bflatasticandClaude Opus 5.5
9f3b992ecc
Discord feedback: "EPS files are always rasterized: they open as bitmaps, in
other programs as vectors". Every EPS saved by Illustrator 2026 fell back to
its TIFF preview (`gcheck` was unknown), and cairo/Inkscape files stopped at
their first image (`status`), dropped masked images (ImageType 3) and failed
on mesh gradients; the warning didn't say where the program failed.
Fallback never silent:
- The warning names the PostScript error, the operator that raised it and
the named procedures it ran in, innermost first ("a PostScript error
(typecheck in `add`), in `inner` in `outer`"); errors caught by `stopped`
aren't reported. It reaches the status bar, document.open, app.open and
file.open (which now return document.open's result, so MCP's open_file over
the control channel gets it), and `vectorcraft-cli info` ("warnings").
- A file whose PostScript can't be read opens as its TIFF preview, else its
Windows metafile preview (as vectors, scaled to the bounding box), else its
EPSI bitmap. es @msg rows for the new messages.
Interpreter:
- Operators programs probe or use: gcheck/scheck, rootfont,
currentcolorrendering, currenthsbcolor, status, token, read,
bytesavailable, fileposition/setfileposition, resetfile, write*, pdfmark
(marks dropped, as Ghostscript does), execform, nulldevice, strokepath,
pathforall, user paths (ufill/ueofill/ustroke/uappend/upath/setbbox, the
encoded form too), setcachedevice2, findcolorrendering, cache, device and
VM queries, revision; (%stdout) (w) file gives a sink.
- `//name` is replaced by its value when read, inside procedures too.
- Tiling patterns become pattern swatches (their PaintProc drawn in pattern
space, one cell; uncoloured ones in the colour under them; makepattern
copies share one swatch); nested patterns stop at 8 levels.
- Type 3 fonts draw their glyphs (BuildGlyph/BuildChar, widths from
setcachedevice/setcharwidth) as outlines grouped per string, spaced by
ashow/widthshow/awidthshow/xshow/yshow/xyshow/kshow; glyphshow and
stringwidth/cshow use them.
- Shadings of types 1 and 4-7 become gradient meshes (data from arrays,
strings or files, packed or not, flags sharing edges), as fills through a
shading pattern too; sampled functions (type 0) are evaluated;
GradientMesh::coons/triangle are shared with PDF import.
- ImageType 3 masked images, interleaved by sample, by row or in separate
sources; ReusableStreamDecode reads its data when made; Flate/LZW PNG and
TIFF predictors.
- Bounded: DeviceN at 32 inks, sampled functions at 2^24 samples and 32
outputs, 4096 patches a shading, strokepath ignores dashes finer than 1e5
pieces, Type 3 glyphs nest 8 deep (a glyph that shows itself overflowed the
stack before the limit), 64-bit index maths for 32-bit targets.
Tests: a synthetic program per generator (cairo/Inkscape, its Type 3 fonts,
matplotlib, CorelDRAW, Affinity, LibreOffice, Ghostscript eps2write,
Illustrator procsets), meshes and function shadings, masked images, fault
messages, probing operators, metafile/EPSI previews, `//name`, user paths,
hostile patterns/glyphs/shadings (run against main, 12 of the 14 generator
and feature tests fail; CorelDRAW- and LibreOffice-style programs already
read there). The import fuzz vocabulary covers the new operators. Checked
against real files made here with Inkscape 1.4 (cairo) and Illustrator 2026
(its own format and the CS-to-CC compatibility formats; all fell back or
stopped early on main and open as vectors now; its Illustrator 8 format
needs the next commit); those files aren't committed.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <[email protected]>
VectorCraft
Vector illustration; an open-source, clean-room reimplementation of Adobe Illustrator, rebuilt in pure Rust.
A fast, open-source, clean-room take on the Adobe Illustrator workflow. It runs natively on macOS, Windows, Linux and FreeBSD, and in the browser via WebAssembly. Built by the ArtCraft team.
VectorCraft on getartcraft.com · ArtCraft · All Crafting Apps
Neon Drive: a Pathfinder-cut sun, live Outer Glow on the type and grid, and clipping masks · examples/neon-drive.vectorcraft
Note
ArtCraft is a community of artists from all walks of life. Digital, generative, music, games — if you make things, you're one of us. Come say hi on Discord.
A look around · Made in VectorCraft · Why VectorCraft · Quick start · Status · The Crafting Apps · License
A look around
Live Blends and Layers: editable key paths, smooth colour, every object a row |
Pen and Direct Selection: real Bézier anchors and handles, plus a contextual task bar |
Perspective Grid: art attached to its planes stays editable in perspective · |
Multiple artboards, light theme: Pathfinder · Gradient Mesh · live radial Repeat · Envelope Distort · |
Made in VectorCraft
Every piece below was built entirely through VectorCraft's command API, the same one the MCP server
exposes to agents, and exported by VectorCraft's own renderer. The source files are in
examples/.
Neon Drive: synthwave poster with glowing type and grid |
Dusk: gradient sky, glowing sun, layered mountains |
Live Blends: 70 steps, smooth colour, editable spines |
|
Radial Repeat: a live mandala |
Envelope Distort: striped type warped into a flag |
Gradient Mesh: shaded spheres |
Pathfinder: a crescent and stars from exact booleans |
Why VectorCraft
- Familiar. Illustrator's layout, tools, menus, panels and shortcuts: the Pen, Direct Selection, Pathfinder, Smart Guides, Appearance, Swatches, Layers and more. You already know how to use it.
