About Forge Creative
A new foundation for creative work.
Forge Creative is building an integrated suite of professional creative applications, starting with one tool and doing it properly.
Why Forge exists
Creative software has become fragmented, expensive, and platform-bound.
Many creators pay for several subscriptions to cover one workflow, and still can't use their tools on the operating system they prefer. Forge Creative is an attempt to change that with one integrated, affordable ecosystem of professional applications.
The focus is on traditional professional editing and creation tools: layers, selections, typography, color, and timelines. Generative AI is not the centerpiece. The craft is.
The work starts with Photo Forge, a professional image editor already in active development. The rest of the suite follows only after real milestones, one application at a time.
Principles
What we're building toward
A viable alternative
Professional creative work shouldn't depend on a single vendor. Forge aims to be a serious, integrated option, built tool by tool until it holds up to real work.
Professional tools on Linux
Linux users have waited a long time for an integrated professional creative suite. Photo Forge is developed and tested on Linux first.
Cross-platform ambitions
Windows and macOS are planned targets. The interface is built on Qt, a mature cross-platform toolkit, and the engine is portable Rust.
Affordable by design
One planned subscription for the whole suite, so professional tools aren't priced out of reach for independent creators.
Respect for creators
Local-first documents. Core editing never requires an account or a connection. AI features, if any, are optional and never required for core editing.
Built to last
A disciplined document model, a large regression suite, and correctness before features. The goal is software that is still maintainable in ten years.
How we communicate
Honest about where things stand
- Unreleased software is labeled as planned or in development, never as available.
- We don't publish screenshots of software that doesn't exist yet. Photographs on this site show real people and studios, not Forge applications.
- Progress is reported with dated updates and status labels, not invented percentages or release dates.
- We don't show testimonials, download counts, or community numbers we don't have.
Be among the first to see what we're building.
Join the early-access list for occasional development updates. No payment, no account.