krevaya/krevaya-app

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Register · Install · Configuration · Integrations · AI assistants · API · Contributing

A quick tour

What you can do with it

Everything below ships in this repository and runs on your own server. A few extras, such as stock photo search and rendering on the server, turn on once you add a key or change a setting.

Begin with a template or a blank page

Pick from a growing set of starter templates (a podcast cover, a recipe card, a weekly planner and more) or open a blank page. There are 23 ready-made sizes for social posts, video, slides and print, and you can also type in any size you like.

You can try it without an account. Guest drafts are kept in your browser, and if you sign up later, they move to your account.

Lay out the page

Type in any of the bundled open-license fonts, give the text a style such as outline, neon or glitch, or set it on a curve. Then add shapes, lines and arrows, icons from six open icon sets, Fluent emoji, stickers and QR codes.

Layers, alignment, rulers and snap guides keep everything lined up. A brand kit holds a team's colors, fonts and logos, so they're one click away in every design. Krevaya also has light and dark themes, a stronger-contrast mode and keyboard shortcuts for the moves you make most.

The editor: tools on the left, the selected photo's options above the page	A Splice style on the headline, with sliders to adjust it

Touch up your photos

Select a photo and the Photo pane offers cropping, frames, filter presets and sliders for light, color and vignette.

You can also remove a photo's background or enlarge it 1.5×, 2× or 3×. Both run on the visitor's own computer, so the photo isn't sent off to another service. The first background removal loads a 4.6 MB model from your server.

If your server has an Unsplash or Pexels key, you can search those libraries from the Photos pane.

Filters, enlarging and background removal, all in one pane	Removing a background takes one click

Add motion and sound

Give each element an entrance, exit or emphasis animation, and choose how one page moves to the next.

Five sounds are built in: two music loops and three short cues. They were written for Krevaya, they're generated in your browser, and they're CC0, so you can use them anywhere. You can also record a voiceover with your microphone.

When it's ready, present it full screen and keep your speaker notes in a separate window.

Choosing how each element arrives	A built-in music loop added to a podcast cover

Work on it together

Make a link that lets people view, comment or edit. Each link has its own access level and can have a password, and it stops working as soon as you remove it.

While other people are in the design, you see their cursors live. Comments pin to a spot on the page, and you can save named versions and go back to an earlier one.

One link to comment, another to edit	Comments pinned to the exact spot they're about

Download it

Save it as PNG, JPG, SVG or PDF. The print PDF adds bleed and crop marks, ready for a print shop. Anything that moves can be saved as MP4, WebM or GIF.

You can also download a backup file, which opens on any Krevaya server.

Automate the repetitive parts

Give a text box, photo or QR code a slot name, and the design becomes a reusable template. Paste rows from a spreadsheet or upload a CSV, and Krevaya makes one copy per row. That works for name badges, certificates or a set of thank-you cards.

For scripts, there's a REST API with personal tokens and optional PNG, JPG and PDF rendering on the server. API and MCP has the details, and the next section covers AI assistants.

Work with an AI assistant

Krevaya includes a Model Context Protocol server, so an AI assistant can work on your designs. It can start a new design, fill a starter template, add a slide or rewrite a headline. Any MCP client that can send a bearer token works, including Claude Code and Cursor.

Its edits go through the same live session as the editor. If the design is open, you see each change appear.

_{MCP tool calls editing a design that's open in the editor}

Connect it in three steps

1. Set ASSISTANT_API=true in your server's .env and restart. It's off until you do.

2. In Krevaya, open Settings → API tokens and create a token. Copy it straight away, because it's only shown once.

3. Add the server to your assistant. In Claude Code:

   claude mcp add --transport http krevaya https://krevaya.example.net/mcp \
     --header "Authorization: Bearer ka_..."
   

   Other clients need the same URL and Authorization header.

Then ask for what you want, the way you'd ask a colleague:

• "Make a square flyer for Saturday's plant swap in olive and cream."
• "Copy the Just listed starter for 22 Birch Lane, priced at $540,000."
• "Add a last slide with our opening hours."

