A new open-source design editor called Doory is positioning itself as a free alternative to Canva, the widely used online design platform. According to its project page on GitHub, Doory runs entirely in the browser, lets users create a range of visual content from templates or blank pages, and can be hosted on the user's own server. The project states that every feature is free and that no account is needed to begin designing.
The project's GitHub page describes the tool as a full design editor. Users can make posters, social media posts, stories, slide decks, invitations, resumes, video thumbnails and business cards. Finished work can be exported to PNG, JPG, SVG, PDF, MP4 or GIF.
What Doory can do
The GitHub page presents Doory as more than a template gallery. It describes a full editor in which users can start from a ready-made layout or a blank canvas and then change almost every element. The page also highlights a short recording of the workflow, showing a template being chosen, a band name changed, dates recoloured, a star added and the result exported.
Because the editor runs in the browser, there is nothing to download for basic use. The project's description stresses that a user can begin working without signing up, which is a notable point of difference for people who want to make a quick graphic and move on.
Export options
Doory supports a broad set of output formats. Still images can be saved as PNG, JPG or SVG, while PDF is available for print-style documents. The page also lists MP4 and GIF, which means animated or video-style output is possible as well as static designs.
Templates and editing
According to the project page, Doory ships with ten starter templates. They include a gig poster, a wedding invitation, an event story, a sale post, a café flyer, a quote card, a resume, a YouTube thumbnail, a pitch deck and a business card. Each template comes with its own colour palette and uses open-licensed fonts, and every element can be edited.
The page says administrators can add their own templates and that the full library can be browsed by category, size and orientation. For small businesses, community groups or independent creators who repeat the same kinds of designs, that kind of structure can save considerable time.
Self-hosting and the technology behind it
One of the project's central claims is that users can run the whole system on their own infrastructure. The GitHub page says the setup is handled through Docker Compose and gives a local address, port 8080, where the editor can be opened once it is running. A web container serves the application and forwards API and real-time connections to the backend, so the browser communicates with a single address.
The project lists the tools it is built with. On the front end these include React 19, TypeScript, Vite, Fabric.js, Yjs and Zustand. The server side uses Django 5, Django REST Framework, Channels and PostgreSQL. Optional components include Redis and S3-compatible storage.
- Runs in the browser with no account needed to start
- Can be hosted on the user's own server
- Exports to PNG, JPG, SVG, PDF, MP4 and GIF
- Ships with ten editable starter templates
Licence terms and contributions
Doory is released under what its GitHub page calls the Attribution Assurance License. The licence allows people to use, change and redistribute the software, including for commercial purposes. However, it requires users to keep the licence and NOTICE file with the code and to display a credit to the creator prominently in the running application. The project page specifies that credit as the author Siam, with a link to the repository.
The page also notes that third-party software, fonts and content retain their own licences and are documented in a separate file. Anyone considering a commercial deployment would need to review that file as well as the main licence.
For contributors, the project welcomes bug reports, feature suggestions and pull requests through GitHub. Security issues are to be reported privately through the repository's Security tab rather than in public.
Why it matters
Doory enters a crowded space, but its pitch is specific. Its project page frames the tool as the same kind of product that many people already use, offered without cost and with the option of full control over hosting and data. For organisations that prefer to keep their files on their own servers, that combination may be the main attraction.
Whether Doory gains a wide user base will depend on how it performs in day-to-day use and how actively its maintainers respond to feedback. The project's public repository, where issues and pull requests are handled, is the place to follow that progress.
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