craft-launcher/README.md

ArtCraft Launcher

One place to install, update and open every app in the Craft App Suite, rebuilt in pure Rust.
PhotoCraft, LightCraft, FilmCraft, DesignCraft, VectorCraft, PdfCraft, EffectCraft, WordCraft,
DeckCraft, GridCraft, CADCraft and SoundCraft: the right build for your computer, kept up to date.

Download ArtCraft Launcher · ArtCraft · The Craft App Suite

Note

ArtCraft is a community of artists from all walks of life. Painters, photographers, filmmakers, illustrators, designers, animators, hobbyists, and people who picked up a pencil last week. If you make things, you're one of us. Come say hi on Discord.

What it does · Features · Downloads · Build from source · Craft App Suite · Discord

_{Switch between the grid and a sortable table.}

What it does

The Craft apps each ship their own builds for every platform. ArtCraft Launcher saves you from hunting through a dozen release pages: it lists every app in the suite, shows which ones you have and which version, installs the right build for your operating system and processor, and tells you when an update is out. It is a small native app that can sit in your menu bar or system tray.

Features

📦 Install in one click Picks the right download for your OS and CPU (DMG, MSI, AppImage, .deb, .rpm and more), checks it against the release's SHA-256 checksums and installs it.

🔄 Stay up to date Checks each app's GitHub releases and updates the ones you have. A notification tells you when there's something new.

🧭 Always at hand Opens any Craft app from one window, or from the tray and menu-bar icon. Native egui, no Electron, no web view.

The web version shows the same catalog in the browser, with the latest download for each app.

Interface languages

The interface is in English, Brazilian Portuguese (Português (Brasil)), Czech (Čeština), French (Français), German (Deutsch), Hungarian (Magyar), Japanese (日本語), Polish (Polski), Russian (Русский), Simplified Chinese (简体中文) or Spanish (Español). Auto, the default, follows the system or browser language; Settings → Language picks one and switches at once, and the choice is kept between runs. Czech locales (cs-CZ, cs_CZ.UTF-8…) select Czech, German ones (de-DE, de-AT, de-CH, de_DE.UTF-8…) German, French ones (fr-FR, fr-CA…) French, Hungarian ones (hu, hu-HU, hu_HU.UTF-8…) Hungarian, Japanese ones (ja, ja-JP, ja_JP.UTF-8…) Japanese, Polish ones (pl, pl-PL, pl_PL.UTF-8) Polish, Spanish ones (es-ES, es-MX, es-419…) Spanish, and Portuguese ones (pt-BR, and pt-PT too, for now) Brazilian Portuguese. Simplified Chinese locales (zh-CN, zh-SG, zh-Hans, and POSIX forms such as zh_CN.UTF-8) select Chinese; Traditional Chinese ones don't. To try a language without changing the setting, start the desktop app with ARTCRAFT_LAUNCHER_LOCALE=pt-BR, or add ?lang=ru to the web address.

The CJK languages are drawn with the system's own CJK font (Hiragino Sans or PingFang on macOS, Yu Gothic, Meiryo or Microsoft YaHei on Windows, Noto Sans CJK, IPA, Takao or WenQuanYi on Linux and FreeBSD). Where the system has no font for one, and in the web version, the interface stays in English and Settings says why. Product names and release notes stay as published; text without a translation falls back to English.

Where apps are installed

ArtCraft Launcher installs each app where your system normally keeps applications, using the app's official release package, so an app installed by the launcher is the same as one you installed by hand (and the launcher finds apps you installed yourself):

System	Where	How
macOS	/Applications/<App>.app	Copied from the signed, notarized release DMG
Windows	C:\Program Files\<App>	The release MSI, through Windows Installer (with Start menu entry and Apps & features entry)
Linux	/usr/bin, /usr/share/applications	The release .deb (apt) or .rpm (dnf, zypper), with your system's password prompt. Without those, a Flatpak, or an AppImage in ~/Applications
Linux, inside the launcher's Flatpak, with no Flatpak on the host	~/.var/app/ai.storyteller.artcraft-launcher/data/artcraft-launcher/apps/<app>	The release tarball, unpacked into the launcher's own folder and run inside the same sandbox, with its settings in a home/ folder beside it. Nothing is installed on the host, and each app's configuration stays in the sandbox
FreeBSD	/usr/local	The release tree, with a password prompt (polkit); ~/.local when polkit isn't installed

ArtCraft Launcher keeps itself current too: when a new version is out, Update and restart downloads it, verifies it, puts it where this copy is installed (the .app, the Windows Installer package or portable folder, the AppImage, or the .deb/.rpm) and reopens it.

Updates use the same format an app was installed with. Every download is checked against the release's published SHA-256 before it is installed, and a running app is never replaced.

