The basics
What is Brushee?
Brushee is a browser-based graphics editor for both vector shapes and raster bitmaps. It runs entirely in your browser — your documents live on your machine, not on our servers. You can draw and paint, import photos, apply non-destructive filters, and export to PNG / JPEG / WebP / SVG.
Do I need an account?
No. Open brushee.app and start editing. We don't require sign-up for any feature.
Is Brushee free?
Yes — free for personal and commercial use. See the Terms of Use for the full details.
Which browsers are supported?
Any modern evergreen browser (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari). Some niceties — the native EyeDropper API, the directory-picker save path in Export, Clipboard API pastes — are only available in Chromium-based browsers; Brushee falls back gracefully on the others.
Files & formats
What file types can I import?
- PNG, JPEG, WebP, GIF, BMP — imported as image objects at their natural pixel size.
- SVG — every shape becomes its own editable path on the active layer, with fill and stroke preserved.
See the Importing & Pasting help topic in the editor for the full story.
What file types can I export?
- PNG, JPEG, WebP — for rasters, with transparency, quality, and scale controls.
- SVG — for layers and selections that still contain vector geometry.
- Multi-file presets — iOS Icons, Google Play Icons, Amazon AppStore Icons, and Favicons bundle the whole sized set in one download.
Can I import an SVG and edit its paths?
Yes. Every shape in an SVG (path, rect, circle, ellipse, line, polygon, polyline) becomes its own Brushee path object. Fills / strokes / transforms are preserved. Paths are sampled as corner-node polylines — refine them with the Subselection tool (A) to smooth curves or add bezier handles.
Can I paste an image URL or an SVG snippet?
Yes. Ctrl+V understands several text formats on top of the usual object-paste:
- Paste an image URL (http/https ending in an image extension) to load it on the active layer.
- Paste a color code (
#ff6432,rgb(…),hsl(…)) to apply it to the fill of all selected objects. - Paste SVG source (
<svg>…</svg>) to import the shapes as paths. - Paste plain text with a text object selected to replace its content.
Where does my work get saved?
Nowhere automatically. Use File → Save… (Ctrl+S) to write a
.brushee project file to your disk (which you can reload later with
File → Load…), or use File → Export As… to produce images. Brushee
doesn't sync to a cloud — keep your own backups of important work.
Editing
How do I resize from the center?
Hold Alt while dragging a resize handle. Combine with Shift on a corner to scale proportionally around the center.
How do I duplicate an object?
Either hold Alt and drag a selection to drop a copy in place, or press Ctrl+Shift+D. Both record a single undo step.
How do I edit the nodes of a shape?
Select the shape, then press A (Subselection) — or double-click the shape — to show its nodes. Double-click on the outline to insert a new node at the nearest point; right-click a node to change its type.
Can I use a stylus?
Yes. Brushee reads pressure from PointerEvent.pressure when a stylus
is present, and on a mouse it can synthesize pressure from stroke
velocity (toggle Velocity in the paint Dynamics panel). Pressure
can drive size, opacity, or both, selectable independently.
How do I keep paint inside a specific region?
Two ways:
- Bitmap selections (M for rectangle, W for magic wand and friends). While a selection is active, paint and erase are confined to it.
- Stencils (K). Hole stencils restrict paint to their shape; Block stencils repel paint. Stencils live on their own reserved layer and are not exported.
What's the difference between Stamp and Clone Stamp?
They're the same tool — we renamed "Stamp" to "Clone Stamp" for clarity. First click sets the source point; subsequent drags clone from that source. Alt-click to reset the source.
Privacy & data
Does Brushee upload my images anywhere?
No. Rendering, filters, export — everything runs client-side in your browser. The only data that leaves your machine is anonymous PostHog-tagged analytics events (feature opens, successful exports) and anything you explicitly send via the Feedback panel.
Can I turn off analytics?
If the local build you're using doesn't have PostHog configured, no analytics events are sent at all. See the Privacy Policy for details.
Troubleshooting
My filter looks wrong on a bitmap
Drop Shadow, Inner Shadow, Outer Glow, Inner Glow, and Inner Bevel trace the bitmap's alpha channel — a PNG with transparent corners casts a round shadow, not a square one. If your bitmap isn't transparent where you think it is, apply a Chroma Key filter first to key out the backdrop color.
Sharpen is producing spots
Make sure you're on the current build — earlier releases' Sharpen compounded the kernel across overlapping dabs, which produced noise. The current Sharpen reads from a mousedown snapshot and clamps the high-pass, so overlapping strokes converge instead of amplifying.
A shortcut isn't firing
Single-key shortcuts are suppressed while you're typing in an input, textarea, or the inline text editor. That's intentional — it lets you type a letter without switching tools. Ctrl-combos and Escape still pass through.
Something else is off
The in-editor Feedback panel (right sidebar) is the fastest way to tell us about it — pulse ratings, rated features, or a longer note. You can also email [email protected].