WordCraft is a free, open-source word processor designed as an alternative to Microsoft Word. Developed by the ArtCraft team, it is written in Rust and aims to reproduce familiar Word workflows while providing native applications for desktop operating systems and a browser-based version.
The application goes beyond basic text editing. It includes document formatting, styles, tables, page layout, references, comments, tracked changes, mail merge, and PDF export. It can open and save DOCX files, making it a potential option for users who regularly exchange documents with Microsoft Office users.
WordCraft also includes command-line tools and Model Context Protocol (MCP) integration, allowing compatible AI agents to create, inspect, edit, and export documents programmatically.
Although its feature set is extensive, WordCraft is still approaching maturity for everyday writing. Users who rely on complex Word documents or specialized publishing workflows should test compatibility before making it their primary word processor.
Features
Document Editing and Formatting
WordCraft provides a familiar ribbon-style interface with formatting controls for fonts, sizes, bold and italic text, underlining, colors, highlighting, superscript, and subscript.
It supports paragraph alignment, indentation, line spacing, tabs, borders, shading, and other layout options. The Format Painter lets users copy formatting between document elements, while built-in styles help maintain consistent formatting across longer documents.
The editor also includes AutoCorrect, smart quotes, automatic list formatting, find and replace with regular expressions, and standard undo and redo functionality.
These features make WordCraft suitable for writing reports, letters, essays, and other everyday documents.
DOCX Compatibility and File Formats
WordCraft supports reading and writing Microsoft Word's DOCX format. It also supports importing and exporting ODT, RTF, HTML, Markdown, and plain-text documents.
PDF export produces selectable text and supports links and bookmarks, making it useful for distributing reports and other finished documents.
The ability to work with common document formats is one of WordCraft's main advantages. However, opening a DOCX file does not guarantee that every element will render identically to Microsoft Word. Complex layouts, embedded objects, and less common formatting features should be checked after import.
Styles, Themes, and Page Layout
WordCraft includes paragraph and character styles, style sets, themes, and a live style gallery. Users can create or modify styles to maintain consistent formatting throughout a document.
Page-layout controls include margins, page size, orientation, columns, section breaks, page breaks, headers, footers, page numbers, watermarks, and page borders.
The application also supports automatic hyphenation, line numbering, drop caps, and text wrapping around pictures and shapes.
These capabilities are useful for creating structured reports, academic papers, business documents, and longer publications.
Tables, Images, and Graphics
WordCraft supports tables with merged and split cells, borders, shading, banded styles, sorting, and formulas. Rows can split across pages, and table headers can repeat on subsequent pages.
Images can be inserted, resized, cropped, rotated, recolored, and adjusted for brightness, contrast, and transparency. Additional features include picture styles, shapes, and text boxes with floating positioning and text wrapping.
The editor also supports converting text into tables and tables into text, helping users restructure information without recreating content manually.
References and Academic Writing
WordCraft provides a collection of tools for structured and academic documents, including:
Automatic tables of contents.
Footnotes and endnotes.
Citations and bibliographies in APA, MLA, Chicago, and IEEE styles.
Captions and tables of figures.
Cross-references and indexes.
Tables of authorities.
These tools make WordCraft particularly interesting for students, researchers, and professionals who work with long documents containing references and supporting material.
Users preparing formal academic submissions should verify that the generated references and formatting comply with their institution's requirements.
Comments, Track Changes, and Proofreading
WordCraft includes comments displayed in document margins or a dedicated pane. Track Changes allows users to review edits and accept or reject individual changes.
Document comparison, spelling and grammar suggestions, a thesaurus, word counting, and an accessibility checker provide additional support for reviewing and refining documents.
The application also includes document inspection and editing restrictions.
These features are valuable for collaborative editing and document review, although teams should test their specific review workflows before replacing established Microsoft Word processes.
Mail Merge
WordCraft supports mail merge using CSV data sources and document fields. Users can insert merge fields, configure address blocks and greeting lines, preview personalized documents, and generate merged output.
Envelope and label tools are also included.
This can help automate repetitive administrative tasks such as generating letters, notices, certificates, and personalized business documents.
AI and Command-Line Automation
WordCraft is designed to support both manual editing and programmatic document manipulation. Its editing engine exposes commands that are shared across the graphical interface, keyboard shortcuts, command search, CLI, JSON control channel, and MCP server.
The command-line interface supports document conversion, text extraction, structural inspection, rendering, and scripted editing.