The launcher writes its log to logs/artcraft-launcher.log in its data folder (~/.local/share/artcraft-launcher on Linux, ~/Library/Application Support/ArtCraft Launcher on macOS, %LOCALAPPDATA%\ArtCraft Launcher on Windows, ArtCraftLauncherData beside the portable zip's executable) and keeps the previous two runs as artcraft-launcher.1.log and artcraft-launcher.2.log. RUST_LOG changes what it records (debug, info,zbus=warn, …).

Downloads

Download the build for your computer from the latest release, or browse all releases. Every release has a SHA256SUMS.txt to check the files against. <ver> is the version number, for example 0.1.0.

Windows (10 and 11)

File	What it is
artcraft-launcher-<ver>-windows-x64.msi	Installer for most PCs (Intel and AMD, 64-bit). Installs for the current user, no admin rights needed
artcraft-launcher-<ver>-windows-arm64.msi	Installer for Windows on Arm (Snapdragon and other Arm PCs)
artcraft-launcher-<ver>-windows-x86.msi	Installer for 32-bit Windows
artcraft-launcher-<ver>-windows-{x64,arm64,x86}-portable.zip	No install: unzip and run artcraft-launcher.exe. Keeps its settings in the folder

macOS (11 Big Sur or later)

File	What it is
artcraft-launcher-<ver>-macos-universal.dmg	Universal app for Apple silicon and Intel Macs, signed and notarized. Drag ArtCraft Launcher to Applications

Linux (x86_64 and aarch64; glibc 2.35 or newer, e.g. Ubuntu 22.04+, Debian 12+, Fedora 36+)

File	What it is
artcraft-launcher-<ver>-linux-{x86_64,aarch64}.AppImage	Runs on almost any distro without installing; chmod +x and run. The .AppImage.zsync beside it lets AppImageUpdate fetch only what changed
artcraft-launcher-<ver>-linux-{x86_64,aarch64}.deb	Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, Pop!_OS: sudo apt install ./artcraft-launcher-…deb
artcraft-launcher-<ver>-linux-{x86_64,aarch64}.rpm	Fedora, openSUSE, RHEL: sudo dnf install ./artcraft-launcher-…rpm
artcraft-launcher-<ver>-linux-{x86_64,aarch64}.flatpak	Flatpak bundle: flatpak install --user artcraft-launcher-…flatpak. Inside the sandbox the launcher installs apps as Flatpaks on the host through flatpak-spawn --host; where the host has no Flatpak it falls back to each app's release tarball, unpacked and run inside the sandbox with the app's settings kept in it. Either way it can only reach the host as far as that permission allows; the AppImage, .deb and .rpm builds are the recommended way to run the launcher on Linux
artcraft-launcher-<ver>-linux-{x86_64,aarch64}.tar.gz	Plain tree (bin/, share/) for everyone else and for scripts

RISC-V (riscv64): artcraft-launcher-<ver>-linux-riscv64.{deb,rpm,tar.gz}, built against Ubuntu 24.04 (needs glibc 2.39+).

The tray icon uses the StatusNotifierItem standard: KDE, Xfce, Cinnamon and most other desktops show it; on GNOME install the AppIndicator extension.

FreeBSD (14, x86_64)

File	What it is
artcraft-launcher-<ver>-freebsd-x86_64.tar.gz	A tree laid out like /usr/local

pkg install libxkbcommon wayland libX11 libXcursor libXrandr libXi libxcb mesa-libs vulkan-loader fontconfig freetype2
tar -xzf artcraft-launcher-<ver>-freebsd-x86_64.tar.gz --strip-components 1 -C /usr/local
artcraft-launcher

Web (WebAssembly)

File	What it is
artcraft-launcher-web-<ver>.zip	The catalog as a static site you can host anywhere; see packaging/web/README.md

Build from source

You need a recent stable Rust (1.90 or newer). On Linux, install the windowing headers first (Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install libxkbcommon-dev libwayland-dev libx11-dev libxrandr-dev libxi-dev libgl1-mesa-dev).

git clone https://github.com/storytold/craft-launcher
cd craft-launcher
cargo run --release -p artcraft-launcher   # the desktop app
cargo xtask ci                             # fmt, clippy, tests and the wasm check

The web version builds with trunk:

rustup target add wasm32-unknown-unknown
cd apps/artcraft-launcher-web && trunk serve

Installing your own builds

To install and update the Craft apps from checkouts on your machine instead of GitHub, clone them next to this repo (../photocraft, ../wordcraft, …) and run:

cargo xtask local sync      # git pull every app, build and package each new version into ../local-mirror
cargo xtask local serve     # serve the builds and a release feed on http://127.0.0.1:8787/
ARTCRAFT_LAUNCHER_DOWNLOAD_BASE=http://127.0.0.1:8787/ cargo run --release -p artcraft-launcher --features local-mirror

Run sync again whenever you want updates, or let the server do it: cargo xtask local serve --sync-every 1h pulls and builds on that interval while it serves. An app is rebuilt when its checkout's version isn't in the mirror yet (--rebuild forces it), and the launcher's next check picks it up. Add --every-commit to build every new commit instead, as a dev version between releases (0.4.0 builds as 0.4.1-dev.<commit time>), which the launcher offers as an update. While ARTCRAFT_LAUNCHER_DOWNLOAD_BASE is set (loopback addresses only), the launcher asks only the mirror, never GitHub. Only builds with the local-mirror feature read it; releases never have it. cargo xtask local help lists the options (--only, --no-pull, --arch, …).

