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Designcraft

DesignCraft is a free, open-source page layout and publishing application written in Rust, built as a clean-room reimplementation of the Adobe InDesign…

  • Media Applications
  • Productivity
DesignCraft is a free, open-source page layout and publishing application written in Rust, built as a clean-room reimplementation of the Adobe InDesign workflow. It provides spreads, parent pages, threaded stories, paragraph styles, color swatches and text wrap through a native interface with a professional paragraph composer, and runs on macOS, Windows, Linux and in the browser via WebAssembly. It suits designers who want InDesign-style desktop publishing without a subscription, licence server or telemetry.

Platform availability

Available on 3 of 9 platforms

  • Unraid (not listed)
  • TrueNAS (not listed)
  • Umbrel (not listed)
  • ZimaOS (not listed)
  • Proxmox (not listed)
  • Helm (not listed)
  • Mac
  • Windows
  • Linux

Other devices

Health score?A 0-100 score computed nightly from four factors: maintained (40%: recent commits and steady activity), popular (25%: GitHub stars, log scale), easy to install (20%: platforms, install notes, setup guides, Docker image) and light to run (15%: minimum RAM, ARM support). When the source code has been checked, a fifth factor, security check (20%: automated scan for committed secrets, unsafe desktop-app settings, known-vulnerable dependencies and project hygiene; any serious finding caps it at 20), is added. Factors without data are left out and the rest are rescaled.

75/100 Good

Maintained
75last commit 0 days ago
Popular
692,700 GitHub stars
Easy to install
554 install platforms, install notes
Light to run
No data
Security check
100no serious findings, CI, tests

Based on 4 of 5 factors.

GitHub stars
2,700
Open issues
249
Last commit
2026-10-11
Latest release
v0.6.0
License
Apache-2.0
Activity
rising

Checked today - source: GitHub (storytold/designcraft)

Resources & Compatibility

Requirements not published yet.

First-install notes

  • Start with the sample magazine Open a terminal and run the app with `--sample` (for example, `cargo run --release -p designcraft -- --sample`). This opens a ready-made sample document so you can see the app working before creating your own design. source
  • Enable the control port if you want automation If you plan to use automation tools, start the desktop app with `--control 7979` so they can talk to it over local port 7979 (the local address automation tools use to connect to the app). Without that port, commands from `designcraft-cli` or Claude will fail to connect. source
  • Export pages without the desktop app To check the install or save images without opening the window, run `designcraft-cli run --sample --all-pages out/`. This writes PNG files for every sample page into a folder called `out`. source

Fetched today - each note links to its source

Alternatives (1)

Checked today - source: AlternativeTo

Common questions

How do I keep DesignCraft updated?

Use ArtCraft Launcher; it installs DesignCraft, picks the right build, and keeps it up to date.

What local port must be enabled for DesignCraft automation?

Start the desktop app with --control 7979 so automation tools can connect over local port 7979. Without that port, commands from designcraft-cli or Claude fail to connect.

Can I generate page images from DesignCraft without opening the desktop app?

Yes, run designcraft-cli run --sample --all-pages out/ to write PNG files for every sample page into a folder named out.

DesignCraft does not open; what workaround is reported?

Set the environment variable WGPU_BACKEND=dx12 before launching the app. That resolved the not-opening issue in the report.

Can DesignCraft open InDesign .indd files directly?

No, native INDD file open is not supported. It only supports the proprietary file type or IDML.

Answers sourced from getartcraft.com, github.com, github.com, github.com, github.com

Community

Collected today - public community threads