What is LightCraft?
LightCraft is the ArtCraft team's open-source photo library and raw developer — "your photos, your pixels, your machine." A fast, non-destructive raw processor built from scratch in pure Rust, with no account, no cloud, no telemetry and no subscription. Same family as PhotoCraft; also runs in the browser via WebAssembly.
Key Features
- Non-destructive by design — a scene-referred, wide-gamut, 32-bit float pipeline. Your originals are never touched.
- Every control you reach for — light, color, effects, tone curve, an 8-band color mixer, 3-way color grading wheels and 18 built-in presets.
- Precise masking — brush, linear and radial gradients, luminance and color ranges, plus sky, subject and background masks.
- Native raw decoding — pure-Rust decoders for DNG, CR2, ARW, NEF, RAF (including X-Trans), RW2, PEF and ORF, with more on the way.
- A library that keeps up — albums, ratings, flags, field search and virtualized grids built for big catalogs.
- Instant feedback — the GPU develop pipeline updates a 24 MP raw in about 4 ms per slider move.
Current Status
LightCraft is in active development with installers for macOS, Windows and Linux plus a browser build. Get it standalone or via the ArtCraft Launcher. See the ArtCraft suite overview for how it fits with FilmCraft, PhotoCraft and the rest.
How It Compares
- vs Adobe Lightroom — Lightroom is the mature standard with cloud ecosystems; LightCraft is free, local-first, open source and already fast (4 ms slider updates), but younger.
- vs Darktable — Darktable is the established open-source raw developer with deep features; LightCraft counters with a Rust-native engine, a Photoshop-adjacent UI philosophy and family integration with PhotoCraft.
- vs Capture One — Capture One targets tethered studio workflows at a premium price; LightCraft covers library + develop locally at zero cost.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is LightCraft free?
Yes — free and open source, no account, no cloud, no telemetry, no subscription.
What raw formats does LightCraft support?
Native Rust decoders for DNG, CR2, ARW, NEF, RAF (including X-Trans), RW2, PEF and ORF, with more formats on the way.
Is LightCraft a Lightroom replacement?
For local library management and non-destructive raw development it is designed to be; it is still in development, so professionals should evaluate against their catalog needs.
