest gaps as AI and generative features, 15 missing tools, typography and pro workflows, and plug-in support.
• WordCraft says it is in alpha and covers 88% of Word's ribbon features with commands. The project estimates it is about 60% of the way to replacing Word for real work.

Gizmodo's Mike Pearl tried PhotoCraft. He found it glitchy but close to the real Photoshop, with tools where he expected them, and easier to use than the free alternatives Photopea and GIMP. Free Transform did not work reliably in his test. Thomas said on Hacker News that the apps were early alpha and "not anywhere close to ready", according to Gizmodo.

If you want to try them

• Download from official sources only: each app's GitHub releases page, or getartcraft.com. PhotoCraft's page says its installers are code-signed and its macOS app is notarised by Apple.
• The apps run on Windows, macOS, Linux and FreeBSD, and in a web browser.
• They are free, under the MIT or Apache 2.0 open-source licences.
• Work on copies of your files, not the originals. Gizmodo's reviewer advised readers to be more careful than he was about downloading vibe-coded software.
• If something breaks, PhotoCraft asks users to file an issue on GitHub with their operating system, document size, layer count and a screenshot.

PhotoCraft and WordCraft both state that they are independent projects, not affiliated with or endorsed by Adobe or Microsoft.

Sources

• Gizmodo, Someone Vibe Coded a Free Knockoff of Adobe Creative Suite, 7 October 2026
• GitHub, storytold/photocraft, README and commit history, checked 13 October 2026
• GitHub, storytold/wordcraft, README, releases and commit history, checked 13 October 2026
• GitHub, ArtCraft (storytold) repositories, checked 13 October 2026