Your tabs come back when you relaunch. A restored tab only loads when you first click it, so launch stays quick.
THE
MAC APP!
PopCraft in the Dock, with a tab for every file, real menus and your own folders of plugins, fonts and themes. Same editor, same files, now in a window that is not fighting forty browser tabs for attention.
A landing page open in the editor. The mode row in the top bar is clicked through Draw, Animate (a timeline opens along the bottom), Prototype and Dev, then back to Design. Command-scroll zooms toward the pointer and Space-drag pans; Command-1 fits the page again. Clicking a section selects it and the inspector on the right shows its position, size and fills. Right-clicking the rectangle in the bottom toolbar opens its group of related tools.
DING!
FIRST, THE HONEST BIT
What the app is, and what it isn't
The PopCraft Mac app is a small native shell around the PopCraft web app. Every tool, mode, template and export you see on this site is the same in the app, because it is the same editor. That is a feature: nothing you learn in one place is wrong in the other, and a fix ships to both at once.
It is also not offline-first, and we would rather say so than let you find out on a plane. Your files live in your account. Your Mac keeps a cache. A file you already have open opens and edits offline, and your changes merge back when you reconnect. A brand new file needs a connection, because it is created in the cloud first. Sign out, and PopCraft clears everything the account left on the device.
One more confession about this page: our screen recorder drives a browser, so it cannot film a native Mac window. The clips below are the download page, and the editor in a browser doing the things the app shares with it. Where something only exists in the app, like the menus and the tab strip, we describe it from the code instead of faking a video.
1
universal app, Apple silicon & Intel
1
process per tab
7
local folders it watches
0
tools left out
GET IT
Four steps, then never again
The download page starts the download for you and keeps a link by hand in case your browser asks first. It is one universal .dmg for Apple silicon and Intel Macs, so you do not have to know which chip you have.
Open it, drag PopCraft to Applications, eject, launch. Updates install themselves from there. Older versions and release notes live on the releases page.
The PopCraft for macOS download page. Its header says one universal app for Apple silicon and Intel Macs; below it, the download link and four install steps: open the DMG, drag PopCraft to Applications, eject, launch and sign in.
INSTALL
The whole manual
- 1
Download the .dmg
From the download page. One universal file for Apple silicon and Intel Macs. - 2
Drag to Applications
Open the .dmg. A window shows the PopCraft icon and an Applications folder. Drag one onto the other. - 3
Eject and tidy up
Eject the PopCraft disk in Finder’s sidebar and bin the .dmg. You won’t need it again. - 4
Launch and sign in
Open PopCraft from Applications or Launchpad. Sign-in happens in your system browser, then the app takes over.
TABS
One file per tab, one process per tab
The window is split the way you would expect from a design app. A tab strip runs along the top with the traffic lights in its corner. Home is pinned at the start: your files, your teams, the New file button. Open a file and it gets its own tab, or the tab it already had comes to the front.
Each tab is its own web view with its own process. That is the part you will thank us for at 6 pm: a huge comic or a long composition that chews through memory cannot take the other tabs down with it. If a tab ever freezes, ⌘R reloads just that one.
REORDER
SHUFFLE!Drag tabs to reorder them. Middle-click closes one. The empty strip drags the window.
THEMED
SWISH!The tab strip follows your UI theme, and themes can style it through its own CSS hooks.
NATIVE MENUS
A menu bar, like a grown-up app
This is the menu bar the app builds, item for item. The tab shortcuts are real menu shortcuts, so they work whichever tab has focus. The menus are in English for now, even when the editor speaks another language.
PopCraftFileEditViewWindow
PopCraft
About PopCraft
Services
Hide PopCraft⌘H
Hide Others⌥⌘H
Show All
Quit PopCraft⌘Q
File
New File⌘T
Reopen Closed Tab⇧⌘T
Close Tab⌘W
Edit
Undo⌘Z
Redo⇧⌘Z
Cut⌘X
Copy⌘C
Paste⌘V
Select All⌘A
View
Reload Tab⌘R
Enter Full Screen⌃⌘F
Window
Minimize⌘M
Zoom
Show Next Tab⇧⌘]
Show Previous Tab⇧⌘[
Select Tab 1 … 8⌘1 … ⌘8
Select Last Tab⌘9
YOUR KEYBOARD
Every command, a few keys away
In the editor, Mod means ⌘. Press ⌘K for the command palette, type what you want, press Enter. Here it finds the three ways to present, and Enter starts the show.
⌘, opens Settings, and ⌘⇧? opens the cheat sheet of every shortcut without leaving your file. Single keys pick tools: V move, F frame, R rectangle, P pen.
A pitch deck open in the editor. Command-K opens the command palette; typing "present" lists the ways to present, and Enter on the first starts the show fullscreen. Esc ends it.
LOCAL FOLDERS
Drop a file in a folder, it shows up
The browser cannot read your disk, so in a browser your plugins, fonts and themes live in the browser. The app has a data folder, and it watches it. Drop a font into fonts/ and it appears in the font picker. Drop a theme into themes/ and it is in Settings. Put a markdown skill in skills/ and the agent knows it. No reload.
~/Library/Application Support/com.popcraft.desktop/
plugins/Plugins, as a folder with a manifest, a .zip or a .json bundlewidgets/Plugin packages that register widgetsextensions/More plugin packagesfonts/Font files that show up in the font pickerthemes/UI themes as plain filesskills/Markdown skills for the agentagents/Markdown subagent profiles
This is the version to reach for when you want those things in a git repo, shared with a team, or edited in your own editor. Fonts from the folder are not saved into your documents, so share the font file along with the design.