What an assistant can do

It can	Using
Find your designs, see what's on each page and give you the editor link	design_search, design_read, design_link
Start a design or rename one	design_new, design_retitle
Add pages and change their backgrounds	page_add, page_background
Add, change or remove text, shapes, lines, photos, icons and QR codes	element_add, element_edit, element_remove
Start from a starter template, or make many copies with new slot values	starter_list, design_copy, design_copies

Good to know

• The token acts as you. An assistant can open and change only what you can. Revoke the token in Settings when you no longer need it.
• Starters stay untouched. An assistant makes its own copy of a starter template first, then edits that copy.
• Calls are rate-limited per token by ASSISTANT_RATE (60 a minute by default). Connecting and listing the tools don't count.
• Batch copies follow the API's rules. A request can have up to COPIES_PER_REQUEST rows (250 by default), and each copy counts toward RATE_LIMIT_COPIES. Photo links in slot values are downloaded only when REMOTE_IMAGES=true, and each one counts toward RATE_LIMIT_REMOTE_IMAGES.

API and MCP covers the rest.

Built with

• Backend: FastAPI, SQLAlchemy and Alembic on PostgreSQL (or SQLite for a small install), with pycrdt for live editing
• Frontend: React, TypeScript and Vite, Konva for drawing, Yjs for shared editing, Zustand for state and Tailwind for styling
• Tests: pytest, Vitest and Playwright

Running your own

The install guide walks through both ways in: Docker compose, or a plain Linux server with nginx and systemd. Fonts, the cut-out model and the starter content are all in the repository, so setup doesn't reach out to anything.

Krevaya Cloud vs. Self-Hosted

Choose Krevaya Cloud for a fully managed experience, or deploy Krevaya on your own infrastructure.

We do not gate features in the open-source edition or limit the license.

The main difference is what's included and who runs it. Krevaya Cloud also includes scheduling, publishing to 34 channels and Krevaya AI, and we host it for you. The self-hosted edition is the design editor in this repository, running on your own server.

Area	Krevaya Cloud	Self-Hosted
Cost	Subscription per plan, 7-day free trial	Free forever (AGPL-3.0); you pay only for your own server
Setup time	Sign up and start designing in minutes	Deploy with Docker Compose or on any Linux server with nginx and systemd; you configure the database, storage and env vars
Hosting & data	Hosted by Krevaya; data stored in our infrastructure	Runs on your own server; your designs and uploads stay in your environment
Design editor	Krevaya Studio for images, carousels & videos	The full editor in this repository: templates, photo tools, animation & sound
Templates	Premium templates included	A growing set of starter templates
Export	Image downloads & MP4 video export	PNG, JPG, SVG, PDF (with print bleed & crop marks), MP4, WebM & GIF
Background removal	Included (AI background removal & photo restyle)	Included; runs in your browser
Krevaya AI, AI images, AI edits	Included with monthly AI credits per plan	Not included; connect your own assistant over MCP
Scheduling & publishing to 34 channels	Included	Not included
Collaboration	Editor seats per plan	No seat limits; share links, live editing & comments included
Public API & MCP	Included (MCP server, API & webhooks)	Included; you point your MCP client at your own instance
Updates & maintenance	Automatic, handled by Krevaya	You pull new versions and restart; migrations run on start
Uptime, backups, security patches	Managed by Krevaya	Your responsibility
Support	Support via email	Community support via GitHub issues
Source access & customization	No (SaaS)	Full source code; fork and modify freely under AGPL-3.0
Compliance / data residency	Krevaya-controlled regions	Any region or environment you choose

License

Krevaya is released under the AGPL-3.0. Running it, changing it and hosting it are all fine, commercially as well. If people use a version you've changed over a network, they're entitled to its source under the same license. Fonts, icons, the cut-out model and the other bundled parts keep their own licenses, listed in CREDITS.md.

Settings links to the full licenses and credits. They're part of the frontend build, including font and model notices and the source of the installed media export library.

The Krevaya name and logo are trademarks and aren't covered by the AGPL. If you host a changed version, give it your own name and logo.

Canva is a trademark of Canva Pty Ltd. Krevaya is not affiliated with or endorsed by Canva.