New contributors and AI agents: start with AGENTS.md. Release packaging lives in packaging/ and .github/workflows/release.yml.

Important

Status: ArtCraft Launcher is new and in early alpha. Expect rough edges, and please file issues (include your OS, which app you were installing and the launcher's log file) or tell us on Discord.

The Craft App Suite

ArtCraft Launcher installs the Craft App Suite: free, open-source creative tools from the ArtCraft team, each written from scratch in Rust and each able to stand on its own.

	App	What it's for	Code	Learn more
	PhotoCraft	Image editing: layers, masks, type and real PSD files	GitHub	Website
	VectorCraft	Vector illustration	GitHub	Website
	FilmCraft	Video editing, color and sound	GitHub	Website
	LightCraft	Photo library and raw development	GitHub	Website
	PdfCraft	Reading, organizing and protecting PDFs	GitHub	Website
	EffectCraft	Motion graphics and visual effects	GitHub	Website
	DesignCraft	Page layout and publishing	GitHub	Website
	GridCraft	Spreadsheets and data	GitHub	Website
	WordCraft	Word processing and documents	GitHub	Website
	DeckCraft	Presentations and slide decks	GitHub	Website
	CADCraft	Computer-aided design	GitHub	Website
	SoundCraft	Audio recording and editing	GitHub	Website

And ArtCraft itself, our AI image and video studio for artists who want real control.

Come make things with us

Our Discord is where artists of every kind hang out: people who paint, shoot, draw, cut film, set type, and people still figuring out what they like to make. Share what you're working on, ask for help, tell us what's broken, or tell us what you wish these tools could do. Whatever your medium and however long you've been at it, you're welcome here.

discord.gg/artcraft · getartcraft.com · The Craft App Suite · ArtCraft Launcher

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Thanks

The community built launchers for the Craft App Suite before we did, and ArtCraft Launcher learned a lot from them. Thank you to their authors:

Project	Author	What we learned from it
ArtCraft Suite Updater	@Lyraedan	Noticing apps installed or removed outside the updater with a quiet background re-scan, detecting Arch and AUR installs through pacman, and a platform picker that lists the downloads for every OS
craftcenter	@avokadosauce	Finding the latest release without spending API quota (the releases/latest redirect plus SHA256SUMS.txt), and verifying every file
CRAFTSPACE	@emircesur	Adopting apps that were already installed, falling back gracefully when GitHub rate-limits, background update notifications
GetCraft	@mbirnbach	Picking the right download for each OS and CPU, recognising Windows Installer and macOS installs, a native Rust/egui launcher
CraftHub	CraftHubLauncher	Strict checks on where downloads come from, clear rate-limit messages, never replacing an app while it runs
artcraft-suite	@erikerikerik	ETag-cached release checks and installs that recover cleanly from interruptions
Craft Apps Launcher & Installer	@ZifuM	Release-page fallbacks and starting AppImage apps with a clean environment
ArtCraft Launcher	@EricVogt93	Desktop integration for AppImages and a careful self-update design
LandingCraft	@rallegretti	Working with the Windows Installer directly and offering stable releases only
Craft Apps Manager	@CryptoKey98	Scheduled background update checks and per-app launch options
ArtCraft Hub Launcher	@tinyplayerss	A friendly, one-window hub for the whole suite
CraftHub	@MegaTheLEGEND	Serving the apps' web builds from a self-hosted launcher

License and credits

ArtCraft Launcher is dual-licensed under MIT or Apache-2.0, at your option. Copyright (c) 2026 ArtCraft Team and the ArtCraft Launcher contributors. Required notices are in NOTICE.

Bundled fonts, icons, images and other assets keep their own open licenses; each one is listed with its author, source and license in ATTRIBUTION.md.

The app icons of the Craft apps (assets/app-icons/) are each app's own icon, copied unmodified from its repository and licensed like that app (MIT OR Apache-2.0).

The ArtCraft name, logo and "A" mark are not licensed under MIT or Apache-2.0. They (everything in docs/brand/, plus the app icon in assets/app-icon/, the logo in the launcher's header and the "A" tray icon) are trademarks of the ArtCraft Team and are not covered by this license. They may be used only unmodified, and only as part of this repository and ArtCraft Launcher, under docs/brand/LICENSE-brand.txt. Forks and modified versions must remove them.

_{Made by the ArtCraft team and community.}