A launch post in the editor. The Agent rail button opens the agent panel, and Manage opens the editor for skills and agent profiles: the built-in skills are listed (Fill content, Auto layout, Recolor, Motion design…), each an instruction sheet the agent pulls in when a job matches, with Duplicate to make your own version; Agent profiles is the other tab.
A brainstorm board with its sticky notes selected. From ⋯, Manage plugins… opens the plugin manager, and Install from file… installs Arrange in Grid from its package: it is listed with its commands and the permissions it asks for. Its Grid command is clicked and the permissions are allowed; its panel asks for the gap and the columns, 4 is typed, and Arrange lays the stickies out in a tidy grid.
FOR THE TERMINAL CROWD
A CLI that drives the app
The popcraft command line installs things straight into those folders, and the open window picks them up: popcraft fonts install, popcraft themes install, popcraft skills install, popcraft plugins install.
With the app running it goes further. popcraft open poster.popcraft opens a file in a new tab, as a cloud file. popcraft tabs lists what is open. popcraft run --ui runs editor commands in the active tab's file, as you, while you watch: export a frame, publish a site, generate an image.
LOOKS LIKE YOUR MAC
Your accent colour, everywhere
Settings → Accent recolours buttons, the focus ring, the active tool and the selection outline. In the app, System is the default: PopCraft wears your Mac's accent colour and follows a change in System Settings straight away.
In a browser, System is stuck with whatever the browser shares, which in Safari and Chrome is a standard blue. For your real accent everywhere, the docs say it plainly: use the desktop app. The clip shows the picker in a browser, where Lavender is the default.
A launch post open in the editor. Command-comma opens Settings; under Accent, Peach, Sky and Coral are clicked in turn, and the buttons, focus ring and selection take the colour. Lavender brings it back. In the Mac app, System follows the Mac's own accent colour.
SAME EDITOR
Everything else is the editor you know
These clips were filmed in a browser. The app loads the same editor in each tab, so they look the same there, inside a window with tabs.
On Home, New then File opens the new file gallery. Social is picked in the rail, the Announcement template is chosen with Use Announcement, and it opens in the editor. The headline is double-clicked, selected with Command-A and retyped as Doors open Friday.
The editor with a launch post. Shift-Command-? opens the keyboard shortcuts panel along the bottom, grouped by what they do: Essential, then View, Edit and Arrange are picked in turn. Escape closes it.
The editor with a launch post open. Command-comma opens Settings; under Theme, Comic Yellow is picked and the whole app — panels, toolbar and canvas chrome — turns yellow and black. PopCraft Dark brings it back.
A pitch deck open in the editor. Command-K opens the command palette; typing "present" lists the ways to present, and Enter on the first starts the show fullscreen. Esc ends it.
KNOWN GAPS
What the app can't do yet
SCREEN-SHARE WINDOW
SOON?Presenting in a separate window for a call needs a second window, and the app cannot open one yet. Fullscreen and the presenter view work.
OFFLINE NEW FILES
NOPE.A new file is made in the cloud first, so it needs a connection. Files you already have open keep working.
ENGLISH MENUS
HELLO.The menu bar and the tab strip stay in English. The editor inside follows the language you pick.
APP OR BROWSER?
Pick by how you work
| IN A BROWSER | IN THE MAC APP |
|---|---|
| Nothing to install, any machine | In the Dock, ⌘Tab to it |
| Files open in browser tabs | A tab per file, each in its own process |
| Plugins, fonts and themes stored in the browser | Also loaded from folders you can version |
| System accent is the browser’s blue | System accent is your Mac’s |
| Screen-share window in Chrome and Edge | Fullscreen and presenter view |
GET THE APP
PopCraft, in your Dock
Grab it from the download page, drag it to Applications and sign in. Your files are already there. The desktop app docs and the CLI docs cover the rest.
ASKED & ANSWERED
Questions, answered
Is the Mac app a different editor?
No. It is a small native shell around the same PopCraft you use in a browser, so every tool, mode and file is the same. What the app adds is the window around it: tabs, native menus, local folders for plugins, fonts, themes and agent skills, and sign-in through your system browser.
Does it work offline?
Partly, and on purpose. Your files live in your account; your Mac keeps a cache. A file you already have open keeps opening and editing offline, and the changes merge back when you reconnect. Making a new file needs a connection, because a file is created in the cloud first. Signing out clears what the account left on the device.
Which Macs does it run on?
It is one universal app for Apple silicon and Intel Macs. PopCraft draws with WebGPU, so a recent macOS is the safe bet.
Is there a Windows or Linux app?
Not to download. macOS is the only desktop build we ship. On Windows and Linux, PopCraft runs in Chrome or Edge with every tool.
Can I present to a call from the Mac app?
Fullscreen and the presenter view, yes. The window for screen sharing is not in the app yet, because the app cannot open a second window for the audience. Open the file in Chrome or Edge for that.
How does it update?
Updates install themselves once the app is on your Mac. Older versions and release notes are on the releases page.
THE MANUAL, FOR THE DETAILS
DING! YOUR TURN.
PopCraft on your desktop, in its own window. Free to start, in your browser or on your Mac.