For example, convert a Word document to PDF:
wordcraft-cli convert report.docx report.pdf
Extract its text:
wordcraft-cli text report.docx
Inspect the document structure as JSON:
wordcraft-cli inspect report.docx
These capabilities make WordCraft useful for batch processing, document-generation pipelines, and AI-assisted workflows. Compatible agents can inspect documents and execute editing commands without relying exclusively on screenshots or mouse interaction.
Download WordCraft v0.17.0 - Software Mirrors |
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WordCraft v0.17.0 for Windowswordcraft-0.17.0-windows-x64.msi | 90.38 MB wordcraft-0.17.0-windows-x64-portable.zip | 112.23 MB wordcraft-0.17.0-windows-arm64.msi | 87.1 MB wordcraft-0.17.0-windows-arm64-portable.zip | 108.95 MB |
WordCraft v0.17.0 for macOSwordcraft-cli-0.17.0-macos-universal.zip | 98.06 MB wordcraft-0.17.0-macos-universal.dmg | 125.72 MB |
WordCraft v0.17.0 for Linuxwordcraft-0.17.0-linux-x86_64.tar.gz.asc | 228 B wordcraft-0.17.0-linux-x86_64.tar.gz | 112.65 MB wordcraft-0.17.0-linux-x86_64.rpm.asc | 228 B wordcraft-0.17.0-linux-x86_64.rpm | 113.61 MB wordcraft-0.17.0-linux-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst | 85.87 MB wordcraft-0.17.0-linux-x86_64.flatpak.asc | 228 B wordcraft-0.17.0-linux-x86_64.flatpak | 80.71 MB wordcraft-0.17.0-linux-x86_64.deb.asc | 228 B wordcraft-0.17.0-linux-x86_64.deb | 114.25 MB wordcraft-0.17.0-linux-x86_64.AppImage.zsync.asc | 228 B wordcraft-0.17.0-linux-x86_64.AppImage.zsync | 186.95 kB wordcraft-0.17.0-linux-x86_64.AppImage.asc | 228 B wordcraft-0.17.0-linux-x86_64.AppImage | 106.69 MB wordcraft-0.17.0-linux-riscv64.tar.gz.asc | 228 B wordcraft-0.17.0-linux-riscv64.tar.gz | 111.28 MB wordcraft-0.17.0-linux-riscv64.rpm.asc | 228 B wordcraft-0.17.0-linux-riscv64.rpm | 112.26 MB wordcraft-0.17.0-linux-riscv64.deb.asc | 228 B wordcraft-0.17.0-linux-riscv64.deb | 112.69 MB wordcraft-0.17.0-linux-aarch64.tar.gz.asc | 228 B wordcraft-0.17.0-linux-aarch64.tar.gz | 109.25 MB wordcraft-0.17.0-linux-aarch64.rpm.asc | 228 B wordcraft-0.17.0-linux-aarch64.rpm | 110.94 MB wordcraft-0.17.0-linux-aarch64.pkg.tar.zst | 83.69 MB wordcraft-0.17.0-linux-aarch64.flatpak.asc | 228 B wordcraft-0.17.0-linux-aarch64.flatpak | 76.9 MB wordcraft-0.17.0-linux-aarch64.deb.asc | 228 B wordcraft-0.17.0-linux-aarch64.deb | 111.7 MB wordcraft-0.17.0-linux-aarch64.AppImage.zsync.asc | 228 B wordcraft-0.17.0-linux-aarch64.AppImage.zsync | 181.27 kB wordcraft-0.17.0-linux-aarch64.AppImage.asc | 228 B wordcraft-0.17.0-linux-aarch64.AppImage | 103.44 MB |
WordCraft v0.17.0 for BSDwordcraft-0.17.0-freebsd-x86_64.tar.gz | 112.39 MB wordcraft-0.17.0-freebsd-aarch64.tar.gz | 108.28 MB |
Others Download related to WordCraft v0.17.0wordcraft-web-0.17.0.zip | 21.39 MB release-signing-key.asc | 803 B |
WordCraft v0.17.0 Source Code
WordCraft v0.17.0 Source code (zip)
WordCraft v0.17.0 Source code (tar.gz)
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WordCraft v0.17.0 Release Notes: What's Changed- doc: encrypted .docx opens again — the CFB guard refuses only more FAT sectors than the file has (#5109) by @Bra1nZ in #5830
- ODT: a frame offering several picture formats shows one it can read (gap 19) by @alehel in #5706
- ODT: a heading's text of another size keeps it (gap 19) by @alehel in #5725
- ODT: a table row that doesn't break across pages stays so (gap 19) by @alehel in #5726
- Release: refresh contributor credits for each release (#5844) by @Luis-0508 in #5845
- ODT: watermark and odd/even page changes to a file are saved (gap 19) by @alehel in #5729
- Numbering: Thai numbers are drawn in Thai digits (part of #5757) by @Hamza0101 in #5784
- Tests: run the file commands through the hostile-parameter test (#3719) by @rabis7575 in #5688
- Save As suggests a new document's first words as its name (#5793) by @Hamza0101 in #5795
- fix(ui): keep Page Setup fields bounded after long paste by @MMexicann in #5696
- .doc import: resolve character formatting per run, not per character (#5478) by @vangel76 in #5495
- Links: Ctrl+K on a selection shows the changed Text to display by @iAmRarted in #5497
- backstage: the community link honors the community-button setting by @Bra1nZ in #5909
- Scrolling: the document's scroll bars show without the pointer on them (#5746) by @ZIDAN44 in #5828
- fix(fields): quoted-argument backslash escapes; body PAGE in a cardinal-text section by @Harrison-Booth in #4579
- RTF: honor Unicode fallback counts above eight by @MMexicann in #5607
