How to Install PhotoCraft on Linux (AppImage, Flatpak, deb, rpm, NixOS)

One of the best things about the ArtCraft Crafting Apps is that Linux is a first-class platform. PhotoCraft is a real Photoshop-style editor with PSD support that runs natively on Linux. Here’s how to install it. The same steps work for VectorCraft, FilmCraft, LightCraft and every other “Craft” app: just swap the name.

All downloads come from the official PhotoCraft releases page. Make sure the URL starts with github.com/storytold/ (why that matters).

Which package should I use?

Format	Best for	Architectures
AppImage	Any distro, no root needed	x86_64, aarch64
Flatpak bundle	Sandboxed install	x86_64, aarch64
.deb	Ubuntu, Debian, Mint, Pop!_OS	x86_64, aarch64
.rpm	Fedora, RHEL, openSUSE	x86_64, aarch64
.tar.gz	Unpack anywhere	x86_64, aarch64, riscv64

RISC-V builds need glibc 2.39 or newer (Ubuntu 24.04 era).

Option 1: AppImage (works everywhere)

chmod +x photocraft-0.8.2-linux-x86_64.AppImage
./photocraft-0.8.2-linux-x86_64.AppImage

On first run it registers a launcher icon and menu entry in ~/.local/share, so the dock shows the right icon on Wayland. Set PHOTOCRAFT_NO_DESKTOP_INTEGRATION=1 to skip that. The AppImage can update itself with AppImageUpdate, using the .zsync file from the release.

Option 2: Flatpak

The Flatpak bundle needs the freedesktop runtime from Flathub, and flatpak offers to install it for you:

flatpak install --user photocraft-0.8.2-linux-x86_64.flatpak
flatpak run ai.storyteller.photocraft

Option 3: Ubuntu / Debian (.deb)

sudo apt install ./photocraft-0.8.2-linux-x86_64.deb
photocraft

Option 4: Fedora / openSUSE (.rpm)

sudo dnf install ./photocraft-0.8.2-linux-x86_64.rpm      # Fedora / RHEL
sudo zypper install ./photocraft-0.8.2-linux-x86_64.rpm   # openSUSE

Arch Linux

There’s no official AUR package from the ArtCraft team at the time of writing. The AppImage or the tarball is the simplest route. Community packages may appear; check that they build from github.com/storytold sources.

NixOS

Two community projects package the Crafting Apps as Nix flakes, with NixOS and Home Manager modules: Devitek/artcraft-nixos and olafkfreund/nix-craftapps. They’re unofficial, so review the flake before you use it.

Raspberry Pi and ARM laptops

Use the aarch64 AppImage, deb or rpm. The apps render through wgpu (Vulkan), so make sure your GPU driver supports Vulkan, or expect a slower fallback.

Known Linux issue: drag and drop on Wayland

On native Wayland, files dropped onto the window don’t open yet. This is a limitation of winit 0.30, the windowing library under egui. Workarounds:

• Use File › Open, or copy the file in your file manager and paste with Ctrl+V.
• Or start the app under XWayland:

WAYLAND_DISPLAY= photocraft
WAYLAND_DISPLAY= ./photocraft-0.8.2-linux-x86_64.AppImage
flatpak run --nosocket=wayland --socket=x11 ai.storyteller.photocraft

VectorCraft also has a Preferences › Performance › Linux Display Server setting to switch to X11 permanently.

Other Craft apps on Linux

Replace photocraft with the app name. For example, FilmCraft’s Flatpak ID follows the same pattern. Everything is on each app’s releases page:

• FilmCraft: video editing with hardware decoding through VA-API for H.264 and HEVC
• LightCraft: RAW development, a long-requested Lightroom alternative for Linux
• VectorCraft, PdfCraft, WordCraft and more

Don’t want to install anything?

Every app also runs in the browser. Open PhotoCraft online in Firefox or Chromium on Linux.