Klad, a paint app your coding agent can drive (source-available)

I've been developing applications for a long time and have turned to game development as well lately. One of the things that frustrated me the most was that using AI agents for game development is very annoying in the art department. Your only options right now are to either use an image genAI model and roll the dice every time you want to make an edit, or have your agent draw with something like vectors.I was looking for an application that would allow me to ask an agent to make a first draft of whatever art I needed with actual brushes, and then be able to go in myself and edit every last stroke or layer that it created.Klad is that application. Written in Rust, it can be fully controlled by an agent through the CLI, and every function is available in a nice UI as well: a brush engine, frame-by-frame animation (and bones/IK), vectors, text layers, colours, layer effects, infinite undo (even after re-opening the file!),…Why I think it's useful for a wider audience: Adobe showed agents editing Photoshop files at MAX this week, with a private beta planned for early 2027.Klad is built on the same core idea, with editable paint strokes as core architecture, and it works today.Clone the repo to try it out: https://github.com/klad-app/kladYou can basically point Claude to the repo, ask it to build it, and pick up the drawing skills. Then ask it to make any drawing you want! (After that, you or the agent can change absolutely every brush stroke in the app again, which makes edits a breeze.)The quality of the drawings really depends on the agent you use. I have tried it with Claude Fable 5.2 since it came out on Monday, and the drawings are already quite impressive. I'm confident that this will only improve.I use it every day on Mac, so that definitely works well. It builds on Linux too (tablet pen pressure still needs some work there). Windows builds in CI, I haven't used it there myself yet but I have some reports that it work

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75

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Klad is a source-available paint app designed for AI agents to create and edit art with brush-level control, targeting game developers frustrated by current AI art tools.

The pain

Game developers using AI for art face frustration because existing tools either rely on unpredictable image generation or limited vector drawing, lacking fine editable brush strokes.

The gap

No widely available tool lets AI agents produce and edit detailed brush stroke art interactively with human-level control and persistence, creating a niche for Klad.

Build angle

The app is built in Rust with CLI and UI control, supporting advanced features like frame-by-frame animation and infinite undo, making it feasible for a solo developer to maintain and improve.

Strengths

  • Clear and specific problem targeting a real pain point
  • Source-available code encourages community involvement
  • Technical sophistication with brush-level editing and animation
  • Early working prototype with daily use by the creator

Risks

  • Uncertain willingness to pay beyond hobbyists or small studios
  • Competition from large incumbents like Adobe with more resources
  • Narrow initial user base limits growth potential
  • Technical complexity may slow feature expansion or polish

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