illustrator-rs

Pure Rust library for parsing, exporting, editing, and rebuilding Adobe Illustrator .ai files — no Illustrator required.

[dependencies]
illustrator-rs = "0.1"

What it does

• Parses .ai files (PDF-wrapped, EPS, or raw PostScript) into a typed DOM
• Exports to SVG, JSON, or extracts metadata sidecars
• Imports SVG back to the AI document model
• Rebuilds .ai files from edited SVGs with CMYK/spot-color preservation
• Handles AI9 through AI24+ formats, including Zstandard and zlib compression
• CLI interface via optional cli feature
• Integration-ready for tools like OfficeCli-rust via optional handler feature

Library usage

Add to your Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
illustrator-rs = { version = "0.1", features = ["full"] }

Or select only what you need:

[dependencies]
illustrator-rs = { version = "0.1", features = ["parser", "export"] }

Parse an .ai file

use illustrator_rs::prelude::*;

fn main() -> Result<()> {
    let document = parse_ai(&tokenize(
        &extract_pgf("design.ai")?
    )?)?;

    println!("Layers: {}", document.layers.len());
    for layer in &document.layers {
        println!("  - {} ({} objects)", layer.name, layer.children.len());
    }
    Ok(())
}

Export to SVG

let svg = export_svg(&document)?;
std::fs::write("output.svg", svg)?;

Export to JSON

let json = export_json(&document)?;
std::fs::write("output.json", json)?;

Import SVG back to AI model

let document = import_svg("edited.svg")?;
let pgf = write_pgf(&document, None)?;

Rebuild .ai from edited SVG (with color preservation)

use illustrator_rs::export::metadata::{extract_metadata, save_metadata};
use illustrator_rs::writer::container::build_ai;

let pgf = extract_pgf("original.ai")?;
let tokens = tokenize(&pgf)?;
let document = parse_ai(tokens)?;
let meta = extract_metadata(&document, &pgf);

// Export to SVG, edit in your editor...
let edited = import_svg("edited.svg")?;
let new_pgf = write_pgf(&edited, Some(&meta))?;
build_ai(&new_pgf, "rebuilt.ai", Some("original.ai"), Some(&meta))?;

Why not just use Inkscape / Ghostscript / pdftocairo?

Most tools treat .ai as plain PDF and lose the native PGF PostScript layer, CMYK values, spot colors, and round-trip capability.

	illustrator-rs	Inkscape CLI	Ghostscript / pdftocairo	Adobe Illustrator scripting
No Illustrator license required	yes	yes	yes	no
Pure Rust, no external binary	yes	no	no	no
Parses native PGF PostScript	yes	no (PDF only)	no (PDF only)	yes
Preserves CMYK color values	yes	no (RGB)	no (RGB)	yes
Preserves spot colors	yes	no	no	yes
Handles AI24+ Zstandard streams	yes	no	no	yes
Round-trip: SVG → .ai	yes	no	no	yes
Library for programmatic use	yes	CLI only	CLI only	proprietary
License	MIT	GPL	AGPL / commercial	proprietary

Feature flags

Feature	Components	Dependencies
model	Core data types (colors, geometry, objects, document)	serde
parser	Container extraction, lexer, PGF → AiDocument	model, flate2
export	SVG, JSON, metadata sidecar	model, serde_json
importer	SVG → AiDocument (path parser + SVG importer)	model, export, quick-xml
writer	AiDocument → PGF PostScript, PDF container builder	model, export, parser
cli	clap CLI: extract, inspect, rebuild, check	parser, export, importer, writer
handler	OfficeCli-rust DocumentHandler integration	(git dep)
full	Everything above	all

CLI usage

# Export to SVG and JSON
illustrator-rs extract design.ai --format all --output-dir ./output

# Export each layer separately
illustrator-rs extract design.ai --per-layer

# Inspect file structure
illustrator-rs inspect design.ai

# Rebuild .ai from edited SVG (uses metadata sidecar for color fidelity)
illustrator-rs rebuild edited.svg --original design.ai --output rebuilt.ai

# Verify dependencies
illustrator-rs check

Module structure

illustrator-rs/
├── model/        — Colors, geometry, path segments, document types
├── parser/       — Container format detection, PGF lexer, operator registry, parser
├── export/       — JSON serializer, SVG generator, metadata sidecar
├── importer/     — SVG path parser, SVG DOM → document model
├── writer/       — PGF PostScript generator, PDF container builder
├── cli/          — clap CLI (feature-gated)
├── error.rs      — Typed error enum (thiserror)
├── icc.rs        — ICC color utilities
└── lib.rs        — Crate root with feature-gated modules + prelude

License

MIT — see LICENSE.