Gravit Designer — Self-Hosted Edition

A locally hosted version of Gravit Designer (Corel Vector) with a reverse-engineered module system, offline capability, and full Pro features — no cloud account required.

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Screenshots

Welcome Screen	New Document

Features

• Fully offline — runs on localhost with zero external dependencies at runtime
• Native desktop apps — pre-built Electron binaries for Windows and Linux (macOS buildable on Mac)
• Pro license unlocked — all premium features available out of the box
• Express server with static file serving, WebSocket support, and API stubs
• Multi-language support — 15 locales including EN, DE, FR, ES, JA, ZH, and more
• Built-in documentation — complete HTML user guide served at /docs
• Reverse-engineering toolkit — tools to extract, analyze, and reconstruct the minified source

Desktop App (Releases)

Pre-built native Electron apps are available in the releases/ directory:

Platform	File	Type
Windows	Gravit Designer Setup 1.0.0.exe	NSIS Installer
Windows	Gravit Designer 1.0.0.exe	Portable (no install)
Linux	gravit-designer-local-1.0.0-linux-x64.tar.gz	Standalone archive

macOS: Must be built on a Mac — see Building Desktop Apps below.

Running the Desktop App

• Windows Installer — double-click Gravit Designer Setup 1.0.0.exe and follow the wizard
• Windows Portable — run Gravit Designer 1.0.0.exe directly, no installation needed
• Linux — extract the tar.gz, then run the gravit-designer-local binary:

  tar xzf gravit-designer-local-1.0.0-linux-x64.tar.gz
  cd gravit-designer-local-1.0.0-linux-x64
  ./gravit-designer-local

Quick Start (Server Mode)

Prerequisites

• Node.js ≥ 18.0.0
• npm

Installation

git clone <repo-url> gravit-designer
cd gravit-designer
npm install

Running

# Production
npm start

# Development (auto-restart on changes)
npm run dev

Open http://localhost:3100 in your browser.

Project Structure

gravit-designer/
├── server.js                  # Express + WebSocket server
├── package.json
├── manifest.json              # PWA manifest
│
├── public/                    # Client-side application
│   ├── index.html             # Entry point
│   ├── designer.browser.js    # Main app bundle (~6.7 MB)
│   ├── designer.browser.dev.js # Dev build (generated)
│   ├── chunk.vendor.js        # Core engine (~11.7 MB)
│   ├── assets/
│   │   ├── font/              # Bundled fonts
│   │   ├── icon/              # UI icons
│   │   ├── img/               # Images & branding
│   │   └── prerendered/       # App icons (16–512 px)
│   └── *.worker.js            # Web Workers (PDF, PS, autosave)
│
├── routes/
│   ├── user.js                # User profile & settings API
│   └── ws.js                  # WebSocket (license heartbeat)
│
├── docs/                      # Full HTML user guide (~90 pages)
│   └── images/                # Guide screenshots & illustrations
│
├── scripts/
│   └── generate-icons.cjs     # SVG icon generator
│
├── electron-main.js           # Electron main process
│
├── releases/                  # Pre-built desktop apps
│   ├── Gravit Designer Setup 1.0.0.exe   # Windows installer
│   ├── Gravit Designer 1.0.0.exe         # Windows portable
│   └── *-linux-x64.tar.gz               # Linux archive
│
└── reverse-engineering/       # Source analysis toolkit
    ├── build-bundle.cjs       # Rebuilds dev bundle
    ├── extract-all-modules.cjs
    ├── analyze-refs.cjs
    ├── rename-variables.cjs
    ├── extracted-modules/     # Webpack module maps
    ├── reconstructed/         # Reconstructed source files
    ├── analysis/              # Class & reference reports
    └── README.md              # Toolkit documentation

NPM Scripts

Script	Description
npm start	Start the server on port 3100
npm run dev	Start with --watch for auto-reload
npm run build	Rebuild the dev bundle from reverse-engineered modules
npm run icons	Generate SVG icon set
npm run serve	Build + start in one command
npm run clean	Remove the generated dev bundle
npm run electron	Launch as Electron desktop app (dev)
npm run dist:win	Build Windows installer + portable .exe
npm run dist:linux	Build Linux .tar.gz archive
npm run dist:mac	Build macOS .dmg (requires macOS host)
npm run dist:all	Build for all platforms at once

Server API

The Express server exposes lightweight stubs so the client runs entirely offline:

Endpoint	Method	Purpose
/connection/test	GET	Connectivity check → "OK"
/maintenance/status	GET	Maintenance flag → { maintenance: false }
/license	GET	License info → Pro plan, no expiry
/subscription/test	GET	Subscription status → active Pro
/user/profile	GET	Local user profile
/file	GET	File listing (empty)
/i18n-url/:locale/designer	GET	i18n resource URL
ws://localhost:3100/license/license	WS	License heartbeat (ping/pong)

Documentation

The bundled user guide is served at http://localhost:3100/docs and covers:

Getting Started & Quickstart Drawing & Shape Tools Vector Anatomy & Paths Colors, Gradients & Textures Fills, Borders & Effects Text Properties & Text on Path

Layers, Groups & Symbols Alignment, Distribution & Grids Import, Export & File Formats Blending Modes & Clipping Masks Keyboard Shortcuts Touch Interface Guide

Reverse Engineering

The reverse-engineering/ directory contains a full toolkit for analyzing and modifying the Gravit Designer source code. Key discoveries:

• All class names preserved — GObject, GScene, GEditor, GPaintCanvas, etc.
• All method names preserved — getBBox, transform, paint, hitTest, etc.
• Inheritance tree intact — via GObject.inherit() pattern

cd reverse-engineering
npm install
node build-bundle.cjs        # Rebuild the dev bundle
node extract-all-modules.cjs # Extract webpack module map
node analyze-refs.cjs         # Cross-reference analysis
node rename-variables.cjs     # Improve minified variable names

See reverse-engineering/README.md for the full toolkit documentation.

Tech Stack

Component	Technology
Runtime	Electron 33
Server	Node.js + Express 5
WebSocket	ws 8.x
Client	Gravit Designer (Webpack bundle)
Workers	PDF export, PostScript, Autosave
Styles	Light & Dark themes (CSS)
PWA	Web App Manifest + Service Worker

Theming

Gravit Designer ships with two themes out of the box:

Theme	Stylesheet
Light	designer.browser.light.css
Dark	designer.browser.dark.css

Light Theme	Dark Theme

Configuration

Variable	Default	Description
PORT	3100	Server port (set via environment variable)

# Run on a custom port
PORT=8080 npm start

Building Desktop Apps

To rebuild the Electron apps from source:

npm install

# Windows (NSIS installer + portable)
npm run dist:win

# Linux (tar.gz archive)
npm run dist:linux

# macOS (requires building on a Mac)
npm run dist:mac

# All platforms (run on macOS for full coverage)
npm run dist:all

Output goes to the releases/ directory. Cross-compilation notes:

Host OS	Can build for
Windows	Windows, Linux
macOS	Windows, macOS, Linux
Linux	Windows, Linux

macOS builds require a macOS host — this is an Electron/code-signing limitation. Use a Mac or a CI service like GitHub Actions for macOS builds.

License

This project is intended for educational and personal use only. Gravit Designer / Corel Vector is proprietary software owned by Alludo (formerly Corel Corporation). All rights to the original application remain with their respective owners.