- CLI: preserve non-Unicode input paths after options by @MMexicann in #5611
- Shading on text selected inside a paragraph shades the text, so No Color takes off an orange shading (#4685) by @D13GOOOO in #4702
- Layout: a picture lowered past its height lowers its line as far, as in Word by @Morzilla in #5796
- Styles pane: the scroll bar no longer covers the a / ¶ markers (#4753) by @TheRenegadeDev in #4882
- Escape a heading's trailing '#' on Markdown export by @Silvertree2010 in #4808
- Navigation pane: test that the tabs fit the narrowest pane in every language (#4482) by @TheRenegadeDev in #4883
- Decode HTML character references written without ';' by @Silvertree2010 in #4820
- Styles gallery: reads from the right in a right-to-left interface (#5566) by @ZIDAN44 in #5708
- ODT: a file's font declarations are kept (gap 19) by @alehel in #5720
- Search: the title bar's box takes the typing in place, its results dropping down under it, as in Word (#5398) by @D13GOOOO in #5475
- Linux: ignore an AppImage environment inherited from another program (#5653) by @StrajnarFilip in #5690
- Lists: a numFmt none level shows its literal text, so RESPONSE: labels the paragraph (#4985) by @D13GOOOO in #5055
- A template opened from the file manager starts a new document (#3433) by @StrajnarFilip in #5698
- Font menus: entries are drawn from a few shared textures, so Windows no longer shows them on black, white or red strips (#5105) by @D13GOOOO in #5111
- Table Sort: reject invalid column selectors (#5531) by @OPUZZLES in #5533
- Paste Special pictures must be regular files; xtask stats skips symlinks, assets test uses a private folder by @dylanmtaylor in #5471
- Arabic letters join across a change of formatting (#4093) by @StrajnarFilip in #5691
- Pictures: a linked picture shows its link on hover and follows it on Ctrl+click; DOCX keeps the link on the drawing (#5267) by @D13GOOOO in #5295
- Tests: the file name field updates on Save As and Rename (#3796) by @vangel76 in #5308
- #5469: Size keeps the side it isn't asked to change by @rabis7575 in #5474
- Shapes in Strict Open XML documents open (#3548) by @StrajnarFilip in #5697
- Find: match smart single quotes from a keyboard apostrophe (#5388) by @OPUZZLES in #5401
- PDF export: leave the author out when personal information is removed by @dylanmtaylor in #5452
- Layout: a page break before applies at a continuous section's top mid-page by @finwarman in #5287
- Layout: look at the text after a decimal tab once, not once per cluster by @dylanmtaylor in #5343
- fix(ui): the File page scrolls across its full width, with the bar at the window edge (#5282) by @marcwgls in #5320
- DOCX: a VML text box keeps its text direction (layout-flow) (#5193) by @naxvog in #5346
- XLSX import: index worksheet relationships by id by @dylanmtaylor in #5424
- Preserve paragraph text direction in DOCX by @Harrison-Booth in #5392
- Layout: a turned inline picture with no recorded room for the turn keeps its line to its frame, as in Word by @naxvog in #5448
- Layout: a line can break after a hyphen before a slash, like Word (#3408) by @naxvog in #5348
- Output counts locked SEQ fields, and not tracked-deleted ones, as Word does by @pakiat in #5594
- Layout: a picture in a paragraph whose hidden mark closes a section keeps its room (#5288) by @naxvog in #5347
- Rulers: the spaces between text columns are shaded and their edges drag (#5197) by @RatkoR in #5261
- Track Changes: resolving away an empty paragraph with a section break keeps the next paragraph's properties (#5667) by @MichaelMuClaude in #5734
- docbin: open Word 97-2003 files in compatibility mode 11 by @SenuraMalaka in #5905
- test(mcp): gate the names helper to unix, where its only test runs by @Bardanghimire in #5879
- Fix: style-set gallery follows RTL interface direction by @batistalucasv in #5857
- fix: reject non-regular files when reading template titles by @Bardanghimire in #5904
- Proofing: Check spelling as you type is one setting for every open document (#5740) by @ashokram-si in #5766
- Layout: a nested table's Can't Split row moves on with its outer row by @naxvog in #5456
- Layout: no line break between a full stop and an opening parenthesis by @naxvog in #5437
- Layout: before Word 2013 layout a floating table moved below another keeps its own left edge by @naxvog in #5442
- picture.change: keep the width and take the new picture's aspect ratio by @kevinj24fr in #5761
- Layout: an empty paragraph after a leading floating table takes no space before by @naxvog in #5440
