How to install LightCraft on macOS, Windows and Linux
Which LightCraft 0.6.0 file to download for your OS and CPU, how to verify it, and how to build LightCraft from source. Based on the official README and the v0.6.0 release.
Updated 2026-10-11 · LightCraft 0.6.0
LightCraft is the ArtCraft team's open-source photo library and raw developer, modeled on the Adobe Lightroom workflow. The latest release is v0.6.0, published on 2026-10-11. Its README calls the project alpha, so keep backups of important work.
Where to download
The LightCraft README recommends the LightCraft page on getartcraft.com as the easiest way to install. Every build is attached to the latest GitHub release, and our download page links to the same files. The tables below list the actual files in v0.6.0.
macOS
| Build | File |
|---|---|
| App, universal (Apple silicon + Intel) | lightcraft-0.6.0-macos-universal.dmg |
| Command-line tool, universal | lightcraft-cli-0.6.0-macos-universal.zip |
Windows
| Build | Installer | Portable |
|---|---|---|
| x64 (64-bit Intel/AMD) | lightcraft-0.6.0-windows-x64.msi | lightcraft-0.6.0-windows-x64-portable.zip |
| arm64 (ARM PCs) | lightcraft-0.6.0-windows-arm64.msi | lightcraft-0.6.0-windows-arm64-portable.zip |
| x86 (32-bit) | lightcraft-0.6.0-windows-x86.msi | lightcraft-0.6.0-windows-x86-portable.zip |
Linux
| Format | x86_64 | aarch64 |
|---|---|---|
| AppImage | lightcraft-0.6.0-linux-x86_64.AppImage | lightcraft-0.6.0-linux-aarch64.AppImage |
| Flatpak | lightcraft-0.6.0-linux-x86_64.flatpak | lightcraft-0.6.0-linux-aarch64.flatpak |
| Debian/Ubuntu (.deb) | lightcraft-0.6.0-linux-x86_64.deb | lightcraft-0.6.0-linux-aarch64.deb |
| Fedora/RHEL/openSUSE (.rpm) | lightcraft-0.6.0-linux-x86_64.rpm | lightcraft-0.6.0-linux-aarch64.rpm |
| Tarball (.tar.gz) | lightcraft-0.6.0-linux-x86_64.tar.gz | lightcraft-0.6.0-linux-aarch64.tar.gz |
Other builds
lightcraft-0.6.0-linux-riscv64.tar.gz, lightcraft-0.6.0-freebsd-x86_64.tar.gz, lightcraft-web-0.6.0.zip (RISC-V Linux, FreeBSD x86_64, and the static web build).
For Flatpak, the README gives flatpak install --user <file>. For example:
flatpak install --user lightcraft-0.6.0-linux-x86_64.flatpak
Verify the download
The release includes SHA256SUMS.txt with a checksum for every file:
shasum -a 256 -c SHA256SUMS.txt --ignore-missing # macOS
sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS.txt --ignore-missing # Linux
Get-FileHash .\lightcraft-0.6.0-windows-x64.msi -Algorithm SHA256 # Windows
Build from source
You need a Rust toolchain from rustup. These commands come from the README:
cargo run --release -p lightcraft # opens your library
cargo run --release -p lightcraft -- --memory # a throwaway in-memory demo session (writes nothing)
cargo xtask web --serve # the same app in the browser: http://127.0.0.1:8080/
Nix
The README also documents a Nix flake:
nix run github:storytold/lightcraft # the desktop app
nix build github:storytold/lightcraft # → ./result/bin/{lightcraft,lightcraft-cli}
Next
Sources
Every factual claim in this article is taken from these upstream files. If something here disagrees with them, the upstream source wins.
PhotoCraft Hub is an unofficial community site. PhotoCraft is made by the ArtCraft team; screenshots are from the PhotoCraft repository (MIT OR Apache-2.0) and show public-domain artwork.
NextLightCraft: a free, open-source Adobe Lightroom alternative