One developer is taking on Microsoft Office with help from Claude AI

Brandon Thomas, the developer behind the open-source ArtCraft project, has released three free applications designed to recreate familiar Microsoft Office features. WordCraft, GridCraft, and DeckCraft aim to handle the work people do in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Thomas says Claude AI helped develop the apps.

Available on GitHub, these apps are built in Rust, a programming language used for efficient software. Their code is open for inspection and contributions. These are independent projects, not Microsoft products, and remain in development.

Claude helped one developer expand his free software project to Microsoft Office

WordCraft focuses on writing and document layout, with features such as styles, tables, tracked changes, and references. It can read and write Word’s DOCX format. GridCraft handles spreadsheets, offering formulas, charts, and data tools. DeckCraft lets users create presentations with different slide layouts, images, themes, charts, and animation.