- docbin: brace and bracket shapes are unfilled unless the file fills them (#5943) by @SenuraMalaka in #5945
- doc: preserve following formatting when deleting an empty paragraph by @frandavid100 in #5929
- XML: normalise line ends in text and CDATA (XML 1.0 §2.11) by @kennyfs in #5898
- docx: normalize TOCHeading gallery content controls with trailing FieldEnd paragraph by @neilcawse in #5952
- wordcraft-web: window.wordcraft, the page command API from craft-web-api by @helenkwok in #5860
- DOCX: resolve LibreOffice font fallback lists to first installed family (#5843) by @batistalucasv in #5851
- DOCX: nested block-level content controls stay block-level when a bookmark follows them, so Word opens the file by @tpawley2001 in #5811
- Layout: superscript and subscript text at 0.65 of its size rounded to the half point by @kevinj24fr in #5802
- layout: line numbers take the "Line Number" style, not a fixed 10 pt grey by @kevinj24fr in #5788
- Layout: contextual spacing drops the space after a cell's last Normal paragraph by @naxvog in #5450
- DOCX import: look relationships up by id through an index by @dylanmtaylor in #5410
- DOCX: paragraph indents and spacing beyond 16 bits wrap as in Word by @tpawley2001 in #5655
- Charts: an automatic series colour follows the series' c:idx (#5963) by @keithcsqueensu in #5975
- Desktop: constrain newly opened window dimensions to available screen width (#5871) by @batistalucasv in #5876
- DOCX import: refuse to carry parts named like WordCraft's bookkeeping by @dylanmtaylor in #5411
- layout: keep post-break anchors with text across a wrapped row by @frandavid100 in #5937
- LaTeX import: parse at most MAX_COLS cells of a tabular row by @dylanmtaylor in #5415
- Spreadsheets: count cell characters as they are added by @dylanmtaylor in #5421
- Export: refuse links holding characters the writers drop by @dylanmtaylor in #5426
- Pictures: measure PNGs from their chunk headers, not the decoder's header read by @dylanmtaylor in #5459
- DOCX save: collect an embedded object's relationship ids in a set by @dylanmtaylor in #5414
- Render: skip drawing paths far past every canvas before flattening by @dylanmtaylor in #5453
- docs/gaps: gap 16 RTL in HTML/ODT/RTF landed (#2695) by @vangel76 in #2696
- Home › Paragraph Tools: nine paragraph conversion and cleanup commands (#5043) by @vangel76 in #5116
- Add Delete Previous Sentence with Ctrl+Shift+Backspace (#3693) by @vangel76 in #5094
- Add persistent screen-only paper color presets (#3398) by @vangel76 in #5115
- View › Window: Switch Windows, Arrange All, View Side by Side and Synchronous Scrolling by @vangel76 in #331
- RTF: footnotes, endnotes and comments are read and written (#1053) by @vangel76 in #1056
- MCP: insert_table tool for filled tables (#2242) by @vangel76 in #2595
- #2729: Layout tests use pinned bundled fonts by @vangel76 in #2783
- Control/MCP: no replay of mutations with unknown outcome; queued requests honour timeouts (#1326, #1331) by @vangel76 in #2596
- Remove documents from the recent list, one by one or all at once by @vangel76 in #2723
- Dark-theme interface text on Linux no longer looks semi-bold by @vangel76 in #3197
- Pointer zoom stretches page rasters until it stops by @vangel76 in #3195
- Updates: the updater reports installing, ready, installed and failed, and installs at exit by @dotCooCoo in #6038
- Updates: take craft-update from craft-libs main at 1b34eba41 by @dotCooCoo in #6070
- Search box: the placeholder text is centred vertically (#3779) by @fluorine in #3802
- Dialogs: draw real tabs in five more dialogs by @fluorine in #4481
New Contributors- @Luis-0508 made their first contribution in #5845
- @marcwgls made their first contribution in #5320
- @SenuraMalaka made their first contribution in #5905
- @Bardanghimire made their first contribution in #5879
- @batistalucasv made their first contribution in #5857
- @ashokram-si made their first contribution in #5766
- @kevinj24fr made their first contribution in #5761
- @frandavid100 made their first contribution in #5929
- @kennyfs made their first contribution in #5898
- @neilcawse made their first contribution in #5952
- @tpawley2001 made their first contribution in #5811
- @keithcsqueensu made their first contribution in #5975
Full Changelog: v0.16.0...v0.17.0 |
Performance and Compatibility
WordCraft is written in Rust and uses a modular architecture for document editing, typography, pagination, rendering, and file conversion. Its interface uses the native GPU-oriented egui framework rather than Electron or Tauri.
