The desktop app

The desktop app is the editor in its own window, with its files built in, so it opens without a connection. It costs $20 once, and that includes a year of Sync. Sync is optional: the app works and updates without it, you can turn off Use Sync any time on your account page, and nothing renews unless you turn on Auto-renew ($20 a year). It's signed for Windows, signed and notarized by Apple for macOS, and updates itself.

What's different from the browser

The desktop app is the same editor as the one in your browser, with a few differences:

• Your work is kept by the app, not by your browser: the sprites in your browser aren't in the desktop app, and the other way around, unless you sign in to both with Sync.
• On macOS, the menus are in the menu bar at the top of the screen. On Windows and Linux they stay in the window, as in the browser.
• You sign in through your browser. Choose Sign in, then Sign in with your browser: app.pxstud.io opens in your browser, where you sign in with an emailed link (or are already signed in) and approve the app. Your browser may ask whether to open pxstud.io; allow it, and the app is signed in. It stays signed in until you sign out, keeping its key in your system's keychain (Keychain on macOS, Credential Manager on Windows, the Secret Service on Linux). As in the browser, everything works without an account; signing in adds the script library and, with Sync, your work on every device.
• Billing opens in your browser: buying the app, renewing Sync and managing your plan happen on Stripe's pages there, then the app picks up the change when you come back to it.
• The editor draws the same way everywhere, in your system's web view (WebKit on macOS, WebView2 on Windows, WebKitGTK on Linux): no particular graphics card or driver is needed.