Developer builds free Adobe Creative Cloud alternatives using Claude Opus 5.5

Software developer Brandon Thomas has released seven free, open source alternatives to Adobe’s creative applications, saying he used Anthropic’s Claude Opus 5.5 to build them. The apps, released under the Artcraft brand, recreate interfaces and tools found in Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere, Lightroom, After Effects, InDesign and Acrobat Pro. Thomas described the projects as clean room replacements written in Rust, with WebAssembly versions available for browser use. The approach aims to reproduce software functionality without directly copying its source code. The launch marks a shift for Artcraft, which began last year as a platform for editing AI generated images and videos. Its new suite targets users seeking alternatives to Adobe’s paid software. The applications remain in what Thomas calls a super early alpha stage. Users on Hacker News and other platforms have highlighted missing functionality and bugs, leaving the projects short of the Adobe products they aim to replace. Thomas initially promised complete feature parity within a month. He later moderated that forecast, saying reaching 99% parity would take longer but could be measured in months rather than years. The apps ...