- Fast. Multithreaded SIMD rendering off the UI thread. 20,000 shapes render in about 27 ms at full retina resolution while the interface stays at 120 fps.
- Robust. Exact curve booleans (no "cannot perform operation"), unlimited undo via structural sharing, and property-tested file round trips.
- Open. A documented native format (
.vectorcraft, JSON), first-class SVG, PDF (and PDF-compatible.ai) import and export, PNG/JPEG/WebP export, Export for Screens, and SVGZ, templates, GIF, TIFF and BMP on open. - Agent-native. Every menu item, tool gesture, panel and dialog can be driven over a JSON control channel and an MCP server, so Claude and other agents can draw, edit and export the way a person does.
- Everywhere. One codebase for the desktop apps and the same UI in the browser.
Quick start
cargo run --release -p vectorcraft # desktop app
cargo run --release -p vectorcraft -- examples/dusk-poster.vectorcraft
cargo run --release -p vectorcraft -- --control 7979 # + JSON control channel
cargo run --release -p vectorcraft-cli -- mcp # MCP server (stdio)
cargo run --release -p vectorcraft-cli -- run --in examples/ribbons.vectorcraft --export out.pdf # headless batch
cargo run --release -p vectorcraft-cli -- bench examples/neon-drive.vectorcraft # render timing
cargo xtask bundle # dist/VectorCraft.app (macOS)
cd apps/vectorcraft-web && trunk build --release # web build → dist/web
cargo xtask ci # fmt, clippy, tests, layering, wasm, vendor names
Japanese fonts come from storytold/craft-fonts, an optional
build input (releases always use it): CRAFT_FONTS_DIR="$PWD/../craft-fonts" cargo run --release -p vectorcraft (an absolute path).
Without it, Japanese text uses the installed system fonts. See docs/development.md.
On laptops with two graphics processors, VectorCraft uses the power-saving (integrated) one by default.
To use the discrete one, choose Preferences › Performance › Graphics Processor › High Performance
and restart, or start the app with WGPU_POWER_PREF=high (see docs/development.md).
Use it from Claude Code and other agents
Register the MCP server with Claude Code:
claude mcp add vectorcraft -- /path/to/vectorcraft-cli mcp
The details are in docs/mcp.md and docs/control-protocol.md.
For the experimental, unsupported 64-bit Windows 7 build, see Windows 7 instructions.
Status
VectorCraft is under active development. ROADMAP.md covers what ships today, the milestones, and honest time-to-parity estimates.
Where we are (2026-10-07): roughly 69–75% of Illustrator's features exist and work, and about 40–55% of
"a power user can't tell the difference". Everyday vector illustration is close to usable: drawing and path tools,
Pathfinder and Shape Builder, paint, gradients, appearance and transparency, type with styles, threading and Hebrew/Arabic bidirectional layout, and
files (SVG, PDF and PDF-compatible .ai with PDF/X, EPS, DXF, EMF/WMF, raster formats and PSD, Print, Package). The interface
speaks English, Japanese, Traditional and Simplified Chinese and Spanish (and Czech and Brazilian Portuguese in the menus).
The scores are
self-assessed, so the honest assessment explains how far to trust them.
What's missing:
- 3D and Materials;
- the Photoshop-style raster effects (Effect Gallery);
- CJK composition for vertical type (vertical type itself has initial support, with a Japanese interface);
- Variables and scripting;
- an interaction-fidelity pass covering every tool's modifiers and small behaviours;
- packaging for Windows and Linux.
Where we're going: next is the interaction-fidelity pass alongside the raster-effects package, then 3D and advanced type, then hardening and packaging for 1.0. The prioritized list is in Where we're lacking.
Workspace: crates/{geom, color, doc, pathops, text, effects, trace, brush, render, svg, pdf, eps, cad, metafile, format, tools, engine, ui-egui, mcp, testkit}
and apps/{vectorcraft, vectorcraft-cli, vectorcraft-web}. The egui frontend is its own crate, so
the UI can be swapped without touching the engine.
Agent and contributor rules (clean-room, the asset policy, no panics in shipped code, quality gates) are in
AGENTS.md; docs/development.md
explains how VectorCraft avoids crashing, and docs/releasing.md how releases are built,
signed and published. Every bundled asset is listed with its licence in ASSETS.md.
The Crafting Apps
VectorCraft is one of the Crafting Apps: 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 · you are here | 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 |
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 Crafting Apps · VectorCraft
Star history
License and credits
VectorCraft is dual-licensed under MIT or Apache-2.0, at your option. Copyright (c) 2026 ArtCraft Team and the VectorCraft 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 ASSETS.md. Release builds also embed the fonts of craft-fonts (Japanese, Simplified Chinese and Arabic faces; SIL Open Font License 1.1).
The app icon (an engraved dragon on VectorCraft red, #e8573f) is the owner's original artwork; its
palette and files are in assets/app-icon/.
The ArtCraft name, wordmark and logos in docs/brand/ 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 VectorCraft, under docs/brand/LICENSE-brand.txt.
Forks and modified versions must remove them.
Adobe, Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, Lightroom, Acrobat, After Effects and InDesign are trademarks or registered trademarks of Adobe Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. VectorCraft is an independent, open-source project and is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by Adobe Inc.; these names are used only to describe the workflows it is compatible with.
Made by the ArtCraft team and community.