GPEX-Cloud
GPEX-Cloud
Launch OpenGPEX

Quick Start

The fastest way to use OpenGPEX is to visit the official cloud service at gpex.cloud to start editing immediately. No setup or installation is required.

If you prefer to run the editor locally or set up a development environment on your own machine, follow the instructions below to get started in under 5 minutes.

Prerequisites

  • A WebGPU-capable browser — Chrome or Edge 113+ (or an equivalent Chromium build). Check chrome://gpu or run navigator.gpu in the console to confirm availability. OpenGPEX v2 has no Canvas2D fallback; without WebGPU, use the v1.x LTS release.
  • Node.js 20+ (LTS recommended)
  • pnpm (package manager)

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/gpex-cloud/opengpex
cd opengpex

2. Install Dependencies

pnpm install

3. Start the Development Server

pnpm dev

The editor will be available at http://localhost:3040. On first launch the engine negotiates WebGPU capabilities (shader-f16, float32-blendable, float32-filterable, subgroups, timestamp-query). Missing features never trigger a CPU or Canvas2D fallback: the engine simply selects a more conservative WebGPU path — for example, the composite target stays at rgba16float unless the adapter grants both float32-blendable and float32-filterable, in which case it upgrades to rgba32float.

4. Load an Image

  1. Open the editor in your browser
  2. Drag and drop any image file onto the canvas, or use the file upload button
  3. Start editing!

On import, the ingest decision engine routes your file automatically: standard 8-bit images (PNG, JPEG, WebP) decode through the zero-copy bitmap path into rgba8unorm textures, while high-bit-depth sources (16-bit TIFF/PNG, RAW via libraw) decode to raw pixels and upload as rgba16float textures (32-bit float sources use rgba32float). All compositing happens in a linear Display-P3 float buffer regardless of the source.

5. Make Your First Edit

  • Paint: Pick the brush tool and draw — strokes are extruded on the GPU in real time.
  • Adjust: Open the adjustments drawer and apply curves or levels; changes are non-destructive, evaluated per-layer inside the composite shader.
  • Zoom and pan: Viewport navigation only re-runs the lightweight view pass — the document is never recomposed as you move the camera.
  • Undo: Undo/redo is viewport-isolated; restoring an earlier state does not jump your camera.

6. Export

Use the export dialog to choose a format and bit depth. Export bit depth is independent of what you imported: an 8-bit JPEG can be exported as 16-bit PNG (upsampling per the working pipeline), and a 16-bit TIFF can be exported to any 8-bit canvas format. If you export an unedited file with parameters matching the source, the pass-through bypass streams the original bytes out with metadata untouched.

7. (Optional) Connect to GPEX-Cloud

All core features of OpenGPEX — including all editing tools, layers, masks, filters, and local workspace persistence — are completely free to use and function fully offline.

However, by signing in to the official cloud service (GPEX-Cloud) via the Cloud menu at the top of the editor, you can obtain online cloud storage to save, sync, and manage your projects across devices. No environment configuration or setup is needed to connect to the official cloud service.

Next Steps

Last updated: 2026-10-12