ArtCraft on GitHub: The Open-Source AI Image & Video IDE
Updated 2026-10-10
Short answer: ArtCraft is an open-source desktop app – its makers call it "the IDE for artists" – for AI image and video creation. Its code is on GitHub at storytold/artcraft, dual-licensed under MIT or Apache-2.0. You compose a scene in 2D, stage it in 3D with posed characters and a camera, then pick which AI model generates the final image or video. Stable builds are offered for Windows and macOS; Linux users can build it from source.
ArtCraft has been around for a while (its site, getartcraft.com, already had steady traffic), but searches for "github artcraft" jumped in October 2026 when the same team released PhotoCraft, an open-source Photoshop-style editor, and people went looking for the main project. On October 10, 2026 the ArtCraft repository showed about 12,900 stars and 2,000 forks.
What ArtCraft does
Most AI image tools are a prompt box. ArtCraft's idea is "show, don't tell": you build the scene first, then generate. The features listed in its README:
- Image to Location – place virtual actors in a consistent environment and plan several shots in the same room.
- 3D and 2D image compositing – layer backdrops, foregrounds and props, with background removal and drawing tools.
- Image to 3D mesh – turn an image into a 3D object you can move, rotate and frame.
- Character posing – pose a character and set the camera before generating.
- Scene blocking with kitbashing – combine 3D asset kits to control angles, placement and depth.
- Character identity transfer – use a posed mannequin to guide where and how your character appears.
- Prompting when you want speed – text to image, prompted image editing, canvas editing with masks and inpainting, and image to video.
The point is repeatable control: the same room, the same character, a chosen camera angle – things that are hard to get from text prompts alone.
Which AI models does ArtCraft support?
ArtCraft is a front end for many models rather than a model of its own. Its README lists a catalog of 62 models, some marked as currently disabled or restricted. Families named there include:
- Images: Nano Banana (incl. Pro and 2), GPT Image (1.5, 2, 2.5), FLUX (1.x dev/schnell/pro), Seedream (4 to 5.0 Pro).
- Video: Seedance (1.5 Pro, 2.0), Kling (several versions), Veo (3 Fast, 3.1, 3.1 Fast, 3.1 Lite), Vidu Q3, MiniMax H3, Flux 3.
- Music and sound: Suno and Seed Audio.
- 3D meshes: Hunyuan 3D, Tripo3D, Meshy, Rodin.
- Worlds / Gaussian splats: Marble (World Labs) and TripoSplat.
It also connects to some providers' own accounts: Grok (Imagine and Video), Midjourney, Sora / GPT Image, and World Labs. The team says more integrations (Kling, Google, Runway, Luma) are planned. The software is free and open source, but generating with commercial models still costs money with whichever provider runs them – check each one's pricing.
How to get ArtCraft from GitHub
- Go to
github.com/storytold/artcraft. - For a ready build, use Download ArtCraft (stable releases for Windows and macOS) or the Releases page for the latest builds.
- To build it yourself – the only route on Linux – follow
_docs/dev_setup.mdin the repository. The project is written mainly in Rust with a separate frontend folder. - Connect the model providers you want to use, start a scene, and generate.
ArtCraft vs PhotoCraft
They come from the same team but do different jobs:
| ArtCraft | PhotoCraft | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | AI image/video creation IDE | Layered image editor (Photoshop-style) |
| AI generation | Yes, many models | No – it's an editor |
| 3D scene tools | Yes | No |
| PSD files | – | Opens and saves layered PSDs |
| License | MIT or Apache-2.0 | MIT or Apache-2.0 |
Read more in our PhotoCraft guide. If you only want to try a quick AI image without installing anything, our free AI image prompt generator writes detailed prompts you can paste into any image model.
Who ArtCraft is for
- Filmmakers and storyboard artists who need the same character and set across many shots.
- Illustrators and designers who want composition control instead of re-rolling prompts.
- Hobbyists who already pay for several AI tools and want them in one desktop app.
If you just want one picture from one prompt, a web generator is simpler. ArtCraft pays off when you care about consistency and camera control.
FAQ
Is ArtCraft free? The app is free and open source (MIT or Apache-2.0). Generations with paid third-party models are billed by those providers.
Is ArtCraft on GitHub the official version?
Yes. storytold/artcraft is linked from getartcraft.com, the official site.
Does ArtCraft run on Linux? Stable builds are for Windows and macOS; on Linux you build it from source.
Is ArtCraft an AI model? No. It is a creative app that connects to many image, video, audio and 3D models.
What is the difference between ArtCraft and PhotoCraft? ArtCraft generates and composes AI images and video; PhotoCraft is a traditional layered photo editor from the same team.