penpot-desktop: Use Penpot in a Desktop App

Overview

Penpot Desktop is an unofficial desktop application that loads Penpot’s web app in a dedicated window. It brings desktop-oriented navigation and settings to people who use Penpot, without replacing Penpot itself.

Use it when you want features such as persistent project tabs or connections to different Penpot instances. Its local instance creator can set up a local Penpot instance using Docker, which may suit offline work, but the desktop app alone does not make Penpot available offline.

Key Features

• Opens Penpot in a dedicated desktop window.
• Provides a tab interface for navigating projects and remembers open tabs.
• Offers dark and light mode settings.
• Connects to different Penpot instances, including hosted and local instances.
• Includes a local instance creator based on Penpot’s official Docker setup.
• Supports batch export of projects.
• Automatically reloads in view mode.

Use Cases

• Designers who prefer a dedicated desktop window and project tabs over a browser tab.
• Users working across hosted and local Penpot instances who want to switch between them from one application.
• People who need local Penpot access for offline work and are prepared to set up the local instance with Docker.
• Teams or individuals who want to export multiple projects in a batch.

Getting Started

Install dependencies and start the development app:

npm ci
npm run dev

See the README and installation instructions for requirements and further details.

Considerations

• This is an unofficial desktop wrapper. It loads Penpot’s web application rather than implementing the design tool itself.
• The desktop app supports Windows, macOS, and Linux and requires Node.js to build and run from source.
• Offline use depends on creating and running a local Penpot instance with Docker. Consult the self-hosting guide for details.
• The repository is licensed under AGPL-3.0.