Home / Local setup
On Oct 20, 2026 the official unix_dev.sh script opened ArtCraft Studio on our Apple-silicon Mac, about 1 minute 37 seconds after we started it. You need Xcode's command-line tools, Node, Rust, the Tauri CLI — and CMake, which the official guide does not list. Expect about 12 GB on disk. The first screen still asks you to create an account.
Tested Oct 18–20, 2026 on an Apple-silicon Mac (macOS 26.4), from commit 7a2935c, following the project's own _docs/dev_setup.md.
| Tool | Version we used | What the guide says | How we installed it | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Xcode Command Line Tools | Apple clang 21.0.0 | Not listed | Already at /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools | already installed |
| git | 2.50.1 (Apple Git-155) | Not listed | Already installed | already installed |
| Node | v24.18.1, npm 11.16.0 | v24.13.0 works; Node.js 20+ | Already installed | already installed |
| Rust | rustc 1.99.1, cargo 1.99.1, stable-aarch64-apple-darwin | Install Rust. | rustup with --no-modify-path | 35.62 s |
| Tauri CLI | 2.12.3 | tauri-cli 2.10.0 works at time of writing | cargo install tauri-cli --version "^2" --locked | 134.55 s |
| CMake | 4.4.4 | Not listed | Kitware macOS package, on PATH for that shell. Usual command: brew install cmake. We did not run brew. | not timed |
1. Check the tools that are already on the Mac. These four are enough to see that the compiler, Node, and git are present.
xcode-select -p clang --version node -v git --version
On our Mac: Xcode Command Line Tools, clang, Node, and git were already installed.
2. Install Rust.
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh -s -- -y --no-modify-path
--no-modify-path tells the installer not to edit your shell config, so every new terminal has to run source "$HOME/.cargo/env" first. Without that flag, the installer edits the shell config itself.
On our Mac: 35.62 s, passed. The installer printed stable-aarch64-apple-darwin installed.
3. Install the Tauri CLI.
source "$HOME/.cargo/env" && cargo install tauri-cli --version "^2" --locked
On our Mac: 134.55 s, passed. Cargo printed Installed package `tauri-cli v2.12.3` (executable `cargo-tauri`). We installed 2.12.3. The official guide says 2.10.0 works.
4. Install CMake before you compile. With Homebrew on your Mac:
brew install cmake
On our Mac: Kitware's official macOS package 4.4.4, added to PATH only in that terminal. We did not run brew. Not timed.
The official guide does not list CMake. Without it, a later compile stops. See the next section.
5. Clone the repository into a directory named artcraft.
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/storytold/artcraft.git artcraft
On our Mac: the clone finished in 8.93 s with no errors.
6. Install the frontend packages inside artcraft/frontend.
cd artcraft/frontend npm install
On our Mac: 161 s, passed. npm printed added 1598 packages, and node_modules came to 949M. npm reported 82 vulnerabilities; we did not fix them.
7. (Optional) Run the launcher script's own tests, from artcraft/.
node --test frontend/scripts/unix-dev.test.mjs
On our Mac: 9.27 s, passed. Node printed pass 7. All 7 tests passed.
8. (Optional) Run the Rust check, from artcraft/.
source "$HOME/.cargo/env" && SQLX_OFFLINE=true cargo check -p artcraft
On our Mac: after CMake was on PATH, this passed in 80 s, with 875 warnings and 0 errors. Without CMake it stopped at 57 s. See the next section.
9. Start the app from artcraft/. In that terminal, run source "$HOME/.cargo/env" first, and have CMake on PATH. The middle line below is only for the Kitware package. If you installed CMake with brew, it is already on PATH, so skip that line.
source "$HOME/.cargo/env" export PATH="<Kitware CMake.app>/Contents/bin:$PATH" ./script/artcraft/unix_dev.sh
On our Mac: the frontend opened at 127.0.0.1:5193. The window appeared in about 1 minute 37 seconds, of which the compile was 1m 31s. That compile was incremental, on the target/ left from the day before. We have not timed a full compile from an empty directory.
error: failed to run custom build command for `boring-sys2 v5.0.0-alpha.13` failed to execute command: No such file or directory (os error 2) is `cmake` not installed?
The Rust dependency boring-sys2 calls CMake while it compiles, and the official guide does not mention this step.
Install CMake (brew install cmake; we used the Kitware package, and the checksum matched Kitware's site), confirm cmake --version works (a new terminal if you used brew; the terminal where you added PATH if you used the Kitware package), then run the check again.
On our Mac: with CMake 4.4.4 on PATH, the same check passed, with 875 warnings and no errors.
The sign-up card says Create your account and Sign up to start creating with ArtCraft, with username, email, password, confirm password, and a Sign up button, and Log in below. Behind the card is the studio home (Your creative workspace), with the uncovered tiles Edit image, Video frame extractor, and one whose description says Remove watermarks from videos, and a top bar with Upgrade and My Library. The right half of the sign-up card is a Seedance 2.0 video generation banner (One of the cheapest).
When nobody is signed in, the log has one line that the Storyteller API returned 401 (Unauthorized). The window stayed open.
| Place | Size | When |
|---|---|---|
~/.rustup | 1.3G | after installing Rust |
~/.cargo | 723M | after the check that stopped without CMake |
| Source tree | 102M | after clone |
frontend/node_modules | 949M | after npm install |
target/ | 9.3G | after the Oct 20 build |
Added together, about 12 GB, mostly the compile directory target/ (9.3 GB), plus another 362M for the Kitware CMake package.
| Step | Time | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Rustup | 35.62 s | ok |
| Tauri CLI | 134.55 s | ok |
| Clone | 8.93 s | ok |
| npm install | 161.03 s | ok |
| Launcher tests | 9.27 s | passed |
| cargo check, no CMake | 57.27 s | stopped: no CMake |
| cargo check, CMake on PATH | 80.39 s (1m 20s) | passed |
| unix_dev.sh compile | 1m 31s, incremental | ok |
| Start to window | about 1m 37s | window opened |
On Oct 18, from the first tool check through the first compile check, the clock showed 11 minutes 37 seconds.
In the terminal that is running unix_dev.sh, press Ctrl-C. The official guide says that stops the frontend, the Rust watcher, and the desktop app. We sent the same signal (SIGINT). After 30 seconds there were no leftover processes, and ports 5193–5210 were empty.
The largest piece is artcraft/target/ (9.3 GB this time). After you move it to the trash, empty the trash before the space comes back.
The steps above compile the studio. The installer is the download guide. The 13 Craft apps are a different set, on the apps page, and the repositories are on ArtCraft on GitHub.
target/.boring-sys2 is one of the Rust dependencies. Compiling it needs CMake, which the official guide does not list. Install CMake (brew install cmake is the usual way on a Mac; we used the Kitware package), confirm cmake --version works (a new terminal for brew; the PATH terminal for the Kitware package), then run the check again. After we installed it, the check passed.target/. The Kitware package was another 362M. Empty the trash to get that space back.v24.13.0 works, Node.js 20+ is required, tauri-cli 2.10.0 works. We used Node v24.18.1, npm 11.16.0, and tauri-cli 2.12.3. No other versions tried../script/artcraft/unix_dev.sh. The Windows section uses windows_frontend_dev.ps1 and windows_rust_dev.ps1. That is the guide, not a run of ours.The installer, if you are not building from source.
Read guide →The studio repository and the 13 app repositories.
Read guide →A different set of programs from the studio.
Read guide →What the Craft command-line tools did over MCP.
Read guide →