Patchy Image Editor

A free, open-source image editor for Windows, macOS, Linux, and the browser. Built with a focus on accurate PSD compatibility, keeping text, vectors, masks, layer styles, and Smart Objects editable when working with layered Photoshop files. Work in limited palettes without flattening your layers, bring in Affinity, Krita, GIMP, OpenRaster, Paint.NET, and PDF artwork, and extend the editor with classic plug-ins and JavaScript.

Download · Try in your browser · Features · Full gallery

For bug reports and feature requests, please open an issue or post in Discussions. These are the best places to post because search engines can index them, helping others find the questions and answers. Want to chat? Join Seth's Discord.

Designed to feel familiar if you're used to Photoshop's workflows and keyboard shortcuts.

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Latest release: 1.21 · October 29, 2026 · Release notes · All releases

Windows releases are code signed by Seth A. Robinson; the macOS app is signed and notarized (Robinson Technologies Corporation); the Linux Flatpak repository is GPG signed. Every release is published on the GitHub Releases page with SHA-256 checksums.

Linux

Paste this into a terminal. It installs Patchy for your user from the Patchy Flatpak repository and pulls the shared KDE runtime from Flathub. No root needed.

flatpak install --user https://rtsoft.com/flatpak/com.rtsoft.patchy.flatpakref

Patchy then updates with flatpak update or through your software center, and starts from your application menu or with flatpak run com.rtsoft.patchy.

This needs the flatpak tool. Fedora and openSUSE desktops usually have it already. If needed, install it first with sudo apt install flatpak (Ubuntu, Debian), sudo dnf install flatpak (Fedora) or sudo zypper install flatpak (openSUSE).

If you already use flatpak system-wide, you can use --system in place of --user. Patchy then reuses the runtime extensions you already have (graphics drivers, codecs) instead of downloading them again. Installing that way may ask for an admin password.

The .flatpakref link in the table downloads a small file that a Flatpak-aware software center (GNOME Software, KDE Discover) can open to install Patchy. Ubuntu has none by default, and on Ubuntu 24.04 GNOME Software's Open button fails to start Flatpak apps, so use the terminal command above instead.

The single-file bundle is the same build, for when you would rather download a file first. Install it with flatpak install --user PatchyLinux.flatpak. It still fetches the KDE runtime from Flathub, and it updates from the same repository afterwards.

My flatpak knowledge is limited, so I hope all this makes sense. I hope to submit Patchy to Flathub eventually, but for now we have our own repository.

AppImage

PatchyLinux.AppImage is one file that runs without installing anything, on Ubuntu 22.04 or newer (or another distro from 2022 on: Debian 12, Fedora 36, Mint 21 and so on). It updates itself, so keep it somewhere you can write to, such as ~/Applications:

mkdir -p ~/Applications && cd ~/Applications
wget -O PatchyLinux.AppImage https://github.com/SethRobinson/Patchy/releases/latest/download/PatchyLinux.AppImage
chmod +x PatchyLinux.AppImage
./PatchyLinux.AppImage

(curl -LO works instead of wget -O PatchyLinux.AppImage.) You can also make it executable from your file manager (Properties > Permissions, "Allow executing file as program") and double-click it.

The AppImage needs the FUSE 3 tools and libraries (not libfuse2), which most desktops already have. If it says it cannot mount itself, install it:

Without FUSE (some containers and minimal systems), run it with ./PatchyLinux.AppImage --appimage-extract-and-run.

To add Patchy to your application menu, use an AppImage integration tool: Gear Lever (a Flatpak app: open the AppImage with it), AppImageLauncher (offers to integrate an AppImage the first time you open it), AM (command line: am --launcher ./PatchyLinux.AppImage), or AppImage Manager.

When a new version is out, Patchy's update prompt can download it, replace the AppImage file and start again (if the file sits in a folder you can write to; otherwise it offers the download). AppImage tools such as Gear Lever or AppImageUpdate can also update it. For AI control, the connector command is the AppImage file with the argument patchy-mcp (Help > Set up AI Control shows the exact line). The AppImage opens HEIC images through your distribution's libheif (Ubuntu and Debian: the libheif1 package, plus libheif-plugin-libde265 on Ubuntu 24.04 and later); the Flatpak brings its own.

Screenshots

See it in action. Click an image for the full-size capture.

Build up layer effects Layer styles with multiple effects, blending controls, and Photoshop-compatible presets.	Bring your old plug-ins Kai's Power Tools 5 running in its own window over Patchy. Classic 32-bit and 64-bit 8BF filters work on Windows.
Select the object, not the box Drag a loose box around anything and Object Selection picks out just the object. Runs on your CPU.	Edit the paths Editable paths, gradient and pattern paint, dashed strokes, rounded corners, and a Paths panel.