Compose, compare and explore Chinese and Japanese calligraphy with an offline-first, provenance-aware workbench.
Live Demo · Download v0.7.1 · Documentation
- Chinese + Japanese workflows: choose a writing tradition, browse glyphs and compose horizontally, vertically or on a grid. Strict Chinese/Japanese separation is the default; cross-tradition exploration is an explicit choice.
- A hands-on workbench: compose up to 1,000 characters, replace individual glyphs, adjust position, size, rotation and ink, then save a project or export artwork.
- Visual Profile: compare shape, ink density, balance and spacing, rank candidates against their context and preview replacements in your composition. Similarity scores support comparison; they do not judge artistic quality.
- Long-roll composition: arrange up to 20,000 characters across pages, vary repeated characters where alternatives exist, inspect missing glyphs and export a page ZIP with source records.
- Offline-first: bundled fonts, samples and licence texts work locally in Windows, Web and Android builds. No account or cloud service is required for editing.
- Sources stay attached: inspect provenance and rights, and retain attribution and applicable licences in project and historical-artwork exports.
Use Yuji Syuku, Mai and Boku as the primary modern Japanese calligraphy sources. Klee One adds an independent handwriting candidate for kanji; a small Japanese Source Han Serif JP derived subset covers characters absent from both families and is clearly labelled as a coverage fallback. Yuji Akari and Akebono provide explicitly selected hentaigana variants. These are contemporary fonts, not historical manuscript originals. In v0.7.1, the measured JIS X 0213 Kanji cmap coverage rises from 6,745/10,051 with Yuji alone to 10,051/10,051 with the combined Japanese library; this does not establish complete typography, IVS support or visual correctness.
HarfBuzz-based shaping supports Japanese font features and glyph-cell composition, including vertical alternates and punctuation placement. Strict Japanese mode uses only Japanese sources. The workbench preserves the distinction between a character's identity and its visual variant. See the reproducible coverage benchmark and known limitations.
The offline bundle includes 20 CODH Kuzushiji v2 historical crops from ぢぐち, with source references and attributed ink-mask derivatives under CC BY-SA 4.0. They offer a small, inspectable sample, not comprehensive kuzushiji coverage. A larger verified corpus can be imported through the optional local API.
Chinese workflows retain NCCU cursive samples, three Chinese fonts and structural fallback data. Explore data sources and optional imports.
- Choose Chinese or Japanese, enter your text and select the source and layout.
- Generate a composition. Select a glyph to compare candidates, inspect its source and preview a replacement.
- Adjust the artwork, using Visual Profile when you want a closer comparison.
- Save the project JSON for continued editing, or export artwork. Use Long-roll mode for longer texts and paged output.
Drafts and caches stay on the current device. Export project files for backups or transfers. Long-roll results last only for the current session; export the ZIP before refreshing.
| Platform | v0.7.1 download | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Windows x64 | Installer | Install and launch from the Start menu |
| Windows x64 | Portable | Run without installation |
| Web | Offline ZIP | Extract and serve locally |
| Android | APK | Install a production-signed APK on Android 7.0+ |
Check downloads against SHA256SUMS.txt. On Windows, use Get-FileHash <file> -Algorithm SHA256.
Windows packages are unsigned and may trigger SmartScreen or organisational restrictions. The Android APK uses the persistent v0.7.1 release signing key; physical-device storage, sharing and lifecycle checks remain outstanding. Signing and recovery.
For the offline Web ZIP, run python -m http.server 8080 inside the extracted folder, then open http://localhost:8080. Keep all bundled directories together. Use HTTP rather than double-clicking index.html; no internet connection is needed once the bundle is downloaded.
Back up projects before upgrading. Older clients may discard v2 project fields when resaving; see migration guidance.
The shared React/TypeScript canvas workbench runs in the browser, Electron on Windows and Capacitor on Android. The optional FastAPI/SQLite service adds local corpus import and search; downloaded offline packages do not require it.
Japanese shaping uses bundled HarfBuzz WASM in the clients and HarfBuzz/FreeType in the API. Versioned project schemas separate semantic identity, visual variants, source context and rights. Checksummed asset manifests and offline notices keep those records consistent across packages.
Architecture · Japanese glyph model · Visual Profile
| Content | Source / licence |
|---|---|
| Chinese fonts | Ma Shan Zheng, Zhi Mang Xing, Liu Jian Mao Cao · SIL OFL 1.1 |
| Japanese fonts | Yuji, Klee One and a renamed Source Han Serif JP coverage subset · SIL OFL 1.1 |
| Historical Japanese sample | CODH Kuzushiji v2 · CC BY-SA 4.0; attributed crops and derivatives |
| Chinese cursive samples | NCCU Cursive Chinese Calligraphy Dataset · MIT |
| Structural fallback data | Hanzi Writer · ARPHIC PUBLIC LICENSE |
Fonts, images, datasets and software retain their own licences. Historical exports carry attribution and share-alike information where applicable. Restricted MCCD/HCSU datasets and the full CODH corpus are not bundled. Unknown historical facts remain unknown.
Third-party notices · Font licences · Asset policy
Use Node.js 22+; the optional API needs Python 3.11+.
git clone https://github.com/styayur/calligraphy-studio.git
cd calligraphy-studio/apps/web
npm ci
npm run dev -- --mode desktopRun npm run typecheck, npm run test:visual and npm run build:desktop in apps/web. For the API, install apps/api/requirements.txt and requirements-dev.txt, then run python -m pytest -q from apps/api.
Contributing · Release notes · Dependency audit · Security reporting
- Japanese composition uses individual glyph cells. Full kinsoku, connected-kana continuity, tate-chū-yoko, arbitrary IVS and complete mixed-script vertical orientation are not implemented.
- The historical sample and orthographic mappings are limited. Font appearance is not evidence of historical authenticity; Korean is not supported.
- The interface is primarily Chinese, with English and key Japanese terms rather than a complete translation.
- Large export ZIPs are assembled in memory; font rendering can vary across platforms. Long-roll mode provides page composition rather than individual glyph dragging.
- Windows installer/upgrade/IME acceptance and physical Android storage, sharing and lifecycle tests remain unverified. Automated Windows renderer tests do not replace those checks.
- Five reviewed development-tooling dependency warnings remain; production dependency audits are clean in the release review.
Broader reviewed Japanese mappings and vertical layout coverage; easier local corpus installation; native-device export validation; and additional composition presets and tablet input.
Application code is MIT. Third-party fonts, images, data and software remain subject to their individual licences. Thank you to the font designers, dataset maintainers and researchers whose work makes the studio possible.