LightCraft on GitHub: The Open-Source Lightroom Alternative

The LightCraft GitHub project lives at storytold/lightcraft, in the same organization as the other crafting apps. The card on this section reads stars, forks, the latest release, the license, and the last update from GitHub when that request works. When it does not, the figure this guide stands behind is the Oct 11, 2026 snapshot: 9,439 stars.

This page does not invent a LightCraft release number the snapshot did not include. The license is MIT or Apache-2.0, the same choice stated for LightCraft, PhotoCraft, VectorCraft, and the main ArtCraft repository. The apps page still lists LightCraft as in development. A LightCraft star count is not a quality score, and it is not the 81 percent or 61 percent self-estimate. Use the card for the live LightCraft fields, and use the dated snapshot when you need a number that will not drift under the paragraph. The LightCraft GitHub card is that snapshot plus a live fetch.

LightCraft (ArtCraft) is a RAW editor. It is a native Rust app for macOS, Windows, and Linux, with FreeBSD packages among the crafting apps, and it can run in the browser as WebAssembly. The job it aims at is the one Lightroom is known for: develop camera files on your machine.

LightCraft is not a cloud catalog this guide can describe, because catalog sync is not in the facts used here. The format list is the practical core. Supported reading includes DNG, CR2 and CR3, ARW, NEF, RAF including X-Trans, RW2 and RWL, PEF, and uncompressed ORF and SRW. Other CR3 variants, compressed ORF and SRW, and Nikon HE NEF are marked not started. Compressed Olympus files and unsupported CR3 variants can use an embedded JPEG preview when one is present. LightCraft can read Lightroom XMP sidecars and .lcpreset preset files. A command-line tool, lightcraft-cli, is documented, and MCP can run LightCraft without the interface.

The LightCraft browser build exists, with WebGPU plus Safari and Firefox still in testing according to the README facts. Brandon Thomas is the developer named for the suite, and reports such as PetaPixel on Oct 7, 2026 say Brandon Thomas used Claude Opus 5.5 to recreate seven Adobe apps in Rust. None of that changes the LightCraft in-development label. Treat LightCraft as a local RAW tool with a published gap list.

LightCraft vs Lightroom, scored by the project itself, is about 81 percent of features by count and about 61 percent as something you could use every day. Both figures are the project’s own estimate. PSDraw did not time a catalog or re-test every slider.

An 81 percent feature count can still leave out the control you use on every shoot, which is why the daily LightCraft number is lower. What is documented, and useful, is preset interchange of a specific kind. LightCraft can read Lightroom XMP and .lcpreset files. That is not a claim that every historic preset pack imports, and it is not a claim about cloud albums, phone sync, or print modules. Those products are simply outside the notes this page is allowed to repeat. Lightroom remains the commercial app LightCraft is aimed at. LightCraft remains in development on the apps page.

Price is easier than parity. LightCraft is free under MIT or Apache-2.0. Adobe’s own checkout lists the Photography plan (1TB) at US$19.99 a month when billed annually (US$239.88 a year), and US$29.99 a month month-to-month. That plan is not a LightCraft price. Confirm the current figure with Adobe before you treat it as a quote. Even a large price gap does not erase the LightCraft 61 percent daily estimate. Keep Lightroom when your camera writes a decode the README marks as not started.

The LightCraft download is either a release file or a build you compile yourself. Official starting points are the download page, the ArtCraft Launcher, and GitHub Releases for storytold/lightcraft. PSDraw does not host the packages. Choose a release if you want an app you can open.

Choose source only if you are ready to follow the repository’s own README. Install from LightCraft GitHub Releases when you want a binary. The launcher is craft-launcher v0.2.0. It can install LightCraft and update the other crafting apps. The download page is getartcraft.com/apps. Desktop targets are macOS, Windows, and Linux, and the suite also offers FreeBSD packages. This guide will not paste PhotoCraft’s signed MSI, portable zip, and notarized DMG matrix onto LightCraft. Those lines are documented for PhotoCraft. Here, trust the files and checksums the LightCraft release actually contains.

Building LightCraft from source means Rust, and the commands belong to the README in the LightCraft repository. This page will not invent a cargo line that might be wrong next week. A LightCraft browser build exists, with WebGPU and Safari and Firefox still called out as in testing. If you only wanted a binary, stay on Releases. If the apps page still says LightCraft is in development, read the notes on the build you picked before you point it at a client folder.

LightCraft’s README supports DNG, Canon CR2 and CR3, Sony ARW, Nikon NEF, RAF including X-Trans, RW2 and RWL, PEF, and uncompressed ORF and SRW. The table under this section is the supported list. Other CR3 variants, compressed ORF, compressed SRW, and Nikon HE NEF are marked not started.

A camera that writes one of those not-started decodes can disappoint even when the brand looks “supported” in a short answer. Do not read a format letter as a promise about every camera body. The notes used here name formats, not a model-by-model matrix. If your files are uncompressed ORF or a plain NEF, LightCraft is on the stronger side of the list. If they are Nikon HE NEF or a compressed ORF, treat the LightCraft result as a test. Duplicate the card or the folder before the first LightCraft import. LightCraft treats DNG as a normal RAW file. LightCraft treats a plain NEF as supported.

LightCraft is one free Lightroom alternative, the ArtCraft one, and it is still in development with a 61 percent daily estimate from the project itself. A free Lightroom alternative you have used for years may be the calmer choice while those percentages sit where they sit.

This page will not invent prices or RAW coverage for rival apps. It also will not pretend the LightCraft self-estimate is a public benchmark. This page does not name other RAW editors. Their prices, licenses, and camera lists were not re-checked, so they are not recommendations.

The filtered list lives on the alternatives guide. Use LightCraft when you want the open source ArtCraft RAW app, the documented format list, XMP and .lcpreset reading, and the CLI or headless MCP path. Use something else when your files land on the not-started decode list or when you need a daily tool the project itself scores near 61 percent. Both choices can be rational. Mixing them up is what hurts the shoot, whether or not you chose LightCraft.

LightCraft on GitHub is not Lightcraft Technology. Lightcraft Technology is a virtual-production company, and Jetset is its product. None of those companies publish the RAW editor in storytold/lightcraft, and none of them are the ArtCraft app described here.

Buying a light, or booking a virtual-production tool, will not install LightCraft. The clash is why the repository name matters. A search for the bare word often hits the lighting gear or the virtual-production firm, because that word has been in the market longer than this alpha. The project you can clone under MIT or Apache-2.0 is LightCraft on GitHub. The 9,439 stars on the Oct 11, 2026 snapshot belong to LightCraft. They do not belong to Jetset.

The ArtCraft name and logo have their own trademark exception. They are not part of the open source license. A published modified build must remove them, unless the fork exists only to propose changes upstream. They are not available for another product or domain. That rule does not make LightCraft affiliated with the virtual-production company either. When you install LightCraft, start from the repository, the launcher, or getartcraft.com. If the page is selling studio hardware, you are in the wrong place.