OpenRive: A local-first editor for Rive animations

Mahdi Bagheri — Fri, 02 Oct 2026 00:44:20 +0000

OpenRive: a local-first editor for Rive animations

Rive is a powerful format for interactive motion, but the editing workflow is usually tied to a hosted product. I wanted an editor that could run locally, work without an account, and remain useful to both people and automation.

That project is OpenRive: an open-source editor for Rive .riv files.

What OpenRive provides

A browser editor with design and animation workflows
Desktop builds for macOS, Windows, and Linux
A CLI and terminal UI for scripted workflows
An MCP server so AI assistants can create and edit animations
A REST API for integrations
Self-hosting with Docker and PostgreSQL
Offline-friendly, local-first operation with no required login

The editor is designed around the Rive file format rather than a separate proprietary document model. That makes round-tripping and interoperability important: files that are opened and saved should remain usable by the wider Rive ecosystem.

One editing core, multiple interfaces

OpenRive is a Bun workspace and Turborepo monorepo. The format and editing core lives in a DOM-free package, while the web UI, CLI, MCP server, and desktop app share the same editing API.

That architecture means an operation added to the core can be exposed consistently in the UI and automation layers. It also gives contributors clear places to work: format support in packages/rive, editor behavior in apps/web, automation in apps/cli, and shared validation in packages/shared.

Try it locally

The quickest path is the hosted demo at openrive.upstand.dev. To run the project yourself, clone the repository and run bun install, then start it with bun run dev:

git clone https://github.com/UpstandPlatform/OpenRive.git
cd OpenRive
bun install
bun run dev

Then open http://localhost:3000.

Why make it open source?

Animation tools benefit from experimentation. A local-first editor makes it easier to inspect files, build integrations, run automation in a private environment, and contribute support for the parts of the Rive format that matter to you.

The repository includes development, testing, self-hosting, CLI, MCP, and architecture guides. There are also beginner-friendly documentation tasks open for contributors, including refreshing the contributor quick start and auditing the keyboard-shortcut documentation.

If you work with Rive files, build creative tooling, or want to explore animation workflows with AI agents, I would love feedback on GitHub.

DEV Community: Mahdi Bagheri

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