# Klad, a source-available paint app that coding agents can draw in

published: 2026-11-11T20:05:43.650Z
topic: infrastructure
source: https://github.com/klad-app/klad
url: https://aiagentnews.io/stories/klad-a-source-available-paint-app-that-coding-agents-can-draw-in

Klad is an early 2D painting and animation app that a coding agent can drive through a command line while a human artist paints in the same drawing. Every stroke and fill stays editable as data, so either party can change individual parts later instead of regenerating the whole image.

Klad lets a coding agent such as Claude Code or Codex paint through the klad command line, using the same brushes and drawing as the editor. Each side sees the other's strokes in the editor about a second later. The app has no image model: the agent decides what to paint, and strokes keep their path, pressure, brush and colour.

Because each mark is stored separately, a stroke or fill can be recoloured, moved or deleted without repainting the rest. Drawings are folders of plain files, the file format is documented under the MIT licence, and klad needs no account. It can export PNGs, sprite sheets or a Godot SpriteFrames scene, and it can generate in-between frames from key drawings.

Klad is source-available under the PolyForm Internal Use License with extra permissions, not open source. It is free for personal use and for companies with under 500,000 euros in revenue in their last tax year; larger companies need a bought licence. macOS is the main platform with pen pressure, Linux works with a mouse, Windows has not been drawn with yet, and there are no installers, so users build it from source.

## Why it matters if you build agents

Agent builders get a documented CLI and JSON edit ops for working on a shared image, so an agent can be asked for a specific change and its output can be inspected and corrected stroke by stroke. The MIT-licensed file format and client crate let other tools read and write klad drawings. Teams above the revenue threshold need a paid licence, and the current build has to be compiled from source.