The project emphasizes responsive editing through cached paragraph layout and on-demand page rendering. Its developers report that typing in a 188-page document triggers layout recalculation in approximately 1.4 milliseconds. This is a project-reported benchmark rather than an independent performance test.
WordCraft supports macOS, Windows, Linux, BSD, and browsers through WebAssembly. It can read and write DOCX files and supports several additional document formats.
The main limitation is compatibility maturity. The project's roadmap identifies real-world DOCX testing, native printing, and signed application builds as remaining work. Charts, SmartArt, the equation editor, and the Draw tab are also listed as future development areas.
Consequently, WordCraft should not yet be assumed to offer complete feature parity with Microsoft Word, particularly for complex business documents and specialized workflows.
System Requirements
Operating systems: Windows, macOS, Linux, and BSD.
Browser support: WebAssembly build for compatible browsers.
Document formats: DOCX, ODT, RTF, HTML, Markdown, and plain text.
Export: PDF and page images, in addition to supported document formats.
Build requirements: Rust and the project's documented dependencies.
The project does not provide a comprehensive minimum hardware specification in the information reviewed. Actual performance will depend on document complexity, fonts, embedded images, and system resources.
Pros and Cons
Pros
Free and open-source under the MIT or Apache 2.0 license.
Familiar ribbon-style interface inspired by Microsoft Word.
DOCX reading and writing support.
Extensive formatting, styles, tables, and page-layout tools.
References, citations, footnotes, indexes, and tables of contents.
Comments, Track Changes, and proofreading tools.
Mail merge with CSV data sources.
PDF export with selectable text, links, and bookmarks.
Native desktop applications and a browser-based version.
CLI and MCP support for document automation.
Offline spelling and grammar features without requiring cloud processing.
Cons
Still approaching maturity for everyday writing and production use.
Complex DOCX compatibility needs more real-world validation.
Native printing and signed application builds remain development priorities.
Charts, SmartArt, and the equation editor are not yet complete features.
Does not provide full Microsoft Word feature parity.
Professional workflows may require additional testing and workarounds.
How to Install
The simplest option is to download a package from the project's GitHub Releases page, if a suitable build is available for your operating system.
To build and run WordCraft from source, install Rust and the required development dependencies, then execute:
git clone https://github.com/storytold/wordcraft
cd wordcraft
cargo run --release -p wordcraft -- --sample
To open an existing document:
cargo run --release -p wordcraft -- report.docx
For browser-based use, navigate to the web application directory and start the development server:
cd apps/wordcraft-web
trunk serve
The development server will provide a local address for opening WordCraft in a browser. Refer to the official repository for detailed build dependencies, release packages, and platform-specific instructions.
Final Verdict
WordCraft is an ambitious open-source word processor that combines familiar document editing with advanced formatting, references, review tools, mail merge, and automation. Its support for DOCX and PDF, together with additional formats and offline functionality, makes it a promising alternative for users who want more control over their document workflow.
Its command-line interface and MCP integration are especially interesting for developers and organizations that generate or process documents programmatically. The extensive feature set also makes it worth exploring for students, writers, and office users.
The biggest concern is maturity. WordCraft covers many of Microsoft Word's ribbon features, but feature coverage is not the same as complete behavioral compatibility. Users who depend on complex documents, advanced diagrams, equations, or established printing workflows should test their files carefully before switching.
For everyday writing and experimentation with open-source office software, WordCraft is worth trying. For mission-critical document production, it is better treated as a developing alternative until its compatibility and printing workflows have been validated against real-world requirements.
