Colour · critique · a buildable library

A design forge
that shows its work.

Hephaestus turns a plain-language brief into a working palette, tells you which of its rules the palette breaks and why, and keeps a library of 1,750 design directions you can build from rather than admire. Every answer comes from its own arithmetic — nothing is generated for you by a model, so the same brief gives the same answer tomorrow, and you can look up how it was reached.

Download for your system See what it actually does

Desktop · Windows, macOS and Linux · free, forever, no account

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Download Hephaestus

§ 01 — downloads

Direct, stand-alone installers for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Built from source, 100% offline and local-first.

Checking latest releases…

01 Windows

Windows 10 and 11, 64-bit installer (.exe). Fast setup, clean uninstall.

fetching release… 02 macOS · Apple Silicon

Apple Silicon (M1, M2, M3, M4) disk image (.dmg). Native ARM64 performance.

fetching release… 03 macOS · Intel

Intel Macs (2015–2020) disk image (.dmg). Dedicated x86_64 build.

fetching release… 04 Linux · AppImage

Universal Linux executable (.AppImage). Self-contained, runs on any modern distro.

fetching release… 05 Linux · .deb

Debian, Ubuntu, Mint package (.deb) with desktop launcher and icon integration.

fetching release…

macOS Installation Note: Because Hephaestus is an independent, community-driven project without commercial Apple notarization fees, macOS Gatekeeper may show a developer prompt on the very first launch. To open: Right-click the app in Finder → select Open → click Open once. Subsequent launches open instantly and normally.

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What Hephaestus Delivers

§ 02 — capabilities

A complete suite for visual web design, color science, design systems, and real-time accessibility auditing.

▢

Studio Canvas visual builder

A freeform design surface with drag-and-drop blocks. Select, resize, reposition, and reorder elements with pixel precision.

Pre-built section templates: Hero, Bento Grid, Pricing, Features, FAQ
Responsive viewport preview: Desktop (1200px), Tablet (820px), Mobile (400px)
Single-page and multi-page site navigation modes

✦

Akmon Forge perceptual color

Generate coherent, accessible color palettes directly in the human-perceptual OKLCH color space instead of sRGB or HSL.

Calculates exact WCAG 2.2 AA & AAA contrast ratios
Simulates color-blindness (Deuteranopia, Protanopia, Tritanopia)
Lock favorite swatches and re-harmonize remaining roles in 1 click

⚙

Cedalion Critic design intelligence

Your interactive built-in design critic. It continuously inspects your layout and palette to spot weaknesses and suggest actionable solutions.

Scores visual hierarchy, spacing discipline, and readability
Provides 1-click automatic contrast and neutral tint fixes
100% built-in and offline — zero telemetry, zero external APIs

⇪

Production Export clean code

No walled gardens or proprietary binary blobs. Every design you create exports instantly into production-ready web code.

Clean, lightweight, standalone static HTML & CSS
Tailwind CSS JSX components ready to paste into React/Next.js
Design tokens: CSS custom properties, SCSS variables, JSON tokens

☰

Design Directions 1,700+ recipes

An extensive, curated library of layout and typography systems reflecting modern web design directions.

Curated typography scales: Minor Third (1.2), Major Third (1.25), Perfect Fourth (1.333)
Systematic 4px/8px spacing rhythms and elevation tokens
Tested component recipes for high-converting SaaS, tools, and portfolios

🔒

Local-First private & fast

Built with Tauri v2 and Rust. Hephaestus runs entirely on your local hardware with negligible RAM overhead and zero telemetry.

Zero accounts, zero tracking, zero mandatory cloud logins
Ultra-light memory usage (< 50 MB RAM typical)
100% offline capability — design anywhere without an internet connection

Technical Specifications

§ 03 — system & standards

Engineered for high performance, accessibility compliance, and developer transparency.

Application Core: Tauri v2 + Rust + React 19
Color Space: OKLCH / OKLab (Perceptual Uniformity)
Accessibility Standards: WCAG 2.2 Level AA & AAA
CVD Simulation: Brettel / Viénot LMS Matrix
Code Exports: HTML5, Modern CSS, Tailwind CSS, JSON
Operating Systems: Windows 10/11, macOS 11+, Linux
Telemetry & Tracking: None (0 analytics, 100% local)
Licence: MIT Open Source

A design forgethat shows its work.