Developer uses Claude to build free open-source clones of Adobe and Microsoft apps

Developer Brandon Thomas and his team released ArtCraft in early October 2026, a set of free, open-source programs that imitate Adobe's Creative Cloud apps. They include Photocraft, a Photoshop stand-in, a Lightroom counterpart and a PDF tool called PdfCraft. Thomas, an Atlanta-based software engineer, announced the project on Reddit and says he built it with Claude after reverse-engineering the originals.

“We also do not know whether the claimed 'clean-room process' stands up to scrutiny”

Andres Guadamuz, University of Sussex IP law reader, to Technollama, quoted by Al Jazeera · aljazeera.com ↗

Within days the suite grew to include look-alikes of Microsoft's Office programs: WordCraft, DeckCraft and GridCraft, standing in for Word, PowerPoint and Excel. Thomas says the code is written in Rust with Claude Opus 5.5, describes the process as clean-room, and claims the results run faster than the originals. He adds that he was fed up with Adobe's cancellation fee; the Adobe suite costs $779.99 a year upfront or $69.99 a month on an annual plan. The two outlets differ slightly on timing: Engadget says early October, while Al Jazeera's 14 October piece places the Reddit post about a week before.

Engadget's reviewer found that Photocraft handles resizing, masking and colour adjustment behind menus that feel like Photoshop's. It has no AI features and cannot open PSD files, and users report bugs such as deleted images and merged layers. Free alternatives like GIMP, Darktable and DaVinci Resolve already exist, but the cost of switching keeps most people on Adobe.

Opinion is split. Critics call Photocraft unmaintainable AI slop that infringes Adobe's trademarks and copyrights, while a Reddit commenter who has built Photoshop file readers praised its execution. ArtCraft says it used none of Adobe's code, yet Adobe's terms ban reverse engineering and trademarks or patents may still be at issue. Law academic Andres Guadamuz says nobody knows how much of the code Claude wrote. Thomas insists he is a 15-year veteran rather than a casual practitioner of vibe coding, the term Andrej Karpathy coined in February 2025, and that the project will not fade.

The wider backdrop is a surge in AI-driven rebuilding. A tool called Reverse Engineer Anything had 346,000 GitHub stars by 20 October and also works on firmware in TVs, fridges and instruments. AI decompilations of games such as Metroid Prime have appeared, and decomp.dev is closing as AI overran its human community, per 404 Media. Sensor Tower estimates new apps doubled in the first half of 2026 to about 560,000. Engadget says such tools could push Adobe to rethink a subscription many users dislike; no legal action by Adobe is reported.